The Official AV123 Subwoofer Owners Thread

[Fors*]

Originally Posted by red_5ive

The person I'm working with has responded fairly quickly to my emails. Still in the troubleshooting phase - so far so good, just need to figure out what the solution will be. I'll keep you posted!

Out of curiosity, was yours A or B stock?

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by forsberg21

Out of curiosity, was yours A or B stock?

Doh, sorry, I thought I indicated that. It's a b-stock. I waited too long before pulling the trigger during the sale, and when I heard the news 2 weeks ago that the prices were going back up I finally decided to order. Sure enough they were out of stock on pretty much everything at that point. So I went with b-stock to get the price, although I was assured that it would have the new amp.

[red_5ive]

Ok, got a response from AV123. They'll be shipping a new woofer out by the end of the week. Hopefully I'll have a working unit soon, but I'm not at a total loss since I don't exactly have a cheap sub.

[Fors*]

Good news hopefully. Are you familiar with changing a driver? I cannot say I have ever had to do this, but I am curious as to how it is done.....

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by forsberg21

Good news hopefully. Are you familiar with changing a driver? I cannot say I have ever had to do this, but I am curious as to how it is done.....

Yes, it's pretty straight forward. Heck, I'll swap the amp if I have to, I just want a working unit!

[Steve]

It's pretty simple. I had to swap the driver in mine as well. The one thing I didn't do was solder the connections on the new one. I've never soldered anything in my life, but for this I don't imagine it would be too difficult. I crimped spade connectors onto the wires after I clipped them off of the old driver and slid them onto the connections of the new driver. Then I cinched down on them with pliers to make sure they were good and tight. I haven't had any issues since thankfully.

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by fireman325

It's pretty simple. I had to swap the driver in mine as well. The one thing I didn't do was solder the connections on the new one. I've never soldered anything in my life, but for this I don't imagine it would be too difficult. I crimped spade connectors onto the wires after I clipped them off of the old driver and slid them onto the connections of the new driver. Then I cinched down on them with pliers to make sure they were good and tight. I haven't had any issues since thankfully.

Yeah, I'll go ahead and solder mine as I'm expecting they're currently soldered since I had to fix one of the drivers in my Rocket center and it too was soldered. I thought about taking the lazy route and using connectors and wrapping them in electrical tape (which my AV123 contact also suggested if I didn't want to solder), but I'm too analy-afraid of them coming loose for obvious reasons.

In any case, I've moved the sub temporarily to my home office. After it sat there all day just looking at me, I decided I'd hook it up to my office setup consisting of 5.1 Mirage 360 degree radiating satellites, cheapo Yamaha sub, PS3, 25" LCD monitor w/hdmi, and a Yamaha RX-Z1 flagship (from 2004). I figure it'd work fine since the satellites are < 3 feet away on my desk so I wouldn't be cranking it, thus avoiding the rattle. I popped in Ironman on blu and all I can say is, WOW. This thing definitely puts out DEEP bass. It still gave a slight rattle, but it was only noticeable standing next to the sub which is on the other side of the room from my desk. I can't wait to get this thing working in the main room! Until then I'll at least enjoy it in the office.

[red_5ive]

So just an update on my MFW-15 woes while I'm awaiting shipment of a new woofer. I wanted to double-check the issue is with the woofer and not the amp, so I thought I'd do a little troubleshooting and try running the MFW-15 passive since I have 2 unused channels on one of my amplifiers (haven't installed my back surrounds yet ). So I pulled the rear amp plate on the MFW-15 and disconnected the woofer cable from the amp, then rewired it to my amplifier. I then ran the sub-out from my pre-pro to my amplifier. I powered everything up and did a slight recalibration for the sub. I then fired up Ironman, the scene where Stark walks out of the cave in the prototype suit. The rattle is still there, although it's less prominent (sounded more like a squeaky rattle), but still annoyingly noticeable. I'm not positive why it's less prominent, but I'd guess either my amp is sending a cleaner signal to the sub, or maybe I created another port since I can't really screw the amp plate back down tightly with speaker wire hanging out. Anyway, it does look like it's the woofer at this point. I'll know for sure after the new one arrives.

edit: thought I'd add a pic

[Fors*]

Nice pic red. Hopefully when you install the new driver, the issue will completely go away. Interesting theory about the slight squeak and why it might still exist, I would not have thought of that.

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by forsberg21

Nice pic red. Hopefully when you install the new driver, the issue will completely go away. Interesting theory about the slight squeak and why it might still exist, I would not have thought of that.

Thanks, forsberg. I was thinking I'm glad it wasn't the amp, but now that I think about it a replacement woofer might be more susceptible to damage again during shipping. On the flip side, if the amp ever does goes out on me I have an alternative to just run it passive since I'm in no hurry to setup my back surrounds. It actually sounded REALLY good powered through one of my amps, when it wasn't rattling, anyway.

[bigred7078]

wow just read all this, sorry to hear about the problems John. I hope it gets taken care of quickly for you.

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by bigred7078

wow just read all this, sorry to hear about the problems John. I hope it gets taken care of quickly for you.

Thanks, Steve. I'm thinking this might be a positive thing now that I've tried the MFW through the XPA-5. I would never have tried it otherwise, and the more I think how clean it sounded the more I think I might want to leave it that way. I was REALLY impressed with what I heard. I'll definitely be doing a comparison to see which I like better once I get a working woofer, which by the way should be shipping any day now.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by red_5ive

Thanks, Steve. I'm thinking this might be a positive thing now that I've tried the MFW through the XPA-5. I would never have tried it otherwise, and the more I think how clean it sounded the more I think I might want to leave it that way. I was REALLY impressed with what I heard. I'll definitely be doing a comparison to see which I like better once I get a working woofer, which by the way should be shipping any day now.

I'll be curious to read your thoughts once you do that comparison. However, after you get the driver replaced and have the amp back in so the sub is properly ported, I don't think you're going to be disappointed.

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by fireman325

I'll be curious to read your thoughts once you do that comparison. However, after you get the driver replaced and have the amp back in so the sub is properly ported, I don't think you're going to be disappointed.

I`m sure you`re right. I got a taste trying it out in my office where I didn`t have to turn it up thus avoidung the rattle for the most part. Sounded amazing!

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by red_5ive

Thanks, Steve. I'm thinking this might be a positive thing now that I've tried the MFW through the XPA-5. I would never have tried it otherwise, and the more I think how clean it sounded the more I think I might want to leave it that way. I was REALLY impressed with what I heard. I'll definitely be doing a comparison to see which I like better once I get a working woofer, which by the way should be shipping any day now.

Don't tell anybody, but that is why three of my subwoofers are passive and are powered by external kick-ass amplifiers. The two 12" Hsu subwoofers get about 600 watts each from my Cinepro 6-channel amp and the 15" DIY sub receives around 1,500 watts power from a bridged vintage Carver amp.

In my opinion, all plate amplifiers are made for or by Mickey Mouse. A real amplifier must have massive power supply and look macho. Real amplifiers from the 1960's and 1970's still work without a problem, but these wussy plate amps break down everyday.

Big Daddy no like plate amps.

[Driver_King]

Big Daddy, with the 15" DBX subwoofer, I have connected an older 41 watt Technics amplifier. It is over 30lbs. and is pretty large. I can best describe the sound from it as full, sweet, and has incredible music impact. I would love to my other subwoofers with the Technics amp! I would love to get proper power to my DIY subwoofer which is only seeing around 125 watts at four ohms. Maybe I should find some older amplifiers with a lot of clean power for my subwoofers and just bypass their plate amps. I've even thought about moving the 15" subwoofer from the living room to the end of my bed for even more impact in my theater.

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

Don't tell anybody, but that is why three of my subwoofers are passive and are powered by external kick-ass amplifiers. The two 12" Hsu subwoofers get about 600 watts each from my Cinepro 6-channel amp and the 15" DIY sub receives around 1,500 watts power from a bridged vintage Carver amp.

In my opinion, all plate amplifiers are made for or by Mickey Mouse. A real amplifier must have massive power supply and look macho. Real amplifiers from the 1960's and 1970's still work without a problem, but these wussy plate amps break down everyday.

Big Daddy no like plate amps.

Sure, just rub your Cinepro in my face. By the way, I used to have a dbx 15" sub myself. I miss the dual-voice!

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by red_5ive

Sure, just rub your Cinepro in my face. By the way, I used to have a dbx 15" sub myself. I miss the dual-voice!

I donated my 15" sealed DBX subwoofer to a poor person in Florida. Rumor has it that he calls himself the King of Drivers.

[Driver_King]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

I donated my 15" sealed DBX subwoofer to a poor person in Florida. Rumor has it that he calls himself the King of Drivers.

Jeeze. That guy must be pretty lucky to know such a generous person. Good for him!

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

I donated my 15" sealed DBX subwoofer to a poor person in Florida. Rumor has it that he calls himself the King of Drivers.

Originally Posted by Driver_King

Jeeze. That guy must be pretty lucky to know such a generous person. Good for him!

I have no idea who you guys are talking about.