dewman1999

iTrader: (1)

Before i go any further to not heckle me for my system i break the two major rules of audio systems do not use Sony amps or subs and do not use bandpass boxes. Well i use both, and my one sony 12 hits harder than my friends two 12 kicker compVR.

On to my question i have had this sub for maybe 6 months but have just started sbjecting it to major watts in the last 2 weeks. Whenever i turn up the volume for a little while about one song a wierd smell starts to come from the sub. I let it go for a little while thinking it was just because it was new, but now i am worried. I have throughly checked the sub out and nothing is burning or melted. Could this still just be the "new" wearing off.

Sony 12" P5 (1300 WATTS MAX, 380 Watts RMS)
Q-logic Bandpass Box
Sony XM-SDDX (1200 WATTS MAX, 500 Watts RMS)
Memphis Bass Boost Controls
Dynamat Xtreme entire trunk

oz4g94

iTrader: (3)

something is burning more than likely, does your subs still produce the bass it did before? or does it even play? also, i think that it could possibly be your grounding wire, it may have to ground so much that it may be burning something, where is it located?

marlboroman9006

if it is his grounding wire, the amp will not even turn on

dewman1999

iTrader: (1)

the sub plays just as it always has. i have my amp grounded to on of the bolts behind the backseat

oz4g94

iTrader: (3)

when an electrical connection is grouded it will spark. by increasing the wattage of the system it will directly increase the amount that is grounded.

dewman1999

iTrader: (1)

now the sub will play at lower levels but turn it up to high and the amp cuts off and goes into protection mode. i have two eights that i hooked up to the amp, and the amp did not shut off but they do not draw the same watts as the 12. is it possible to have "burnt" up the sub because of too much power? I have always lived by the rule have a more powerful amp than you need, but this is the greatest difference in RMS (120 watts) i have ever had, usually it has been 75 or so watts difference. Also the bass boost adds wattage, i do not know I guess it is possible, it just does not make a lot of since. I played it at a party at about half volume for ~1.5 hours and then at full volume for about 5 minutes showing off the system to a friend who had not heard it. I then turned the car off and left about 4 hours later and the amp started shutting off.

any help with this would be appreciated. Also if the sub is fried what kind of 12 should i put in a bandpass, the last three that i have had have been sony b/c i know that they sound good in a bandpass. Any others that sound good in the type of box, i am leaning towards kicker compVR

SLVROZ_03

iTrader: (10)

Sounds like you fried the voice coil, like I did in my 2 12" JL W0's. But in my case I actually over-powered the things. Pumping 300 watts rms x 2 into 125 watt rms subs, not too bright on my part. Guess I should mention though that I'd had these for about 8 years too. In your case, distortion might have been the factor. Turning the juice up with noise in the lines or running to the amp could have done it. Oh yeah, and are you running a mono amp or bridging a 2-ch amp? A good sub for bandpass; ah, just use the manufacturers specs for proper enclosures. Not to diss the Sony brand or anything, but your money can be better spent elsewhere.

dewman1999

iTrader: (1)

the amp is a 250w x 2 at 4 ohms or bridged to 500w x 1 at 4ohms. I of course bridged it for more power. the sony brand has been good for my smaller systems but now that i stepping it up to more watts i am not so fond of their subs.

jeff

iTrader: (1)

when i had JBL about a month before i actually blew it it started to smell funny.. something of a burn smell. I'd say take it out put it back in the box and return it to bestbuy for some instore credit

jdjd831

Bass Boost is an instant gain on the input side of the amp. This is probably why your system is louder than your buddies' Kicker setup. The boost is causing your amp to clip and is sending a square wave to the sub (lamens - the sub is floating in space while the amp is trying to recover enough voltage to continue control over the voice coil). This is not the sub's fault. Distortion such as this will kill any sub. Turn the bass boost down and your subs will live. Otherwise plan on investing in subs every few months. More than likely the 1.5 hour play session warmed the voice coils enough that they burnt up when you fed the high power/distorion to them.