Hi. I am a new owner of my first Outlaw product. This thing sounds great but it pops really loud sometimes. The first time a played Master & Commander I thought I blew it but it pops really loud during some cannon scenes. It also does it during War of The Worlds during the lightning scenes. I have talked with Steve and he and I are trying to figure out what is going on. I had all my volume levels maxed out on my reciever but I have since lowered them but when I crank up the volume the popping is still there. I have purchased a SPL meter from Radio Shack and hope to be back in touch with Steve soon to see if my problem can be solved or I just need a new sub. Anyone else had this problem?

Your LFM-1 most likely bottomed out. You probably calibrated your subwoofer lever too "hot". Since you have your SPL meter, try that scene again after proper calibration to reference level. You have to have a happy medium between receiver volume level set and subwoofer's gain level. Also placement of subwoofer location play big with how loud your subwoofer able to play before it bottom out. If you still have pop even after proper calibration and optimal location, you might need little more subwoofer power for your listening level. Good luck. And welcome to Outlaw family.

One might also consider that if the volume levels on a receiver are maxed out, or nearly so, the input of a normal amplitude signal may be enough to cause clipping in some section of the receiver. The receiver used may have some protection or limiting to reduce clipping on the amplifier section’s output to the speakers, but may not have such protection on a pre-out sent to a subwoofer’s amplifier. The subwoofer may not be clipping internally, but potentially is receiving a momentarily distorted signal when strong low frequencies are overdriving some portion of the receiver’s low frequency crossover or subwoofer output circuitry.

Certainly a decent calibration is a good next step in a series of checks before exchanging your subwoofer.

I think bestbang hit the nail on the head. The sub is probably getting a horribly distorted signal and when the reciever clips you get the "pop". Nothing that a 990 plus a good outboard amp can't deal with. Break out the checkbook! 8-)

Well I have lowered my receivers level to -10 and if turn up the volume I do not get the bass I want or expected. So I turn it up some and itt sounds great through most of the movie but when there is a strong boom all of a sudden in a scene that is when it pops. I have a Sony STRDE997 receiver and my old sub was a JBl PSW-1200 and it never did this. I connected my old JBL and I can turn it up and it never pops. Could there be something wrong with the reciever or the new sub??

Perhaps you can set up the system with the LFM-1, slowly up the system volume until the popping just begins, then stop the source, turn off the LFM-1 and swap it out for the JBL without changing anything about the receiver. If, when you resume playing the source over again in the same place and there is no popping through the JBL sub, I would say that the receiver is not likely giving a clipped output.

Next, without changing anything on the receiver, you might try putting the LFM-1 back in the system and resume playing the same source but vary the volume on the LFM-1 itself. If the popping continues just as often while you lower the volume level on the LFM-1 almost all the way down, although the popping is not as loud, then there might be a problem with the input stage of the LFM-1. If the popping stops as you lower the volume on the LFM-1 and resumes as you raise the volume again while the overall volume of the bass is not that high, then there may be a circuit-related or physical problem with the LFM-1.

There was a post somewhere about some sub (sorry I don’t remember the details) where some of the material inside the enclosure had come loose. It could be that something is near the driver and “hits” when the transducer travel exceeds a certain amount.

I once had a loudspeaker that I thought had developed a problem with a capacitor in the crossover by the way a certain “scratchy” distortion occurred at certain frequencies and loudness levels. I gently turned the speaker on a different side and the behavior of the problem changed. I deduced that the problem was a physical, not electrical, with one of the drivers. I ended up having to remove, clean and reassemble the rear-most portion of one driver’s magnet structure which had become slightly loose.

In another case I received a new sub damaged in shipment. Apparently the box had been dropped from about three feet up and landed nearly flat on one side. Because the box landed nearly flat on a flat surface, there was not much tearing nor was there too much distress to the outer box. It just looked like normal shipment wear and tear on the outer box. But inside the whole heavy magnet structure of the driver had been broken off the ‘basket’ of the driver ruining the driver’s coil in the process. Then the heavy magnet, free of any restraint, had banged around inside the sub’s enclosure for the remainder of the journey to my home, smashing the internal amplifier electronics in the process. What an awful mess. It was difficult to get FedEx to acknowledge their liability because the packaging had so little distress – many weeks before the situation was resolved.

In any case, if you carefully roll the disconnected LFM-1 side-over-side or end-over-end on a soft surface (you don’t want to damage the painted or ‘plexi’ surfaces), do you hear anything loose inside? If you carefully operate the LFM-1 with one or more of the sides facing downward, does the popping occur in exactly the same way as when the sub is right side up? I’m just thinking that if a piece of something got inside the sub through one of the ports and you could easily remove it, that would save the time and hassle of shipping and exchanging subs.

Can’t think of anything else to suggest. If it is an LFM-1 problem, I’m pretty sure the Outlaws will provide excellent customer service. I hope it all works out soon!

Thanks for all your input bestbang. I have already tried some of your suggestions. I played a DVD until the LFM-1 POPPED then disconnected it hooked up the JBL and it played fine no POPPING and I have the JBL volume set wide open. Then I hooked back up the LFM-1 and sure enough it POPPED again with no volume changes. I also layed the LFM-1 on it's side and played it and it POPPED, I did not here anything loose inside the sub when I laid it over. I played with the volume on the LFM-1 and it does not POP below 5 but then I loose quite alot of bass. As far as the volume on the Sony Reciever if I stay around 45-50 it does not POP crank it up to 55-60 and the LFM-1 set on 5 it POPS all the time I have my sub volume level on the Sony set at 0. Am I wrong to think I should be able to crank this thing up to where I can feel the bass without all the POPPING???? I am thinking it may be something in the sub surging to much power to it. This thing POPS LOUD I MEAN LOUD!!!! SOUNDS BAD.

While the decision is between you and the Outlaws, likely you are in for an exchange. I don't of any other LFM-1 owner that has experienced the same problem. I'm sorry your first Outlaw product behaves this way. Most of us have had great experiences right out of the box. Any that have had problems are usually well taken care of by Outlaw customer support.

Don't know if it would be helpful, but for "fun" perhaps you want to record and send the Outlaws an audio file sample of the horrid popping sound?

I thought I would follow up on my response above about the popping sub. After talking with Steve and no results they went ahead and sent me a new sub. It came in today and I fired up Master and Commander and the new sub handled all the power I could give it with no problems. I will test a few more movies but I think it will be fine. Jay

jbassin: your experience tugs on a vague memory of mine. I had been using the speakers in an original cabinet, disconnected from the original electronics, in an older, mostly non-functioning Zenith all-in-one system for a ‘supplemental’ zone. The stereo unit was powered by the full-range output of a receiver. For normal listening, and for most loud listening, everything was OK. But at certain bass frequencies played loud, there was intermittent ‘scratching and popping.’ After some poking around inside the cabinet, I found that one of the friction-based speaker connectors starting to loosen. At some frequencies the wire would vibrate mildly creating some rapid make-and-break moments in the speaker connection. This sounded terrible. Slight corrective measures applied to the poor connection resulted in the problem being fixed.

Of course, any similar situation in your first LFM-1 was, under warranty, Outlaw’s problem to deal with, not yours. Very glad your situation worked out.

After some time for further listening, perhaps you’ll post again and let us know how well the LFM-1 performs in you situation.