matthewrward

I have a 2003 Civic DX Coupe. I ripped out the dash and installed a Kenwood MP522 headunit, and then replaced the stock speakers with some Rockford Fosgate stuff in the front and my JBL 6x9's from my old 1984 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera (Brougham). My old car used to have sweet bass. People couldn't believe that I didn't have a sub in that thing. Obviously, it was because of the sheer volume of foam and carpet in that beast.

Anyways, I've moved to the Civic now, and I'm disappointed with the bass. Not enough. So I picked up a Collins Audio USA S8A Series 101 amplified subwoofer. I know, not the best, but it was cheap cheap, and I'm just looking for a small boost on the low end to fill out the sound.

I went and got a Stinger SWK10R wiring kit and wired my car up with a 10 gauge power wire down the passenger side, and the RCA cable from the kit down the middle of the car. I also put in the amp turn-on wire, and I honestly can't remember which of the previous two routes I took with it - tell me if you think that matters. I hooked up the ground wire to a screw behind the passenger-side taillight.

So now, after realizing that I had low-level outputs from my headunit, I managed to get some sound coming from the sub, but boy does it buzz. Super loud and unbearable. Could a grounding problem cause this much trouble? Let me know what you think I should do, what the problem is, etc etc. There's an outside chance that the problem could be with the subwoofer amp or the subwoofer itself, but I did try two identical Collins models.

Really, I'm at a loss to figure out what the hell is going on, any sort of help is much appreciated.

Thanks.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

Check that your grounds are attached to bare metal. If you used low-quality rcas and ran them near the power wire, you're gonna get lots of noise.

WhiteRabbit

might check the crossover settings too, if they are not set in the range the subwoofer likes best in a car environment, then it has the potential to overdrive the woofer or play some nasty frequencies it wasnt designed to, and that could degfinitely buzz like you suggest!

matthewrward

The RCA's look decent to me.... there's a picture at http://www.sounddomain.com/sku/STISWK10R.

How near the power wire is considered "near"? The cables are spread out by more than the width of the passenger seat, I would think that that's enough distance, except of course for the area near the actual entrance to the amp, where the wires pass through the same grommet, so they can't be separated anyways.

Maybe I'll spend some time with a file and some good sandpaper at the grounding point. Would there be any advantage to attaching the ground to the support bar behind the rear seats? I was under the impression that as long as the ground was attached to the chassis with a low enough contact resistance, everything should be A-OK.

matthewrward

The sub only has two ***** on it, "GAIN" and "FREQ". I assume that the crossover setting is the "FREQ" ****. Changing that setting makes the subwoofer play slightly higher and lower bass sounds, but it still buzzes like crazy on pretty much every frequency setting.

WhiteRabbit

could be the woofer. loose dustcap, delaminated coil, tinsel lead slap, could be anything. gotta isolate where the noise is coming from

MegaHurtz

iTrader: (6)

Check the subs to make sure that the tinsel leads are not touching the underside of the cone.

My Ti's did that from over-excurting them in dB Drag, it was REALLY annoying, but an easy fix, just adjusted the terminals to lower the tinsel leads.

vicn77

iTrader: (2)

i would check your hu...my old pioneer had that problem and i checked the amp, sub, rca's, ground...the problem was my rca outputs on my hu

matthewrward

I sure hope it's not the HU, it's almost brand new. As soon as I find some free time I'll play with the grounding point and maybe take the woofer out of the tube to check out the tinsel leads, and the condition of the coil, etc.

MegaHurtz

iTrader: (6)

Does it CONSTANTLY buzz or does it only buzz when it hits hard?

Like will it buzz when the deck is on with no volume and the subs are just idling?

Does the noise increase as you raise the revs on the engine?

matthewrward

It buzzes whenever the speaker is playing, even at low volume. If there is any noise from the speaker, it is always the proper bass, plus a buzz. There is no buzz when there is no bass.

So no, it will not buzz when the deck is on with no volume and the sub is not playing, and it will also not buzz when the deck is on, and the music is playing, but there is not enough bass in that part of the song to make the sub move.

I have actually only tested it when I've turned the accessory power on (engine is not running at all). So I haven't checked if the revs in the engine matter.

Thanks for your help, MegaHurtz.

WhiteRabbit

have you tried pulling hte woofe rout and shaking it? if its a passive buzz and not an active buzzing, then it could be a delaminated coil.

shaking hte woofer out of the box, if you hear a slinky rattle from inside the vent pole, you know the woofer is toast!

matthewrward

I'll give that a try (shaking it to see if it's toast). It seems to be a possible cause. Really, I don't see this little sub/amp combo drawing enough current to be having problems with dirty grounds, and I'm not playing it loud at all when it buzzes.

I bought this bass tube on eBay, but the lady who sold it to me just refunded me the entire cost of the item, including shipping, so maybe I'll just buy another one and add to the collection, see if I get a decent one this time. Gotta make sacrifices for the low low prices.