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Are these SA 8s blown?

579 views 14 replies 7 participants last post by  fox_racin4 
#1 ·
Posted this same topic on CA.com

I have 3 SA 8s in my trunk on 1800W. When I first hooked everything up, I didnt have my gains set right, and I REALLY clipped them and my amp hard. I mean hard.. like 3500-4000W hard from my amp. Sounded AWFUL, and I knew something was wrong, so I checked my gains again and my HU settings for sub level were wayyyyyyy off.

Put them to where they should be, and now it sounds really good up to about 34 volume. My HU max is 50, but I set my gains at 41.. when I start going up to 41 for the full 1800W going to them, it sounds awful. Its loud, but it sounds like theres a bird flapping around in my trunk hitting my rear deck over and over, and its not rattling. I deadened my rear deck and put foam on it, no change. Its coming from the box because I can hear it when I put my ear to it.

So I took the subs out today.. I can see on one of them where it bottomed out hard enough for the leads to hit the cone. I hooked up them up free-air (gains all the way down on amp) and played some music... one of them sounds great, very quiet mechanically, the other 2 sound like something is loose or something is rattling.. and nothing is. All the noise you hear is coming from the sub.. I even have it sitting on something so my plywood in my trunk doesnt rattle.

Tell me what you think... they were all sitting in the same spot, same settings everywhere, same song, same volume on the headunit, etc. Only thing different is the sub. You tell me.


Heres the one that sounds the best of the 3.. pretty quiet mechanically. The others sound like turds compared to this one.

"Good" SA 8 - YouTube

Heres a "blown" one..

Blown SA 8 #1 - YouTube

And heres another "blown" one, this one is the worst IMO...

SA 8 #2, blown? - YouTube

They are not bottoming out, and like I said, same settings, same volume, same song. Whats everyone think? Are they done? They sound great at lower volumes, but Im planning to run more power and they would sound BAD
 
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#3 ·
Well like I said at the beginning of my post, I clipped them really really bad for a few seconds. Could've destroyed all sorts of things.

Thats also why I said "blown".. I guess what Im asking, is this normal noise? I know when I crank it up, they sound bad. Really, really bad. Tons of bass, but sounds like something loose flopping around.
 
#4 ·
What is the difference in coil readings if any?
 
#9 ·
This is my only experience with a sub like this where you can actually see whats going on inside it.. unlike my old Kenwoods

How would I know if anything happened to the spider? Im going to mess with it some more now.. have class soon
 
#8 ·
u can blow a sub and it still play.. measure voicecoils.. check spiders and dustcaps for looseness, coming apart.. maybe a triple joint problem
 
#10 ·
I hardly ever thermally destroy subs, they always seem to come apart before that happens. Get the spider at eye level and push up and down slowly and look for rips and tears most likely near the triple joint or surround.
 
#11 ·
also check to see if glue failed where the spider meets landing
 
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