Blown subs?

Question

i had 2 xtant that blew they were 400 watt rms hooked up to a 250 watt memphis amp were hooked up at 4 ohm each they would cut in and out in and out stopped for a while did it again then blew why?

its not the ground

i just got 2 brutus subs with a brutus amp i dont want them cutting in and out or blowing just want to no what went wrong the first time so i dont blow my 2 new s**y subs lol

i just found out the subs were 200rms could that be why the subs cut in and out and then eventually blew???

Answer 1

It is one of two things. It is possible that they were hooked up incorrectly which is a good way to cause what you have described.

The other thing that it could be is this--Many times manufacturers are misleading the the power ratings they put on things. They say that the sub is 400 watts rms, but it is very likely that it is much lower. I had an Alpine type R that was rated for over 1000 watts max, and I blew it with an 800 watts max amp. It turns out the amp was really pushing about 1000 watts, and the sub was really only good for less than that. I have that same amp hooked up to a sub that is way higher quality but only rated for 850 watts max. I have turned it up all the way and not blown it. The quality of the item is one last thing you have to look at. I would suggest just watching how loud you're playing it.

Answer 2

Other things play into account here, not just power ratings and power handling.  Was the enclosure for the subs built to specs.  If the enclosure is too big it will not provide enough acoustic suspension lowering your power handling ability and too small and it will take far more power to produce volume.  Memphis makes good amps I have a MCD500 pushing a single JL Audio 10W3v3 and it is very clean, hits and most people are surprised that a single 10" can put out as much as it does.  

Another thing that will destroy speaker is clipping, if you put the amp up all the way to try to get max volume,  The gain is not a volume control.  What kind of head unit are you using??  If you are running a cheap head unit and it is passing distortion to the amplifier that will destroy speakers.

Build your enclosure to speaker specs, adjust the volume to 3/4 point and adjust the gain until the bass is strong yet undistorted.