Audiobahn AWT15X Problem

i bought an awt15x from my dealer, it's an audiobahn, i hooked it up today to a memphis 1000d.  it was really loud for the whole day, and just out of no where, the thing blew, it made a weird noise as it was blowing, lol, so i opened the trunk, there was no msoke, turned itback on, and the sub wouldn;t even move, the cone was stiff as hell, you couldn;t even push it in, i have never seen this before, you could see and here the voice coil inside moving through the big hole on the bottom of the sub, i don;t understand how the sub blew 1000 watts rms, it says 3000 rms, i know it won't do 3000 rms, but, it should do at least 2000, defect or just crap?

OK since you only care about SPL I am assuming that the amp gains were right pinned so my question is, was the amp clipping. This is where you answer " No Raven you idiot, it wasn't clipping". Then I say are you sure and you go "I am pretty sure it wasnt". Then I say I bet it was and you start thinking to yourself "Mabye it was clipping and I didnt relize it because I was so pumped about getting this massive spl sub that I just pounded the sh*t out of it" Then I say "I have done the same thing, infact most people do this and it is very easy to damage a sub when the amp is clipping" This is were you go "Mabye your right, when I get my new one tomorrow I will have to check it out, I will also have to allow proper break in time before I once again unleash the beast in my trunk". I am glad we could have this conversation.

PS Its like 1 am and I am on a large amount of pain killers for my back so I am not writing this trying to be c**ky or anything, I am just really bored so I am ammusing myself, being I cant lay down to go to sleep and all.

As usual, Raven, even in his reportedly drugged condition, is right on!  :)  Your amp fried your woofer's voice coil and probably because it was clipping like mad.  Memphis makes fantastic equipment and that amp will pump a conservative 1000 watts into 2 ohms, and in clipping mode can probably push an equivalent of 2500 watts before the fuse blows.  Those linear compression subs are, as you say, for pure SPL and are good at what they do.  But I believe the listed 3000 watts RMS rating is BS.  1000 watts is more like it in reality.  I also believe their power handling is limited by the design as they don't move as much air through the VC as standard cones do and therefor tend to heat up a lot more.

Bottom line, if your Memphis amp was clipping more than 10%, it fried your VC and I am not at all surprised.

97neon wrote:

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i have it 5 cubic feet sealed right now till i get the ports in there, you tink that would have anything to do with it?>

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OH!!!  I totally missed the "5 cuft sealed" comment.  Yea, that's why it blew.  This woofer is designed for a MAX 2 cuft sealed enclosure, and a MAX 4.5 cuft Vented enclosure.  Putting it into a 5 cuft sealed enclosure is pretty much the same thing as running it with NO enclosure.  The cone will not be excursion limited, and I would guess the power handling would be reduced to around, oh, maybe 250 watts MAX.  I'm surprised it lasted more than an hour with 1000 watts, even if your amp is set up perfectly and clipping was never an issue.

Your box did it.  Or rather, YOU did it by using the absolute worst case type of box for this woofer.

You blew it because of wire gage?  No, that is complete bull sh*t.  Whoever told you that does not know what they are talking about.  Demand that they explain that one to you, and if they start talking about high resistance wire or "limiting amps" or some such crap, tell them they lie like dogs.

The Audiobahn technical specs for that driver say 4.5 cuft MAX for a ported enclosure and 2 cuft MAX for sealed, and they recomend 1.6 to 3.0 vented.  Here's the info:  https://www.audiobahninc.com/tech/2004/boxParams/AWT_box_specs.pdf

the total volume says 5 cubic feet at the bottom, my local etailer told me that, and they called audiobahn, and audiobahn suppively said the same

The one thing that you have not considered as far as the clipping is also the cd player, if the preout on the cd player is clipped (and most do) then the amp will reproduce that clipped signal and pass it on to the amp, this is why I pronounced the amp as clipping. I would try the warranty avenue first, see how you make out.

Did I read the first post right, that the cone would not move and the voice coils still were. This means cone separation and a possible flaw in the construction of the speaker, a DEFINITE design flaw and totally within warranty. Best of luck with it.

Tell them that if the power wire for your amp was too small, the wire would have melted and it has abosuletly nothing to do with the sub.  Tell them that you understand they may be simply trying to get out of honoring the warranty on the sub and you will not stand for it, and that you have support from professionals from BOTH sides of the border who will back you up.  Ask to speak to the manager of the store, not some flunky, and suggest that you may have to contact the better business bureau or even your local government representative.  Tell them you know a professional sound engineer in California (ME) who would love to hear their explaination about how power wire size for an amp can affect the performance of a subwoofer connected to it.  Tell them if they'd like to explain it to me in person, I will provide a phone number.

David Yohn

One minor thing, 97neon.  The gain setting at half on the amp really does not ensure that it is not clipping.  There are a number of factors to take into account.  Gain setting is certainly the most important, but the actual setting has nothing to do with the performance of the amp in any given setup.  It depends entirely on how that gain setting causes the amp to responding to the signal coming into it.

Get your sub replaced, and then we'll get your system set up properly.

With 3M spray adhesive, if the coils are a no go anymore, the sub has succumbed to smelly speaker disease.

"If this still gets no results than just throw the sub through the windshield of the manager's car, Then tell the manager the windshield broke because the glass wasn't thick enough and hence you aren't responsible PS Im not responsible for any legal action taken against you"

Priceless.......

Good luck with the battle, were all behind you.

Wow, that's about what, $1000 US?  Yes, you paid full retail plus a bit.  In that case I would definately see if there is a loud speaker repair or re-cone shop in your area. Or, contact these guys (they ship world wide and are a reputable shop) to get an estimate:

https://www.speakerworks.net/

I'm really sorry you're having to go through this.  But yes, this kind of situation is why people like me who've been dealing with audio for years tend to rag about some companies and to recomend others.  It's not always because we sell the brands we promote or because we think the brands we slam are "bad."  It's because we have seen situations like this all too often.  The situation you are in is exactly why I never recomend Audiobahn... nor Sony, Pioneer, Kenwood, Jensen, JVC, Volfenhag, Lanzar, Pyle, Pyramid, Boss, Soundstorm, Legacy, American Audio, Crunch, Profile, Audiovox, etc....

Contact Audiobahn directly.  Write to their corporate headquarters and explain how you feel ripped off.  Be sure to tell them you installed the equipment following the recomendations of their authorized retailer and their published information.  Tell them you communicate with a world-wide car audio enthusiast and installer community on the web and that your story had better have a happy ending if they want this community to ever recomend Audiobahn again.

Here is the low down for you as it sits as of 11:35 PST. I just got off the line with the Canadian Distributor, New Wave. Tim has offered you the following deal, I suggest you take him up on this offer as it is more than fair to both parties.

First be aware, that a sub does not blow on it's own, it has a root cause of the failure. This failure could be the clipping of a signal from a cd player or amp, bass boost, wrong size box (most likely), wrong port configuration etc. Whatever the cause is, this cause is your fault unfortunately. I'm not trying to point fingers here at all, but if you have a 5.0 Rustang and do the Pilsbury tire bake off, who's fault is it, yours for the heavy foot or the crappy soft tire compound?

Here is the deal, New Wave Distribution will take your sub in and recone it at no charge to you, this means that the sub when completed will be new and functional again. The only downfall here is that it will take some time to get the recone kit in from Audiobahn. This time delay is expected and unfortunate but necessary. New Wave will not keep unneccessary parts in stock and hope that people blow their subs, they order them as needed on a once a month basis. This will mean a delay of 4-6 weeks minimum, but let's hope for less. This is a good and fair deal for both parties, I suggest you take it. Glad to help you out.

Great work Rob.  At least the distributor seems like a company trying to do the right thing, even if the manufacturer will not.

Neon, make sure your system is not clipping (set it up properly) and build a different, smaller enclosure for this thing and PORT it if it's intended to be ported fercrissakes!

Please give credit where credit is due, I would like to thank Tim at Newwave Distribution for going to bat for this customer. Tim is the one who should be receiving the thanks. Good luck 97Neon.

your OK for the short time you will have the car. You may not even have the sub by the time you get rid of the car.

I don't honestly see how they can say that is much of the prob. that in my opinion would have just caused your fuse to blow by over heating, "you did have a fuse on it right?"

and either way i think you can do somthing about them not replacing it if you have just bought it.
I don't know were you are from but i know here in the state of Texas that no matter the cause you have 90 days warranty no matter the issue, unless damaged personaly, like stabed with a screw driver while installing, or trying to push 1600 watts in to a 350 watt sub!

but yeah either way i would check into that if it ment getting a lawyer!

First off let me say wow. This was a bad situation. Rob, you were a good help to Neon and although you wernt the one that authorized the deal to take place you made it happen. You said give credit where it is deserved or something like that. Well my friend you deserve some of the credit for making it happen.

Neon, I dont know what you know about car audio. Maybe a ton, maybe not. Either way you should make sure and get things hooked up properly.