Car audio problems with subwoofer... need help please!?

Question

I have two Autotek SS 12' Dual Coil Subs. I think i fried one set of voice coils so i used the other side. They are still workin to this date. Is there any way i can repair the subs? does it make a difference if i even do or dont use both coils? How much estimate would it cost to fix? How do i prevent this from happening? I have a ZX400.1 Kicker Amp with only one speaker output but i wired it to both speakers. Im tryin to get the best possible sound out of these speakers with this amp.

Answer 1

For dual voice coil subs you definitely want to wire both coils up at the same time.  Reasons is you are pushing the sub to the limits with one coil only hooked up.  

It will cause the voice coils to heat up and destroy the sub (this happened to me with an x*x 12" RE audio sub.  The shop I took my subwoofer to, made a box and hooked up only ONE FRIGGIN COIL!!! Pissed me off...I blew it...didnt realize it was hooked up to just one coil.  Now my sub is useless ($800 sub...wasted)  I should have checked but you figure the shop knew what they were doing...(or one would hope...)

If your other 12" SS is wired with only one coil too...I'd suggest fixing that right away before you damage that one too.  And play Low/medium volume of sound thru the sub for a few hours first to get the NEW Coil that hasnt been hooked up some play time and get it warmed up so to speak (or broken in).  

As far as repairing the sub, you are looking at replaceing the voice coils.  And possibly even just plain RECONING it, it's not easy to replace just the voice coils as you are tearing down the whole sub taking off the cone and coils.  Most likely damaging the cone to replace the coils in the process.  

You might check Fi Car audio to see if they will recone it.

But unless these puppies are AMAZING $300+ subs, most recone kits run $100+ and then labor to recone.

Link to Fi's Technical forum:

http://www.soundsolutionsaudio.com/forum...

You can ask them there.  But if you read some of the questions asked as to how much to recone ...your 12's will probably cost around the same. (If they have the parts and ability to work with your Autotek SS Sub.

I am assuming that these are your subs?

http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/...

or very similar to...they cost around $80....So unless Fi Car Audio can do the recone cheap, it's probably not worth fixing.  Also realize the time and cost to ship.  Just wouldnt be worth it...buy new ones if that's the case.  

If you plan to replace your bad 12"...then hook the subs this way:

http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/ca/lear...

of course make sure you get the same sub....or fix the bad one.  that is the only way to prevent this problem.

Answer 2

since the amp distributes the power to the voice coils evenly you may mess them up b/c with the one that fried it would put out more wattage than reccomended to the 3 coils causing them to possibly fry. you can get the coil fixed tho but i dont know how much it would cost. take it to a local sound advice or something like that and see. hope this helps goodluck