[HELP] Eminence Delta Pro 18C crackling

We recently built a small sound system consisting of a Cubo Bass and two M-112 mid-tops. We equipped the Cubo with an Eminence Delta Pro 18C and after using it once, the driver has begun to sound crackly.

The system was used once and was turned off and put away by us, functioning correctly. It was then transported to another location and the sub started showing symptoms there. We checked cables, terminals and finally pulled the driver but the problem persisted.

Currently the driver is sounding like this:

colectico.org/ss/eminence/driver.mov

Could anyone point us to what is wrong with it?

Battery test and Ohm reading are correct.

I can't get my head around it, as you said after you used it once, it began to sound crackly.
But then you said it was put away by and was functioning correctly.

As it does it with the driver pulled out the cab, it can mean ONLY 3 possible explanations:

1. Your amp was clipping at some point, and has damaged the voice coil.
2. You dropped the cab and the magnet shifted, trapping the voice coil making it sound strange now.
3. You bottomed the driver by excessive EQ and/or not setting a high pass filter below the cut off frequency of the Cubo18.

Best way to tell if the driver is 'blown' is press down evenly on both sides of the cone, firmly but lightly, and if there's any rubbing/scraping sounds, the voice coil is damaged.
And it's up to you whether you want to get it reconed or not.

But before you consider sending it in for reconing or doing it yourself with a recone kit.
Check first to make sure the magnet hasn't shifted, otherwise it's only good for the bin.

Here are some pic's of the build: IMGBOX

Let me quote my brother's post on another forum ( forum.speakerplans.com/diy-sound-system-...opic84400_page8.html )

"Now the negative or idiotic side of things. I might have trashed the 18 driver already!? (It's fine if you mock me a bit) I personally shut down the system and I'm 100% sure it was working. I was also the one setting up the rig. Driver is an Eminence Delta rated at 500w. QSC RMX is rated for 1200w @4ohm Mono Bridged. I figured out the amp output voltage by using finding the square root of speaker power times resistance. I then ran pink noise and I believe a 60hz sine wave through the mixer and drove it a hair before clipping. I adjusted the the DBX gain structure for it to start brick-wall limiting at around -3dB-fs, at the same point the amp started limiting (knobs set to around 12oclock.)....Anyway, we transported the cubo somewhere else and now its making a horrible crackling noise.

I pulled the speaker out and it's reading the correct ohm value. Definitely doesn't smell like a burn't speaker (remember it worked until it was shut down), Not cracked, spider is fine. If you push it inwards and outwards there is no rubbing scraping or crackly sound. When measured with a 9v battery it has no abnormal sound either. So it doesn't seem like a busted coil. Could the magnet have shifted out of place when transported? How can I test for this?

*By the way it had a 30hz 24db Low Cut Filter."

We are betting on some magnet shifting during transport...