I have a set Dayton Reference Series 7" woofers in my doors. I've had them in the car for two or three months now. I don't think I've played them excessively hard. I've never pushed them to the point of distortion; at least not audible distortion. A few weeks ago we had a chilly morning. It was 33 degrees according to the Scanguage air intake temp when I started the car. The passenger side speaker was making a bad scratching sound the whole way to work. That afternoon on the way home it was considerably warmer out and it played just fine. Ever since that day the scratching has gotten worse in the morning even to the point of being scratchy in the 60 degree range. Recently I started noticing a faint scratch when it's warm. I called about returning it under warranty and they gave me an RMA number and said they'd inspect it to see if I damaged the speaker by overpowering it or pushing DC through it or if it's the coil being out of alignment from manufacturing. I went ahead and ordered a new speaker so I wouldn't be without. I swapped them today. When I took the damaged speaker out of the car and depressed the cone it was smooth. When I pressed the cone outward I could feel the voice coil scratching. I've had it in the house for a few hours now and tried it again and there is no scratching.

My question is, based on the symptoms, do you think the problem could have been caused by DC or overpowering or is it just a manufacturing problem and the cold weather caused the voice coil to shrink enough that it scarred something and it's constantly rubbing now? I just want other opinions so I can decide whether to spend the time and money to return it.

Thanks!!!

 

Of course this is pure speculation......but my guess is that due to the larger diameter of the speaker.....the surround or edge of the cone is hitting against the inside of your door panel somewhere knocking the coil out of alignment enough so that it rubs slightly. Over time it will get worse and eventually sound scratchy almost all the time, mostly evident whenever the driver is asked to move more due to more bass, kickdrum, etc.......

 

It's not close to anything. I checked that when I first installed it and checked again when I put the new speaker in today.