do subs still play when blown?

everything was normal then one day i turn my car on, turn up the volume to normal listening volume and my sub is making a funny noise, but it was not moving or creating bass. the music was still coming out though. i took out the sub and it looked fine, but it has a slight burning smell. the amp is still working (i think) and all the wires are fine.

the sub is a kicker cvr (500 rms) dual 2 ohm
the amp is a ca600 (450 rms bridged at 4 ohm)

theres no way the amp could have blown it right?

also the sub has 4 connector things (2 red, 2 black). i had one red connected to the - and one black connected to the +. the other two werent connected to anything. im wondering if this is the problem and that i was putting all 450 watts into 1 voice coil. no?

Well with the way that you wired it, you could have easily blown both the sub and the amp. I don't mean to be rude, but what were you thinking wiring it up like that? Did you not consult any kind of info source when you were doing this?

You had one coil hooked up, this means your amp was seeing a 2ohm load when bridged (that is if you bridged it properly). This means, you could have possibly sent up to 900rms (this is before clipping btw, 1500+ if the amp was clipping completely, before it self destructed of course) to ONE voice coil (500rms sub, which means each voice coil can handle 250rms). So your amp was trying to play at 2ohm bridged, and your 250rms coil could have possibly seen 900+ rms.

Well with the way that you wired it, you could have easily blown both the sub and the amp. I don't mean to be rude, but what were you thinking wiring it up like that? Did you not consult any kind of info source when you were doing this?

You had one coil hooked up, this means your amp was seeing a 2ohm load when bridged (that is if you bridged it properly). This means, you could have possibly sent up to 900rms (this is before clipping btw, 1500+ if the amp was clipping completely, before it self destructed of course) to ONE voice coil (500rms sub, which means each voice coil can handle 250rms). So your amp was trying to play at 2ohm bridged, and your 250rms coil could have possibly seen 900+ rms.

no offense taken. i didnt connect them, but i wish i would have. there is 4 spots on the amp because its a 2 channel. to get it bridged you put the wires in the outside spots. so where would the other two connecters connect to? do you just connect the two to each other on the sub?

the funny thing is, that sub and amp lasted a long time and hit hella hard. thats one of the reasons i never bothered to worry about it. would it have been louder if both vc were connected?

no, if the amp is bridged nothing is connected to the inside 2 terminals on the amp. As for the sub, the + on the amp should go to the + on voice coil A, then the - on voice coil A goes to the + on voice coil B, then the - on voice coil B goes to the - on the amp. This is called series wiring, if you want a better description, a quick google search should turn up several pictures that show you how to do it exactly. Who hooked everything up? I hope they didn't charge much

my dad hooked it up. it was hooked up just like you said except it didn't have another speaker wire to hook up the + and - on the sub. i guess a 6 inch speaker wire was the difference. i think what happened is the amplifier kit only came with the 2 wires, so thats how he did it. i asked a guy at circuit city about the 2 unused connectors and he said as long as you have a ground, you will be fine. what a jerk

the guy at circuit city actually told you that as long as you have a ground you don't need to hook up the second voice coil on a dual voice coil sub? Well that just goes to show why you never ask for advice at circuit city or best buy I guess, if they actually knew what they were talking about they wouldn't be working there in the first place

the guy at circuit city actually told you that as long as you have a ground you don't need to hook up the second voice coil on a dual voice coil sub? Well that just goes to show why you never ask for advice at circuit city or best buy I guess, if they actually knew what they were talking about they wouldn't be working there in the first place

LMAO, Circuit city guys and Best buy guys are stupid... I was listening to the best buy guy helping a guy out. "hey you should really try these four way coaxials, the 3 extra speakers really push the highs and they also are 300 watts of power, now you can run it that high, but lots of people will only tell you to run it at the rms which is 75 watts..." and at about that point I stopped listening cause I was getting stupider by the minute

yeah i really made a mistake talkin to one of those guys.

i have another question (might be stupid), but how do i test if my amp has a problem or something. it turns on and looks normal, but i dont trust it. i want to give it to a friend or perhaps sell it, but i dont want to be responsible for messing there systems up too.

this really is a serious question. i think im gonna keep it and get another sub, but i need to know how to check if it is working properly.

do you have a multimeter?

i dont know exactly what that is, but i bet my auto shop class at my school has one.

How would I use 1 or whatever?

to test your amp connect it like you normally do, except do not connect any speaker wires to it.
put a meter on the speaker outputs. for your amp I'm thinking that you should get an output of about 10-15 volts per channel with your HU volume about halfway and your amplifiers gain at about halfway. If you're there then the problem my be that burnt smelling sub...

to test your amp connect it like you normally do, except do not connect any speaker wires to it.
put a meter on the speaker outputs. for your amp I'm thinking that you should get an output of about 10-15 volts per channel with your HU volume about halfway and your amplifiers gain at about halfway. If you're there then the problem my be that burnt smelling sub...

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I sence foul...a voltometer is basicly a direct short between two power sources....doing that will send the amp into protect mode and/or blow the fuse...the smarter thing to do is to leave the speaker hooked up and measure voltage from the (+) amp terminam to the (+) speaker terminal...and for 400 watts into a 4 ohm load this should be 100volts peak and about 50RMS with the gain all the way up and about half thoes figures w/ gain half way down...that burning smell was probably the voice coils wire's insulation burning...and yes you will have to replace the speaker...to find out how bad it is though get an ohmeter and measure DC resistance...find out what the factory says it is sapposed to be (remember DC resistance is much lower than Nominal Impeadence...most good speaker companies supply specs on both DC resistance and Nominal Impeadence) and if it is well below it the insulation is burnt but the copper its self isnt burt...yet...if it is much higher then factory specs then the copper has been burnt...

I sence foul...a voltometer is basicly a direct short between two power sources....doing that will send the amp into protect mode and/or blow the fuse...the smarter thing to do is to leave the speaker hooked up and measure voltage from the (+) amp terminam to the (+) speaker terminal...and for 400 watts into a 4 ohm load this should be 100volts peak and about 50RMS with the gain all the way up and about half thoes figures w/ gain half way down...that burning smell was probably the voice coils wire's insulation burning...and yes you will have to replace the speaker...to find out how bad it is though get an ohmeter and measure DC resistance...find out what the factory says it is sapposed to be (remember DC resistance is much lower than Nominal Impeadence...most good speaker companies supply specs on both DC resistance and Nominal Impeadence) and if it is well below it the insulation is burnt but the copper its self isnt burt...yet...if it is much higher then factory specs then the copper has been burnt...


1 - A voltmeter is not a direct short, a voltmeter is theoretically an infinite resistance. Putting it on the amp's output will do nothing to the amp at all, it will be just like turning o the amp with nothing connected to the output at all.
2 - Measuring the voltage between the amp's + and the speaker's + terminal would yield 0 volts, that won't show a single thing
3 - 400 watts at 4ohm would be 10 volts rms, or 20 volts peak, and this voltage would be between the amp's + and - output terminals, not between the amps + and the speaker's +
4 - The amp does not put out full output when the gain is maxed, and half output when the gain is half. This type of thinking is what blows speakers, the gain is to match the amp's input sensitivity to the output voltage of the source feeding it (headunit in most cases, sometimes a line driver). In many cases you'll get full output with the gain up 1/4 f the way or even less, and with the gain any higher you'll start clipping the amp heavily.

1). a voltmeter is a short ckt that will blow your fuse
2). you should hook batt + to amps + output
3). f?ck sr20 beat me to you..
you might sense foul, but I smell more than burnt subs

you guys are confusing me. what is the easiest way to check if my amp is fine?

take it to a local shop and let them bench test it for you...
they'll probably do it for free, or the tech doing it might ask for a little something for his time...

so dont put it on a voltmeter?

a voltmeter will be fine, actually you should use it to set your gains. some companies like JL will let you know in it's literature what the voltage should read for optimal performance at a given input voltage, with others you'll just have to do the math...

and dont hook up the sub right? do i need to do each channel at a time?

yes, do one channel at a time, and do not have your subs hooked up. depending on your input voltage (2volts is common) you should get between 10-15 volts output for each channel, and that depends on your HU's signal processor settings.

just hook up the amp like normal but with no subs attached to it. Play some music, set the voltmeter to read AC voltage and put it on the + and - output terminals. Just make sure that it reads something, and that it increases and decreases with the volume. Then pause your cd player, set the voltmeter to read DC voltage and leave it on the output terminals. Make sure that it reads 0, if so the amp should be alright.


edit: looks like I'm too slow

i took everything out of my trunk and re-hooked everything up except the speaker wires, and i noticed the ground wire is burnt or melted at the end where its connected to my car's chassy. what does this mean? i found out my dad has a v.meter, and im about to test it right now....

is it ok to test it even w/ the ground wire like that? can i take it out and still be ok?

edit: also, the ground is not that bad, just a little melted. its still intact.

im just waitin for you guy's approval

the ground may have worked itself loose and started arcing and sparking...
the area grounded might not have been sanded clean to the bare metal...
a bad connection could start arcing as well...
re-run a new grounding cable, (minimum 4awg), and make sure you have a tight connection, and a good, clean, solid ground to the car for the test...
I still recommend a bench test at a shop...

can i cut a piece of the speaker wire (since i have no use for it, and there's plenty) and then connect to the amp and ground it? or do i need a special "ground wire"? its 12awg.

negative...
both power and ground should be at least 4awg for your application.
anything less and your asking for it...

the origional ground was 8 gauge :frown:

cutting it close, but what was the verdict anyway with the new cable...

ill do it tommorow and tell you. thanks for all the help, you and sr20.

ok this might be another dumb question, but you told me to use a new ground right? well i dont have another one, but i have some battery cable left over, can i use that? it looks pretty much the same accept it is red. also, is it ok to test it on 8 gauge, or definetely dont do it? the current battery cable and the old ground was 8.

when you try to use small gauge for high current, melted insulation, and possible fires are usually the result. 8 gauge will work good for up to about 500-600 watts peak (my opinion) which gives you about half that rms. as long as you don't get too crazy with the current you should be fine, especially if your only using it to test your amps outputs...