jhoak Posted May 30, 2011 Posted May 30, 2011 I've been chasing down some "hum" issues with my Sunfire True Subwoofer. After trying all of my best tricks to eliminate ground loops without success I decided there was nothing left except to lift the sub "above ground". Normally I would do this by using an IEC power cord with the ground prong removed. In the case of the Sunfire it does not use an IEC connector but instead is "hard wired" with a 3-wire grounded power cord. Not wanting to break off the ground prong it became necessary to do a little "surgery". No problem... A dozen or so machine screws later I was inside and unsoldered then capped off the ground wire. It was done in a way that makes it a 10 minute job to put it back the way I found it should ever I decide to sell it. What struck me during the disassembly process was how loose ALL the screws were. I mean not much more than "finger-tight" if that. When I reassembled it I tightened all of the plate amp screws down pretty well. Of course that got me to thinking... HMMM... What about the rest of the screws? Sure enough. ALL of the screws holding the main driver and the passive radiator were just as loose as those holding the plate amp. Well... I just so happen to own a 9/64 Allen wrench or two so now they're all well snugged down too. I really doubt that it came from the factory with all of the screws loose but over time and considering just what a subwoofer actually does my suspicion is that they all gradually worked loose. There are some pretty extreme forces at play in a subwoofer. The result... Even more output from an improbably small box. My hunch is that with everything loose there wasn't an air-tight seal and the passive radiator really wasn't doing much of anything. Tech tip of the day: If your subwoofer has been in service for a while dig out the appropriate tools and snug all of the fasteners up. It can't hurt. Quote
TNRabbit Posted May 31, 2011 Posted May 31, 2011 This is a common problem with the Sunfire subs as they are SO powerful & such a small enclosure so more X-Max is required to acheive the same SPL. They literally shake themselves apart~ Glad you were able to fix the problem. Quote
willland Posted May 31, 2011 Posted May 31, 2011 Tech tip of the day: If your subwoofer has been in service for a while dig out the appropriate tools and snug all of the fasteners up. It can't hurt. Tight as a drum with my Sunfire and Paradigms. No issues here but thanks for the tip. Bill Quote
BluBitRates Posted June 5, 2011 Posted June 5, 2011 really wasn't doing much of anything.Tech tip of the day: If your subwoofer has been in service for a while dig out the appropriate tools and snug all of the fasteners up. It can't hurt. I thought one of my velodyne subs was blown, actually just had to tighten the screws on the amp in the back as it was rattling when the bass hit. Quote
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