I have a Peavey 118 Subwoofer and was wondering why it isn't working... I have another one exactly the same so I am sure it has something to do with the sub... I took a look inside and everything seems to be connected fine, but it is unresponsive... Is there anything I can do to try and fix it myself? Or figure out what the problem is...

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Peavey PV 118 Operating Manual Page 8

Is that an IPR amp???

When asking questions please give as much detail as possible, t LEAST give the model or part numbers of the items you are asking about and anything else you will be using with them. Without this information it is impossible to answer more than general questions. However I will attempt to give an answer which could point you in the right direction below.

As you don't say which 118 and 215 you have it is impossible to give an absolute answer. Some 118s have an internal low pass crossover with two inputs in parallel, in this case you can take a connection from the amp to the sub and from the sub to the 215. Again some 215s have a high as well as a full range input so you MAY be able to use this to avoid driving full range into the 215. Some 118s have a high pass as well as a low pass in which case just connect the high out to the fullrange in on the 215. You could also possibly split the amp to use one side as a sub driver and the other for the mid/tops if the amp has a crossover.

You may also find that the wiring on the speakons on the tops needs to be different according to how you are going to use them (2+/- instead of 1+/-)

You will also need to know what impedance your amp is happy to go down to as in some combinations depending on which model 118/215s you have you could end up presenting a 2ohm load.

Connection is hooking up from mixer's main outputs (L,R) to
Subwoofer amp inputs.

Circuit resistance from corrosion, or broken strands int he flex wire connections between voice coil and the terminals. It is also possible the voice coil form is distorted. It is also possible a capacitor in the amplifier is in the early stages of failure.

The speaker is blown. Did it smell a little funny when this happened. Sometimes they get a faint burning smell when they blow. Some Peavey amps especially older ones are known for letting DC current slip through to the speaker and blows it immediately. Most of the rest of the amp deals with that pretty well so I'm not quite sure what going on with the standby switch. Probably just a blown bulb.

Peavey uses a protection network and sometimes it gets blown when too much power is sent to the speaker. The speaker may be blown however. Peak power for this is 800 Watts and 400 Program... That is NOT RMS power. Make sure your amp is no bigger than 300 Watts RMS driving this. If you are REAL lucky, maybe a lead has fallen off the speaker... Open the unit inspect and test the components.

You would send high as well as low to the sub and unless the sub had a built in crossover it COULD get muddy sounding. The specs SEEM to indicate the 118 DOES have a low frequency crossover so it SHOULD be OK... How would it sound? An 18 inch sub normally adds to the sound of a system... You MAY need to PAN over to send more power to the one side with the extra load on one side. Often people use two sub's... one for each side so it is balanced.

Generally speaking you should only send low frequencies to subs. The highs, while lower in power than the lows, will over time harm the voice coils. The ideal way to do this is to use an external crossover netween the main output and the amp input with the higher range going to a general set of speakers. Send the lows through the second channel of the amp and then to the subs.

In short, while not recommended, yes you can hook them up in parallel.

Dan