my ssa zcon is done

[blowthemup 10+ year member]

What was your frequency response. If you didn't atleast plot it you can't really know where or why it's lacking. I don't see anything in the design that would cause it to be flawed in bandwidth response.

The coil is black but the coils read fine? sounds like the extra glue got hot and discolored. Not really a sign of failure.

I'd try 2 cubes tuned to 34 with 35 in^2 of port area.. the zcon doesn't need anywhere near 3 cubed.

Thanks man, ccstang did my 2.5 box and my first box was done by someone local who was just getting into box building. Pretty sure both were but with 16" of port area per cubic foot. I have a design sheet I'll post up when I get inside on my computer. Thanks for reminding me to be mindful.

 

[Papermaker85 5,000+ posts]

To get down to the bottom of the problem we need some information. I don't think anything is Wong with it. Does it still play? Does it sound fine besides being peaky?

It's possible a little glue got on the surround. Is it leaking?

Narrow passband is a common problem.

This occurs often with alot of drivers sometimes its the cabin gain sometimes the box some times the settings.

I'm not saying your did anything wrong. Same for the equipment. It's just a matter of finding the results your looking for. If you really want to do that your gonna have to give us some facts/info to work off of.. in 2.5 it's probably going to be abit peaks around tuning but it's hard to say knowing nothing about you car box settings placement of the box etc...

 

[blowthemup 10+ year member]

I'm not so concerned about the amp, honestly I think it's fine but I was wanting to rule it out of the equation after seeing the condition of the woofer. I'm more concerned the woofer isnt right. You guys are making some good points but there shouldn't be any cracks in the surround anywhere. Not sure what would have caused them and even though the woofer plays I don't feel its right.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

should seriously consider SSA's pre-designed optimal enclosure on their website, I had mines built exactly to that design and it was ****** for all genres and not peaky at all.

@denim any thoughts to clear all this up?

 

[blowthemup 10+ year member]

Man its hard to squeeze a picture of the coil through those small basket holes. Here you can see the blackened coil as well as a little shiny copper, maybe its just the adhesive but it has enough black to make me concerned.



I'm gonna refer to those white lines on the bottom of the surround as stress cracks. Majority of them actually are not fully cracked but in another picture I will show one that is really bad.



Here is the one that I refer to as the soft spot that you can noticeably feel from the front. When the subwoofer would play you could actually see it sort of kinking here. Its done this from its very beginning days if not day one //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif



Another smaller crack, its odd to me that they don't go all the way through the surround. Its almost as if the surround is two layers and kind of shiny looking like clear glue which gave me the whole smeared glue idea.



Here are specs from the first home the zcon had, I believe this was the guys second box he built with the first being his own but he sought some help over on ssa forums and diyma if I recall correctly. Probably not the best specs but I was having a hard time finding someone to help me with a box at the time. He was local, proved great craftsmanship, and was really nice.



Hopefully these pictures will help yall address my concerns a little better.

Thanks again to everyone that jumped in on this and sorry if I seemed like a **** at any point.

 

[The Camry]

Man its hard to squeeze a picture of the coil through those small basket holes. Here you can see the blackened coil as well as a little shiny copper, maybe its just the adhesive but it has enough black to make me concerned.


I'm gonna refer to those white lines on the bottom of the surround as stress cracks. Majority of them actually are not fully cracked but in another picture I will show one that is really bad.



Here is the one that I refer to as the soft spot that you can noticeably feel from the front. When the subwoofer would play you could actually see it sort of kinking here. Its done this from its very beginning days if not day one //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif



Another smaller crack, its odd to me that they don't go all the way through the surround. Its almost as if the surround is two layers and kind of shiny looking like clear glue which gave me the whole smeared glue idea.



Here are specs from the first home the zcon had, I believe this was the guys second box he built with the first being his own but he sought some help over on ssa forums and diyma if I recall correctly. Probably not the best specs but I was having a hard time finding someone to help me with a box at the time. He was local, proved great craftsmanship, and was really nice.



Hopefully these pictures will help yall address my concerns a little better.

Thanks again to everyone that jumped in on this and sorry if I seemed like a **** at any point.

My coils on the icon look exactly the same and read proper resistance.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

 

[wew lad 5,000+ posts]

never seen a surround do anything like that before

 

[Papermaker85 5,000+ posts]

That looks like it's been hot and then cold and hot and cold and then hot and cold regardless that's not normal maybe you can talk to SSA and they can get you a replacement out of appreciation and in good faith and you might just want to offer to pay half of the cost on ypur part in good faith as well. there seems to be no real problem except other than you're concerned.

Question. You didn't use any silicon or anything like it? It's know to damage surrounds. It looks kinda like it's dried out.

 

[blowthemup 10+ year member]

Thanks to @The Camry

Ill scratch the coil being bad off my list but I know for sure my surround is in pretty rough shape. Hopefully someone else can chime in on the surrounds condition and what may have caused it. This zcon seemed to never move like I have seen many others do

 

[blowthemup 10+ year member]

That looks like it's been hot and then cold and hot and cold and then hot and cold regardless that's not normal maybe you can talk to SSA and I can get you a replacement on a good face you might just want to offer hash out of good faith tell them for a replacement as well.. there seems to be no real problem except other than you're concerned and you paid decent money for the driver I'd imagine you can probably come to the conclusion that there's room for improvement on both sides.

I do live in NC where my black coupe gets preety darn hot during the summer and reasonably cold during winter. Could two years of daily use in these conditions do such a thing? I have not done anything to this zcon other than put it in and out of an enclosure and the enclosure in my car.

I feel like everythings good except the surround but I know for sure its been like that for a long time, day one its always had that soft spot or now known to me as a crack since I inspected it more closely.

Ill contact SSA and see what they have to say, it would be extremely nice of them to feel obligated to repair on there expense I feel like.

 

[Papermaker85 5,000+ posts]

What excatly is the driver lacking in frequency response? The Box I recommended is a safe call and would probably give you the flattest response down to about 35 Hertz.. make no mistake they can go in much bigger boxes from the very stiff suspension and low mass but by no means with that low of a QES do they need such a large box. By design they are not necessarily going to be a low end Monster but a larger lower tuned enclosure would definitely help increase the efficiency around tuning so will the increased Port area.. looking at the specs between about 2.3 and 2.6 would probably do really well but I would probably tuneven higher say to about 33hz.. tuning too low can actually wreak havoc on frequency response esp in the lowend extention and output..

 

[Papermaker85 5,000+ posts]

I do live in NC where my black coupe gets preety darn hot during the summer and reasonably cold during winter. Could two years of daily use in these conditions do such a thing? I have not done anything to this zcon other than put it in and out of an enclosure and the enclosure in my car.
I feel like everythings good except the surround but I know for sure its been like that for a long time, day one its always had that soft spot or now known to me as a crack since I inspected it more closely.

Unless you ran it inverted it's hard for me to see how the underbody would get weathered.

 

[blowthemup 10+ year member]

Never ran inverted either, you guys are making it sound like I got a really rare condition here like something may have not been right? I almost couldnt believe what I sall when I pulled the zcon and inspected it closely. That soft spot has always bugged me but I never expected it to look like that underneath.

Sounds like I have been over worried about my amp and coil. Hopefully SSA will be nice and help me out on this one. Also 2.5 cubes @ 32hz seems within reason for my enclosure, not really trying to change that up if not necessary.

 

[Papermaker85 5,000+ posts]

Never ran inverted either, you guys are making it sound like I got a really rare condition here like something may have not been right? I almost couldnt believe what I sall when I pulled the zcon and inspected it closely. That soft spot has always bugged me but I never expected it to look like that underneath.
Sounds like I have been over worried about my amp and coil. Hopefully SSA will be nice and help me out on this one.

I think it's not a huge deal but I totally understand. Did you buy it new?

 

[blowthemup 10+ year member]

I think it's not a huge deal but I totally understand. Did you buy it new?

Yeah I bought it new back in May of 2014.