I think I blew one of my 5.25" excursion woofers

**FyreDaug** · 11-08-2006, 04:59 PM

The 2 tweets seem fine, and the other woofer is good. These speakers sat for 2years without ever getting used, I think it may have been a defect because my system is tuned pretty good and I never really turned it up real loud. I have now, since I disconnected that component set. I just run the 6.5" MBQuart up front now. I am lacking a little bit of mid and midbass that these speakers put out because they are gone, but overall it sounds pretty good.

Does anyone know of a place I could get a replacement woofer? The gain was at about 10% on an 80x2 channel, they are good for 90w they say, so it couldnt have been overpowered or distorted (because ive turned it up way louder since I played around with some amp settings for the quarts and still havent run into any distortion) so I dont know why it blew. I checked all the speaker connections too, its just that 1 speaker

I wasnt boosting any lows or using any bass boost options, and like I said gain is at about 10%, closer to 25% on the mb quart amp, but I have a line driver coming from DURWOOD soon to tighten that up some more.

**Shadow** · 11-08-2006, 05:14 PM

I bet your signal was clipping like a mofo.

**FyreDaug** · 11-08-2006, 05:52 PM

why would it be clipping? I never really turned it up or anything, plus the mbquarts were turned up louder than these ones and they have a "clip protection" dealy with the light bulb that absorbs dc current, and ive only seen it glow dimly a few times while playing sandstorm

Couldnt be clipping. Wave volume at 90%, master volume at 75%, and use winamps volume to control the actual volume.

Im thinking of turning master volume down to about 50% and turning the gains up a little, I know computers like to get that distortion at certain volumes just from the analog output being pushed too hard. But its an auzentech card with 2.8v outputs and I havent heard or seen(lightbulb) any clipped signals or anything

**RedGTiVR6** · 11-08-2006, 06:09 PM

doesn't matter what protection you have.

and it doesn't matter how loud you have it.

if you don't have your system set-up properly, clipping can happen at any volume.

Set-up properly, it shouldn't happen until the loudest of volumes.

Have you tuned your amps properly?

Doesn't sound like it at all by your post.

**Ruffy** · 11-08-2006, 06:23 PM

the "protection" bulb only protects the tweets

**Ruffy** · 11-08-2006, 06:26 PM

Originally Posted by RedGTiVR6

doesn't matter what protection you have.

and it doesn't matter how loud you have it.

if you don't have your system set-up properly, clipping can happen at any volume.

Set-up properly, it shouldn't happen until the loudest of volumes.

Have you tuned your amps properly?

Doesn't sound like it at all by your post.

wrong
http://www.bcae1.com/2ltlpwr.htm

Note:
If your speakers are capable of handling significantly more than your amplifier can produce, driving them with a clipped signal will not likely hurt them.

If the speakers can handle 3 or 4 times the power that your amplifier can produce, there's virtually no way to damage your speakers (no matter how clipped the signal is).

If your speakers are rated for the same power handling as your amplifier is capable of producing cleanly, driving them with a clipped signal for extended periods of time may cause speaker damage and/or premature failure.

If your speakers are rated for the same power handling as your amplifier is capable of producing cleanly, driving them with a square wave signal for extended periods of time will likely cause speaker damage.

but more than likely dude, you did overamp them into clipping

**RedGTiVR6** · 11-08-2006, 06:43 PM

a clipped signal going into a speaker is a distorted signal.

You throw a distorted signal into a voice coil, period, it's going to generate heat.

You start to generate heat that a voice coil cannot dissipate quick enough, you will start to have problems, no if ands or buts about it.

Those comments don't make much sense at all.

**durwood** · 11-08-2006, 06:46 PM

I am just curious...how did you determine your speaker was blown? What exactly was it doing?

Added: The reason i ask is that I ahve seen speakers get dust or particles in the voicecoil because they don't have a sealed dustcap. It will make a horrific sound similar to a blown speaker.

**LaxPlaya8513** · 11-08-2006, 08:33 PM

ruffy, i've read that post time and time again. Driving speakers with a clipped signal regardless of the output of the amplifier will kill speakers. Sure at a low volume they won't, but once you increase the level, the amplifier will be even further amplifying the clipped signal. That in turn will heat the coils up since they are not being cooled properly w/ too little power and cause the speakers to blow.

**FyreDaug** · 11-09-2006, 03:22 PM

I tuned my amps yes, ive been doing car audio stuff for a while so Im pretty sure I know what I am doing. I wasnt using bass boost but these ones WERE getting an all pass, Because they seemed to play bettter lows than my mbquarts I let them run all freq's with 80w. I xover mbq's at 80hz on the amp high pass, no bass boost on those either.

COULD it be just a bad speaker? It lasted maybe 4 hours of play. The MBQ's are "gained" higher and sound fine, I can not hear any distortion, and I played some frequency sweeps at high volumes to test with my ear