Anyone else have problems with their subwoofer? *Fixed*

zguru24 · Post by **zguru24** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 8:18 pm

I have an 04 with the carver system and wanted to know if anyone else has had problems with their subwoofer.

The driver's side sub has noise/distortion easily heard at low volume. Kind of sounds like a cricket or bug or something. Turning up the volume slightly its not as easy to hear but still there.

I had BMW replace the sub and it appeared the problem went away.

Two month later the distortion has come back. It is like it is blown or something but I have never blasted the radio that loud.

Anyone else? Or do I have actual BUGS in sub? Haha

Post by **sp3ctre** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 8:20 pm

Sounds more like a loose connection to me...

GVfB · Post by **GVfB** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 8:50 pm

nope, that is definately a forced spider (no, not the bug) inside the woofer. At low volumes and low excursion of the voice coil, the spider has become too weak to retract the voice coil. It will still work at higher volume, but over time, the woofer will completely fail.

Two possible causes: voice coil has been extremely hot and didn't have enough time to cool down before the music turned off OR the amp started to clip and sent distortion (so DC volts) to the speaker.

em2b96p · Post by **em2b96p** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 3:39 am

i have the same problem but its on my passenger sub. even with the music turned down you can hear the buzz when the bass hits

this is another thing on my checklist when i visit the dealer.

20ducks · Post by **20ducks** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 4:51 am

This happened on my non-Carver system, turned out to be a loose connection, bad driver and the amp had a bad channel. Looks like I hit all the buttons.

AlanL · Post by **AlanL** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 5:00 am

How many passes at the dealer did it take to get all that fixed?

20ducks · Post by **20ducks** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 5:03 am

One. They know me well and I am good friends with the Warranty Manager.

zguru24 · Post by **zguru24** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 5:42 am

Thanks for the input everyone! Hopefully I can finally get this one resolved!

AlanL · Post by **AlanL** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 5:49 am

20ducks wrote:One. They know me well and I am good friends with the Warranty Manager.

Nice. I could see a set of symptoms like that being a major hassle for most folks to get resolved.

20ducks · Post by **20ducks** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 6:02 am

My dealer is aware of car shows that I have won awards from. Thus, they are aware of my standards.
I bought 2 new cars in the last 3 1/2 years.
I am very active in the local BMW CCA Chapter.
When I visit their Lifestyles boutique to check out sales or new products, I always make it a point to say hello to key personnel in most departments.
I have referred several new car sales to them.

It all helps.....sometimes.

AlanL · Post by **AlanL** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 2:11 am

20ducks wrote:My dealer is aware of car shows that I have won awards from. Thus, they are aware of my standards.

Hehe - now your dry comments about never washing your cars starts to take on a whole new light.

Excellent example of what you can expect by playing the nice card instead of the far too frequent confrontational approach to getting what you want out of your dealer. I have never been able to sympathize with the indignation of those who didn't get the service they wanted our of their dealer when their whole approach to the situation never included cooperation or civility.

zguru24 · Post by **zguru24** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 4:25 am

Hey everyone,

I printed out this thread and showed them what some of you had suggested. I left it there for the day and had to pick it up and wait for another appointment because they had to order a new subwoofer. They told me they would just replace the sub again. I asked how that was going to fix anything. There must be some underlying problem that is causing the sub to fail. My adviser had no answer.

Now a week later, I dropped the Z off again this morning telling them I was concerned it was going to happen again. The service adviser said if it happens again they will "drill down" and find out what it is. Remember this is already my second time visiting to fix this sub related issue. I thought that this time should be the time they "drill down". So I left indifferent.

Went to go pick up the car in the afternoon and find out to my surprise they ended up changing the amp. The tech mentions that he/she swapped the right and left subs and found it made the same noise. The tech says that there was internal damage causing the subwoofer to make noise. So hopefully this is the end of that problem!

BTW, by chance I left the printed out thread on my passenger seat. I am wishfully thinking the tech read the print out and helped get to the root of the problem.

Thanks all for your input!

Sephanite · Post by **Sephanite** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 8:13 am

GVfB is here!!!

churchwa · Post by **churchwa** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 11:54 am

I have the same problem, sometime the radio is so low, but is still get massive bass distortion. I took it to the dealer and they said they could not fidn a problem, it is going back on Wednesday to be checked again.

Then at high volumes i get flapping and rattling from the back of the car.

zee42 · Post by **zee42** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 2:08 pm

GVfB wrote:nope, that is definately a forced spider (no, not the bug) inside the woofer. At low volumes and low excursion of the voice coil, the spider has become too weak to retract the voice coil. It will still work at higher volume, but over time, the woofer will completely fail.

Two possible causes: voice coil has been extremely hot and didn't have enough time to cool down before the music turned off OR the amp started to clip and sent distortion (so DC volts) to the speaker.

How in the world doe's he know all this stuff.....GVfB must have no job,and stays in a little room reading manuals all day ,and long into the night

Z4-forum.com

Z4-forum.com

Anyone else have problems with their subwoofer? Fixed

Anyone else have problems with their subwoofer? Fixed