A blown speaker is the term used to indicate a speaker that wasn’t working properly. If your speakers sound quality is worst or you can’t hear properly, then you’re dealing with blown speaker case.
Before you spent money on new speakers, you should know that there are ways to fix blown speakers and you can do it by yourself.
The blown speaker means speaker that doesn’t work properly or work at all. It’s serious problems that can cause a speaker to unpleasant sound. A blown speaker either produce no sound or bad sound.
The most common vital indication of a blown speaker is an unpleasant scratching or buzzing sound.
Table of Contents
How To Fix A Blown Speaker
Here’s how you can fix a blown speaker:-
Step 1: Checking The Speaker
Step 2: Removing Parts
Step 3: Cleaning
Step 4: Identity & Fixing the Problem
Step 5: Testing
For detail information read below.
Blown Speaker Symptoms
Blown speaker symptoms totally depend on how much damage your unit is. Here’s are some most common signs of the blown speaker.
- Incomplete Frequency Response: Inaccurate or incomplete frequency response is one of the vital signs of a blown speaker. It means you’re hearing high frequencies or less bass.
- Distortion at Normal Volumes : When you hear fuzz, static, and hiss at moderate volumes, then you have a major problem with it. Either you have damage or loose voice coils or a torn cone you have. The problem will get worse while turning up the volume.
- Lack of Cone Vibration : The cone of a speaker vibrates quickly so that it pushes air around to make a sound. If it’s not moving then it doesn’t receive the power. This means your manufacturing element assembly or wire comes loose.
- Infinite Impedance at the Coils: You can use a multi-meter at the voice coil to test the impedance. When it’s closely infinite then undoubtedly you have an electrical problem. It’s mostly in the range of 4 to 10 ohms in usual cases.
- Popping, Rattling & Noises: Pay attention while you hear popping out from blown tweeters or rattling from flopping cone fabric. You especially know that it isn’t a material source problem.
In general, the term blown speaker is used to describe any subwoofers or woofers that don’t produce good quality sound or flat out are not working properly. Well, it is not a big deal to know whether your car speaker has some faults. As discussed above, to detect any blown speaker, you need to check for the following issues or signs:
- The speaker creates distortion.
- Your car’s speaker is not producing any sound.
- The cone of the speaker is torn.
A bad or unpleasant sound can suggest an issue with the power source, which could also mean a tiny tear on the speaker cone. If you think you have a blown speaker, It can worsen with time. Sometimes an electrical problem can also make your speaker not work. Before fixing your speaker, you should ensure that your speaker is getting electrical power. If you think you have a blown speaker and you can’t repair that, you should get in touch with a professional car mechanic to repair your broken speaker as soon as possible.
Causes of Blowing Speaker
When a speaker takes more power than it handles, it is overheated.
This overheating could damage the speaker’s component.
Additionally, overheating could burn melt wires or voice coils. The voice coil damage will cause bad or even no sound at all.
When speaker cone is displaced the mechanic failure occurs. This displacement usually occurs if your speaker wasn’t set up perfectly. Your speaker will not work perfectly whenever the cone is displaced.
Along with this, your speaker will be blown overtime by aging and using.
Mechanical Speaker Failure And Thermal Speaker Failures
Speaking about mechanical car speaker failures, this generally happens when one of the important components of your speaker is forced to move in the wrong direction. Well, the frame of the speaker collides with each other. Sometimes, causing permanent damage.
It happens when your car speaker gets more power than its limit. When your speaker gets excess power, it will heat the speaker. The heat softens the glue that keeps the components in their position. As a result, excess power can blow the speaker and stop producing sound.
Another possible problem of feeding excess power to your car speaker is that it can melt or even burn the wires inside an important component known as a voice coil. Remember that this is a sudden failure a blow car speaker can suffer. If the voice coil is permanently damaged, you will not get sound from the speaker.
In thermal and mechanical failures, one of the most common causes is carelessly or accidentally using the car speaker beyond the safety margins. For example, raising the car stereo’s volume so high that you begin to hear a gritty tone that means the voice coil has been separated from its place, producing bad volume.
Volume Is Not The Primary Culprit Of A Blown Speaker
Even though turning up the speaker volume too high and playing your speaker at that level for a long time is one of the most common reasons behind a blown speaker, different technical causes can sometimes lead to a blown speaker issue. If the car’s sound system is not designed properly, that can make your speaker blow up in the future.
Furthermore, physical damage to your speaker, amplifier clipping, and more can also lead to a blown speaker. Let’s discuss these things in detail.
Clipping is a common issue that most car audio systems include an amplifier face. The issue generally arises when the bottoms and tops of the waveform are clipped off, and the car’s amp is in overdrive. Clipping can easily damage the car speakers designed to perform at more power than they generally produce. Clipping will make your speakers use more power, and you will have a blown speaker.
Improper installation of your car speaker is one of the major causes of physical damage. Besides, when the speaker grill gets loose and is not replaced immediately, your speaker may suffer physical damage.
If there is no protective cover, your speaker can get damaged by tearing or piercing the cone as the cone is very delicate. So, if there are no protective covers and the speaker is still in good condition, then you should install a protective cover as soon as possible to prevent any possible damage.
It is quite common for your car speakers to fail due to normal use and age. It is generally true with most OEM speakers of low-quality materials compared to high-quality aftermarket speakers.
Blown Speaker Test
When you aren’t hearing any sound then your wire is shorted or disconnected or a fried voice coil. If you notice that your speaker is busted, here’s what you should do.
1. Visual Inspection Of The Cone
First, remove anything so you can visually inspect the cone.
If you observe that the cone is ripped or removed from outer diameter, then you haven’t required to test anything. In this case, you have to replace them at anyhow. Car Speakers Cone
2. Listen Closely For Distortion
This is done by pushing a hot signal into the speaker. If you’re not playing music from the original source, then run this test twice. So that you will be sure that you’re not altered by someone. Carefully listen to individuals to determine which one is toast. If you find anyone, then read below for our guidance on what to do next.
3. Playbacks & Record
You’ll have also listened carefully to identify if there’s any other problem. If you’re in a professional listening or recording environment then this will be possible and you will understand what to do without additional explanation. Any substitution in the actual sound being played in which your speakers aren’t truly reproducing it.
Can you fix a Blown Speaker?
While the question is can you fix a blown speaker? The answer is
Yes, you can. But it’s hardly suggested to do it yourself.
While your cone has separated or ripped from the fabric, you can use silicon rubber gel to fix it. It’s important to use silicone because it’s quite flexible.
Do you have any silicon tubes? If you do not, you can take this Silicon Tube from Amazon.
If you’re not hearing any sound from a single speaker, then traces the wiring back to the amplifier and notify which one was wiggled detached. If none of them, then you possibly have a problem with the coils.
If you’re undertaking other expensive sound systems, then a professional repairman will require to fix out them. While talking about car speakers, they’re less expensive to replace them altogether.
What to Do About a Blown Out Speaker
You have two choices with the blown speaker, either repair or replace it. Our suggestion that tries to repair them either yourself or contract with an expert to do it.
The speakers require enough cost to fix a repair, and that brings re-coning. Re-coning is not only replacing the cone but also the whole assembly within the voice coil.
If you’re undertaking your car speakers, then buy a new setup. You’ll enjoy this new setup and it will save your time and money.
In most cases, our suggestion is to hear the distortion at normal levels and look at the cone yourself. If there any signs of the blown speaker, just put up the cash to replace or repair it.
How To Fix a Blown Speaker
Step 1: Checking The Speaker
The initial step is to check out your speaker in order to ensure their problem. Keep in mind that, identifying a blown speaker isn’t much easier. You have to take a sharp look to check it.
You should properly check which speaker is causing the problem. You can do that by simply isolating your speakers in the system controls. But remember that not all cars have this option. If your vehicle doesn’t come with this feature, you will have to listen to every speaker very carefully.
After this, you can understand which speaker has the problem and needs replacing or repairing. If your car speakers don’t have any issues, you should remember that the car’s other parts can also disturb noise when turning on the music system.
Step 2: Removing Parts
The second step is removing the parts of the speaker. So, you can check out which part is damaged. You should read your car’s manual before start this.
First of all, you need to use a screwdriver, or you can use a ratchet to open the speaker’s enclosure. After that, you need to carefully unplug all the wires connected from the speaker to your car. To remove the speaker’s surround, you can use scissors or a knife. Just stab the scissor somewhere in the foam and gently cut it out.
After that, you need to remove the cone of your speaker. While doing that, you can see a voice call. Carefully unplug the wires connected to the voicemail mail before removing the component.
Step 3: Cleaning
Another important task is cleaning dust and dirt from your speaker. You can simply use a cloth in order to clean every part.
Step 4: Identity & Fixing the Problem
After removing every part, you will now check out which parts were damaged. At first, you should check the cone. If it is cut or torn, you can simply fix the ruptured part by using Super Glue or Tape
But, if the cone is largely damaged, you have to replace it.
Here are some Speaker Cone for replacement.
Voice coil is another significant part of the speaker. If the voice coil was melted, you just have to replace the New One instead of old one.
Replacing the voice coil and speaker is very easy. To replace the voice coil, you need to put a new coil in the place of an old coil and plug all the removed wires.
To replace the code, first, you need to apply glue on the new speaker con and carefully place that in the required place. Let the glue dry off before wiring the component.
Once you are done installing the speaker cone and voice coil, you need to place the speaker’s surround. It is very important to apply some glue to the speaker surround and let it dry. Now, you can go on and connect all the wires and screws.
Step 5: Testing
The best way to ensure everything was the test of your speaker. You have to quietly play the music and then slowly increase the volume to see what is change. If everything will not properly, you have to get help from experts.
Here is some Best Seller Car Speaker Component . You can take a sharp look and select anyone for your car.
Avoid Blowing Your Car Speaker
Even though a blown car speaker is a common problem, you can easily avoid this by following some simple tips. To protect your costly car speakers, you should not turn your volume up for hours. Besides, it is also advisable to check the audio system regularly and ensure everything is working fine.
There is a lot of electricity flowing through the power cables, and if you have a big audio system, then there will be a lot of vibration. As per the experts, the grounds need to be checked frequently to ensure that they are in good condition.
Speakers remain protected under the rear decks or door panels. The major factor that will determine the system’s longevity will depend on the user. Understand the limitations of your audio system. Besides, power connections are tight and clean.
If you love playing music in loud volume, you should invest in a powerful audio system that can handle the required level of volume.
Tips To Make Your Speaker Produce Better Sound
Replace The Factory Speakers
Aftermarket speakers come with some stunning features to meet your desired sound quality. Replacing the aftermarket unit is quite easy. All you need to do is remove the old one and install the new speakers.
By Adding An Amplifier
Well, it is better to have a built-in amplifier. But it will not be enough if you need stunning sound quality. So, you should install a separate amplifier for more high-fidelity and clear music.
Buy A Subwoofer
One of the major benefits of using a subwoofer is to boost up the bass and depth that most of the in-built speakers are missing. Using a quality subwoofer can bring an amazing improvement in the sound. Besides, you can easily adjust different subwoofers to fit your musical requirements perfectly.
You Can Use An Equalizer
Most smartphone users utilize different equalizer apps to increase the sound quality while playing their favorite music on smartphones. Well, for your cars, you can use the same method. Using a good quality equalizer will be much easier for you to enhance the sound quality. Some popular equalizer apps that you can use are Power Acoustik PWM-16 Parametric Equalizer or Clarion EQS755 Graphic Equalizer.
Use Sound Dampening Materials
Road noise can affect the sound quality. Installing sound dampening materials, for example, spray foams or insulation sheets inside your car doors, can eliminate the road noise. That means you will enjoy better music.
FAQs
How can I tell if a speaker is blown?
A blown speaker may produce distorted sound, crackling, or no sound at all. You can also visually inspect the speaker cone for damage, like tears or holes. Gently press the cone; if it feels loose or makes a scratching noise, the speaker may be blown.
How do you deal with a blown speaker?
For a blown speaker, consider replacing it with a new, compatible speaker. You can also consult a professional audio repair service to evaluate the damage and determine if the speaker can be repaired or if a replacement is necessary.
How do you fix a crackling speaker?
A crackling speaker can result from loose connections, damaged speaker cones, or electrical issues. First, check and secure any loose wiring connections. If the issue persists, inspect the speaker cone for damage and consider repairing or replacing it if necessary. For electrical problems, consult a professional audio technician to diagnose and repair the issue.
Should You Repair Your Blown Car Speaker?
Even though most car speakers will offer years of issue-free performance when used properly, they are likely to be repaired. If you have common loudspeakers, then repairing them may not be a good idea. However, if you have some uncommon or costly speakers, you should try to repair them first. Besides, the repairing process of a blow car speaker is not that complicated. All you need to do is follow a few simple steps and be ready to go.
How Do You Check Your Car Speaker To See If It Is Blown?
As per the experts, a multimeter tester can help you find out if the voice coil or speaker cone is damaged. To check the speaker, first, you need to set the multimeter to ohms and ensure that your car’s speaker is turned off. Now properly touch the multimeter’s lead to the terminal of the speaker. If the reading is 1.0 ohms, your speaker is in good condition. If it shows infinite ohms, then your car speaker is blown.
What Happens When A Car Speaker Blows?
If your car has a multi-driver speaker, and one of the drivers is blown out, then the speaker’s frequency response will get distorted. On the other hand, if the tweeter is blown. Furthermore, you have a blown woofer if the mid-range has been distorted.
Is It Possible To Fix A Blown Car Speaker?
Of course, you might wonder whether you can fix your blown speaker by yourself. The answer is yes, but for better results, you should not go for DIY methods to repair your blown speakers. DIY fixing methods are dirty and quick. These methods are good for speakers that you don’t care about at all, for example, a 20 years old speaker.
Wrapping Up!
The only solution for blown speakers is to repair or replace them. You will get many ingredients of speakers that are sold individually. Choose the best product for your car’s speaker then.
Suppose you have some expensive speakers that are generally sold individually, for example, Electro-voice and JBL. In that case, these speakers can be repaired and re-cone with the help of a professional. If you don’t know about re-coning the speaker, it is the method of not just replacing the cone of the speaker but replacing every moving part that you will find in the cone assembly. It also includes the voice coil.
However, sometimes, when you consider the total cost of repairing your blown speaker, you may find that it will be better if you replace the damaged one with a new audio system.
You can also fix a catalytic converter without replacing it.
And, if you have anything more to know, or if you want to ask any questions, comment below. We will be right back to you very soon.
