Blown Alpine 6x8 ?

[VetalM3]

So it looks like I blew one of my Alpine Type R 6x8 speakers. The question is - the speakers are rated 100 RMS, my amp gives 85RMS max, the gain is half way. How come it blew ??

Another strange thing is that I noticed it blew about a couple of weeks ago, a week after the speaker worked perfectly again for a short period of time. How is it possible ? The tweeters on this speaker play very well but the bass is all distorted, not loud and rattling.

P.S. what another brand can I look for replacement ? I don't want to blow them again ( and I like to listen to music loud ) Thanx.

[S.F.W.]

are you 100% certain it is the speaker, and not a connection issue ? If you do have to replace, I would look at JL, JBL .

[mdass52]

are you 100% certain it is the speaker, and not a connection issue ? If you do have to replace, I would look at JL, JBL .

+1 on JL or JBL stuff. Im also a big fan of infinity speakers. Im surprised the type r's blew though, those are pretty decent.

[VetalM3]

I took out the bad speaker. When you gently push the cone inside, it's rubbing against something on one side. I believe it should not be like this, maybe that is the reason ?

[forbidden]

Here is the reason that they blew. A speaker does not have a set limit for power handling regardless of what the spec sheet says. It is a guideline at best. There are only three ways to kill a speaker and that is it, that is all.

1) run it over, knife it, light it on fire, put screwdriver through it..... ok well that is four examples but you get the drift.

2) run it past it's mechanical barrier and cause the spider or surround to fail. As in you are running it way to hard and the speaker starts to tear itself apart before the next point happens.

3) too much power, run the speaker past it's thermal barrier. This is what you have done.


The smaller the speaker, the smaller it's voicecoils and voicecoil former. Some formers are made of cardboard, some of plastic, some of high temp plastic and some from aluminum. All speakers have formers and they are there for the voicecoils to wind on.

Heat is a natural byproduct of amplification. You turn on the light, the bulb gets hot. You turn on the stove, the element gets hot. You run an engine, it gets hot. In all cases of point 3, too much power is what has killed your speaker.

A speaker does not care if you play rap, country, blues. It does not care if you have a crappy Bose amp or a good Eclipse amp. It does not care if you send it clean power or a signal that is fully clipped. What it does care about is the thermal barrier.

A speaker with a relatively small former (and thus voicecoils) is going to heat up. This is natural and some speakers are better than others at dissipating heat. You can send a fully clipped (distorted) signal into it and the speaker will continue to play until the voice coils and former have so much heat in them that they cause the former to melt or the coils to burn. (this is what you have done and is why the speaker feels scratchy). The scratchy part is those nice copper wires now a nice black color and are rubbing against the motor of the speaker. The gap that the former and voice coils must work in is very small, the slightest change to either and you are asking for trouble.

Heat you cannot get rid of. The more power you have, the quicker it is going to heat up. The longer you play the speaker, the more the heat generated. If you want to play a speaker long and loud, then ensure that it is properly crossed over (too low and you will put far more strain on it) and the gain set correct (as a clipped signal will overheat the coils quicker once they are already warm). Allow the speaker to cool down, the longer and louder it is played, the sooner it will hit it's thermal barrier.

In my opinion of a good speaker, I would short list Morel as they are one of the few speaker built from the ground up to sound good and provide superior thermal characteristics.

Need more specific info, feel free to msn or e-mail me, forbidden@telus.net

[VetalM3]

Very interesting. Thank you.

[forbidden]

If your speaker is not covered under warranty any more, take it apart so that you know what is going on in the inner workings. Get a knife and cut the surround all the way around the speaker. The surround is what attaches the cone to the basket. Next clip off the tinsel leads, these are the generally silver colored wires that connect where the speaker wires attach to the speaker to the speaker cone. Finally cut the spider, the cloth like material in most cases that is at the base of the underside of the speaker cone. It is has concentric ribs on it, perhaps about 4-5 in this case. Cut at the outer side if you can. Now the speaker should pull out and show you the former and the burnt coils on it.

[coyote]

If you turn it up too loud, then the music will clip which can also damage the speakers.