Is my sub blown or amp?

[tradejak66]

Ah, when I finally feel content with my cheap sound system, things go wrong.

I was taking a 10 minute drive home from my part time job when my sub-woofer cut out on a song that didn't even seem very bassy. I assumed my ground or remote cable came loose because I had a history with that but every was secure. I went to drive again later and the sub worked until I turned the volume past 30/35, in which it cut out again even after lowering it. After some bad testing I came to the conclusion that my headunit sub preouts had fried. After buying a new one, I found that the head-unit was not the source of the problem and I wasted $100.

Long story short: I partially think the pioneer sub-woofer is blown because it makes a small grinding noise when i push it and the sub-woofer box terminals measure 2.8 ohms when its a 4 ohm speaker. However, I'm worried it may be the alpine amp because the sound cuts out after a few minutes of use instead of immediately. When the sound cuts out, the amplifier light stays on.

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[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

Yup blown sub....and you clipped the **** out of it.

 

[tradejak66]

Yeah it was the sub. But idk how it was clipped. I used the DMM method to set gains and even went below the recommended voltage. My head unit doesn't start clipping until 34/35, and the sub lasted almost half the year. The amplified front and rear speakers I installed months before with the same method are still going strong. It didn't sound like it was distorting. When I took it out nothing looked or smelled burnt. Idk how it blew but it was definitely the problem.

300 watt pioneer with 300 watt Alpine class d mono