1 RCA hookup sounds better than both

[Doltona]

I just bought 2 kicker comp 12 inch subs and a SSL 1200 watt amp. For some reason when I have only one RCA hooked up it hits way harder than when I have both RCA's hooked up. I've checked all my wiring and everything seems to be hooked up properly. Any ideas?

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[NFrazier 10+ year member]

are you using a line out or is this off an aftermarket deck?

 

[Doltona]

I'm using a line out converter running off my rear speakers.

 

[bbeljefe]

Sounds like you have one of the speaker leads out of phase... either on the input of the loc or the output of the amp.

If the LOC is buried up somewhere you can just switch polarity on one sub or the other and that should fix your problem.

 

[NFrazier 10+ year member]

If you referenced one speaker then the issue is most likely te subs being out of phase, if you referenced two speakers as you are supposed to, the most likely issue is that the connections you made are out of phase (I.e., one speaker input into the loc is "backward"). The latter of the two sounds like the issue more than the former.

 

[Doltona]

I'm pretty sure I have the rca hooked up right. I tried switching out the wires for the box to the amp and still the same thing. I bought the speakers in the box already and I checked the wiring in the box and all it has is one wire going from the + on the speaker to the + of the box and the - on the speaker to the - on the box

 

[Doltona]

I have the power wire going from the battery to my capacitor, then a power wire from the capacitor to the amp. I have both grounds for the amp and capacitor properly connected. Then I have the + and - from the sub box going to the + and - of the amp and my LOC is wired to both my rear speakers + to + and - to -

 

[Doltona]

So are you saying the problem is most likely I have the RCA inputs hooked up backwards on the LOC?

 

[bbeljefe]

In your OP you mentioned two subs. Have you verified that the polarity is correct inside the box? If there is only one wire from the amp to the box then the problem has to be inside the box or at the LOC. And when you change something, don't change both the left and right channels, just reverse one side... reversing both sides mirrors the problem. i.e. one sub in phase and one out.

 

[Doltona]

I have two wires from each sub to the box. One from one + from the sub to the + on the box and the. One wire from the - on the sub to the - on the box.

 

[BoomTaco64]

reverse the wiring of one of the speaker wire inputs on your LOC. that should fix your issue.

 

[CrossoverOre 10+ year member]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^this

 

[NFrazier 10+ year member]

I guess what I said was a little confusing so I'll repeat (along with others) one of your set of connections for your LOC (from the speaker) is backward and therefore out of phase.

 

[Doltona]

So I just tried doing what all of you said switching around in of the wirings on a speaker from the LOC to to one speaker and nothing has changed. Still my subs hit wayyyy weaker with both rca's plugged into the amp rather than one sub hitting harder with only one rca plugged in.

 

[Doltona]

And with the LOC is it okay if I just have the speaker wires from the LOC hooked up or do I need to have the ground wire too? Right now I only have the left and right + and - speaker wires from the LOC hooked up. I mean it works without it being grounded but could that be the problem?