# Subwoofer Keeps Blowing



## kt883 (Nov 23, 2007)

I installed a Pioneer 4ohm DVC subwoofer (model number of sub and amp to follow) with a pioneer 350W amp and It has now blown twice
AMP - PIONEER GM - D7400M
800W Max
200W RMS @ 4 ohm
400W RMS @ 2 ohm
Sub - PIONEER TS W258D4
1200W Max
I have the subwoofer hooked up liek so



_Modified by kt883 at 10:09 AM 3-16-2010_


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## wishuhadmyvw (Jan 7, 2006)

*Re: Subwoofer Keeps Blowing (kt883)*

turn the gain down so you have less distortion


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## kt883 (Nov 23, 2007)

I dont notice any distortion - the sub sounded fine
what about the wiring/setup and specs - are they all correct for the specs given? why would it keep blowing. I have purchase protection from futureshop but this is the second time ina month ive replaced it - at first i thought it was my amp install. The remote turn on wire had a ****ty connection and when i went over bumps it would turn on and off and i figured that this flickering off power blew it


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

*Re: (kt883)*

turn the bass down
turn the sub setting down on the head unit
turn the gain down
you're clipping the hell out of the amp


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## kt883 (Nov 23, 2007)

alright, i have a monsoon Single din system in my mk4 and the bass is set to 8 so maybe thats why. i figured since it sounded ok it would be fine


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## wishuhadmyvw (Jan 7, 2006)

*Re: (kt883)*

Ofcourse it sounds "okay" , it's in the trunk.


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## kt883 (Nov 23, 2007)

lol ok good point - ill try turnng the gain down a bit - i think it was set to the notch on the amp so i figured it was good


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## Scrambles (Jul 27, 2009)

*Re: (Pat @ Pitt Soundworks)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Pat @ Pitt Soundworks* »_turn the bass down
turn the sub setting down on the head unit
turn the gain down
you're clipping the hell out of the amp 

he's right.


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## Non_Affiliated (Feb 12, 2002)

*Re: (Scrambles)*

And by what he means "Turn the gain down" if your gain has markings or say 200mV and the other end says 8V, turning the gain down would be turning it towards the 8V.
With gain the smaller number say 200mV, that is actually turning the gain up.


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## harmankardon35 (Sep 16, 2009)

huh..by the looks of your diagram you hooked your sub directly to the battery.....haha


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## Scrambles (Jul 27, 2009)

*Re: (harmankardon35)*


_Quote, originally posted by *harmankardon35* »_huh..by the looks of your diagram you hooked your sub directly to the battery.....haha

duh! how else do you get straight POWUH! :3


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## jbone14 (Aug 8, 2008)

*Re: (Scrambles)*

check the impedence on the amplifier and the sub. you have a DVC sub and could probably be running to low impedence. 
example a DVC 4 ohm woofer hooked up paralell which would make 2 ohms. easily can blow a sub because its receiving to much power. less resistance = more power.


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

*FV-QR*

The sub is a dual 4 ohm. If it's wired in parallel, that's still only a 2 ohm load. Impedance isn't the problem.


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## kt883 (Nov 23, 2007)

*Re: (harmankardon35)*

no it is not hooked directly to the battery but of course the amp is. I Just drew up a quick diagram to show how the wiring was at the sub end as there is more than one possible configuration


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## GTI-DNA (Feb 18, 2006)

*Re: (kt883)*

Funny thing about bass, most people play it so loud that you wouldn't know distortion (clipping) if it hit you in the face. Hook up a scope and you will see it. When the sine wave starts to get square ends....your clipping.
This is also bad on the amp's power supply. Eventually you will blow the amp too.


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## kt883 (Nov 23, 2007)

ok i turend the bass on the deck down to 7 and will turn the gain to just below "normal" marking


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

*FV-QR*

Any amp with a "normal" marking for gain isn't worth a damn.


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## Non_Affiliated (Feb 12, 2002)

*Re: (kt883)*


_Quote, originally posted by *kt883* »_ok i turend the bass on the deck down to 7 and will turn the gain to just below "normal" marking

Honestly that probably is too high also, I run my setup with the HU bass set 0 and Treble set to 3. Of course systems vary.


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## kt883 (Nov 23, 2007)

deck is a stock deck - but it is monsoon amplified. Ive got the bass treble and mids hovering around 7-8 or so


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## Trict GTi (Oct 24, 2005)

*Re: Subwoofer Keeps Blowing (kt883)*


_Quote, originally posted by *kt883* »_I installed a Pioneer 4ohm DVC subwoofer (model number of sub and amp to follow) with a pioneer 350W amp and It has now blown twice
AMP - PIONEER GM - D7400M
800W Max
200W RMS @ 4 ohm
400W RMS @ 2 ohm
Sub - PIONEER TS W258D4
1200W Max
I have the sub woofer hooked up like so


_Modified by kt883 at 10:09 AM 3-16-2010_

if you have the Sub hooked up like that your running at 2ohms which is not that good for the sub yea you'll get deep hard hits but less life.
I hope this looks right.
you have it running Parallel try it in Series. This will give you 8 Ohms less hit but more consistent and will last longer
SUB WOOFER
(+){-JUMP+}(-)--------------------Negative on AMP
I 
I 
I_________________________Positive on AMP

the middle pos, and neg you just going to jump those 2

_Modified by Trict GTi at 11:00 AM 3-25-2010_

_Modified by Trict GTi at 11:01 AM 3-25-2010_


_Modified by Trict GTi at 11:03 AM 3-25-2010_


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## kt883 (Nov 23, 2007)

ok ill try that, thanks for the help everyone


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## Non_Affiliated (Feb 12, 2002)

*Re: Subwoofer Keeps Blowing (Trict GTi)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Trict GTi* »_
if you have the Sub hooked up like that your running at 2ohms which is not that good for the sub yea you'll get deep hard hits but less life.
I hope this looks right.
you have it running Parallel try it in Series. This will give you 8 Ohms less hit but more consistent and will last longer


Running two ohms shouldn't be a problem with the proper size enclosure, proper gain setting. The extra power on the amp allows for som headroom.
What I wonder is what type and volume enclosure he is running.


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## harmankardon35 (Sep 16, 2009)

yeah if he is running a small sealed enclosure he may be trying to overdrive the sub to get decent bass output. That amp runs 400 watts rms @ 2ohms, and that sub can handle 350rms total...so not a bad match. I bet if he got a nice tuned vented enclosure the gains could be turned down significantly.


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## Non_Affiliated (Feb 12, 2002)

*Re: (harmankardon35)*


_Quote, originally posted by *harmankardon35* »_yeah if he is running a small sealed enclosure he may be trying to overdrive the sub to get decent bass output. That amp runs 400 watts rms @ 2ohms, and that sub can handle 350rms total...so not a bad match. I bet if he got a nice tuned vented enclosure the gains could be turned down significantly. 

Problem is a Nice tuned vented enclosure is usually custom by the user or a shop. Some don't have good woodworking skills, equipment, or palce to build a enclosure. That or it is $$$$$ when you have a shop build one.
Which forces some to buy pre-fabbed. Pre-fabbed are not all created equal. Cheap ones usually are a one size fits all and are cheap becuase they may not provide the proper air space. But your not an idiot so I am sure you are well aware of that. Most gerneral consumers are not. With vented enclosures it is even worse, add bandpass into the equasion and it can be catastrophic.
A end user may end up paying more $$$ for specially build pre-fab box, but less than having a shop do a custom box.
As for the OP if he using a small pre-fabbed box, and you suggest going to a pre-fabbed, or self built without doing a little modeling. That can be just as bad. In properly tuned and playing below the tuned freq. will most likely result in an even faster death of the subs when the woofer becomes unloaded.


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## witecap4u (Feb 23, 2000)

If this is in a sealed box, i'd go along with the bass and gain are set too high and he's over driving the sub.


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## kt883 (Nov 23, 2007)

it is a sealed box - a bassworx one, im not sure of the dimensions but it looks to be about 1x1x1ft with a sloped back, so just under 1ft^3


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## harmankardon35 (Sep 16, 2009)

there's your problem^
the 'one size fits all' is never ideal, but I think in your case a prefab vented bassworx box or something similar will render much better results than that small sealed box. If you have the time/know-how/ or money, build the box yourself and use that free box tuning software to find the best size enclosure/ tuning frequency.


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

*Re: (harmankardon35)*

reading comprehension.
He said he has a sealed bassworx (whatever) box.


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## kt883 (Nov 23, 2007)

well no need to worry about the subwoofer bc ftureshop f'd me out of a sub today!








I bought purchase protection plan for the sub under the pretense that ANYTHING would be covered no quesitons asked. I asked the guy when i was buying it if for example a hockey stick in the trunk would be covered and he said yes, so I said why not (on the 3yr p.p.p.)
When I went in yesterday to replace the sub the guy told me that im overdriving the sub especially in since its in a sealed box and to try a better woofer - so he switched me an alpine sws 1043d($179.99) for no added cost. I get the woofer home and notice that when I open the box - everything is shoved inside and the bags it was in are shoved in the box on top. The rubber ring surrounding the screw holes was ripped from a previous install maybe? I lightly press on the sub and I hear a scratching sound almost like fibers scratching (dont know how to describe it). So I get the thing in my car and it sounds messed up. When I bring it back to future shop I notice that theres a hole in it now from being in my trunk, my tools must have pierced a small bit sized hole in it. When I bring it to the counter they right away saw no sorry that hole is physical damage, not covered
I tried to explain that the hole is besides the point that they sold me a defective (probably demo unit) sub. She would not admit that they sold me a defective demo unit and tried to say they dont do that (then why was the ring ripped?







) SO basicly IM S.O.L. unless i can try and repair that hole with a needle or something and pull the fibres up a bit to make it looks smaller or "spill" epoxy on it, i dont know
_Modified by kt883 at 8:47 AM 3-28-2010_

_Modified by kt883 at 8:50 AM 3-28-2010_


_Modified by kt883 at 8:51 AM 3-28-2010_


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## Non_Affiliated (Feb 12, 2002)

*Re: (kt883)*


_Quote, originally posted by *kt883* »_well nop need to worry about the subwoofer bc ftureshop f'd me out of a sub today!

They only keep replacing subs for so long, then it's usually a problem on the users end.
My cousin went through blowing two pairs of 12" lanzars back when they were a good brand (Circa 1991). After the thrisd set theshop said we arn't replacing another set after these. Funny they seemed to stop blowing after that.


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