Unknown Problem

[TheBlackSheep 10+ year member]

Guys, I have 2 CV 12's in a box; that's pretty irrelavant though, as to my problem.

The problem?

My right sub keeps cutting out on me. More like, it keeps cutting in. Of late, more often than not, it'll be silent, then start hitting, then go silent again. I've played with all the wires connected to the amp, made sure they're secure, and no dice, the problem persists.

Now, here's the interesting thing:

When my sub isn't hitting, if I push it EVER SO SLIGHTLY on the woofer, it'll start hitting again, for as long as I'm pushing in on it; if I let it go, sometimes for a few seconds it will continue to hit, but for the most part, it dies out almost immediately.

The one thing I've yet to do is actually unscrew the woofer from the box and check the woofer; lately, I haven't had time, and it's been too cold out to do so, and I decided to post here to see if anone knew an alternate solution to the problem, or if you agree that maybe something's loose such that I'll have to take the woofer out of the box to get to.

Help? Please?

Driving around without bass is just boring :/

Click to read more...

 

[Chika-Boom 10+ year member]

Sounds like you have a voice coil problem. did you have your subwoofers wired up for a to low load???

 

[TheBlackSheep 10+ year member]

Hmm, they are the DVC's...

As far as I know, my amp can handle loads as low as 2ohms, and since I can only wire them for 4ohm or 1 ohm, I BELIEVE they're wired for 4...I got these subs from a friend (for free XD), so I'm not completely sure how he's wired them, and I haven't taken them out of the box to check

 

[johnecon2001 5,000+ posts]

That is a coooked woofer my friend. When you push the woofer down, what your doing is reseating the fried voice coils and making them connect to the power.

Time to buy a new set of speakers or get those bad boys reconed.

 

[johnecon2001 5,000+ posts]

Sounds like you have a voice coil problem. did you have your subwoofers wired up for a to low load???

Wiring woofers at a low ohm load won't harm the speaker, but it might hurt the amp.

 

[RandyJ 10+ year member]

Wiring woofers at a low ohm load won't harm the speaker, but it might hurt the amp.

exactly.

 

[TheBlackSheep 10+ year member]

In that case, would you recommend just getting another of the same woofer, or should I go all out and just buy something real nice (I've been looking at Solobarics of recent)...

And thanks

 

[qtipextra 5,000+ posts]

Antother problem might be that his tinsel lead where it connects on to the voice coil is becomming di-attatched. Happened to both my room subs. Had to solder wire from the terminal to the voice coil to fix it. And that is exactly how it acted, I would push it ever so slightly and it would work.

The best to know for sure is to take your sub out and llok to see if you can see the coils, and see if they are in fact burnt, or else if sumthin else is the problem

 

[TheBlackSheep 10+ year member]

If they are burnt, I take it they'll have a charred look? I took them out the other day, granted, I didn't know exactly what to look for in terms of a problem. I retightened a wire nut and when it was working without me pushing on it, it seemed to be doing okay, but two minutes down the road, again my problem persisted. I'm hoping it's just a problem with the tinsel... When I looked the other day, them all seemed to be soldered to the terminals. Should I have the car on when I'm testing it out of the box to see if that's the immediate problem?

If the sub is indeed blown, would it hurt anything just to wire the remaining sub up to run on it's own? It's a 2-channel amp, and if bridged, it's gonna put out maybe 350W to the 1 sub which runs maybe 200W RMS, so I don't know exactly how safe that'll be...

Also, if I buy a replacement sub, do I want the exact same sub? I can only seem to find the newer models, and I'm wondering if mixing and matching is ok (The newer models can handle more power, etc).

 

[Strecker25 10+ year member]

i wouldnt mix and match subs, maybe go for somthing a little better, or search ebay for your exact sub replacement. First off though, make sure the thing is blown and not just the tinsel leads, try hooking up a multimeter to the coils to see what kind of numbers you get.

 

[TheBlackSheep 10+ year member]

Ok, in the event that I use a mutlimeter (I've got one around here somewhere...)

What exactly will I be looking for number wise? I've had some basic classes in electronics, so I know what the numbers will mean, necessarily, but I guess I'm not 100% sure what I'm looking for. I mean, I'm guessing my problem will lie in the fact that there's no power going from the coils to the terminals, but this is a rookie you're dealing with here.

If I remember correctly, I mean, none of the tinsel was burnt to the point that it was disconnected...the wires looked tight, as far as I remember. Is there any indicator that something is burnt out visually? I mean, will it be charred, or black, or anything?

 

[TheBlackSheep 10+ year member]

Well, after using a multimeter (and still not 100% sure of what to do), I really couldn't find much. I retightened every connection, and still has the problem; when I push on it a little, it'll kick, and if I leave it alone it won't. However, now when I push on it and it kicks a little, it sounds scratchy, as if, and unfortunately is leading me to the conclusion to, my speaker is cooked. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

In any event, I've still got one good working 12. Until I can buy another set of subs, or a replacement 12, I've got a very lonely HED 1202DVC sitting in the trunk. I've got a 2-channel Jensen amp (these were all given to me for free, so I'm not losing much sleep over this)...The 12 can hold 250W RMS (says the manufacturer); I'm not sure if this means 250W per coil, or for the sub total meaning 125W/coil. The amp puts out 350W bridged (says the manufacturer).

My new questions are, 1) Does this sound like my sub is cooked, or is there still hope; and 2) Is it safe to bridge the remaining sub, or do I risk blowing it by doing so?

Thanks

 

[Moe Lester 10+ year member]

what ohm is each coil reading?

 

[TheBlackSheep 10+ year member]

Nnn, I've already forgotten what the multimeter said, but according to the manufacturer, they're supposed tobe 4ohms/coil

 

[TheBlackSheep 10+ year member]

Another question, my amp is to run in 4ohm minimum if bridged; does this mean I need to run the coils in series in order to protect my sub?