I have blown it (subwoofer)

[HeresWatts]

sorry , but long post to follow.

I have 2 Cerwin Vega passive subwoofers that have been around a very long time. The model number is HT10D, and they each have 1 10 inch, dual voice coil woofer rated at 8 ohms per coil, 125 watts rms.

In fooling around with my HT system, I decided to power the Vegas with my old Pioneer VSX 9500S, also rated at 125 wpc into 8 ohms. This is the same unit that the C-Vs ran on for years, along with my Polk Monitor10s

Currently , I am feeding both of the LFE outputs of my Onkyo TX NR809 into the Pioneer to power the C-Vs, while my Heresys and a KV3 center channel speaker are driven by the Onkyo , This configuration was quite a satisfying assortment of old and older gear, until I started playing test tones from Youtube and overextended 1 of the C-Vs, ruining it. I have scoured the net, but cannot find a replacement tor that woofer. The old woofers only markings are on the back side of the cone, where it is printed in white "HG2040"

If I cannot source an original driver, I am considering putting in a Rockford Fosgate P2D2 driver in the C-Vs and running the dual, 2 ohm voice coils in series for a 4 ohm load, same as the dual 8 coils in parallel were.originally.



My cabinets are just shy of 1.5 cubic feet volume, and there is a 4 " round port with an 11" tube attached..
Any leads on an original woofer , or advice as to a suitable replacement would be greatly appreciated.

 

[redk9258]

Are you sure you blew the woofer and not the amp? I don't see any advantage of running a dual voice coil driver configured that way. If you are going to run it from one channel of an amp, just get an 8 Ohm driver. Did you put a meter on the voice coils to see if they truly are open?

 

[mhardy6647]

Are you sure you blew the woofer and not the amp? I don't see any advantage of running a dual voice coil driver configured that way. If you are going to run it from one channel of an amp, just get an 8 Ohm driver. Did you put a meter on the voice coils to see if they truly are open?

Indeed -- I don't know anything about these drivers, nor how old they are; perhaps when the OP says "overextended" he (or she) means that the foam surround disintegrated(?).
If so, and if the voice coil(s) are still OK (not burned open nor physically distorted from overheating), could be (as so many eBAY descriptions might put it) an easy fix.

 

[HeresWatts]

Are you sure you blew the woofer and not the amp? I don't see any advantage of running a dual voice coil driver configured that way. If you are going to run it from one channel of an amp, just get an 8 Ohm driver. Did you put a meter on the voice coils to see if they truly are open?

I did meter the voice coils, and they showed 7.3 ohms each.I think that I have distorted the coils to the point of failure by driving them past the mechanical limits of their travel with the test tones. The surrounds are fine. When I move the woofer cones by hand, it is noisy, and scratchy feeling in its movement. .As I move the cones, my meter shows various resistance AND intermitantly an open circuit . The sub will still play, after a fashion, but makes some very un-musical noises. Its a shame I blew it, because they sounded better in this configuration than any other way I have used them.
The reason I am thinking of a DVC replacement is that the originals are DVC. Thinking of a 2 ohm DVC because I have always had the subs AND another 8 ohm speaker on each channel, presenting the amp with a 4 ohm load. If I run a 4 ohm load on each channel, (2 -2 ohm vcs in series) that should be the same load that my amp has always carried, and at any given output, the amp for the subs will be driving half the impedence as the other amp, so I think I can have better response from the subs.

 

[slimecity]

it is noisy, and scratchy feeling in its movement

Yup - sounds like either some grit in the voicecoil gap or more likely, you ran them pretty hard, the glue holding the wire in the voicecoil softened, letting some of the metal wire unwind from the voicecoil, and its rubbing against the metal side of the voicecoil gap.

Sounds like you are getting the right impedance readings however, but the rubbing etc with the voicecoil wire will only worsen unless you replace the speaker cone/voicecoil/spider, or get a new driver.

 

[HeresWatts]

No joy in getting either Cerwin Vega or Crutchfield providing a replacement woofer. I have searched the net and cannot find one. I have ordered a pair of Fosgate du Punch 2, dvc drivers and will mod my cabinets as needed to run them. They are 2 ohms per coil. and I plan to run them in series.