Whats that annoying Rattle in my VTF3-MK2?

[95 Silver TA]

I have had my sub for almost 5 years and use it everyday for an AVERAGE of 1.5 to 2hrs EVERYDAY. (Me and the wife LOVE watching movies) and this sub has greatly increased our enjoyment for our moving watching experience.

I always keep it at the 9 or slightly below the 9'oclock position. For the first 4 yearss I have had it in MAX Ext, then this past year switched it to MAX Output (both ports open). I found I liked the MAX Output a bit better on this sub for my room.

My sub is near field and I noticed in the past two weeks, it started this annoying rattle on some bass (not all) bass scenes in movies. It seems more apparent on scenes where most of the movie is quiet and all other speakers are quiet and there is some bass effect. The wife and I both noticed it was coming from the sub so about week ago I tapped firmly on top of the sub box with my hand and the rattling stopped for 3-4 days. Today we watched Express (football movie on BR) and it started rattling again. I rewond the movie and put my weight on top of the sub and we both noticed it stopped but then started again when I took my wieght off the sub. There nothing sitting on top of the sub to cause the rattling. I also check the subwoofer itself by giving it a slight push and it still seemed new and real tight.

Anyone know whats causing this or have any suggestions?
Is this just normal wear and tear with the box since I have used it so much in the past 5 years and or is it time to upgrade?

[Pete_Hsu]

Hi Claude, great to see you on the forum, but sorry to hear about the rattle

You did set the bass extension switch on the subwoofer amp to the '2 port open' mode, correct?

Try unplugging everything from the back of the subwoofer, remove the 12 perimeter screws along the four outer edges of the amp, and pull the amp out a little bit (by gripping the high level inputs and pulling). Look inside the enclosure for any loose pieces of MDF.

If you or anyone you know has some decent carpentry skills, you could try adding a tall brace inside the enclosure that runs from the top of the cabinet to the bottom of the cabinet.

Sincerely,

[95 Silver TA]

Thanks for replying Peter.

No need to apologize, trust me I have gave this sub some use/abuse in the 5 years I owned it. It probably as much use as someone else who watches movies 2-3 times a week but would probably be equal to 15 years of use. Even if I can resolve it, it sure was one HELL of a Sub that was super clean for the first 4 plus years. Trust me if I have to upgrade, HSU is still on TOP of my list

I had a few more questions, so if you could please pm me your phone number and a good time to call, I'll call you.

Thx,
Claude

[Ddavidson]

A few years back I had a strange rattle develop in my VTF-3. When I pulled the amp out I soon discovered the culprit ...... inside was a small matchbox car, and a plastic spoon.

Children just love sticking toys and things in really strange places.


Ddavidson

[95 Silver TA]

HSU always seems to amaze me.

I was a customer almost 5 years ago and they still treat me like a new potential customer and a fellow HT enthusiast.

First let me clarify after another weekend with the VTF3-MK2 Sub, I realized that this “rattle” only occurs when most of the movie has a quiet scene but there are some low bass tones for drama type effect. I am guessing these low bass tones that I noticed in the movie The Express and The Traitor is low frequency because my chair shaking like it always does when watching a movie with good bass and my HSU sub. Yesterday we had the newer Hulk movie on (Bluray) and the sub handled it with ease I could not hear any rattle or maybe it was masked by the other speakers playing loud…I don’t know, I do know that movie had some awesome bass and the sub did not rattle. The previous weekend I had the Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Extended DTS DVD Edition) and it rattled in the first movie for a few seconds until I firmly tapped it and it did not do it again through all 3 movies. It could be that its low frequency at a high db that is causing it but it does not sound like chuffing from the ports but more like rattling. As I said, my sub has seen a LOT of hours of use.

I called HSU by the number provided to Peter and spoke to a Leo there that was very helpful and began explain some techniques I could try to strengthen the sub structure if needed. I was on the phone with him for about 20 mins last Friday. He then took my email address and told me he would send me pics on the details. I believe he was taking apart a HSU VTF3-MK2 to get the correct internal measurements and what I would need and send me pics on what he recommends. Today, I got a call from Peter and he wanted to confirm my email address and provide me some more details of what he was sending. We talked for about 10-15 mins (also a very knowledgeable and pleasant person). Peter then sent me the details and pictures through email.

I must say over the almost 5 years of having my sub it continues to impress me. It’s still the best sub I have ever heard. I don’t know if the rattle due to part of these two movies or just the sub structure weakening over the YEARS of use/ABUSE that I have thrown at it. I guess I will find out with some more testing and implementing their suggestion. One thing that I am certain of is that I was always impressed by this company’s product and their customer service. Almost 5 years, later they have impressed me so much of their support/customer service, that I can honestly say…If all your competitors suddenly dropped their prices by HALF, I would still be a DIEHARD HSU customer.

Kudos HSU!! Awesome product…Terrific Customer Service…and Outstanding customer support.

PS…If some of your competitors were to drop their prices in Half or more, the price would still not matter as I believe some are very inferior to your products (too boomy). J

[lradden]

Originally Posted by 95 Silver TA

Almost 5 years, later they have impressed me so much of their support/customer service, that I can honestly say…If all your competitors suddenly dropped their prices by HALF, I would still be a DIEHARD HSU customer.

Amen to that. Hsu Research is such a first rate company, and Peter is so helpful that even if SVS or some other company offered me a FREE sub, I'd turn it down and pay full price for a sub from Hsu.

I've been a customer for several years now and I will NEVER buy a sub from any other company. There products and support are that good.

If the sub doesn't have a Hsu logo on it, it will never occupy a space in my home. Period.

Legairre

[sisu1a]

Hmm, have you pulled your driver out and hooked it to anything else? I have a 1220 that after a stint in storage came out and also had a strange rattly sound that was sorta intermittent.

I tracked it down to the driver itself, which appears to the eye and touch to be perfect, but I discovered the cone had migrated a fraction of a millimeter at the spider, causing it to make a clipping type rattle on lower freqs but had no problem above say 120Hz. I ran it full range and also filtered, using a very basey CD, and spoke with some Hsu folks about it.

Not much that can be done for my problem other than a driver replacement, so I got experimental. I found a spot on the spider that if I applied a slight tension, it worked OK. My (not so elegant-but completely effective) temp solution was to put a bungee cord on it, with one part laying across the spider, which seems to have given my driver the crutch it needed to get a new lease on life. I'm glad it's back in service, and it sounds as good as it ever did...

I suggest playing with your driver 'outside the box' to see if your spider has developed unequal tension or has migrated.

-Paul

[95 Silver TA]

Thanks for the reply....for now I am chalking it up to those two movies (I think) cuz we watched aleast 7 more movies on there 2 of which had some really good bass and I did not hear the rattle again. If it comes back and I can pin point it, then I will take apart the sub and give more of deeper look and try everyones recommendations.

[95 Silver TA]

Thought I should provide and update....

I have watched a bunch more movies and it seems to only do it on certain movies (or at least I notice it) on those movies where the all the speakers are mainly quiet and theres bass going to the sub. Again, each time I put some weight on it, it either stops this completely or greatly minimizes the rattle. For the first few weeks, I placed a very big/wide 10 pound book on top of the sub box and that helped a LITTLE too.

I have spoken with HSU staff (as stated) and rather than try to sell me a new sub or sell me a new enclosure, they suggested a brace in the sub. I finally got around to doing this yesterday. I added the brace as suggested with Gorrilla glue. I was gonna let it dry for 24hrs but noticed after 5 hours that brace was rock solid in there so I let it sit for another 2hrs and watched our first movie on it. I did not hear a rattle but thats not to say that it completely worked because this rattle only seems to happen in about 10%-15% of the movies we watch. I will test it out for another week or two and post my results.

PS....when I pulled the woofer out, I could not believe the size and weight of this thing.

Also, HSU's staff is incredible, I cant believe the support I got from these guys 5 years later.

[audiodelic]

I have a HSU VTF3MK3 with turbo. I am running it in deep extension mode with the turbo. I have similar problems as stated by 95 silver TA.
In dvd's there are scenes where there is very little sound in other speakers but the the sub suddenly comes on to give that deep bass effect to call attention to the scene this is where is hear a very bad sounding pop/rattle type sound.

What can be the problem ?

[Pete_Hsu]

Hi audiodelic,

How high is the volume knob on the subwoofer, and what is the subwoofer channel level set at on the receiver? Do you have crossover 'In' or 'Out' on the subwoofer amp? What crossover frequencies are set on the receiver, and is everything set to 'Small'? Are you using any auto-eq or auto-setup features on the receiver?

Thanks