Sub HELP!!!!!

ithaca00

Dear Car Audio Gods,

Help!! I have NO bass!!!!

I was driving to work today listening to my music at near or at full volume. I was getting a nice back massage from my sub during a D12 song and then the bass just stopped! I thought it was just that the wires had come loose but when I checked they were all still in place.

The amp is still receiving power and sending out a signal to the sub but the sub only produces a slight vibration, meaning the cone only vibrates a little bit. There is minimal, if any, audible sound coming from the sub but it does move.

Does anyone know what the problem is?

What happens when a sub is blown?

Signed,
Bassless in a Rolla

exalted512

its hard to diagnose on the internet
if you have access to another sub, hook the amp to it
that would narrow it down
my guess is its the amp
-Cody

ithaca00

Ok, I tried the sub out with another amp and it did the same thing (no sound, very little movement) so I think I blew the sub.

I'll take it out of the box and check it out this weekend.

exalted512

one of the tinsel leads might be loose
other than that i think you might be screwed unless you have a warranty
-Cody

TrappedUnder Ice

sounds like the sub froze....too much power/distortion! warranty or new sub time...

ithaca00

what happens whe the sub "freezes"? I have the waranty with Polk, do you think they'd fix it under warranty?

LittleCar_w/12s

well there's a number of things that can cause a sub to freeze and other if it blows up..

Frozen sub:
usually caused by heat, too much of it.
- you may have melted the epoxy that holds the windings in place, causing it to stick to the magnet assembly.
- You may have warped the winding, which does the same thing
* caused by overexcursion or abuse:
- You may have busted a suspension, causing the coil to jam in the assembly.
> Try pushing on the center to see it the cone moves smoothly without power, you need to do this out of the box. Also check for visible damage to the spider suspension.

Blown or Burnt sub:
- You literally cooked the wires in the winding or the tinsel leads
> an ohmmeter will show a high resistance
> this means that if you send 400 watts to it and it's supposed to be 4ohm, if it is burnt and has 1000 ohm resistance, it will only use a little of that power.

Neither of these conditions is fixable, but you may luck out if it is just stuck. In any case, try to replace it for free
-Jerry

exalted512

if its still under warranty call Polk, get a return authorization number and send it back
-Cody