Amp not putting out anywhere close to rated.

[gunz4me2 10+ year member]

Is there a way to see how many watts it's pushing out? like with a dmm?

You can measure AC voltage with a 50 to 60 Hz test tone on most budget meters.

I believe the correct formula to derive estimated wattage @ 2 ohms would be voltage squared/1.4142135623731

Don't hold me to that because I haven't had my morning coffee yet.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

 

[iApex 10+ year member]

Setting your gain with a dmm...
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j23/steveo200077/RMSchart.jpg

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Sounds to me like you might have a really low preamp voltage, or you guys might not be using a sub preamp out either. My first deck back in the day was a pioneer tape deck with one preamp out. It was 500mV!!! The next one I got was a panasonic cd player, once again only one preamp out, that one was 1 volt! Didn't understand why my system wasn't getting loud all that loud without needing to spank up the gain...

Finally got a good deck, with a good subwoofer non-fading preamp out. Also purchased an audiocontrol epic-150...It was like night and day! I didn't always use the epic-150, but the new deck with the subwoofer preamp out (4v) made a pretty big difference.

In his car that could be a possibility, though idk why his sony 1200w amp could power his kickers but my kenwood wouldn't, with the same connections.

That most likely is not the case for my car considering the setup i have now sounds fine and it's a brand new 2008 deck.

You can measure AC voltage with a 50 to 60 Hz test tone on most budget meters.
I believe the correct formula to derive estimated wattage @ 2 ohms would be voltage squared/1.4142135623731

Don't hold me to that because I haven't had my morning coffee yet.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

I read up on setting the gain and using the formula but the problem I ran into ( i know how noob this will sound) but not having even picked up a dmm, idk what setting it's even supposed to be on, there are just so many I couldn't figure out what one is the right one.

 

[Boomintempo 10+ year member]

There are instructions on the bottom of the page in that link I gave you...just follow that!

ALSO, if his sony POS is pushing his kickers and your Kenwood isn't...there may very well be something wrong. What do you have the crossover set at on your kenwood? ANNND, do you have a subsonic filter, and if so, what's that set to?

 

[350zspl 10+ year member]

if your on a budget and you don't have money to mess with a kenwood and it not work well , hence were your at now

i do not know what your budget is but for $200 you can get 1000 watts

 

[iApex 10+ year member]

There are instructions on the bottom of the page in that link I gave you...just follow that!
ALSO, if his sony POS is pushing his kickers and your Kenwood isn't...there may very well be something wrong. What do you have the crossover set at on your kenwood? ANNND, do you have a subsonic filter, and if so, what's that set to?

That should cover all your questions, along with anyone else's.

if your on a budget and you don't have money to mess with a kenwood and it not work well , hence were your at now
i do not know what your budget is but for $200 you can get 1000 watts

It wouldn't be such an issue, if I only had to get one, but if I change from kenwood now, that would mean I have to get another amp of the same new brand to power the front stage.

Here is the scenario, I have 2 amps, one powering the front stage, one powering the sub. If I change from kenwood, and lets say I go Hifonics, I now have to get rid of both kenwoods, and buy two Hifonics. Which is out of the budget.

I suppose if I got good money for both of the kenwoods then I could afford two new amps, but that most likely wont happen.

 

[Boomintempo 10+ year member]

Well, the picture is still a bit blurry...make sure you have the lowpass filter ON, and your crossover set to at least 80hz....If that's high pass filter I see, turn it off...If that's a phase thingy I see turn that to zero...if that's a subsonic filter thing I see, leave it where it's at...or you can put it to 20hz...

See if you can take a more clear picture...but you definitely do not have everything set up properly on that amp

 

[ThatChevyGuy 5,000+ posts]

Stay away from kenwood amps, everyone i have ever seen or owned is overrated or blew up,

 

[4OZGLOVES 10+ year member]

I ran the same amp for about 2 month's on a Fi Q 12" at 2 ohms and it seemed fine.You seem to have an issue in the amp,When running full tilt mine was showing a 70 amp draw,so the amp only pulling 17 amps is the prob.

 

[Boomintempo 10+ year member]

I ran the same amp for about 2 month's on a Fi Q 12" at 2 ohms and it seemed fine.You seem to have an issue in the amp,When running full tilt mine was showing a 70 amp draw,so the amp only pulling 17 amps is the prob.

Yeah, if you look at his picture his settings are all jacked up. I really think that's his problem!! If his crossover is set to 30hz (which it looks like it in the picture) he won't get much of any sound, and would cause his issue off not being very loud with his gain turned way up like that.

 

[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

The old school Kenwoods were pretty sweet ...amps... the model that had the motorized door on top...that was before they decided to start mis leading people on bogus amp ratings....

 

[blazeplacid 10+ year member]

try a friends amp in place of yours

if his amp sounds decent in the same car the amp maybe faulty

 

[iApex 10+ year member]

Well, the picture is still a bit blurry...make sure you have the lowpass filter ON, and your crossover set to at least 80hz....If that's high pass filter I see, turn it off...If that's a phase thingy I see turn that to zero...if that's a subsonic filter thing I see, leave it where it's at...or you can put it to 20hz...
See if you can take a more clear picture...but you definitely do not have everything set up properly on that amp

Aright thanks, Thats just what they are on right now, while we had it connected we played with all of those and tried just about every variation, I'll toy with it some more when I get home today and see If I can't get it to put out some good wattage with the settings you proposed.

 

[DBBOOM 10+ year member]

Unless its an O/S Kenwood 1023, don't waste your money. Same goes for their subs. HUs are nice though

 

[iApex 10+ year member]

I'm about to go and put the dmm on it. I returned the cheap one I bought the other day and bought an auto ranging one because my dumb *** couldn't figure the manual one out.

I'll come back with results, hopefully they turn out good.

 

[Supergumby5000 5,000+ posts]

I've had good luck with every kenwood amp i have ever used. From the older KAC series amps to the newer models.