Rep Power: 0

Hey everyone, I have a JL Audio 12w3v2 in a slotted box being run with an Alpine M300 300W Max. About 3 weeks ago I was working on my car and I had to disconnect the subwoofer from the wires coming from the amplifier and when I hooked them back up, I think I put the negative-positive and positive-negative. Yesterday when I was listening to my subwoofer it started to cut in and out and then eventually it just stopped. I checked every connection to the subwoofer and to the amplifier and everything seems to be fine, all fuses work and the amplifier is still on even though the subwoofer doesn't play. I did the battery test with the wires from the amplifier to see if the subwoofer would respond, but it didn't so the amplifier isn't the problem. I thought that if the +/- connections to the subwoofer were mixed up then it wouldn't really hurt it since it would still play, but maybe it did. Is it blown?

 
Rep Power: 303

did you take the sub out of the box and check the connection.

 
Rep Power: 0

If you swapped the + and - of your sub it would only put it out of phase. You can't damage it that way. Re check the connections to the sub both at the amp and at the sub for loose wires.

 
Rep Power: 290

subs blown LOL
man you must of worked it!

 
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I have the exact same setup as you, except my "daily enclosure" is a sealed box tuned at 47.50 Hz, but I do have a ported enclosure that I use for competitions. Anyways, my point is that the W3v2, hell.. any sub made by JL is pretty rugged and can take a beating. I had an old W3-D4 and I didn't want it anymore so I tried blowing it on purpose. I connected the voice coils together in parallel, then took an extention (wow I'm having a stupid moment because I don't even know if "extention" is spelt "extention" or "extension") cord, plugged it into 120v, then connected it to the sub.. the sub bounced up and down for almost 10 minutes before it actually blew..
Oh that's another thing that EASILY gives away if you blew a sub without having a digital multi-meter.. smell it. Does it smell like burnt electronics? It has it's own distinct smell and you can't miss it. It's kind of like melting plastic I guess.

You can't damage a sub by putting it out of phase.. some people put their subs out of phase for application/installation purposes. Check all your connections. Use a digital multi-meter to see if there's signal from your rcas.

 
Rep Power: 328

Either you have a loose connection in the box, or you froze the voice coils. Frozen voice coils = time for a new sub.

 
Rep Power: 0

This is weird, I isolated the problem. The subwoofer actually works when I take it out of the box and do the battery test directly to the sub wires, but when I do the battery test from the wires going from the amplifier to the woofer, it doesn't. Thus, the problem is in the wires going to and from the amplifier.

 
Rep Power: 0

Alright, that actually isn't the problem. I think the subwoofer is going bad. Here is what happens, it still cuts in and out. The thing is, when I go and push on the sub when it isn't working, it starts playing for just a second and then stops. What does that mean?

 
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You burned up the coils. Aren't you the same guy that was frying JL XR components left and right a few months ago?

 
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haha, don't make me look bad. Yes, I was. Those are working out fine though and its been nearly 2 years since I had any problems with the components. I don't see how I burned out the coils. I had a professional tune the amplifier and I know all the connections are right and the box is built to JL audo specs, slotted. I had that subwoofer for almost 2 years and im a little surprised that I blew it. Any ideas?

 
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im not understanding this, I took the subwoofer out of the box and connected it directly to the power wires coming from the amplifier without the box and it works fine. Everything in the box looks fine connection wise, I guess I should maybe try re-soldering the connections then. Doesn't seem like something is connecting

 
Rep Power: 0

Just to let everyone know, i didn't blow my sub even though from how I described the problem is seems that I did. It ends up that the wires coming from the amplifier which I have integrated into my trunk floor board to the subwoofer got smashed in between the spare tire and floor and exposed the wire to the spare tire rim.

 
Rep Power: 312

Dont u hate it when it's stupid B.S. that makes ur stuff not work, mine kept cutting in and out and i realized that the nut on my fuse by the battery had come loose AFTER i tore the sub box, amp, wiring, and head unit out.......many many 4 letter words came out of my mouth that day

 
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haha, I was the same way, I think I took my subwoofer out of the box like 2 times and I re-soldered all the connections in the box. The break in the wire was so small and barely touching the spare tire that you couldn't even notice it unless you were closely examining the wires.

 
Rep Power: 0

Alright, im pissed off now. Is it possible for a subwoofer with a blown coil to work some of the time and then just stop working again? Because that is what mine just did. There is also something else I noticed. On my amplifier I have the digital volt meter and when my subwoofer worked fine it read around 14.4 V and now when it is connected to the subwoofer, working or not, it reads around 12 V. I checked all the connections after I ran new wires from the amplifier to the subwoofer and everything is connected fine.