Ya'll, I'm an idiot and I have no clue what I'm doing please forgive me

[cluelessAF87]

I bought a car already equipped with an aftermarket stereo, amp and subwoofer. Even the guy that sold the car to me had no idea what the hell he had installed, otherwise i would contact him to figure this **** out.

Two things.

1. The foam ring surrounding the cone of my subwoofer is torn all the way around and I know this is a problem, but would it cause it to stop working entirely? That's what's happened to me. I'm aware of the potential to replace the foam, but I'm entirely unsure of that being the fix i actually need. My amp IS receiving power and I noticed the wires leading into the box were jacked up at the connection point so i undid them, cut off the worn ends and reconnected them after exposing clean ends and nothing changed.

2. Am I able to replace the stereo without needing to replace the amp and everything else? The one I have now is outdated and I'd like to install one with an aux cord plugin, bluetooth or both but i'm not trying to afford all of that.

I realize that I'm probably asking two of the most ridiculous and annoying questions but I really am the least experienced person regarding automotive audio systems but I can't last another week sitting in traffic with the way my audio sounds right now.

Click to read more...

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

Can you post pics of the stereo? Not sure what the foam ring around surround is (The surround itself is torn?)

2) Yup. headunits, are def replaceable. as long as wires match each other.

3) Guy had stereo installed but doesn't know what he got? And you thought your clueless?!! Wowsers.

So lets try and figure out some issues here. Start with a few pics and see where we can go from there.

 

[BOOMINGRANDPA 5,000+ posts]

yeah if sub is cheap one u can just ditch them..

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

Oh foam ring surround=gasket?

That's easily fixable. Just re-glue it, clamp it down and look good as new.

 

[Slo_Ride 5,000+ posts]

Oh foam ring surround=gasket?
That's easily fixable. Just re-glue it, clamp it down and look good as new.

He's talking about the surround.

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

He's talking about the surround.

My $$ is on the gasket.

I wanna see pics since he's kinda confused...on speaker parts names.

 

[Slo_Ride 5,000+ posts]

My $$ is on the gasket.
I wanna see pics since he's kinda confused...on speaker parts names.

$100 he's talking about the surround.

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

I'm broke

 

[cluelessAF87]

In reference to my cars' previous owner, I've never been less impressed with an engineer in my entire life.

Here is the amp

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx345/sleepwalker06/IMG_8744_zpsbjiiasqc.jpg

Here is my busted speaker

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx345/sleepwalker06/IMG_8745_zpsypymtyzr.jpg

here are the wires I trimmed and reconnected

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx345/sleepwalker06/IMG_8746_zpsm7rs74ji.jpg

 

[Slo_Ride 5,000+ posts]

I'm broke

Well I was wrong.

 

[Slo_Ride 5,000+ posts]

The subwoofer is probably shot, don't worry about the gasket. If you don't have a dmm to test it you can stop by an audio shop and ask them if they will check it for you. Most will do that for free but obviously they will then try to sell you something. Yes you can install a new headunit without haven't to replace any other equipment.

 

[firey_kimchi 10+ year member]

It looks like the foam surround has separated from portions of the cone and is missing a piece at the 6:30 position, too.

 

[Slo_Ride 5,000+ posts]

That had to hurt.

 

[Slo_Ride 5,000+ posts]

It looks like the foam surround has separated from portions of the cone and is missing a piece at the 6:30 position, too.

Good eye. After a closer look, the surround is toast too. So yes a new sub will be needed.

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

Don't need a good eye to see the hole in the surround. JL older subs are notorious for rotting surrounds. Because it's made of foam.

The sub is due for a recone. Unless you know how, it can be a project for someone that knows how to recone and kits are around 20-30 bucks on flee-bay.

Whoever installed that Alpine amp needs to be shot. It looks ****** installed. Noticed the same gauge wire for power/ground is dam near same as speaker wire.