12" BTL started to smoke today

[RamenNoodles 0]

Hey there Scott or Nick. Today My 12" BTL that I purchased in late April started to smoke today. I have the subwoofer in a ported box around 3cuft to a Crunch GP3000D Pro.

I was driving today and out of no where my subwoofer started to cut out and I thought that it was probably a wire coming loose or something so i just turned it down. Then I smell this awful burning smell and look back and the back seat of my car is being filled with a whitish smoke.

I am assuming that somehow the voice coils burnt up. What would I need to do to have this fixed? A recone? And what does the FI warranty cover because I wasnt really pushing the subwoofer as hard as it could go. It was about half tilt when it started to cut out.

Thanks guys!

[KU40 173]

Sounds like you cooked the voice coils. I really doubt that FI would cover user abuse though. But yeah you do need a recone to fix it. No matter what you think, if you burnt the voice coils you were pushing too much power through it. You'll need to adjust (aka lower) your gain. You might have only had it halfway up this time, but maybe last time you were pushing it full tilt it did damage.

[johnecon2001 82]

Whitish smoke sounds more like amp trouble..

Does your amp still function?

[RamenNoodles 0]

It was just smoke coming from inside of the port. I dont think an amp would push smoke through the wires to the sub to make it come out of the port.

Hot damn though, I really dont even play it full tilt since my new alt isnt in yet. But hell you never know with electronics.

How much is a new recone total for a 12" BTL if I send it to you guys to do it. Im not trying to mess with that crap.

[RamenNoodles 0]

Its just odd to me that 3000 rms will cook the voice coils because in many cases like steve meade, he pushes 4500-5000 rms to each of his and seem to be fine. I know he is in a whole different ball game then me but its just weird to me.

Maybe I could have gotten some faulty parts?

[RamenNoodles 0]

And the amp will still turn on, but I unplugged the remote so its not powering on right now since there is no subwoofer.

[KU40 173]

Just because he has amps rated at 5000 watts doesn't mean he uses all of it.

[lee 2]

Steve also has a way better electrical than most anybody else.

Edited June 4, 2008 by Earthman

[hayes55987 0]

in many cases its not so much the amount of power but how clean the signal is being sent.

[Megalomaniac 0]

Hey there Scott or Nick. Today My 12" BTL that I purchased in late April started to smoke today. I have the subwoofer in a ported box around 3cuft to a Crunch GP3000D Pro.

I was driving today and out of no where my subwoofer started to cut out and I thought that it was probably a wire coming loose or something so i just turned it down. Then I smell this awful burning smell and look back and the back seat of my car is being filled with a whitish smoke.

I am assuming that somehow the voice coils burnt up. What would I need to do to have this fixed? A recone? And what does the FI warranty cover because I wasnt really pushing the subwoofer as hard as it could go. It was about half tilt when it started to cut out.

Thanks guys!

I am sorry there is no warranty, no matter which options you get. That is the risk you took when purchasing the BTL. Should have bought a pair BLs if you wanted warranty.

Recones run about ~$100(give or take) plus shipping if i remember correctly.

[patented17 21]

Probably clipped the crap out of it.

[sound=vibration 34]

Probably clipped the crap out of it.

ya u said ur new alt was not in yet so voltage drops..... that will do it.... get ne alt in... adjust gains correctly and u shuldn have any further problems

[KU40 173]

in many cases its not so much the amount of power but how clean the signal is being sent.

actually it really is about the power. A speaker doesn't care about the distortion in the signal. If you want evidence just look at guitarists who crank up distortion to get a unique sound. The problem with clipping is that there is extra power being sent. So while you may have a 1000 watt amp on a 1000 watt sub, if you clip the amp you could be sending 1500+ watts.

[Godsmack 360]

Clipped signal=dead sub.

PERIOD

[BKOLFO4 29]

Sudden white smoke without a few minutes of bad smell before hand sounds like a good possibility of DC offset from the amp. Had it happen too many times with MD3Ds

I run 4000+ RMS daily without any problems. . .and yes, I run 4000+ daily . I smell the coils every now and then if I am showing off clipping the amp's outputs, but no damage to the subs.

Were you smelling hot glue on the coils before you saw white smoke??

I would connect that amp to another sub (ready to disconnect quickly if there is a problem) and test it before you use it again.

Let us know. I have been hearing good things about that amp, but would be curious to know if yours failed. . .

Brian

[KU40 173]

Clipped signal=dead sub.

PERIOD

not exactly true. You can clip a 50 watt amp all you want but it won't blow a 200 watt sub.

[BKOLFO4 29]

not exactly true. You can clip a 50 watt amp all you want but it won't blow a 200 watt sub.

That is correct. Been proven in testing more than once. . .

As you stated above the problem with clipping is the RMS power can increase beyond the thermal limits of the driver, and the thermal limits of the driver can also decrease due to the reduced cooling of the coil caused by what looks like a flat DC offset at the top and bottom of the wave where you do not have cone movement when really heavy clipping occurs. No coil movement = no cooling. 99% of power applied becomes heat, so the coil has to be moving to cool it.

But if you stay within the thermal limits of the driver, clipping/distortion will not damage a sub. . . Damage is done by exceeding the thermal limit of the coil, or the mechanical limit of the suspension.

Brian

[jonbearsmt 919]

Steve also has a way better electrical than most anybody else.

lets talk about it

[Naledge503 0]

Its about clipping and pushing the driver beyond its thermal limits. People turn their gain, bb and subwoofer setting hoping to get the loudness they are looking for. When you dont have the Electrical to back up that much power, the amp is trying to produce power that it cant make...clipping.

[KU40 173]

Its about clipping and pushing the driver beyond its thermal limits. People turn their gain, bb and subwoofer setting hoping to get the loudness they are looking for. When you dont have the Electrical to back up that much power, the amp is trying to produce power that it cant make...clipping.

not generally the case. An amp with an unregulated power supply will just put out less power with a lower input voltage. An amp with a regulated power supply will pull more current as the voltage drops so that it can keep the output power the same. Clipping generally occurs on the signal side of the equation, when the input voltage from the HU is higher than the amp's gain setting.

[Naledge503 0]

Its about clipping and pushing the driver beyond its thermal limits. People turn their gain, bb and subwoofer setting hoping to get the loudness they are looking for. When you dont have the Electrical to back up that much power, the amp is trying to produce power that it cant make...clipping.

not generally the case. An amp with an unregulated power supply will just put out less power with a lower input voltage. An amp with a regulated power supply will pull more current as the voltage drops so that it can keep the output power the same. Clipping generally occurs on the signal side of the equation, when the input voltage from the HU is higher than the amp's gain setting.

So you dont think by dialing up the gain, bb, or subwoofer level to make up for power that you cant make doesnt cause a clipped signal? So we should all run stock electrical no matter how big of a "system" we have and just max out the gain and BB? Cause thats not the signal coming in. I'm trying to understand...

[BKOLFO4 29]

I think what he was trying to say is that if the gain is set correctly, you are not going to always get clipping because of low battery voltage - you will just get less power.

Edited June 4, 2008 by BKOLFO4

[Naledge503 0]

I think what he was trying to say is that if the gain is set correctly, you are not going to always get clipping because of low battery voltage - you will just get less power.

While that is true and makes sense, I was saying that people try to make up for the lack of power they have by turning the gain or bb or subwoofer level on the H/U. I always understood that this can cause clipping as well. Have I been mislead the whole time.

It takes power to make power. Example, Say I am running an amp that calls for 200A but my alt and electrical is only to supply it with 95A, I am only going to get so much power out of my amp. Now if I try to make up for that lack of power by turning up the gain, bb, or sub level, I can cause the amp to clip. Right?

[KU40 173]

yes, but again, that's on the signal side of things. Any of that bass boost, volume knob, gain, etc. That can cause clipping no matter if your electrical system can provide enough power or not. Now I agree with you that some people turn it up louder because their electrical system is at it's limit (or more). That's because their amp is putting out less power because the electrical system is bogged down. But not having a large enough electrical system in and of itself does not cause clipping.

[Naledge503 0]

yes, but again, that's on the signal side of things. Any of that bass boost, volume knob, gain, etc. That can cause clipping no matter if your electrical system can provide enough power or not. Now I agree with you that some people turn it up louder because their electrical system is at it's limit (or more). That's because their amp is putting out less power because the electrical system is bogged down. But not having a large enough electrical system in and of itself does not cause clipping.

I guess I was unclear in my initial post, cause that is exactly what I was trying to say lol.