I have a Cambridge Soundworks Powered Subwoofer 1 (they are really, really creative with their naming...), which is a 12" sealed sub with a 140W amp (kinda low, huh?) I haven't been using it a lot lately; I've been trying to save power by turning off and largely forgetting to turn it on again for TV watching, casual music listening.

I turned it on today, and the bass was really, really boomy. I initially figured that I had the '80s set to large (which I did), but changing them did nothing. Then I figured I hadn't calibrated Logic7 (I hadn't), but changing to DTS:Neo6 didn't improve things. I dropped the level on the sub by 2 (since I haven't calibrated for ages), but it was still boomy. Giving up, I figured I had knocked the volume knob at some point. Turning it, it got extraordinarily boomy, then cut out altogether. It comes back at certain positions, but it's variably boomy. Anyone have any ideas about fixing this?

Yes, I know what you all are thinking, but budget is not great for that right now.

Is the driver surround okay?

If the driver is okay, perhaps you could retrofit a modest new amp from partsexpress or something?

Well, if it's simply that the volume control is dirty(probably no such luck), run it back and forth from min to max a couple dozen times.

I agree with John.

After his advice, try some cleaner.

Hokey dokey, I'll give the cleaner a shot. You know, i've never been able to find that stuff when I've looked before. Gave up a Marantz 2220B because of that...

Removing the amp will be challenging--the driver and amp are both mounted inside the mdf cabinet. There are no external screws, and the driver's behind a metal grill. Hopefully the driver has external screws, but I haven't looked at it recently.

If it were me, I would try placing the sub so that the plate/volume knob was upright, then remove the knob and squirt straight down the potentiometer shaft (keep your comments to yourselves, students). Put the knob back on and turn back and forth 20X. I can't imagine it would hurt anything if you don't use too much.

Of course, just because I would do that doesn't mean that I'm recommending that you do!

Frankly, it can't make things any worse, unless it sets the thing on fire.

In the meantime, I have tabs open on two particular subwoofers in my browser... I'm a bad person.

Like JohnK, I think it may be an oxidized/intermittent volume control. Try the spray cleaner down the shaft before you take it apart.

Alan

Well, bad news/good news. The cleaner did bupkus. I didn't even have to play anything, just powered on the sub and moved the volume control. Whump, whump. Hey, it's a musical instrument! So now what? Do I replace the sub amp (assuming I can find one that fits and matches???) Or do I drop the dough and get a little 10" sub from one of several manufacturers?

Spend your half of the May legacy booster check on a sub you won't feel the need to replace in the next couple years.