Subwoofer start smoking?

Question

Ok, so my friend was hooking my amp and sub(i don't know too much about it), but i wonder why did it start smoking, we try to fix any holes in the box so it'll sound a nice bass,it actually sopped working and smoke came out, the problem is it worked before better(with small holes) , but still , sounded crappy, I wonder if the speaker was made for a box that has a free-air or sealed. I bought box and speaker separately. Thanks for reading and your answers.

Answer 1

yea man, i agree with Greg on this one too.

there are too many variables which can have a huge impact to determine the exact problem(s) for which the sub could have smoked.

but usually this means the subwoofers' voice coils are burned/melted.

a very easy way to check if the subwoofer is still ok will be to gain access to the cone *this is the front of the subwoofer*, and press on it down. if:

-cone moves down very smooth.. the sub should be ok

-cone moves down a bit too hard... sub might be blown

-cone moves down hard and there is a scratchy sound/feeling while moving it down, the subwoofer IS blown.

but some reasons why it might have blown.. if it did...

the amp settings might have been too high, thus giving a distorted sound to the sub and making it "bottom out". never have any setting on the amp at MAX, and never have the gain/level higher than 3/4. this Will give a very distorted sound.

other reasons will be the sub was overpowerd. for this, check the final ohm load by knowing the amount of voice coils the sub has and its ohms. then by looking at how it was wired. this will help you determin the final ohm load of the sub.

once you have this info, check the specs of the amp been used.

so if the final ohm load was 1 ohm... look at how many watts rms the amp does at 1 ohm. if its more than the rms on the sub.. this will be bad.

good luck, and hope ur sub isnt blown.

Answer 2

it could be that there wasnt sufficient air in the box, it could have been wired wrong...some subs are 2 ohm some are 4...they have to be wired differently...for swure the sub is blown, and because it was a self hook up, versus dealer install, the warranty is VOID.

Answer 3

Wow, just wow not enough air in the box? What do you think happened to the air in the box, it just turned into a vacuum?

You fried the sub, if it's smoking like that it's fried. If you give some more detailed information we might be able to tell you why you fried it.

Voice coil configuration

What amplifier you have

How you had it wired

What you were doing when it started smoking