Sub Cuts Out

[Redline]

I have a 10" aftermarket sub and amp running on the factory deck. It is spliced into the rear speaker wires for the pre-amp outputs. It worked fine for a while, but just recently the sub started sounding crackly or distorted at times and it also cuts in and out at times.

When the sub cuts out and I go tap it, it will start playing again but usually cuts out right away. Also, it seems to work almost like normal with some types of bass but cuts out all the time with other types. It really sucks cause it's super annoying when your listening to a good song with nice bass and then it cuts out and you've got no bass at all!

 

[my_bass_is_low]

I cant even begin to tell you everything that is wrong with how you have that wired. Advice get an aftermarket deck

 

[JoesSHO]

If you are using a signal convertor to change the wiring from speaker into RCA for the amp, make sure that you are only splicing into the wires from one rear speaker. I had that setup in three previous cars and they all worked fine. When a buddy brought his car over, he had wires spliced into both the left and right rear speakers scotch'd together into one, going into the +/- for the signal convertor, it was doing what yours sounds like. That system should work if wired correctly unless you have hardware issues in which case, as bass said- get a new deck and run RCA's.

 

[SlowHeavyObject]

sorry to say this, but your sub is blown. getting another head or rewiring won't fix your problem. there is no problem with your wiring if you have the factory jbl or premium system. sho's came standard with the premium so you should be fine unless someone swapped it out for a regular ford unit. you have to get another sub.

the sub got blown by not giving it enough break-in time. when the sub was new, it was probably abused and not broken-in properly. for the first 50 hours of use you should "warm it up" by playing it at low volume/level output. it also should not be playing loud immediately when you start the car in freezing or extremely hot weather. the sub works for awhile when you tap it because you are actually tapping the magnet and cone back into place. most people buy their subs and immediately start blasting them into shake-my-car mode and the excursion causes the speaker components to break and even the basket may warp. it's sort of like how they tell you when you get new brakes to take it easy on them, or how they tell you not to make jack-rabbit starts with a new car.

sorry but unless you are macgyver and can build a speaker from scratch there is nothing you can do but get a new sub.

 

[Redline]

If you are using a signal convertor to change the wiring from speaker into RCA for the amp, make sure that you are only splicing into the wires from one rear speaker. I had that setup in three previous cars and they all worked fine. When a buddy brought his car over, he had wires spliced into both the left and right rear speakers scotch'd together into one, going into the +/- for the signal convertor, it was doing what yours sounds like. That system should work if wired correctly unless you have hardware issues in which case, as bass said- get a new deck and run RCA's.

Thanks for the info. I think I have it spliced into both. I'll check. My converter has four wires which the instructions said to connect to right and left rear speakers. Should I just connect both sets (all four) to the two wires for a single speaker?

 

[Redline]

sorry to say this, but your sub is blown.

the sub got blown by not giving it enough break-in time. when the sub was new, it was probably abused and not broken-in properly. for the first 50 hours of use you should "warm it up" by playing it at low volume/level output.

Thats what I'm afraid of. However it doesn't make much sense that the sub is blown for several reasons. First of all, its been in the car for quite a while. It was in there when I bought it a year and a half ago. The guy that put it in there just wired it up to the factory amp, so it couldn't have been overpowered during its break in period. If anything, it was underpowered, which I suppose could have damaged it too?

Anyway, then about 3 or 4 months ago I got an aftermarked amp and connected it and it worked great for probably two months at least before it started acting up. My amp has a slightly higher rms than the sub, but I always made sure to never turn it up too far and the sub never physically appeared to be hitting too hard. Does it still make sense that it's blown?

 

[SlowHeavyObject]

it would make sense that it was blown if it was severely underpowered in the rms range. you should always rms power a sub within at least 3/4 of its rms range (you can use an amp with higher rms as long as you don't turn it way up). since it sounds like you took care of it i don't think this is the case. i do agree with the signal converter wiring theory as the cause but i need more details. where was the converter wired? see ford uses preamp-level signals to the amp, and speaker-level from the amp to the speakers. if you spliced into the wires before the amp then you shouldn't need a signal converter. if you spliced into the wires after the amp, then you would. another question is if you were using the preamp- or speaker-level inputs on your aftermarket amp. also i agree that since it is a mono channel to only wire it into one of the rear channels, not both. if a converter is ever wired incorrectly, it will definitely damage something after awhile, even if you are converting low voltage signals such as preamp back into preamp, which may appear to be safe (but it's not). you could try rewiring the converter and it may fix your problem (i hope it does) but my solid opinion still is that your sub is blown because of your tapping circumstance. it's easier to replace than to repair a magnet that is probably chipped.

 

[Redline]

Well the other day the sub quit altogether and I figured you were probably right. I rewired it to only use one chanel and it made no difference.

Then I pulled the sub out of the box and discovered that if I moved one of the sub wires going from the wiring post thing to the back of the sub it started working! It just had a poor connection to the post and all vibration from the sub gradually made it worse until it quit altogether. So I fixed that and now its working great again! I'm relieved 'cause I thought for sure I was gonna need a new sub! Thanks for all the help and info.

 

[30footSHO]

This is complete horsesh*t. There is no needed "break-in" time for a sub. Time and again I hear this stuff. Your sub has already been tested by the manufacturer and is ready to go from the start. You do not need to break it in. Overpowering any sub will blow it, broken in or not. Underpowering a sub will not harm it, but it may harm your amp. Please research more thoroughly in the future. As we can see, the problem was definitely NOT a blown sub.

Use this thread and forum as a reference.

 

[SlowHeavyObject]

good to hear it was only some loose wires. ere they the ones from the terminal cup to the sub? It's weird how tappig the cone somehow made it work sometimes. Just goes to show it could've been almost anything. Good thing you didn't listen to me and went checking yourself instead of buying a new sub.

Overpowering any sub will blow it

That's exactly what happens when you turn up the volume to max on a new sub does, dude... overpower it.