I think my sub is borken

[RedCharles]

It's borken real hard. Is it time to ready my credit cards for war?

 

[ryanosaur]

I'll stow the smart@$$ comments for the time being... And agree that something doesn't look right.
What does it sound like if you run it by itself (since it appears to be somewhat operational).
What is it, btw? Mostly music at loud levels? And what size room?

 

[RedCharles]

Speakers disconnected. Second Sub disconnected. Same song as before, Painkiller. Then I switched it to a different song.
15x10

 

[lovinthehd]

Once borked forevermore borked?

 

[ryanosaur]

Did you build them or what company are they? How old? If you like them, you might be able to just replace the driver, otherwise... time to go shopping. Bu ya... its dead, jim.

 

[RedCharles]

I bought it for 50 bucks off Craigslist. It's a PS505. So the sound we're hearing is a dead driver?

 

[lovinthehd]

I didn't hear anything but then I don't do videos much either. Drivers don't die usually, more likely the amp.

 

[ryanosaur]

Driver was moving but almost no sound. Never dealt with a blown anything before.

 

[lovinthehd]

Okay I watched the second video. Does sound borked all right , and it was quite a bit of sounds, really bad sounds. Not sure if its the driver or amp myself, that's for someone with more experience....

 

[RedCharles]

Another piece of the puzzle. Makes special bork noise when I turn it off. I'm taking it apart now.

 

[TLS Guy]

Speakers disconnected. Second Sub disconnected. Same song as before, Painkiller. Then I switched it to a different song.
15x10

Its not the driver, the amp is blown, almost certainly it is the power supply. It nearly always is with subs. It is not worth fixing.

 

[RedCharles]

I took off the amp. It didn't smell burnt, and I could not see anything that looked borken, but I'm mostly ignorant about electronics. The capacitors won't shock the bejesus out me will they? I'm investigating this for science. I'm really curious about it. But so far all of I've learned is that I breath really hard.

https://www.amazon.com/Bash-300W-Digital-Subwoofer-Amplifier/dp/B000CCS440
In the reviews, some guy says that it fits the 505 perfectly (Edit: I looked and there pictures showing that the Bash Amp is skinnier than the Polk amp, so ya, this isn't worth it). I'm thinking of selling it for 20 bucks or so on Craigslist, and explaining what's wrong with it. Perhaps I should just give it away.

I wrote another post about gettting six 505s, but I was steered toward getting a set of PB-2000s, so I guess that's my next move here.

 

[lovinthehd]

Instead of PB2000s might think about a pair of VTF3 Mk5s for close to the same $.

 

[ryanosaur]

Instead of PB2000s might think about a pair of VTF3 Mk5s for close to the same $.

After watching those woofers working so hard, I think I agree. You should get a lot more output from those beefier Hsu ‘s.

 

[RedCharles]

The internet agrees that the VTF3 MK5 has an edge over the PB 2000, but there are other factors. SVS has a better return policy, upgrade policy and warranty. I like bass, but the room is a closed 15x13x7 with a roof angle on each side that makes for ~1237 cubic feet. I'm worried that serious subs may overpower the room. I have never experienced a truly powerful subwoofer, and I may find that I don't enjoy a huge amount of bass. But so far, in my bass journey, I've only wanted moar bass.

 

[lovinthehd]

One sub could work well in that size room, altho nice to have two for mode smoothing....but they're only as powerful as you turn up the volume to and how good a job you did on integrating them otoh. You could start with one sub, too and get a second if you need it. How about size of the sub itself, that an issue? If SVS customer service features are attractive/needed, that's a consideration as well. Then there's something like the VTF2 Mk5 for a bit smaller/less expensive option.

 

[RedCharles]

There appear to be two Mk5's. One with 600w and one with 350w. Which one were you recommending?

 

[lovinthehd]

There appear to be two Mk5's. One with 600w and one with 350w. Which one were you recommending?

One or the other; the VTF2 mk5 is a 12", the VTF3 mk5 is a 15". Wattage without other information isn't very meaningful (such as system sensitivity).

 

[ryanosaur]

Also, if the video is anything to go by (as I said earlier...) you were pushing those subs pretty hard. I agree, in that room, one sub like a pb2000 should do fine. If you push them hard, and they get overworked... it doesn't matter. You're gonna end up right back with borked subs. Depending on your budget, if you go with the 3s over the 2s from Hsu, you won't need to fire the gain up so high. Maybe you won't see the woofer excursing so much, but you should get the output you want in a safe manner. It is also designed to play a little lower into infrasonic territory. I think the PB2000s will too, and for a smaller driver with SVS' reputation for customer service....

In theory, you can't go wrong here... its more a matter of what you want to spend, and how you are going to use them.

I have two subs that will make my ears go numb if I turn them up to 50% gain. I listen to them at around 1/4-1/3 gain, and still have them trimmed down in the AVR! For my tastes, they do just fine, and if I want, I've got a lot of extra WOOF to access from 15Hz on up. I'm in a 2000'3 room, and I am not bashful about my volume, though I seldom go above -10dB. When I played an infrasonic test-tone... I didn't hear anything, accept the house vibrating like an earthquake. I only did that once. (ya, it was fun... don't wanna explain to my landlord though if his wall blows out! )

 

[lovinthehd]

Also, if the video is anything to go by (as I said earlier...) you were pushing those subs pretty hard. I agree, in that room, one sub like a pb2000 should do fine. If you push them hard, and they get overworked... it doesn't matter. You're gonna end up right back with borked subs. Depending on your budget, if you go with the 3s over the 2s from Hsu, you won't need to fire the gain up so high. Maybe you won't see the woofer excursing so much, but you should get the output you want in a safe manner. It is also designed to play a little lower into infrasonic territory. I think the PB2000s will too, and for a smaller driver with SVS' reputation for customer service....

In theory, you can't go wrong here... its more a matter of what you want to spend, and how you are going to use them.

I have two subs that will make my ears go numb if I turn them up to 50% gain. I listen to them at around 1/4-1/3 gain, and still have them trimmed down in the AVR! For my tastes, they do just fine, and if I want, I've got a lot of extra WOOF to access from 15Hz on up. I'm in a 2000'3 room, and I am not bashful about my volume, though I seldom go above -10dB. When I played an infrasonic test-tone... I didn't hear anything, accept the house vibrating like an earthquake. I only did that once. (ya, it was fun... don't wanna explain to my landlord though if his wall blows out! )

SVS is pretty well known for putting limiters in their dsp so its hard to damage the subs. I think I've read Hsu does well at that too. Still, pushing anything too hard is not a good thing, and the idea of multiple subs to help share the load (as well as the benefits of room smoothing) if you're prone to sessions of setting your master volume knob to "11" can be a good thing. Compared to something like a Polk sub they're miles ahead in performance and design, tho.

I quoted your post mainly because this thing about gain knob position, which totally depends on the pre-out signal level, it's not an indication of performance particularly, just a way of matching signal voltage to the subs amp sensitivity level. You can have too hot of a signal and amplify resulting clipping, that's why you need to set gain correctly (and generally leave it alone afterwards) and not consider it a volume knob.