# Weird smell from sub.



## mdavis83 (Feb 17, 2014)

I've had an Re audio se-x 12 for about 3-4 months now. Sounds great. However, when I really start pushing it, I notice a smell that I can only compare to as what a band aid smells like. I'm not abusing it. It isn't distorting or anything. I have an alpine mrp-850 pushing it and although I know I don't have the gain set appropriately, it is not turned up much over half way. I'm just wondering if the smell is normal and the sub is still breaking in (I don't push it hard enough to get the smell very often) or if I am pushing it too hard and it could be damaged. It is in a 2.2cf box @33hz


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## mdavis83 (Feb 17, 2014)

Nope. No burning smell whatsoever. Still sounds great. Even sounds great when I am getting the smell. It's smells pretty much just like a band aid smells.


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## joeyvaz (Jan 23, 2009)

I have an RE Audio Pro SX 10" in a ported enclosure. I have MAYBE 20-25 hours of play time on it. When I push it and it starts moving air through the ports, I get the SAME exact band aid smell. I'm only putting ~500 watts to it. This sub is supposed to handle 1000w RMS and 2000w Peak. So I know I am not over driving it by any means. Sounds great, but I just get that weird smell. I thought maybe it was the adhesives used in the enclosure, but I've had it inplace for 2 months now, so I doubt it's that. And it doesn't smell all the time. Just when pounding some bass tracks.

I don't think it's the voice coils, but who knows. I contacted RE via their online contact us, but never received a response.


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## SkizeR (Apr 19, 2011)

does it smell like a new bandaid or a used bandaid?


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## qwertydude (Dec 22, 2008)

Does it smell like burning electronics? Smells are so hard to describe with words. Burning to one person could mean like a charcoal grill. But burning electronics is a very distinct smell. As long as it's not smoking when you're pushing it, or at least not spewing a choking smoke cloud, this is fairly normal. You're just baking off all the volatiles in the glue.

It can cause a darkening of the coils but as long as they look glossy still, it's nothing to worry about.


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## joeyvaz (Jan 23, 2009)

I believe the smell is normal. Definitely not smoking or burnt smelling. And it doesn't smell like rotten eggs which I believe is what burnt coils smell like.


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## 14642 (May 19, 2008)

When voice coils are attached to the former, a kind of lacquer is often used to hold it together. What you're smelling is probably that lacquer being heated.


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## Sine Swept (Sep 3, 2010)

I had an Alpine Type X 12 that would stink something fierce, but not the magic smoke smell of burning electronics.


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## mdavis83 (Feb 17, 2014)

No smoking or burnt electronics smell. I figured it was something probably normal, just wanted to make sure.


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## hurrication (Dec 19, 2011)

A lot of the subs I've built over the years smell like glue for a little while when played hard. Could just be the type of glue they used on it.


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## ATOMICTECH62 (Jan 24, 2009)

The sub is being pushed to the point the VC is getting hot.Very hot.
Its that simple.
If a sub claims 1000 watts power handling,that doesnt mean 1000 watts is fine and at 1001 it will blow.
Subs are enclosure sensitive.A sub that can take 1k watts in a ported box might only take 500 in a sealed box,or the other way around depending on the sub.
If you are pushing the sub into hard clipping then a 850 watt RMS amp could do 1200 watts with a square wave.And if its in a ported box the sub is hardly moving at the tuning frequency so its not pumping enough air around the VC to cool it sufficiently enough to handle the power it could at other frequencies.


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## diynube (Feb 27, 2011)

Does the smell linger a bit for a day or so? I just did this to my two new Hertz Mille ML3000 12" subs in a ported box. The odor was somewhere between mild and moderate, but not strong. The odor lingered for a day it seems. It never smelled burnt, but definitely was an obvious glue smell. 

I've smoked a few JL Audio 10w6v2 subwoofers. When I did that, the strength of the smell was strong, and had a burnt character. Kindof a sickening smell, really.

In any case, I'm just wondering if the Mille subs are known for using a glue that is known to smell when the subwoofer is pushed, or if getting that smell really means some damage. If I had to guess, the heated coil would cause the glue to cure faster, but perhaps it wouldn't cure properly? I'm pretty sure I drove the subs to Xmax, but I don't think I drove them past Xmax and this only went on in some bassy tracks for a few minutes.


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