Locked up sub?!

Ok I got my PA amp in today and I hooked it up to my Dub200 sub...well, I had the sub running at 2 ohm and was using left channel only. I played test tones for about 10-15 minutes. Got bored of that and put in Late Nite Tip by 3 6 Mafia...about 2 minutes into the song my sub quits everything and some smoke comes out the ports. I instantly turn everything off and check the sub. It is frozen in place but hot. So I took it out of the box and let it cool some and tried to move the cone. Well, after a couple of minutes it moves but has a scratchy sound to it. But moves semi freely. Is it possibly that I blew the sub. The sub is rated at "400 watts rms" and I was pushing "440 watts rms" Is that enough to blow a sub? I mean it's only 40 watts over so would that have caused this?

burnt voice coil.

most likely an ovverrated sub and you where clipping the amp :)

burnt coils, buy new sub.

i looked up the specs ont hat sub

it';s 400wrms @ 4 ohm, not 400wrms @ 2 ohm, you were overpowering the sub, way too much.

you mean amp? subs have the same thermal power hnadling at all impeadances.

you mean amp? subs have the same thermal power hnadling at all impeadances.didn't know that


and no, I mean't the sub.

he prolly meant that its a 4 ohm sub and its rated at 400 rms..

either way.. the sub sucks, it doesnt handle 400 rms, and even though it sucks to blow a sub, consider it to be a blessing in disguise and get something a little nicer :)

oh and yeah its definately blown.

dude, i still havent sent the money. im the worse $1 sender ever.

ok. tomarrow i have to go to walmart, i lost hte last $1, i will get some stamps and put it in the box tomarrow afternoon.

^lol,

Oh yeah your sub is toasted i have about 4 laying around my house now from friends who put shit amps to shit subs. What it sounded like he was saying was that he put the amp at 2 ohm and if thats the case it would be well over 800rms if its actually rated right. Let alone the fact that the sub isnt actually rated correctly.

No. My amp can run at 380 at 4 ohm and 440 watts at 2 ohm so I thought hey lets get the most power out of it and you have read the results. Anyways, thank god I am a thrifty person and save all my receipts. They couldn't give me my money back but did do an exchange for me. For now this sub will have to do though. A crap sub is better than no sub in my case. Anyways I really need to find some other subs but won't break me. I am wanting to have 2 12's that are 2 ohm each that way I get the most power. But I need them to handle 440 watts rms (if PA didn't over rate my amp). Also is there anyway to check how many watts I am running at? I have a digital voltmeter but don't know how to use it. (Yes I'm stupid) Anyways about the subs I am wanting to get like a deal so that if my girlfriend asks why'd you spend $XXX on 2 subs I want to be able to say well, it was buy one get one half off or something like that.

Stop wasting your time and money with crap and buy something decent that will last awhile. Ascendant is good and they dont even cost that much. Plus it will sound better than any 2 sub combination that is sold in stores, assuming you put it in a good box. hell it would probably sound better just sitting in free air.

I need to get pictures of my box. It's 34 wide 20 deep and 20 tall. Rigth now I have to 2 1/8" round holes for ports. I need to order some ports so that I will be at 23 or so hz. I seen some eclipse subs at a circut city but the power rating is at 300 rms and I am worried about over powering those. I am wanting a sub a little more on the SPL side than AA's.

Oh. Well do whatever you want. Eclipse is decent. SPL is pointless for daily listening. It gets really annoying after a while.

Oh. Well do whatever you want. Eclipse is decent. SPL is pointless for daily listening. It gets really annoying after a while.agreed

First off either the PA amp is rated completely wrong, thery are using the wrong power reading for marketing use or your not reading the right ones. Only reason i say this is because going from 4 ohm to 2 ohm will give you 1 and half times the power at 2 ohms so if you have 300 it goes to 450. Most of the time. If you want something decent that isnt top end but isnt complete shit go on ebay and get a set of infinity kappa perfect 12.dvc. Another choice get a set of alpine type-r's. I will agree something is better than nothing but nothing is better than something that sounds like someone farting into a microphone

ummm, no, on an unregulated amp, voltage rail being the limiting factor, going from 2 to 4ohm will double power. Ir 300wrms to 600w rms. In a regualted amp or an amp where the power supply is the limiting factor it depends completely on the circutry.

At 4 ohms I am running at 370x2 and at 2 ohms it's 440x2. I took the second blown dub sub, blew another, back to walmart got cash back and monday I am going to H.H. Gregg. Our's offer's financing so I will be able to get something a little more high end because I will be able to pay it off over time. I am thinking about some MTX's. I have a friend with 2 in the bed of his S10. No cutout and you can feel the bass inside the truck. So I am going to look at getting some of those.

don't buy things you can't afford. And if you're gonna buy from wal mart, get the lightning audio 12's. I had them hooked up to 144w rms each, between blowing my audiobahns and buying my type r's. They were impressive.

don't buy things you can't afford. And if you're gonna buy from wal mart, get the lightning audio 12's. I had them hooked up to 144w rms each, between blowing my audiobahns and buying my type r's. They were impressive.

I'm pushing between 370 and 440 watts rms. I think that's over the lightning audios max power. Anyways, I am hoping Best Buy offers financing. They carry Alpine Type R's. I was actually considering those or at circuit city that mtx vented enclosure combo. I would much rather get just the subs though cause I already have a box. And last night I was looking up the specs for the r's and it's what I need. I figured out about what financing would be for 12 months at 15% interest for 300 it'll be about 30 a month.

Dude if you need to finance subs, its probably not a good idea. I always pay cash for everything, so I never have debt. I think you should just get one sub. You could always get one now then if you want more get the other later.

Well, I am just turning 18 and need to build my credit. This is like a really easy way to do it to for me. I was wanting to take out like a 2,000 or 3,000 loan to build my credit. I was going with 2,000 for car audio and 3,000 for a supercharger. Sadly, I haven't done either one...

To fryman yeah i know i was referring to more along the lines of low to mid grade amps ie profile. Even if thats the case that amp is rated wrong at some point, like the RF amps at best buy says 600 on the damn amp look at the power rating its usually 50x2 and 150 bridged, (man its fun to fuck with the guys in there).

JTG you know there is a pot on the amp that says power output, you can turn it to make it put out less power. And i have friends younger than me in debt so bad its not right, one has about 22k, another has 15k, i might be about 1500 in debt but thats from owing money to friends for shit ie 2 engines and a set of wheels. Look on ebay for type r's it will drop the price alot. One question is it a prefab box or custom, unless the box is decent then you would be wasting your money to get better subs and put them in a shitty box.

It's a custom. I used bassbox pro to make it. I went to H.H. Gregg today and they "sold" me infinity's. The reason why I say "sold" is I paid for them they brought them out to me and I looked at the box and it said 300 rms. They told me 500 rms. So I told them to take them back and to change their price flyer for them. Tomorrow I am going to this place called smart shoppers in louisville ky. They sell car audio stuff at great prices. The way they work is they sell whatever it is for retail plus 15%. That way you don't pay the extra mark ups like you do at best buy and other places. I'm probably looking for Alpine Type R's or maybe MTX. Yeah I knew about the gain setting on amps. Hopefully you was talking about that.

This is in response to your question about calculating watts with a multimeter....
It's actually a really simple formula...

Power (P) - measured in watts
is equal to Voltage (E)
multiplied by Amps (I)
or in other words P = I x E

Because of he dynamic nature of music, you can only get an average of
prevailing conditions, ie. volume, settings, type of music, etc.

Retail +15% that sounds like a rip off maybe wholesale+15%. Retail is what everyone is supposed to sell the item for.

Yeah today I was thinking about what I posted and that's what I meant to say. I didn't get much sleep when I posted that.

This is in response to your question about calculating watts with a multimeter....
It's actually a really simple formula...

Power (P) - measured in watts
is equal to Voltage (E)
multiplied by Amps (I)
or in other words P = I x E

Because of he dynamic nature of music, you can only get an average of
prevailing conditions, ie. volume, settings, type of music, etc.

That formula isn't gonna help you much ... you will be trying to read 2 variables at once, you will need 2 meters hooked up at the same time for that.

i wouldn't say the lightnings are impressive. they are holding up for me, so far, but they sound like crap.

I'm pushing between 370 and 440 watts rms. I think that's over the lightning audios max power. Anyways, I am hoping Best Buy offers financing. They carry Alpine Type R's. I was actually considering those or at circuit city that mtx vented enclosure combo. I would much rather get just the subs though cause I already have a box. And last night I was looking up the specs for the r's and it's what I need. I figured out about what financing would be for 12 months at 15% interest for 300 it'll be about 30 a month.

the lightings are 150rms/750peak. prolly overrated on the peak side, but i am running around 250 rms to mine. (not saying they are good, just holding the power)

That formula isn't gonna help you much ... you will be trying to read 2 variables at once, you will need 2 meters hooked up at the same time for that.


yeah well, with a fluke it's going to be all involved putting the leads in series with the speakers for the amperage, but with a clampmeter you can just put 'em on while taking your voltages with your fluke...
If the JUnkTiTLeGulf had to ask the question he prolly don't have any test equip, (clampmeter, wattmeter, true rms mm, or any kind of mm), but his local shop should be able to help with that....

I have a digital multimeter and thats bout it.

I have a digital multimeter and thats bout it.

you can take amperage and votage readings with a DMM, and use then calculate watts....

the lightings are 150rms/750peak. prolly overrated on the peak side, but i am running around 250 rms to mine. (not saying they are good, just holding the power)
that's 66% more than they are rated for. You're killing them.

I had mine in a sealed box tuned to the standing frequency of my car, and I was also supplying them their perfect rms power from a super clean amp. They sounded QUITE nice at 130 db. no joke. But I prefer my system to hit over 140 db. That's the only reason I didn't keep them.

you can take amperage and votage readings with a DMM, and use then calculate watts....

90% of non clamp DMM's cant measure more than 10a of current.

hey now that we're talking about this; I just needed to measure amps per channel for the first time the other day. I couldn't figure it out, but it was on somebody else's DMM.

how exactly do you have to set it up to find amps? not the multimeter its self, but the connections. I believe mine is capable of reading it.

i know i'm overpowering them, but i dont care. i need somthing new anyway. i'm hitting in the low 130's with them.

by the way, does anyone know how accurate scosche's spl meter is? it said on the package it would read up to 130 db, but i've got it to read over that. would it be very accurate above 130?

hey now that we're talking about this; I just needed to measure amps per channel for the first time the other day. I couldn't figure it out, but it was on somebody else's DMM.

how exactly do you have to set it up to find amps? not the multimeter its self, but the connections. I believe mine is capable of reading it.


To do that you have to have the meter in series with the speaker, it will only read voltage if you put the leads across the terminals of your amp (aka in parallel). So that means you take one of your speaker wires out of the amp and put one lead from the DMM on the amp and the other on the speaker wire.

BE AWARE that this could still blow your DMM depending on how good your amp is , most DMM's are only rated for 10 Amps and that is unfused. So if you are getting a reading of over 200mA you should have the meter hooked to the circuit for no more than 10 seconds.

To expound on that a little, make sure your meter leads are plugged into the DMM on the right space.
Most meters have separate I/O jacks for voltage, lower level amps and higher level amperages.
As far as amperes, I guess I just took the flukes for granted because of our clampmeters.
I got duty tonight, I'll check out my fluke when I get to work.

you missed the whole point, let's review ........ P=V*I and V=I*R (or I=V/R). If we do a little substitution, we get P=V*(V/R) or P=V^2/R. We have now narrowed it down to one variable, as long as you know the speakers impedance at the frequency you are playing. This will only require a voltmeter accross the speaker.

you missed the whole point, let's review ........ P=V*I and V=I*R (or I=V/R). If we do a little substitution, we get P=V*(V/R) or P=V^2/R. We have now narrowed it down to one variable, as long as you know the speakers impedance at the frequency you are playing. This will only require a voltmeter accross the speaker.

see what I mean, this is why I love\hate that f?cking pie chart.
Everytime you do something the easy way, somebody come and show you an easier way.

Bjboertj I thought that scocshe thing was good up to 139.9 db. I seen one and was interested in getting it. I've wanted for a while now a db gauge in my car but haven't found a company that makes one. Anyone on here know a company? Oh and can we change the name of this thread to general help and make it a sticky by any chance? There has been alot of topics covered in this.

dude, i still havent sent the money. im the worse $1 sender ever.


im gonna go all over every forum youve ever been a member to and give you horrible feedback as the worst sender ive dealt with. :banhim::wink:

haha but really where is that dollar.. i need some components :sadwavey:

I saw the Scoshe dB meter at Wal-Mart for $25 don't know how well it works though.

Scosche db meter WTF? Was it creaed in conjuction with west coast customs, after the jack hammer incident ive lost faith in custom stereo installers in high cost customs shops. You can get the spinner sub covers while your at it. JK. Not that there was much there in the first place. For 25 i might have to get one and put it next to my uncles old TL to see how accurate it is.

thanks for the good info on DMM readings guys, and for that great formula Paul. Didn't even realize there was an easier way.

that's 66% more than they are rated for. You're killing them.

I had mine in a sealed box tuned to the standing frequency of my car, and I was also supplying them their perfect rms power from a super clean amp. They sounded QUITE nice at 130 db. no joke. But I prefer my system to hit over 140 db. That's the only reason I didn't keep them.

You tuned a sealed box:screwy:
Let me know how that is done:wink: