Is it possible to repair a subwoofer?

[Praetor]

I bought an el cheapo JBL sub-woofer years ago as part of a package from Best Buy. Unfortunately, 2 years ago, it started outputting a regular helicopter-type pulse, no matter if it if was connected to anything or not.

Ideally, I'd like to see if I can fix this on the cheap. Any ideas as to what would cause something like this?

 

[Dman877]

Does it sound like 60 hertz? If so, you could have some kind of power supply issue, AC leaking into the amp section.

 

[Praetor]

That it does. Would it be worth it to try and fix on my own?

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: Praetor
That it does. Would it be worth it to try and fix on my own?

Wouldn't hurt to try. Make sure the caps inside are discharged, though.

If you can't find anything wrong, you can always cut the wires to the subwoofer driver and put in your own plate amp.

 

[cheesehead]

Sounds like you need new PSU caps.

I might note that you don't even really need to discharge them - if you unplug the sub before taking it apart, they should have discharged long before you finish removing the screws.

Alternately, you could get a new plate amp - I've got a spare, though it's only rated for 25W. This makes a lot more sense for $600 Hsus than $60 JBLs, though.