Breaking in the Woofer

[RoadEnforcer]

This is a question for Leenjen but i am also wondering what the rest of you did. Should you break in your subwoofer? How do you break in your subwoofer?
Let me know how the rest of you broke yours in or why not if you didnt.

 

[leenjen]

you should break in a subwoofer by playing it at low volumes for a while after you hook it up. most manufacturers recommend 15-20 of play time. breaking in the sub will extend the subwoofers life expectancy. it allows the voice coils and spiders to move the way they are supposed to. if the coils reach xmax before being broken in, the subwoofer wont last as long as it would've if it was broken in. i saw a kid burn up his coils in 10 minutes. then the sub just made a scratching sound. no more bass. i've also seen broken tinsel leads in the spiders. then the sub wont play at all.

 

[RoadEnforcer]

wow im gonna be a sissy with my sub for like the first two weeks!.... i mean like how low should i play it? I am soo worried abot it because the sub costed 550 bucks and im not gonna destory it! do you mean 15-20 hours of play time?

 

[leenjen]

just dont be booming down the street. it doesnt have to be quiet. the sub does have to move.

does your headunit have subwoofer controls? you could just lower the subwoofer level.

 

[tbish501]

Try at least going about one week without booming it... keep your gains relatively low but remmeber that the sub has to move to break in... It would help to see how much they are moving and inch it inch by inch as the week progresses. Its something to be taken seriously but one week is more than efficient. Then again you never want to really have max power on because it can cause a number of things to go wrong. If youre new to systems remember to never play the system in accessory mode because it will kill your battery. (Unless you have and LPL and can kill the power to the amp)

Good luck

 

[RoadEnforcer]

i have a stock pioneer head unit which is a 6 disk in dash. hass bass and treb controls fade and blanance controls that is about it. Should I get a new head unit? because i was thinking about it anyway.

 

[BetchaCantRide]

Even the low end Pioneer head units have x-over and sub level/phase controls. Maybe you should look into getting a new head unit.

 

[Brian's98XLT]

When I do my own car I mount the sub in the box and hook it up to a amp and run my Fruquenct generater set around 50hz into the amp. I apply enough power just to get the sub to move through its full excursion. I will let it run like this for about 24 hours.

 

[RoadEnforcer]

yeah i was thinking about the DEH-P8400MP Dead Link Removed

it looks soooooo tight and i got the money, but then i need to go cd changer shopping

 

[leenjen]

that's a nice headunit. since it plays mp3s why do you need a cd changer? one cd holds a lot of mp3s

 

[RoadEnforcer]

yeah i was thinking that, but then i gotta turn all my regular cds into mp3s.... and doesnt that hurt the quality of the song? would i need anything else or just the head unit to play the disk of 700mbs of mp3s?

 

[leenjen]

yes, there is some diminished sound quality on mp3s, but most people dont care. personally, i dont like mp3s. i burn all mine like regular cds.

cd changers are pretty cheap. you could get a new HU, then eventually get a changer.

 

[RoadEnforcer]

yeah i found a pretty cheap 12 disk one, now i just gotta see if it will fit in my armrest.

 

[leenjen]

make sure that it's a pioneer cd changer so it's compatable with the headunit.

 

[RoadEnforcer]

Leenjen do you think i need a new headunit using the stock pioneer 6 disk in dash? with a 500/1 jl audio amp running off it?

 

[leenjen]

it would mean less distortion (the worst thing for a speaker) and better sound quality.

you dont need a new headunit, but it is recommended

 

[RoadEnforcer]

yeah, well there goes more money!

 

[tbish501]

If you were given a stock JBl 6 disc changer there is no way to make it compatible with a new HU.

 

[RoadEnforcer]

my headunit is all one thing.... so if i get a new headunit, i would need a new changer(if i wanted one)

 

[03ExplorerSPT]

Originally posted by RoadEnforcer
yeah i found a pretty cheap 12 disk one, now i just gotta see if it will fit in my armrest.

I know that the Pioneer 6-disc will fit in the armrest of my '95. I don't know if the consoles got any bigger inside between then and the '01 models, but a 12-disc won't fit in mine.