technically, what is a blown speaker?

[jaygeorge1979 10+ year member]

i know a blown speaker means you busted it...but what actually happens to the speaker...did overexcusion break the cone, did the voice coil melt? what causes it to blow? too much bass boost = overexcursion? too much power? too much volume?

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[LoudCrownVic 5,000+ posts]

Well, from my experience, the VC cracked in half, letting all of the ferrofluid loose, making the speaker unlistenable. Id really like to know myself as well waht really happens.

 

[DiamondFanatic 10+ year member]

I've seen ones where the voice coil burned, separated tinsel leads, cracked spiders...

 

[bamaboy 5,000+ posts]

Well, from my experience, the VC cracked in half, letting all of the ferrofluid loose, making the speaker unlistenable. Id really like to know myself as well waht really happens.

last i checked ferrofluid only came in tweets...maybe im old school but who knows

my friend's L5 is permantly stuck back. you cant pull it away, twas funny

 

[jaygeorge1979 10+ year member]

a few good answers...im still curious exactly what causes it?

 

[ProjectPat06 10+ year member]

my tinsel leads split in half on my 15xxx and i soldered em together and the sub works fine so i believe that is an easy fixable "blow"

 

[Chevyaudio 5,000+ posts]

could be many things...burnt coil, Separated tinsel leads, Cracked surround, Sepparated spider, cracked coil.

Edit* and probably the number one culprit when it comes to blowing speakers is the infamous Clipping.

 

[negativezeroz 5,000+ posts]

where's squeak, frost, and dave edwards when technical definitions are needed? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

 

[Moe Lester 10+ year member]

stick a piece of 20 awg wire into one side of a wall socket and the other end of the wire into the other side of the socket and you will see first hand what happens when you blow a voice coil lol.

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

There are two ways to damage a speaker; Mechanically and thermally.

Power the subwoofer beyond it's mechanical limitations; Overexcursion. Results in bottoming out the driver and physically damaging it. Torn tinsel leads, wrecked VC former, broken joints, torn spider, etc etc.

Powering the subwoofer beyond it's thermal limitations. Results in the voice coil frying.

Well....then, ofcourse, there is actual physical damage......like dropping the woofer and offsetting the voice coil, that kind of stuff.

I bought some used and blown IDMax a while back that were obviously overdriven. Bottom the drivers out so hard that the VC former was rammed into the dustcap and left a nice big circular dent in the dustcap. Other one had same problem, aswell as probably thermally overdriven as the voice coil was stuck in the gap.

 

[jaygeorge1979 10+ year member]

good answers squeak...now, which ones of those are easily fixable, and how?

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

Unless the basket or magnet is physically damaged, a recone will replace all the soft parts of the driver, and basically make it new again.

If the basket is actually cracked, welding may be neccessary, and the results may not look the same.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

And you'll need to replace the magic smoke if it's ever going to work again //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[negativezeroz 5,000+ posts]

tinsel leads like previously stated or just get a recone if you really needed it..

 

[jaygeorge1979 10+ year member]

thx to all replies