The radio output voltage may be lacking.
it does it before the radios distortion point of 31
Does the radio volume goes to 45? If no, then the volume may be too high. Are you reading the clipped signal with an oscilloscope or does the amp have an indicator?
by that I mean I did the math and set the gain with a multimeter to the voltage that corresponds with the rms power of the sub, plus a little extra.
the radio maxes at 40 and idk how accurate it is but I used test tones to see when I could hear audible distortion from the speakers, and it's night and day from 30 to 31. And yes, the amp has a clip indicator.
that's exactly what I didOhm's Law Calculators and Formulas
www.the12volt.com
For 1700 watts at 1 ohm it should be 42 volts roughly on the dmm. Set volume at 30 and run a 40hz test tone while setting the gain.
I did it with a 0db test tone, would that have any difference?
Which is only telling you when your amp is approaching whatever the manufacturer deemed to be maximum output voltage.
vehicle on, with sub disconnected and dmm leads to the amps outputs
shouldn't have a good bit more power than that, as it is 3000w rms?
