dual voice woofer problems!

**luper** · 01-24-2006, 04:28 PM

I got a 12" subwoofer from my brother and it is awesome, yet doesn't work.

He never really got it working and thats another reason he gave it to me! lmao...

It's a 12" Audiobahn woofer. Very nice and heavy (prob 45-60 oz)... now im a newb, but i understand that with dual voice core you wire it differently... pos and neg from amp... then they go to the woofer... of course theres two places.. and ANYWAYS...

I tried several ways and i know which is correct.. thats not the problem..

The woofer doesn't respond whatsoever. I even tried just wiring it to only one of the things!!! ARRGG..

I'm going to call CircuitCity to see if they can help (Get a price first just in case)... this is very nice woofer, but i would rather have it working than a 50lb dead weight! lmao
-luper

**klown78** · 01-24-2006, 07:39 PM

My only suggestion is that you hook up one side ( a + and a - ) to your amplifier, mono or stereo, either or, and if you dont get any sound cause you don't neccassarily need both side hooked up to have sound, or you take the negetive of one and put it to the positive of the other side, this will give you a parallel hook up, regardless you should get some sound out of your woofer! Just a newbie flappin his gums with like 5 yrs installing experience

**sfay93** · 01-24-2006, 08:53 PM

Originally Posted by klown78

you take the negetive of one and put it to the positive of the other side, this will give you a parallel hook up, regardless you should get some sound out of your woofer! Just a newbie flappin his gums with like 5 yrs installing experience

Ummmm, you mean series don't you?

**luper** · 01-24-2006, 09:32 PM

well i tried that earlier today...

knowing that i tried the correct way to hook it up and theres no response whatsoever... any enternal things that may not be working?

-luper

**Will Albers** · 01-24-2006, 10:21 PM

Sounds like its blown

Get a multimeter and check the impedence of both voice coils. Basically think of it like 2 speakers. Check each +, - set independently. Let us know what you get.

For god's sake, stop connecting the thing to amplifiers. If its blown it could fry your amp!

**luper** · 01-25-2006, 09:08 AM

i guess i will...

lmao for gods sake ok!!

I'll check that after school today. :0 thanks,
-luper

**MatrixPC** · 01-25-2006, 01:08 PM

I am not an audio person but this is the basic what I know about DVC.
Basically it a 2 separate speaker built into 1 speaker.
There are 2 set of + and - for each speakers let say set A and B.
from the Amp+ connect to the A+ and Amp- to A- and if there is NO sound, the sub is dead. You can also try set B, if there is sound, you can just use it as a single sub.

**Will Albers** · 01-25-2006, 01:31 PM

While in theory what you are saying holds merit, there are some other factors to look at. Each coil has a very small distance between its wiring and the magent assembly. If one coil was to get too hot and expand, it will rub on the magent. This will slow down the and hamper the movement of the other voice coil resulting in the eventual burn out of the second voice coil. What we have to detrmine is if the voice coil is open or seized. We want to check the impedence of one set of voice coils. If it is a direct short, I would say the coil is warped and the speaker is done. If you read no impedence it is possible that the coil broke apart like a fuse. If this were the case, i would gently move the speaker along its axis feeling for a "rub". At any hint of rub, i would toss the speaker. Otherwise i would experiment with running just the one voice coil like you said.

**luper** · 01-25-2006, 03:34 PM

ok.. ive learned alot..

i got a multimeter i bought for something i forgot and ill check that empedence... but suddenly after reading that i feel little/no hope...

also when im checking it.. i will have it connected, right? lmao.. im calling circuit city tomarrow... tonight ima let a guy at work look at it since hes smart too about this stuff...

thanks for your expertise will albers I've learned alot since ive been googling here and there... I'm thinking wther it works or not i may buy a pair of 12" and box ive seen online.... muhahhaha (Take me a few weeks to earn enough, but its all good!)
-luper
ps: I also read a few posts simular to mine so I'll reply when i find the impedence

**Will Albers** · 01-25-2006, 04:27 PM

yup, good stuff to know. You want to check the speaker disconnected. You want to check the speaker right at the back of the speaker, on the terminal.

Before you go out and spend cash on a set up that you se online, stop and discuss it here. I WISH I would have saved the money by purchasing the right equipment from the beginning. You lose the knowledge gained by messing up, but you save cash in the long run.

So tell us the car you have, tell us the gear you currently own and giv us a budget. We will help suggest a speaker set up that will last and sound good. Hopefully these suggstions will be a little less "cool factor/marketing" based and a bit more "Great quality at a decent price".