Blown sub *PIC*

[quietstorm]

I bought one of these subs almost a year ago, along with one of the 250 watt plate amps: Dayton SD315-88 12" Shielded DVC Subwoofer
<A HREF="http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshow...295-490&ctab=2">http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshow...295-490&ctab=2</A>

I haven't used it in about 5 months. A few days ago I turned my equipment on and things seemed to be okay. Then I noticed the bass was coming out distorted. The volume was set on about three. I checked the amp with another speaker and all was okay with the amp. Pushing gently on the cone gave a scraping noise. I took the sub out of the box and the brown "grille" behind the cone was almost completely seperated from the frame of the driver. Obviously the voice coils are gone. This sub was not played excessively loud (never above "three"), as the listening room is small (roughly 10x10').

Is this something I did or is this a defect in the sub?

[paul_n_oneal]

IIRC Dayton has a 5 year warranty on drivers and only 1 measley year on the amps. Call them up and use the warranty to get another one. Not like $30 is going to bankrupt them.

Paul

[quietstorm]

> IIRC Dayton has a 5 year warranty on drivers
> and only 1 measley year on the amps. Call
> them up and use the warranty to get another
> one. Not like $30 is going to bankrupt them.

> Paul

Thanks, Paul, I'll call them tommorow.
What does IIRC mean?

[trevorg]

[quietstorm]

[envisionelec]

> I bought one of these subs almost a year
> ago, along with one of the 250 watt plate
> amps: Dayton SD315-88 12" Shielded DVC
> Subwoofer
>
> <A HREF="http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshow...295-490&ctab=2">http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshow...295-490&ctab=2</A>
> I haven't used it in about 5 months. A few
> days ago I turned my equipment on and things
> seemed to be okay. Then I noticed the bass
> was coming out distorted. The volume was set
> on about three. I checked the amp with
> another speaker and all was okay with the
> amp. Pushing gently on the cone gave a
> scraping noise. I took the sub out of the
> box and the brown "grille" behind
> the cone was almost completely seperated
> from the frame of the driver. Obviously the
> voice coils are gone. This sub was not
> played excessively loud (never above
> "three"), as the listening room is
> small (roughly 10x10').

> Is this something I did or is this a defect
> in the sub?

It's a defect in the glue used to build the speaker. Definitely a PE warranty issue.

[Pete Schumacher ®]

> I bought one of these subs almost a year
> ago, along with one of the 250 watt plate
> amps: Dayton SD315-88 12" Shielded DVC
> Subwoofer
>

That Dayton sub is far too efficient and has far too little Xmax for that 250W amp. It will drive that woofer beyond Xmax with only 100W. Transients could easily damage that driver.

Replacing it with one of the same drivers will likely lead to the same problem later on. You really ought to consider an upgrade, like the Quatro 12.

[quietstorm]

> It's a defect in the glue used to build the
> speaker. Definitely a PE warranty issue.

Thanks, I thought so. If I get a replacement, is there anything I can do to reinforce the new one before use? Like a bead of glue on the outside of the brown ridge thing :-) (for lack of a better name).

Anyone else experience this problem?

[Wolf]

> Thanks, I thought so. If I get a
> replacement, is there anything I can do to
> reinforce the new one before use? Like a
> bead of glue on the outside of the brown
> ridge thing :-) (for lack of a better name).

> Anyone else experience this problem?

It's called the "spider".
Wolf

[envisionelec]

> That Dayton sub is far too efficient and has
> far too little Xmax for that 250W amp. It
> will drive that woofer beyond Xmax with only
> 100W. Transients could easily damage that
> driver.

> Replacing it with one of the same drivers
> will likely lead to the same problem later
> on. You really ought to consider an upgrade,
> like the Quatro 12.

Maybe. I use the 10" DVC with that amp. No problems yet!

[envisionelec]

> Thanks, I thought so. If I get a
> replacement, is there anything I can do to
> reinforce the new one before use? Like a
> bead of glue on the outside of the brown
> ridge thing :-) (for lack of a better name).

> Anyone else experience this problem?

That will only void your NEXT warranty.

[quietstorm]

Pete, I considered this before buying. However, in a 10X10' room just how much power do you think I could give it before blowing out my eardrums? :-) As I said in my original post, the amp never went past three (quarter way).

No way this sub ever saw close to 100 watts. I could see the amp blowing the voice coils, but not seperating the spider from the frame (thanks Wolf).

If PE doesn't replace it, I'll go with the Quatro.

About the amp: to test and make sure it was the sub and not the amp, I hooked the amp up to an 8 ohm 18 inch and was very surprised. Getting in the swing of things :-) I hooked another 18 inch up for a 4 ohm load and was totally blown away at the power of the amp. Nice chest pounding bass. Couldn't really consider using the amp with the 2 18's in a serious set up, but was seriously pleased with the power of the amp. Now, if I could just get the 2 18's to fit in my listening room.... ;-0

> That Dayton sub is far too efficient and has
> far too little Xmax for that 250W amp. It
> will drive that woofer beyond Xmax with only
> 100W. Transients could easily damage that
> driver.

> Replacing it with one of the same drivers
> will likely lead to the same problem later
> on. You really ought to consider an upgrade,
> like the Quatro 12.

[mikebw]

I had the same problem with a Quatro 15 new in the box. I didn't notice it until I had it installed and it sounded bad. Took it out and saw the glue was cracked around the cone where it attaches to the spider.

Sent it back to PE and they sent me a replacement, no charge. I had to eat a few bucks on the shipping though.

[mikebw]

This is a pic of my first Quatro 15 which I sent back to PE. If I compressed the joint with my hands it sounded so much better, so it would be possible to fix but in my case it was brand new so they took it back and replaced it with a new one that has been fine ever since (Over a year now).

[dlneubec]

Provided Link: http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&amp;Partnumber=295-185


> Pete, I considered this before buying.
> However, in a 10X10' room just how much
> power do you think I could give it before
> blowing out my eardrums? :-) As I said in my
> original post, the amp never went past three
> (quarter way).

> No way this sub ever saw close to 100 watts.
> I could see the amp blowing the voice coils,
> but not seperating the spider from the frame
> (thanks Wolf).

> If PE doesn't replace it, I'll go with the
> Quatro.

The Quatro is nice, but also check ou the heavy duty DVC, which happens to be on special right now for $88. It's a better driver, IMHO.

[Jethro]

> This is a pic of my first Quatro 15 which I
> sent back to PE. If I compressed the joint
> with my hands it sounded so much better, so
> it would be possible to fix but in my case
> it was brand new so they took it back and
> replaced it with a new one that has been
> fine ever since (Over a year now).

Exact same thing happened to my with my DVC12 (non-shielded)... I also paid a little extra on shipping it back, but they took care of things in a major hurry, and they gave me a 10% discount on my next purchase.

[bogie]

Pedro, if having too much power in reserve caused destruction, I'd be living in a crater...

Headroom is good.