Sealed, dual woofers – how to tell which one is bad?

[zippy753]

So I have this subwoofer sitting around because it makes a horrible pffttt noise whenever hitting a low frequency sound. I have another sub but I’d also like to utilize this one too and tuck it away somewhere in my room, especially if I can get it going for cheap.

I found the woofers from the part number on the back: http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/55-2421
but the problem is that I can’t tell which one, if not both, is bad. Physically they look fine and don’t scratch when I push on the cone. Any ideas how to troubleshoot? Should I just buy one woofer from MCM and swap them around until I figure it out? Any chance it could be the amp and not the woofers?

I’d kind of like to work it out before I order, though, so I don’t waste too much time and money fixing this sub. It’s not the greatest sub ever built but it would be fun to have around in working order.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[MidnightSensi]

I had a pair of Pinnacle SuperSonics at one point and they were the biggest piece of **** subwoofers I have ever owned. Absolutely garbage. They paired the subwoofer with too big of an amplifier, a very sensitive gain knob, and no limiter. The gain knob was like a light switch no matter how much you turned down the incoming signal. Didn't take much to make them make funny noises. Blew one, still have the other just don't use it.

Sounds like your subwoofer has the same problem, if the drivers seem fine it could be the amplifier, but it sure sounds like a driver problem unless something in the cabinet came loose.

You could pull the driver out and give each a little power individually and decide which is bad.

 

[tcarcio]

Is your other sub the same size? If so switch out your duals one at a time. Replace the one you take out with the other sub, if the same size as mentioned, you should be able to tell which one is bad.

 

[zippy753]

Well I tried to power one of them with the wire from the front speaker – probably inconclusive because the crossover is set at 80. So I took one woofer out and powered the other from the sub unit. I turned down the front speaker levels so the LFE is exaggerated. They both sound like crud individually. I’m not sure if it’s because of the dual design and they aren’t fastened down or what. I can’t tell which is bad – maybe they both are. I’m using Primus’ “My name is mud” by the way, plenty of bass in that song.

Oops, there goes my system into protect mode. I think I’m going to stop this nonsense before I wreck something....

 

[zippy753]

So after throwing caution to the wind and messing around some more I was able to reproduce the pffttt sound I hear before I took it apart. I think they’re both blown because each of them makes that noise at the same volume under the same conditions.

$85 shipped to replace them. It doesn’t seem worth it as MidnightSensei’s comments seem generally accurate about this sub. Thanks for all your input!