Hello,
A few months ago (around the end of January) I installed a sub and amp package into my car. Turns out the amp was defective. I went out and bought a new amp and everything worked great. Weeks went by and I really enjoyed the added bass.

A few weeks ago, around mid-afternoon, I was listening to music as normal. I didn't have the bass cranked up higher than usual. Everything was normal. I parked my car for around three or four hours. When I came back neither sub would work (I have two 12 inch subs in a ported enclosure). I tried the speaker wires running from my amp to each sub with an old kicker box my brother had lying around. Both sets of wires worked with the kicker as they should. I took out my speakers from the box and the internal wires looked fine. All the wires made the proper connections. I took my speaker wires and attached them to the same place that the internal wires connect to the actual speakers. No dice.

It is quite unusual to me that both speakers stopped working at the same time. They didn't sound blown out or any different than usual earlier that day. What do you guys think could be wrong? If you need any more information just let me know!

Thanks
-Tage

P.S. My stereo has its own subwoofer volume control ranging from Off - 12.

I usually had it set at 6 for heavy bass songs, and changed it to 8 for songs that didn't have much bass. I set it to 8 for my tests so the subs were in fact on. Thanks!

 

It could be that one sub already had an issue (not working) and didn't notice it, until the other sub stopped working.

If you've connected the speakers straight to amp and they don't work, but other speakers will, then your speakers are at fault.

You can check them with a DMM set to resistance to see if they are open, also using a small battery to "pop" the speaker is a trick we use to test for an electrically functional speaker and finding which pair of wires attach to which speaker in a car where the speakers are installed at various locations.

 

@Six_Shooter.

Actually a day or two before was showing them to a friend of mine who recently bought a 12 inch kicker and wanted to see my set up. They both worked. So I really don't know. I may try what you said. I am thinking of taking it up to the local HiFi shop to see if they know is wrong and can look at it in person. Thanks for the input though! Greatly appreciated.

 

Is the amp working? (Remote wire still connected, RCAs connected, Overload light on)?

 

That'd be my first suspicion, too.

I'd suggest using other subs on the amplifier if the problem arises again. Hopefully not, but the subwoofers may not be at fault. On the flip side, they (or just one) could be on their way out and cause problems with the amplifier intermittently.

The impedance of a speaker changes dramatically with temperature. Reaching the limits of coil's travel can cause intermittent problems, too. So, while they may have played fine when you showed your friend, they will start to act differently as time goes on and the amplifier will start to suffer and possibly overheat.

As suggested, check the DC resistance of the woofers with a multimeter. Keep in mind, the DC resistance will normally be lower than the advertised impedance, so don't let that worry you. It's not uncommon to see a 4 ohm sub have a DC resistance as low as 3.2 ohms. What's more important is to compare the two woofer and make sure they are about the same, give or take 0.1 ohm.

 

Typically, if you smoked your subs, you'll notice a smell not unlike burnt popcorn. Make sure all power and ground leads are tight, and for your ground, make sure it's going to bare metal. Check your RCA cables, make sure they haven't came loose. Check your remote turn-on wire, amp fuses, and fuse @ the battery.