Woozy

Hey floks,
Well Im trying to determine if I have a bad subwoofer or if the subwoofer amp is bad, if it even has a seperate amp. I have read a ton of posts here regarding the subwoofer, and did not find anything regarding any seperate amp. I assumed that my speaker was bad.. i get almost no response from it, and the little i get is mostly crackly. I saw a post on replacing the outer ring, and the various links that were great, and i went through the tutorial from tthe company that supplies the replacement ring. What they said about the symptoms made me think that maybe that was my problem. I removed the cover and my speaker looks absolutely perfect, even the foam ring is mint. This car has always been garaged, so there was no sun damage at all. Is there any chance that my speaker is fine and there is a problem with the amp? Anyway that I can check or diagnose this? Its imposible to find a stock replacement speaker, the dealer wants an outrageous amount and there are none in junk yards. Is it common for these subwoofers to "Blow" All my other speakers are fine. Any Help would be great! Thanks

bbtri

If you could borrow a 2 ohm sub somewhere, you could connect it and determine if it is the speaker or the amp. No need to install, just connect and listen. If you need to replace your sub you can get a reasonably priced aftermarket one and install with a slight modification of the mounting bracket. I put a Polk in mine and it works well. If it's the amp, that should be easy to find used.

Woozy

Thanks, where is the amp located? Is there any way to check at the connector with a volt meter to see if I have anything coming from the amp? Generally what breaks in a subwoofer... mine looks so pristeen....

bbtri

Here's a file showing parts locations. A volt meter can check for signal, but since it isn't putting a load on the amp it won't tell you if it is making sufficient power. Another test you could do is hook your sub to your home stereo to see if the sub works.

NjRican

iTrader: (1)

well if it is your sub i just just removed mine for a system that i put in. I can sell it for a good price and ship it to you

Woozy

wow, thanks Nj, i just sent you a private msg, also thanks to bb for the amp location.. this site ROCKS!!!

Woozy

OK, I just pulled my subwoofer and took it to a speaker repair shop. When it was in my car you could not really hear anything, just some crackling where the lows should be. At the repair shop he hooked it up and there was lots of sound.. mids his and bass.. when he turned the volume up kinda high, there was distoration in the bass. I asked if he was driving it with a 2 ohm system or what, and he said that would make no differance... that kinda stumped me, and he said that i needed to have the voice coil replaced. Because it sounded so much differant at his shop.. i mean so much more music coming from the speaker that i decided to hold off having him repair it. My question is this If he was not using a 2 omh system to drive my speaker could there have been distoration in the bass at high volume. Also because there was so much music coming from the speaker at the repair shop, and virtually none when it was in my car im guessing the amp is shot... is my thinking correct on this? What do you guys think, could both my amp and sub be bad?

bbtri

The speaker doesn't have to be driven by a matched amp, e.g. a 2 ohm speaker can be driven by a 4 ohm amp, it's just that matched components are more efficient, so you will get more volume at any power setting. It's more unusual for an amp to fail, but it can happen. Also inspect the wires and connectors for damage. If you have the pioneer stereo a used amp should be easy to find cheap. You could also bring your car to the shop and have them connect a different speaker - no need to install, just connect and listen. Is the price of the repair more than an aftermarket speaker?

dangt84

The amp in the car that drives will have a filter that cuts out all other sounds other than bass. Thats why when he played full music through it you heard a lot more than usual. Bass tones are also the harshest on a speaker so he is very probably right the voice coil is likely fried.

I don't think it sounds as if he was fobbing you off.