Are you a music lover and prefer music while traveling? Then you must be worried about overheating of your subwoofers in your cars. The excessive amount of heat produced by subwoofers is extremely bothersome whether it’s present in the car or used in a home theatre.
Subwoofers are a little different from usual loudspeakers. Most people are unaware of their difference from loudspeakers. They are used to lower the high frequency of loudspeakers to a minimum range of frequency i.e. 20-200Hz.
They are mostly used in scenarios where you don’t want a piece of high-frequency music. They are used in home stereo systems, Public Address systems (PA systems), or in custom car audio installations.
How to Fix Subwoofer Overheating
There are many reasons that can cause the overheating of subwoofers. If you sense the overheating of subwoofers, you must try to find out where the real problem is. There are many people who are unaware of the anatomy of subwoofers and have no experience in fixing them. If you are unable to figure out the reason or to fix subwoofers overheating, you can show it to some professionals as well.
Causes
Some of the causes that compel your subs to generate excessive heat are as follow;
- Low-quality subwoofers are the reason for this issue as well. Instead of spending less money on something that will cause more headaches, you should purchase good-quality subwoofers to eliminate the risk of overheating of subwoofers.
- High volume is another reason for lots of heat production. Voice coils, present in it, move up and down to produce sound. If the volume is too high, these coils will move rapidly. The fastness of any action produces heat. So, high volume is also a reason for heat production.
- Timespan refers to the interval of time for which subwoofers are being used. If you are using them continuously, without any break, this can also cause the generation of uncontrolled heat. So you must give subwoofers some break for their components to get a rest for their proper functioning.
- Overpowering of subwoofers occurs due to the more power supply to it than the requirement. If your subwoofers are attached to the car, the power supply is from the amplifiers of the car. This over-supply of power to subwoofers causes the movements of the voice coil faster. Eventually, this voice coil gets separated from the other parts of it and due to this damage, the production of sound gets affected. Sometimes, there is an issue with the amplifiers of the car. The mosfet transistors present in them get warm up and generate heat. This issue with amplifiers can also become the reason for overheating of subwoofers.
- Under-powering is as responsible for heat production to subwoofers as overpowering. If proper current will not reach the coils of your subwoofers, it will generate irregular movements and eventually jamming of its coils. Hence, plenty of power would be needed for the proper functioning of subwoofers.
Steps to Fix Overheating Subwoofers
There are some steps you should follow to fix the issue of intolerable heat production of your subwoofers.
- If your subwoofers are producing lots of heat then you should first check the power supply, whether it is sending proper current or not.
- If there is no issue with the power supply, you must turn your subwoofers off. Giving the rest to its components can cause betterment in heat production.
- Even if you can’t figure out any issue with these things, push your subwoofers to some upper surface. This will cause the coil of the subwoofer to fix itself if there is an issue in the positioning of it.
- The next step is to open the cover of the subwoofer in order to check the inner deformation of its components i.e, voice coil, cone, spider, etc.
- In this step, you will check the voice coils, whether they are working properly or not. If there is some issue or irregularity in the voice coil, you need to replace this coil with a new one.
- Finally, if there is no issue with the coil, then check the speaker cones. If the cone of the speaker is damaged, it should be replaced.
All these steps can be done by you but if you are not confident enough to get engaged in such a thing, take it to some professional. There are some high-quality subwoofers with the strength that they can allow some minor mistakes for a period of time. If speakers are of low quality, they will be unable to overcome even a little irregularity.
Tools
Some of the tools that will help you in fixing these subwoofers are;
- Screwdriver
- Thermometer
- Speaker repair glue
- Hobby knife set
- Masking tape
Types of Subwoofers
There are two types of subwoofers that are commonly in use.
- Powered subwoofers are those which use the car’s receiver for power supply. If any issue of overheating will be seen in such subs, you must check the source of the power supply as well. It can happen that the issue would not be with the subwoofer but with the car’s receiver, which is supplying power.
- Passive subwoofers are those which get power from some external amplifier. If they are used in home theatre, then the supply of power would be from some external amplifier other than the car’s amplifier.
Hence, the overpowering and underpowering of subwoofers should be controlled to avoid the tearing of cones. As cones have some capacity that they can hold, not more not less.
Benefits of Subwoofers
Subwoofers are best in many ways.
- Provide clarity that speakers cannot produce. You can enjoy the depth of bass tones that are dropped by the speakers at 50 Hz of frequency.
- Even the fastest bass of music can be conveyed with feelings to the music lovers.
- Distortion-free and loud music.
FAQs
How do I stop my subwoofer from blowing?
You must set the speaker’s ALL to “small” in the setup menu of the receiver. Set the frequency to almost 80 Hz. to stop blowing off your subwoofer, you must set the volume to less than 5-6dB. You must control the outside noise so that there is no need to increase the volume of the subwoofer too much.
What would cause my subwoofer to smoke?
No matter whatever you try, the working of subwoofers will cause the production of heat. Smoke is the result of the vapor of the coils that will return to the liquid because of high temperature. Hence, little heat is of no issue but if it is uncontrollable, then you should take necessary measures.
Can a subwoofer catch fire?
Subwoofers can catch fire if they are used prolongedly with the distortion of internal components. This distortion will cause overheating and ultimately fire. Instead of losing your precious belongings that can be physical or any other because of your indolence, you must solve the issue on time.
How can you tell if a subwoofer is blown?
You can easily find out if your subwoofer is blown or not. Distortion of the sound or the movement of woofers is the sign of blown-out subwoofers. With the help of a multimeter, you can check whether the coils are blown or not.
Conclusion
Everything is bound to damage but you should care about your belongings. Try your best to fix the overheating of a subwoofer but if it is more costly and needs lots of time wastage then it is better to get a new subwoofer.
Conclusion
Everything is bound to damage but you should care about your belongings. Try your best to fix the overheating of a subwoofer but if it is more costly and needs lots of time wastage then it is better to get a new subwoofer.
