defective subwoofer driver... (1 Viewer)

[SandellV]

this may be a stupid question...were talking about a sub with two drivers....how does one know if one of the two subwoofer driver is a defective driver....if one continues to play...wouldnt it cause the defective driver to move as well...

thanks...

 

[Dave Milne]

Not a stupid question at all. If it's a sealed sub with two drivers in an common enclosure, you're right, it's very difficult to tell which driver is bad. It should, however, be pretty obvious that something is wrong by reduction in overall output, tendency to "bottom", poor "flabby" or "boomy" sound quality, etc.

If this is a passive sub, you can always do the "battery check". Hook a C or D cell flashlight battery to the sub input terminal (with the speaker disconnected from the amp, of course). If both drivers move the same direction (in or out) they are both working.

Now, if one moves in and one moves out, one is bad. Assuming the drivers are wired in the "traditional" fashion (+ voltage applied to + terminal causes the cone to move outward), the one that moves out is the working one. It would be best to double check this after you remove the driver.