Subwoofer...fix (ugh!) or replace

I have a Revel Ultima 5.1 system (Studio, Voice, Embrace, Sub30), and since a move last fall, the subwoofer makes popping sounds during moments of deep bass, like the active cone or passive radiator are bottoming out. It happens seldom with music unless I really crank it, but frequently with movies. It’s connected and configured (Bryston SP3) for both bass augmentation in 2-channel mode, and LFE for surround. This never happened in my previous home, at which I often played movies louder than I do now (condo). The stinkeroo is that in downsizing home, I had to get rid of “stuff” that included the original box and packing materials. I really don’t want to deal with repair.

My opportunity is to replace with another sub with modern room correction abilities. The Sub30 has a three band parametric equalizer, but the analysis software they published only works with Windows/95 (true, not emulated). A new sub would serve in the same capacity and hopefully be at least as good as the Sub30, which was well regarded in its day. I’d consider doing two subs as I’m familiar with the advantages, but only at a combined cost of a presumably better single.

I appreciate any feedback, advice and (specific) recommendations with my gratitude in advance.

Happy listening! Chris V

Well, that was a great sub. You’d need to spend some dough to get it’s like.

This was the driver: https://www.parts-express.com/jbl-sub1500-15-subwoofer-4-ohm--299-750

They were prone to having lead wire issues (the leads slapping the back of the cone - so if it’s more of a tapping than a crack (bottoming out) it could be this issue.

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