JL shipped me a turd in a box labelled W3 for $159
 

So, I turn on my car today and notice that my bass sounds significantly quieter. Hmmnm, I've only had my stereo installed for 3 weeks, so what could be the problem? I open my hatch and only 1 of my 10" JL W3V3's is working :ugh2: I check the speaker wire connections from my amp to the box terminal of the nonworking sub and it seems to be just fine, but still no sound from the speaker.

Next, I remove my nonworking sub from the box and check the connection from my sub to the inside of the box terminal, and all seems to be fine, but still no sound from the speaker. I'm thinking, there's no way this sub could be malfunctioning after only 3 weeks of use at moderate power (approx 300RMS per sub); not a sub that JL praises due to it's reliability.. Finally, I decide to use the speaker wire that's going from my amp to my working sub's terminal, disconnect it from the terminal, and connect it to the + and - connections on my nonworking JL sub and it connects, but still no sound from the speaker.

In summary: All of the connections done by bigaudiofanat held up and JL's product failed miserably after only 3 weeks of moderate use. On Tuesday, I will be contacting JL to see if they will replace this product or refund my money. Wish me luck. After all, they should stand behind their product, especially when a customer receives a turd-sub with their name on it... and the words "#1 in Product Reliability" are written right on THE FRONT OF THE F^*KING BOX! :icon14:



http://oi48.tinypic.com/wqrald.jpg

sux man

Is there anything else I could possibly try to see if this sub is 100% toast?

you usin a 2 channel amp? I'm not sure how your sub is specifically wired but if your usin a 2 channel amp did you make sure that one channel in your amp isn't fried?

Did you buy from a reputable source?

It's not, I hooked the wires from the amp outlet that was powering the working sub to the nonworking sub, but still didn't get sound.

Yes, box was sealed and brand new for both subs. Both have never been used.

Give them a break nobody is perfect....EVERY company has a defective product now and again....As long as you made the purchase through an authorized dealer which if purchased online is either crutchfield or shopatron thru jls website they will certainly replace your sub under warranty however if you paid $159 for a W3v3 I'm willing to bet you did not purchase from an authorized retailer and JL will not replace your sub because the warranty is void if not purchased authorized....in which case you should contact the seller instead of JL

Kind of my thoughts. They mass produce stuff, it's impossible for any company to produce 100% perfect quality all the time.

That being said, the quality **** on the box of something that broke so quickly is pretty damn funny :icon17:

I'm not saying JL is a sh!t company; I'm saying they made a dud that I bought and I hope they stand behind their dud and replace their dud.

Where did you purchase this dud?

SonicElectronix

Then you need to call Sonic JLs website clearly states that any potential warranty is voided when the product is not purchased through an authorized dealer.

That sucks man. Sorry to hear the news.

You can check with a multimeter to see if ur voice coils are blown..... I have one wire desolder on the vc going to the sub before and had to reweld it myself.

I didn't check with a meter yet, but I checked the wires on the voice coil and both and taut and connected.

:stirthepot: That was in 2011, as stated on the box, this is 2012...

But seriously you'll most likey have to go after where you bought them, If JL says they are not a dealer, you bought them from them at your own risk.

Well I must say it is not a DUD... It was working for 3 weeks. In this case it is not like it came out of the box defective... so something happened between now and then that caused it...

Your warranty at this point is with Sonic... give them a call...

Reason JL does not warranty their products if you do not buy it from an authorized dealer is because, these dealers go through the training to make sure amps are set up properly.

In this case I am not saying it was not... But simply saying this sub worked for 3 weeks, if it was a dud it would have been DOA.

It is best to run 2 subs with a combined channel, Like a MONO amp or bridge the amp. This way if there is any power fluctuation between the amps leftand right channels, subwoofers are not trying to fight each other trying to produce sound.

Questions on your system set up...

Are you running a sealed box with 2 chambers? meaning does each sub have it's own enlcosure...

I read from comments on your post you have a 2 Channel amplifier... Are you running left channel to one sub and right channel to the other sub?

If you are running a 2 channel amp, you will need a box that is divided.

If you have a box that is all one chamber, meaning there is NO divider between the subs, you will need to bridge the amp and run it to the subs bridged... Providing you have the correct impedence when you matched up your subwoofers with your amp. (this will not be possible to do unless you have the correct impedence)

Most 2 channel amps will give you XXX RMS x 2 at 4 ohms
If you bought 4 ohm subs then you are most likely stuck with what you got.
Unless your amps output bridges to 2 ohm stable. then you can take parrallel the subs and run them together...

What is the amp you are running?

^ I'm using a Hifonics Bxi1600 and the subs are 2ohm. Bigaudiofanat did the install, not me, so maybe he can chime in with any technical info if he reads this. The box is divided and each channel on the amp is powering a sub.

•Brutus BXI Single-Channel Monoblock Super-D Class Car Amplifier
•RMS Power Rating:
◦4 ohms: 550 watts x 1 chan.
◦2 ohms: 1100 watts x 1 chan.
◦1 ohm: 1600 watts x 1 chan.
•MOSFET Power supply
•Super D-Class amplifier relies on a super-speed enhanced chip-set to produce higher current capacities and more precise digital to analog conversions
•Wired remote bass level control included
•Power and Protection LED indicators
•Built-in system diagnostics offer protection of DC, Speaker short, terminal, and overload
•Tuned Bass EQ (0-10 dB bass boost at 45 Hz)
•Dampening factor: >250

http://i.seimg.net/images/237918/big/bxi1610d.jpg

You have a MONO AMPLIFIER

If you have 2 ohm subs (each) that means you are running the amp at 1600 WATTS..

JL AUDIO 10w3v3 as you mentioned is rated at 300 watts each.. that is only 1000 watts more then they are rated at...

http://mediacdn.shopatron.com/media/...png?1314421942

Unless your subs are wired in series and that does not seem to be the case from your original post...

Notice also the dampening factor on the amp is 250 meaning control over your subwoofer is not as good as a let's say a JL Audio amplifier. A JL AUDIO XD600/1 with 600 Watts of power would have been a perfect match for your subs (needed 4 ohm subs)... Here are the specs for example...
Damping Factor @ 4 Ω >1000 / 50 Hz
Damping Factor @ 2 Ω >500 / 50 Hz

^ shouldn't it be 550rms per sub?
Yeah, and my gain is actualy set quite low, as well as my volume level. I doubt the subs are gettin anywhere near that on a regular basis.

Correct Jim, your gain is almost at its lowest setting your not getting near that.

You described the terminals being wired to each side of the amp which means they are wired parrallel. In Hifonics world according to the specs of that amp you are running at 1 ohm...

Gain being all the way down means nothing, as all you are doing with gain is matching the output of your head unit to the amps input levels.

So the way you are running it is potentialy 900 watts per sub... All it takes is one heavy bass note at that kind of power to fry a sub that is rated at 300 watts nominal power with a peak rating of 500 in the red zone.

Hifonics also does not have the best specs and control over your subwoofer which does not help the matters...

Now next question, what is the internal volume for each chamber of the enclosure?

If I remember correctly, 0.75 per side.
My working sub still hits nicely with no problems.

Their both single 2 ohm woofers, so were not running at 1 ohms were running at 4 ohms. So even at full tilt he would only be giving each sub 275

10W3v3-2 - Car Audio - Subwoofer Drivers - W3v3 - JL Audio

Correction I think you are right wicked, I wired it at 1 ohm not 4, although I think he is still not pushing 800 watts or near it with the gain almost fully down.

Speakers do not 'blow' from too much power. Speakers are damaged by too little power; driving a speaker to volume levels which require a level of wattage greater than the amplifier can provide will produce 'clipping', which can easily damage a loudspeaker.

Clipping (audio) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The way to damage a speaker which is driven by an adequately powered amplifier is too go berserk with the volume - causing the loudspeaker to draw more and more power, play louder and louder until it physically fails.

The volume knob acts just like a dimmer switch for a light: crank it up and the bulb (speaker) draws more power and produces more light (volume), turn it down and the bulb (speaker) draws less power and produces less light (volume).

My volume was never played at high levels, maybe 15/40 max. Also, my working sub is just fine. Is there any way I can test this sub to see if it's useable before I go down the tedious refund route?

The bolded statement is incorrect. The are two things that can damage a speaker, pushing it beyond its mechanical limits or pushing it beyond its thermal limits. The mechanical limits of a speaker are the distance which the speaker can travel safely (Xmech). Exceeding this can lead to the voice coil leaving the gap or tearing of the spider or tinsel leads. Exceeding the thermal limits of a speaker can only be accomplished with an excess in power sent through the voice coil. This can and often is caused by clipping. "Driving an amplifier into clipping may cause it to output power in excess of its published ratings." That is a quote taken directly from the very beginning of the link you posted. While yes clipping is often caused by someone with too little power setting their gains incorrectly, too little power in and of itself can not damage a speaker.

To the op no matter what you can and volume level are at currently it is still possible that you were getting the full power of that amplifier. You can assume all you want that because the gain was low and volume was low that you are not but unless you set you gains with an o-scope you do not know the input voltage that amplifier is seeing to it is a real possiblity.

Any suggestions, Matt? Do you think it was blown due to the way it was wired?

It was blown...

That is all it matters ...

It was not a DUD....

It worked for 3 weeks being overpowered...

Call sonic see what they will do for you... If they give you the option upgrade to W6v2 and send both w3s in for trade...

You have too much power and too much risk with the existing set up. Those subs are great subs, set up properly they will not get damaged easily.... We sell close to 200 W3 subs in the store with less then 0.5 percent defective rate... given they were matched and set up properly...

Like I said all it takes is one heavy bass note... Even though gains were adjusted low... not all recording levels are the same... if you had a cd or mp3 that was recorded at +3 or +6 dp above noise level, that is the same as doubling your gain...

Let's wait to hear from Matt who installed it and see what he says.

I will agree that it did blow however there was no clipping of the signal after tuning, they just were overpowered because I wired them at 1 ohm instead of 4 ohms like I had thought I wired it. Installer error :icon23:

If that's true, then I have one working sub that could theoretically blow any time now, one blown sub that I'm SOL on, and approx a few hundred dollars gone.

Fantastic.

If you keep reading past the semi-colon you will see that I stated as much.

Now that is just pedantry. Too little power for the selected level is exactly what causes an amplifier to clip, which blows speakers.

To say that a speaker was overpowered by an amplifier implies that amplifiers "push" power to speakers... which they don't: speakers draw power from amplifiers. How much they draw is determined by the level selected and the speaker's impedance and efficiency. Again, (and strangely enough, BigNate and I seem to agree on this) the only way to blow a speaker with too much power is to play it at levels which exceed its physical or thermal limits... which doesn't seem to be the case here. It's simple: speakers don't draw any more power than they need to play at the level you've selected.

:tiphat:

Is there a way to tell if the speaker is blown, other than it is unresponsive?

NOTE: As it is the installers fault "mine" I have offered Jim payment for the replacement and to install it at no charge.

You could measure impedance, and/or gently push the cone by hand and listen for sounds of broken-ness. The best test is to hook it up to a known-good source.

I tried hooking it up to the wires that are going to the working sub, but no response. However, I did push on the cone by hand and it depresses with no noise coming from it.

Did you call sonic yet to see what they will offer you for warranty?
See what they say... if not send me the serial number of the subwoofer.