Blew A Type-r - Am I Already Blowing My Other Type-r?

[dwz]

Hello! I have an interesting predicament and it'll definitely be hard to sleep tonight.

I like learning from mistakes. And quite honestly I think I've had a combination of stupid mistakes with possible manufacturer defects. I'm willing to bet I have two poorly performing Type-R's thanks to bad advice from a car audio guy from a Best Buy I work at.

I'll list everything in order from past to present.

I have a Kenwood HU with two Pre-Amp Outs and voltage is 2v.

There is no Sub level control at all.

I'm using two sets of 8ga power and ground cable from RF.

-I bought an Alpine M-500 (500wRMS@2ohms) and an Alpine Type-R 1242d (500wRMS@2ohms) wired at 2ohms

-I ran it with Max Amp Gains and +12db Amp Bass Boost (i was uneducated) and 0db bass on my HU

-I bought another Alpine Type-R 1242d

-I hooked both Type-R's up to the Amp @ 4ohms with gains and bass boost on Max, and 0db bass on my HU

**-I basically was giving 150w@4ohms to each Sub when they're meant for 300w@4ohms each (underpowering them)**

-I bought the second Alpine M-500, wired both of them to 2ohms

-Ran each Sub to its own M-500, 2ohms each

-I ran it with Max Amp Gains and +12db Amp Bass Boost (still uneducated)

*-Found out I blew one of the Type-R's, BAD!!! **On a very cold day of course...**

-Type-R made a terrible rattling noise. It also smelled bad.

-Replaced Type-R @ Best Buy (it was 3 weeks old)

-Turned down all my gains (-8bass, -7mid, -7treble) on my HU

-I left the Amp Bass Boost and Amp Gains @ Max to compensate for the -8bass on my HU

-I replaced the RCA cables with dual twisted for less noise.

-Found out one of the Pre-Amp outs on my HU is bad (meaning only one was working all along)

*-Got two Y-Splitters, BUMPED on 4/20! Definitely heard both... And played for 4-5 hours with 5 minute breaks every half hour for subs to cool down*

-Had gain on HU set @ 0db bass with Gains on Amp Maxed and +12db Bass Boost on Amp when I was listening to Metal that was under-bassed

*-Accidentally played Gucci Mane with 0db Bass on my HU... Max Amp Gains and Amp Bass Boost. Forgot to turn it down to -8db*

-Noticed today that suddenly one of the subs stopped working

-Both amps are powered on.. only one sub is working as we speak

-I come to find out, tonight (4/21), that gains are not a volume knob (nobody told me that I had to match them to the headunit!!!!)

* = an event where I think damage might have occured.

All of the events above occured in less than a month.

1) Given all of these events, what is the likelyhood that my subs are partially damaged? They're about a month old.

2) Could I have ruined one of the subs or both by setting amp gains to max without realizing what it was actually doing? Now I know that I have to match the volts from my headunit with my amp, which shocked me because I thought I would know better than that.

3) Does that mean that if I get both subs to work, and I match my amp gains to my headunit voltage (say I lower them), will it actually be louder than having the amp gains set too high for the HU?

4) Should I just replace the Subs via Manufacturer Warranty and sell them and start over with a new pair?

Edited April 22, 2009 by dwz

[uhoh_45]

take the sub out make sure the wires are all tight.. if there still on take sub out place it some where and push on the center of the cone gently and listen for a scratching noise.... and you'll know by the smell of burnt coil cant really rescribe that smell but it smells bad

[Boon]

It's probably fucked again tbh.

Personally I'm against returning gear for manufacturer warranty when it was damaged by bad installation or abuse. Basically you're fucking the company in the ass, people that do this are killing the industry. Man up, it was your mistake, take responsibility for it.

[dwz]

Of course it's my fault. And I agree it fucks companies over. I just wish I had known better.

I was told by countless people that "Type-Rs are nearly invincible" and "Type-R's can handle well over half the RMS they claim" and "Type-R's can take any beating".

Shouldn't have believed it! Cause I blew one simply from clipping and/or underpowering when i had it @ 4ohms with the other Type-R

Edited April 22, 2009 by dwz

[a_steezy]

Of course it's my fault. And I agree it fucks companies over. I just wish I had known better.

typical best buy install...

you need to properly set your gains, and turn your bassboost off or at least down...

gain all the way up + bass boost all the way up = fail for dd for the most part, especially with type r's

[lanman31337]

You're never ever ever ever ever going to blow a sub if you underpower it with clean power. If you would, then every time you turned down the volume, you'd blow the sub. You blew it because you were running an ungodly awful clipped signal. And yes for the most part they will handle more than the rms, only if you run an UNCLIPPED signal.

[dwz]

Okay I pulled out the Subwoofers... Resistance measured @ 2.0ohms.

The voice coils look good. If they're burnt they should smell or look dark right? I noticed one sub still has the glue from the dustcap attaching it to the voice coils. The other sub has glue on one side (i'm assuming it burnt off).

I pushed and didn't hear any scraping. Even if there isn't visible or scraping, could I still have actual damage?

**Oh and I'll never listen to that former Car Toys now Best Buy installer again (I work with him. He's the lead car audio installer, I work @ computer geek squad). He was gonna get the same setup as me... Wouldn't be surprised if he was givin me bad advice for shits and giggles (he's that type)**

Edited April 22, 2009 by dwz

[01xtreme]

If each VC is measuring the proper resistance that it probably isn't blow YET. visually inspect them, and check to see if you can see any burnt places on them. Odds are they are damaged somewhat, but probably not too badly yet. Moral of the story, you can blow any sub (even if you're drastically underpowering it) with a clipped signal. I have seen numerous times where people were feeding type R's 2 and 3 times rated rms power, but you have to be careful that your signal is 100% clean. Any distortion and that sub will blow quickly. If you're going to buy a sub from best buy, get the Geek Squad Black Tie Protection. I work there, and can tell you that anything short of stabbing a knife through your sub and we will replace it for you, and it only costs 30 bucks at most for 4 years. Then you're not fucking over Alpine if you return it, you're merely using a service you paid for from Best Buy.

[dwz]

HOLY CRAP!!!!!

One of the subs is measuring @1ohm when it's properly wired for 2ohms.

Does that mean a VC is bad?

[raytard]

it could...do both VC's measure 4ohm when they are separate? soemtimes when it frys it will melt individual coils together, providing a bit of a short circuit and lowering resistance