When should speakers smell?

[Buffalohed 10+ year member]

When should they smell (including brand new) and what should it smell like? If you crank the volume (not that I would do this //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/uhoh.gif.c07307dd22ee7e63e22fc8e9c614d1fd.gif ) and notice a rubbery smell, what does that mean? What kind of smell should I watch out for, I imagine a burning smell would be bad (haven't smelled any burning of any kind yet).

By the way, I don't mean putting your nose up to the speaker and sniffing. I mean while sitting in your car.

Or feel free to point me to a link that has this information already as I didn't see any.

Thanks.

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[tEh koRnDog 5,000+ posts]

i lol'ed at that title

 

[ngsm13 5,000+ posts]

When brand new, some subwoofer will burn off excess glue when they heat up.

It smells like band-aids.

Some subwoofers will smell everytime they heat up, usually after a few weeks of bangin... if it still does this... it's a sign to back off a little... because the VoiceCoil is getting hot!

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

nG

 

[Rich B 5,000+ posts]

 

[Buffalohed 10+ year member]

Hmm, interesting. But... what if it was component speakers, not a subwoofer? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif

 

[Rich B 5,000+ posts]

Hmm, interesting. But... what if it was component speakers, not a subwoofer? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif

Same answer as those above.

Its still voicecoils getting hot.

 

[ngsm13 5,000+ posts]

Yeah, component speakers... you should bak off of them sooner than a subwoofer... they have a MUCH smaller voice coil and usually cannot dissipate the heat as well...

nG

 

[Buffalohed 10+ year member]

Hey thanks a lot. I was listening to Immortal and just had to crank it. Had the HU on 35 for about 45 seconds and it started to smell so I backed it way off.

Think any permanent damage was done?

 

[BoomBoomBoy 10+ year member]

Only when you cup a fart on them.........

Actually they may smell during break in, but if you're smelling them after that, it's not good.

 

[ngsm13 5,000+ posts]

Hey thanks a lot. I was listening to Immortal and just had to crank it. Had the HU on 35 for about 45 seconds and it started to smell so I backed it way off.
Think any permanent damage was done?

No, shouldn't.

nG

 

[Radridd 10+ year member]

I had some that smelled right before they were done!

 

[iamamp3pimp 5,000+ posts]

i smeled my RE comps a few times, fixed the signal and now they are louder, and dont have that smell anymore.

smelled like a burning paper bag.

 

[Crown_amps]

burning hair smell ftl of coils

 

[azbass 5,000+ posts]

um. speakers should never smell..

 

[Buffalohed 10+ year member]

Ok another question.

I made a thread earlier about feeding a lot more power than the rated RMS, for example with Germaniums and people giving them 200+ watts.

My comps are rated 100 @ 4 and my amp gives them 115 @ 4, gains are at 9/12. So the question is, if I "smelled" them at max volume on the HU, this would mean they are at their limit in terms of thermal power handling yes? So it would not be a good idea to bridge the amp and try feeding them more power (with lower gains of course) to see if they have better control, like some people do with other comps?

Thanks again folks, really helpful so far.