Advice?

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Correct. I understand. I've got 0 gauge wire. But stock alt, battery for now. But what should I do, just take the $250 hit from the sub even though it's partially his fault to. And just get over it? Or go back up there tomorrow and see what we can do. Like i've stated. I'm just super upset that I spent all this money and had it for barely 2 days. But, such as life I guess.

seriously... this could have been all avoided if you learned how to set up everything correctly by yourself in the first place. Education saves money. From what you said you most likely driven the head unit past clipping point of the head unit's signal. Take a money hit and lesson learned. Next time do everything by yourself, learn how to tune things properly and know the limits of your system.

 

[Side Show 10+ year member]

take it back to the guys that set it up, see what he can do. but learn from this and maybe ask him to teach you a bit about each setting..... your not using a bass knob are you?

also post pics of the settings on your amp (that he set up)

 

[Motokid 10+ year member]

seriously... this could have been all avoided if you learned how to set up everything correctly by yourself in the first place. Education saves money. From what you said you most likely driven the head unit past clipping point of the head unit's signal. Take a money hit and lesson learned. Next time do everything by yourself, learn how to tune things properly and know the limits of your system.

Not sure if you read things properly but he tuned it, not me. All I did was connect the wires. Nothing came out of that sub until I took it to him and had him tune it.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

I mean, you might think they're Garbage or whatever, but obviously dude isn't working with much money; I'm just trying to get him on track with something that will at least last a while with the setup he has.

Power accoustik is FAR from the right track. That thing wont even handle its rated rms fed by a true to RMS amp.

for 150, this sub => SoundQubed HDS315 outclasses it in every single way possible. Will take 1.8k+ daily easily and will get way louder and sound way better then power accoustik junk.

There's a fine line between Budget and Pointless money sinks.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Not sure if you read things properly but he tuned it, not me. All I did was connect the wires. Nothing came out of that sub until I took it to him and had him tune it.

I did read things properly and this came as a big warning to me.

Well, true. I just wanted to buy a little bit bigger of an amp incase of upgrade later on. Noone says that I had to use the full 1800 watts that it 'could' push. That's why you tune an amp for that sub so that it can't be blown even at say max volume.. I mean it's whatever. I'm just going to see what He can do and if worst comes to worst I'll just save for a few months and spend another $300 on an FI SSD 15 or something which can handle around 1500 RMS or something.

Head units never should be at max volume or past a certain point because head units can clip the signal too. Even if the amp is set right, other factors such as the head unit clipping past a certain volume point and voltage drops can blow everything to hell.

 

[bbeljefe]

Are you sure it's your sub that smoked and not the amp? After reading that you connected the power and ground backward that sure sounds more like the problem to me. Although the amp should have been set with a distortion detector for sure.

Either way, it is not true that no head unit should be turned up all the way. It is true that they shouldn't if you're using the internal amplifier but, some head units are clean all the way to max and those that aren't can easily be with processing behind them.

 

[calebkhill 10+ year member]

Are you sure it's your sub that smoked and not the amp? After reading that you connected the power and ground backward that sure sounds more like the problem to me. Although the amp should have been set with a distortion detector for sure.
Either way, it is not true that no head unit should be turned up all the way. It is true that they shouldn't if you're using the internal amplifier but, some head units are clean all the way to max and those that aren't can easily be with processing behind them.

True that not all head units clip, but others do. So without a scope, running it at full volume isn't safe.

Best advice i can give us to try and get a replacement, then buy the dso nano, along with a dmm, and use both of these to set your amp to push the rms your subs want.

 

[Motokid 10+ year member]

Are you sure it's your sub that smoked and not the amp? After reading that you connected the power and ground backward that sure sounds more like the problem to me. Although the amp should have been set with a distortion detector for sure.
Either way, it is not true that no head unit should be turned up all the way. It is true that they shouldn't if you're using the internal amplifier but, some head units are clean all the way to max and those that aren't can easily be with processing behind them.

Positive that my amp is alright. It never went into protect. And it was working normal after I screwed up and everything. I had it bumping all the way home, after the sub started to smoke I put my hand on the amp and it wasn't even warm. The sub to the touch (i put my hand down the port and touched it) was rather hot and was smoking out of the port. I let it cool down a few hours. Turned the car on and turned teh music on very low to see if anything was coming out of the sub and nothing at all came out.

I drive a 2011 Chrysler 200. Stock HU which goes up to 38 and very rarely will it distort at max volume. It just depends on the song. And I didn't notice any clipping.. But like someone said I could have been past the clipping level so bad that it just blew the sub. I couldn't tell you. Im about to head to the shop in about 15 minutes and see what they say.. I'm tired af of going up there. Been there probably 8 times.

 

[NASTY08IMPALA 5,000+ posts]

Positive that my amp is alright. It never went into protect. And it was working normal after I screwed up and everything. I had it bumping all the way home, after the sub started to smoke I put my hand on the amp and it wasn't even warm. The sub to the touch (i put my hand down the port and touched it) was rather hot and was smoking out of the port. I let it cool down a few hours. Turned the car on and turned teh music on very low to see if anything was coming out of the sub and nothing at all came out.
I drive a 2011 Chrysler 200. Stock HU which goes up to 38 and very rarely will it distort at max volume. It just depends on the song. And I didn't notice any clipping.. But like someone said I could have been past the clipping level so bad that it just blew the sub. I couldn't tell you. Im about to head to the shop in about 15 minutes and see what they say.. I'm tired af of going up there. Been there probably 8 times.

Push on the center of the cone and see if it moves or makes a rubbing noise..im sure its toast and check the coils with a dmm if u have one ..thet r 10 bucks at walmart...the buy u a soundqubed hds315 d2 they r 150 bux and will take all that amp..and have some lone set the amp with a dd1 or scope

 

[Motokid 10+ year member]

Push on the center of the cone and see if it moves or makes a rubbing noise..im sure its toast and check the coils with a dmm if u have one ..thet r 10 bucks at walmart...the buy u a soundqubed hds315 d2 they r 150 bux and will take all that amp..and have some lone set the amp with a dd1 or scope

Idk how to describe the sound it makes when I push the cone, not what it did when I bought it, for sure. Ill check the coils. I'm either going with a FI SSD 15, HDS315, or an XFL 1544.

 

[NASTY08IMPALA 5,000+ posts]

Idk how to describe the sound it makes when I push the cone, not what it did when I bought it, for sure. Ill check the coils. I'm either going with a FI SSD 15, HDS315, or an XFL 1544.

If its making a crunchy or scratching sound its garbage ..any of those subs will work fine..u might wana upgrade the battery in ur car

 

[Motokid 10+ year member]

If its making a crunchy or scratching sound its garbage ..any of those subs will work fine..u might wana upgrade the battery in ur car

It was crunching, it's dead. I took it back up to him he offered to do a recone for free, thank god. So whenever it's ready im going to go pick it up, and have him tune it correctly, because hes got a DD1, O-Scope and everything. After I get some bills paid im going to go ahead and get a sub that can handle more, hopefully in a month or so.

What battery do you recommend upgrading to? I was having some dimming of my headlights. So I'll need a new alt at some point.. Can't afford that anytime soon though. Battery will be next.

 

[NASTY08IMPALA 5,000+ posts]

It was crunching, it's dead. I took it back up to him he offered to do a recone for free, thank god. So whenever it's ready im going to go pick it up, and have him tune it correctly, because hes got a DD1, O-Scope and everything. After I get some bills paid im going to go ahead and get a sub that can handle more, hopefully in a month or so.
What battery do you recommend upgrading to? I was having some dimming of my headlights. So I'll need a new alt at some point.. Can't afford that anytime soon though. Battery will be next.

duracell agm from sams

 

[Motokid 10+ year member]

duracell agm from sams

Should I not go with like an XS or something?

 

[NASTY08IMPALA 5,000+ posts]

Should I not go with like an XS or something?

Fvck no ..overated overpriced..u can almost get 3 duracells for the price of a xs..unless u believe in pixoe dust and magic unicorn fart power get the duracell or something comperable..the duracell will run about 130 unless u have a crazy big batt under the hood