Hey everyone,
Sub stopped working last week. I couldnt get the cone to move when I pushed on it. So I took it out of the box last night & found that the accordian looking part of the sub thats near the voice coil was burnt. Like an actual fire had turned it to ash. The wires run across this to get to the coil & it looks like they were the cause of the fire. Was I just running too much Juice? Or would something else cause this?

 

ha ha. dont worry it happened to me a few years ago. sounds like you were running to much power or were lipping like a ****. was your enclosure built and tuned for that sub? were your gains set properly? what type amp sub was it? how much airspace was your enclosure and was it sealed or ported? what size was the port?

 

JBL 500.1 - Cranked pretty much all the way up.
Audiobahn Alum10Q Dual 3 OHm coils in Parallel (1.5 ohms)
Custom Sealed Box ~.5 cu./ft.

 

ya u blew the hell of out of it apparently....check to see what that 500.1 gets for power when u bridge the sub ohms down...alot of time the power increases a bit

 

I just looked at the manual... Its actually a PB600.1

600watts @ 1.5 OHMS.

 

I blew my jl 12v3 last week. Mine actually caught fire and started smoking. It was sweet. LMAO

 

ahh i see the problem... you had an Audiobahn sub

 

LOL.......thats not nice

 

But sadly, it's usually true. Audiobahn subs just aren't built to perform reliably or cleanly, or at their rated power levels. They're made for making noise until they blow and need replaced. Some people have good luck and don't care about quality, and give Audiobahn too many props just because it makes a big, loud boom noise...

Needless to say, I don't run Audiobahn myself

If you're looking for a replacement, steer away from that brand.

 

lol. Reminds me of a friend/idiot that wired up a strobe light to his sub. Every time the sub would beat it'd strobe.

Was funny until his sub caught on fire. ah the times....

 

If you meant to type clipping, then I'd say you're right. That's the primary cause for fried voice coils.

If you actually meant lipping, I don't know what that means, at least not on a subwoofer.

 

I have 2 audiobahns in mine. i can vouch for that

They sound alright when you havent had subs in the car for months, then you listen to some JL subs and your like wtf, mine sucks haha

 

Ya'll were lucky, a friend of mine let his girlfriend drive his Camaro (NICE) once and she couldn't get the system to come on so decided to fiddle around with the wires herself, ended up burning his car to the ground. I was in love with the car, went to see it at the junkyard (sad i know) and wanted to cry, the only thing not black was the inside stuff in the center console.

 

Yah I have 4 12" Audiobahns in my Corolla... because they were like $250 total on ebay! They DO put out a lot of bass... but not clear at all. Nice and loud but the SQ is horrible. I get in my MR2 where I have 2 JL's... no flatulent bass... just nice and tight sound!

 

What series audiobahns you guys are talking about. Mabey there SPL oriented ones? The one that cought fire was one of there 10" aluminum sq series and I thought it sounded really good.

 

I dunno. They are 12", boring looking on the outside but chrome on the back (not the flame ones though) and I bought all 4 around 1999-2000.

 

The alum ones have silver aluminum cones. They are there only sq oriented sub.

 

Buying a SQ sub from Audiobahn is sort of like buying a chain saw to butter your toast.

 

Well then while I have you here... What would be a good replacement. Im looking for a single 10" that will get loud with good sq.

Here is what I have to work with...

-500-600 watts @ 1-2 ohms (JBL BP600.1)
-.5 cu/ft sealed enclosure

 

JL Audio W3 for a small enclosure... that's what I would recommend.

 

There are plenty of quality subs available. Anything from Adire Audio, TC Sounds, Image Dynamics, JL Audio to name a few. Someday when I actually manage to find time and money to redo the Camaro stereo, I intend to use a couple Dayton Reference subs. Their quality appears to be unparalleled at their price point.

 

What would you say about the W3's for the small enclosure Jim?

 

Clipped signal=more heat
If you would feel better you can check and make certain that there is no DC on the output of the amp. That way you know it's not a fault with the amp that caused the problem. But really you almost never see this where the amp's protection doesn't kick in.

 

I don't know. I never spend that much on subs to stuff them into a pre-existing box. I always make a new box that's the right size. I'm not familiar with what the box requirements are for the W3s, but if that's the sub you want, build a new box.