amplifer, poor box construction,or not getting enough power?

[nyydmb12 10+ year member]

I decided to get bigger subs and moved up from 2 10in JBL's running 250 each off a 500 watt amp. When I moved up to two 12in polks running off 400 watts a piece. The JBLs hit just as hard with the input gain 1/3 the way up on the 500 watt amp as these do with my 800 watt amp turned all the way up. I have a 4 gauge wire running to the 800 watt amp and a 4ch amp putting 40 watts on each channel...could the wire be holding me back?.

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[Rashaddd 5,000+ posts]

4 gauge is plenty for 800 watts, and set your gains properly with a dmm don't just turn them up until its loud enough for you

 

[nyydmb12 10+ year member]

maybe the gains are to high for the speakers forcing me to crank the subs gain higher?

 

[Rashaddd 5,000+ posts]

maybe the gains are to high for the speakers forcing me to crank the subs gain higher?

what? If you're trying to get it to blend well with the speakers, you lower the one with more capacity to match the weaker one, not artificially boost the weaker one. If your subs naturally overpower your speakers and you don't want it that way, turn them down, don't try to force your speakers to be louder.

 

[nyydmb12 10+ year member]

I've WAS doing most of my tuning by ear, but since I got my new speakers up front to handle 100 watts I cranked the gains on my 4 ch amp because its doing a small 40 watts on each channel so I wasn't worried. But the subs aren't over powering the speakers which is confusing me bigger speakers getting far more power and the bass is barely keeping up with the speakers and their at their max

 

[DidUHearThat? 10+ year member]

Tell us about your box/s.

 

[SilverSquared 10+ year member]

JBL GTOs (if thats what u have) dont need much power to play.

 

[DidUHearThat? 10+ year member]

Going from a pair of 10's to 12's and another 300 watts is not a huge change, so minor efficencies in speakers or boxes could make or break your increase in volume.

Remember you need 10 times as much power for each doubling of volume. You added about 50% more power and sub surface area, so that's only about a 10% - 20% increase in loudness. If all other things are equal, which they may not be.

 

[BoxdGM 10+ year member]

just because the front speakers can take 100w and the amp put out 40w doesn't mean you can max the gain, its not a volume knob its to allow your amp to work with hu's with high or low preout voltage, the better the preout signal the less gain u need. you will clip the amp's signal because it thinks your using a very low input voltage .5v and your probably sending it 4v. maybe since your 4ch amp is maxed out on the gain you have to keep the volume low sending a weak signal the the sub amp with the lower gain

 

[nyydmb12 10+ year member]

well gain settings the first thing I figured I've had this set up for about 3 weeks and didn't think about this untill 2 in the AM. So I'm going to readjust some settings. But as for the boxes their .88 cubic feet per sub make out of plywood sealed.

 

[nyydmb12 10+ year member]

I know no one really cares but....my boxes arn't as bad as I though I didn't think that I could be that bad of a carpenter. plently of bass now ...but I may have to rebuild the boxes out of MDF

 

[skateboardkid 10+ year member]

well gain settings the first thing I figured I've had this set up for about 3 weeks and didn't think about this untill 2 in the AM. So I'm going to readjust some settings. But as for the boxes their .88 cubic feet per sub make out of plywood sealed.

Plywood?

Well if it sounds good..... Make sure they are sealed to the max.

 

[DidUHearThat? 10+ year member]

Get rid of the plywood boxes, build them out of 3/4" MDF. Make sure they are sized and sealed correctly and you should see an improvement in output and lows.