Subwoofer Help

[tangerine301]

would a leak in a sealed subwoofer enclosure cause the sub to rattle or sound as if it were bottomrng out? it sounds decent untill i turn it up and then it sounds distorted and rattles. or would this maybe have something to do with the frequency?

[jrhymeammo]

My low powered subs I used to bottom out like crazy. Paradigm PD series I used to have years back. You sub is probably just givingup cuz you are asking it it play alot lower than its capability. What kind of sub do you own?

-JRA

[tangerine301]

its an audiobahn aw101t. its a single voice coil which i tested and it was reading 4 ohms as it should. i was thinking that it might be due to a bad leak. i had to modify the box i bought for it so the sub would seat in the enclosure tighter.

[royphil345]

I've had subs sound noisy in a sealed enclosure due to leaks. Also could be that you're just working it too hard or your amp is distorting. Also could be damage to other parts of the driver besides the voice coil wire. Bought a sub once where the cone was partially unglued from the damper (the cloth part in the rear that keeps dust out of the voice coil and helps to keep it centered). That made a rattling noise. Took me awhile to figure that one out. With the amount cone movement and air subs move... almost anything that isn't right will cause noises. Just keep looking, listening and experimenting. You should be able to figure it out.

Good luck!!!

[tangerine301]

thanks for the advie and one more question for u. if the cone where damaged as u described is that something that can be reglued and fixed or would the sub be unrepairable.

[royphil345]

It would be an easy fix if the joint between the voice coil and spider (damper) was damaged. I'm sure one of the many speaker repair shops on the web would sell you the proper glue. Most of the speaker glue I see on the web is for gluing surrounds and dust caps (which can also come loose and make noise by the way). Not sure if the same glue would be best for repairing the glue joint between the voice coil and the spider. The joint between the cone and voice coil can also become damaged. Problem there is that the joint is covered by the dust cap on the front and the spider on the back. If all else fails and you're getting ready to toss the driver, you could remove the dust cap and check out that joint. Dust cap could be reglued or replaced with a new one. There are directions for removing the dust cap all over the web for use with speaker surround / refoaming kits.

The driver I had the problem with was brand new. The factory missed a spot when gluing the voice coil to the spider. Sent it back for a replacement.

Also... The insulation can be rubbed off of the outside of the voice coil wires if there is cone rub between the coil and magnet structure. It's possible for the coil to touch the metal magnet structure and short out only when under stress. The coil would still measure normally at rest. Too many things that can go wrong with a simple driver...