Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Audio Perfect sub on its way back to the factory

I looked on the infinity website and found the closest authorized dealer and brought them my sub. First I went in and explained what happened and what I wanted to have done. The two guys were real friendly, they said yeah sure, bring it in.

So i go out to the car, get the sub and bring it in. I place it on the counter and begin to take it out of the box. The two guys grimace and go "ughhhhhh!". I said whats the matter? "you can't smell that?" they said. "You fried the voice coil hardcore."

So they took a closer look, and they reaffirmed what they initially smelled. they said it wouldnt be a problem to get it replaced.

They said it got fried because I didn't break the sub in correctly. How could that be?? I thought that was a myth...? How quiet do you have to play those things? I really dont think I pushed it that hard...

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1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Cierra 2.2
1995 Duratec MTX GL R.I.P.
http://www.bags-of-funk.com

Breaking in a sub is a completely absurd excuse for what happened. That isn't even a remote possibility. I have no doubt that they are right about the voice coil frying, though.

When you break in a sub, the result is usually a small (very small) change in the T/S parameters.

Breaking in a sub is slightly more useful than painting the edges of your CDs green to get better bass response, or using $500 speaker wire. It however much more useful than anything Bose has come up with.

btw, I'm glad they are helping you out!

Those guys had no clue and were just blowin the smoke from your woofer up your a**. Breaking a woofer in is referencing to the suspension. The spider/surroud is very strong and needs to be "stretched" for maximum lower frequency response. It does change t/s measurements as stated by dnew.

If you do want to break your woofer in next time, have the woofer out on a table (not in the box), connect it your your amp and get a cd with test tones. Play a track with 20hz straight at a volume that makes the woofer move pretty well. Try to make sure all your bass and loudness features are off or flat. You way want to allow the woofer's vent to get air into it for cooling. A roll of masking tape should be a good holder. Let it play for 20-30 minutes. Should be good to go after that.

Green?

Never heard of the idea of making the first quarter inch of your CDs green with a green marker? There are some people who believe this makes the CDs have better bass response. The idea originated in the 80s shortly after the CD was brought to market. The theory was that the color of the lawer and the green marker stripe would allow the laser to work better. There are still those who think it works. Then again, there are probably still people who think that tomatoes are poisonous.

something i'm thinking is that your ppi amp is under-rated. i think it might be rated at 12.5v or 12.9v but contrary to popular belief our alternators push out quite a bit more voltage and a single amp can definitally draw a pretty constant 14-15 volts. My mtx for example is rated to put out a measily 150 watts rms at 12.5v and a whopping 325 watts rms at 14.4v. your ppi if rated at 360 x1 at 12.5 v could easily be pushing 450-500 watts rms to your perfect which i believe is rated at 350. i think this would be a more likely reason for your toasted voice coil than not breaking it in. i wish you much luck, but you may want to turn down your gain considerably to not blow the next one.

Rollingstash,

You have to remember that MTX uses two ratings, first RMS power with a 12.5v source. The second is rated in dynamic (also referred to as max power) power with @14.4 volts. Basically, what i'm trying to say is that the MTX is more like 165-170 watts RMS when powered with a 14.4v source.

one thing that did seem odd when i had the sub was the amount of movement in the speaker. When you turned up the volume, the sub would be flying in and out, the woofer moving like ive never seen a speaker do before. the gain on the ppi was less than half way up, so i was like 'damn, speaker moves a lot!' and never thought more of it. perhaps i was pushing it too hard. i mean, that woofer was probably pushing out about an inch and sucking in an inch. or maybe thats my overactive imagination...

- Jake

If it was moving that far, it would have torn itself apart, which could explain why it isn't working anymore. Was it in a ported enclosure or sealed? I believe that the Perfects' point to point linear xmax is less than an inch.

[This message has been edited by dnewma04 (edited April 06, 2001).]

I can eat tomatoes? hmmm this site is sweet.....