Speaker smells like its burning

[korygrandy]

Here's the situation: I already fried one speaker and sent it into polk audio for repair. I could smell something burning, but couldn't figure out what it was until the speaker went. They fixed the speaker and sent it back, I hooked it back up to the same wire and it instantly smelt like it was burning again but the speaker did work fine. If I turn the gain on my headunit to the rear it doesn't smell anymore.

Is my speakerwire too short at 3' running from the speaker to my clarion amp or is there something else going on? The only reason I think this is because this speaker is right by the amp whereas all other speakers have at least 7' of speaker wire.

 

[Beek14]

Re: Speaker smells like its burning

Speaker wire length should have nothing to do with the problem. This is the same speaker as all the other ones you're running? Does it have just as much power going to it as the other ones do? It could be getting over powered. It could also be the opposite under powering it. My friend had that problem once with a car stereo. After he got it all hooked up he wanted me to look at it. He turned it on and it worked, but smoke poored out of the amp and overheated it. Are you using the proper size fuses also?

 

[cheetah90]

Re: Speaker smells like its burning

Turn the gain down on your amp or buy speakers that can handle your amp,sure sounds like your over powering the ones you got

 

[RickJ6956]

Re: Speaker smells like its burning

If it was pure audio power causing the problem it seems like it should burn the other speakers as well.

Does this happen even at low volume? Make absolutely sure your wiring is correct. DC voltage to the voice coil of a speaker will burn it. Maybe the amp is bad and that channel is putting out DC voltage?

 

[korygrandy]

Re: Speaker smells like its burning

If it was pure audio power causing the problem it seems like it should burn the other speakers as well.

That's what I was thinking. The front right speaker is absolutely fine. It does happen at low volume.

I will double check the speaker wire to make sure it is wired + to +. What I don't get is prior to this problem, the speaker worked great for a month. All of a sudden it smelt like it was burning...then died, got revived and now after a VERY quick test to see if the speaker was working after repair it instantly smelt like it was burning again.

 

[RickJ6956]

Re: Speaker smells like its burning

When amp channels go bad they can send DC voltage to the speaker(s). This is a very bad thing because it forces the speaker's voice coil to hold in one position, where it heats up and burns.

Most amps have some sort of protection circuitry to prevent this from happening, but some don't -- and sometimes the protection circuits fail.

With the system on but turned down, use a multimeter set to DC volts. Measure across the speaker terminals.

 

[korygrandy]

Re: Speaker smells like its burning

I will do that test. I have a hard time believing it is faulty equipment over installation error or something. This is all brand new stuff that's only 1 month old.

It's a Clarion APX490M Amplifier. I am thinking back at what changed that caused this and it was me turning up the gain on the front speakers. I will lower the gain and see if it fixes the problem.

 

[cheetah90]

Re: Speaker smells like its burning

I will do that test. I have a hard time believing it is faulty equipment over installation error or something. This is all brand new stuff that's only 1 month old.

It's a Clarion APX490M Amplifier. I am thinking back at what changed that caused this and it was me turning up the gain on the front speakers. I will lower the gain and see if it fixes the problem.

If the problem started after you turned up the gain your just over powering them turn it down also make sure the "bass extender" is not switched to max 15db turn that down also and that should fix the problem. good luck

 

[korygrandy]

Re: Speaker smells like its burning

If the problem started after you turned up the gain your just over powering them turn it down also make sure the "bass extender" is not switched to max 15db turn that down also and that should fix the problem. good luck

Did exactly that and I haven't had any problems yet.

 

[mnmike3]

Re: Speaker smells like its burning

Some times speakers can smell a little bit like its burning up when its brand new. The adhesives they use at the factory to glue them together will burn off when first used. pretty comon on subwoofers.

I would still verify everything else is ok first though. Might be overpoering the speaker as others have said already. just Look it all over test what needs testing. was it replaced under a warranty? if so they might have given you a rebuilt speaker that may have been assambled poorly. If all is good and you end up blowing up anther speaker I wouuld give them a call and see if they can send a new replacement speaker again. we usually don't have a problem getting a new one in cases like this but then again I work for a shop so its a little different.