Anyone have a diagnosis?

[MXINXS 10+ year member]

Last weekend I installed my first amp to power 2 10's in my dodge ram quad cab. The amp is a RF P3002 and the subs are JL 10W3v2-D6's. My head unit is the alpine CDA-9855. I installed it all pretty much by myself, relying on the internet pretty heavily, probably why I have a problem. Anyways. I ran the power cable to the battery, 4 gauge, the ground to a seat bolt next to the amp, 4 gauge, and the turn on wire and RCA's from the amp to the head unit. Thus the amp should be ok, that seems simple enough. Each sub is in a box with .7 sq ft of air space. The subs are dual 6 ohm, and if I'm right, getting the ohms lower increases power output from the amp. I wired each sub seperately, wiring the positive and negative on each voice coil to the other, then running wires from one voice coil to the amp, in parallel, for what should be a 3 ohm load at the amp from both subs I believe.

Now the problem. The amp turns on and seems to get only a small amount of power to the subs. They sound like a decent pair of 6 1/2s or a weak set of 6x9s. Nothing more. For me, there are 2 possibilities: First, the amplifier isn't getting enough power to the subs to make them perform at their full potential, or second, I need a box with more airspace. Am I completely missing some simple wiring mistake? Or am I on the right track? If I am, how the hell can I tell if its the amp or the box ..

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[goodstuff 10+ year member]

hmm...check the settings on your amp...check that your seat bolt ground is BARE metal and not painted....check your sub wiring some one with more knowlledge than me can tell you if yiu wired it wrong...

recheck all your connections...if that fails get stuff that you know is good and use it to test the toher suspect componets...

 

[rocky 59 5,000+ posts]

gains could be the problem. also check the LPF on the amp to make sure its not set above 60 hz

 

[Johnny Drama 5,000+ posts]

The subs are dual 6 ohm, and if I'm right, getting the ohms lower increases power output from the amp. I wired each sub seperately, wiring the positive and negative on each voice coil to the other, then running wires from one voice coil to the amp, in parallel, for what should be a 3 ohm load at the amp from both subs I believe.

Pos to Neg is series. Your subs are wired to 12ohms if they are dual VC. Parrallel is Pos to Pos and Neg to Neg. Here wire them like this... Top right one... http://mobile.jlaudio.com/support_pages.php?page_id=161s

EDIT: I may have miss read what you wrote. If you wired them correctly Check the phasing. You may have one wire that is switched which will cause the lack of output.

 

[ramos 5,000+ posts]

From what I'm reading your subs are wired like this

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

 

[ramos 5,000+ posts]

If so you have a 1.5ohm load with the two of them. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[MXINXS 10+ year member]

No sir, I'll try to explain it to where its understandable ..

Each sub has dual voice coils. For sub #1, I wired the positive on one coil to the positive on the other coil, and likewise with thenegative. I then ran cable off of the positive and negative of one of the coils to the amp. For sub #2, its the same setup, and I didn't connect any of its wires with the first sub's. They run into the each input of the amp seperately. Thus, each sub is wired in parallel making it 3 ohms x 2.

Yep.

 

[ramos 5,000+ posts]

Ahh, okay you did wire the subs like the diagram. You just didn't wire them together in a mono config. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif So that means each is getting roughly 75w-100w. Check all of your amps settings to make sure they are correct, and set the gains correctly. Then if you still want more output. Your gonna need either a larger box, more power, or both. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[MXINXS 10+ year member]

Is it impossible to tell what's holding it back then?

 

[ramos 5,000+ posts]

No, nothings impossible. You got to troubleshoot some

1. Check all wiring connections to confirm proper wiring and phase. Are both subs wired exactly the same way ?

2. Check all settings on the amplifier itself. Are the gains ( input sensitivity ) set correctly? Is the high pass filter turned off ? Should be seeing as how your powering subs with it. Is the low pass filter on ? What's the setting ? What's the bass boost adjusted too ? Turn it off for your testing purposes.

Get started answering some questions and we'll see what's holding them back //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[djman37 5,000+ posts]

No sir, I'll try to explain it to where its understandable ..
Each sub has dual voice coils. For sub #1, I wired the positive on one coil to the positive on the other coil, and likewise with thenegative. I then ran cable off of the positive and negative of one of the coils to the amp. For sub #2, its the same setup, and I didn't connect any of its wires with the first sub's. They run into the each input of the amp seperately. Thus, each sub is wired in parallel making it 3 ohms x 2.

Yep.

oops. 3/2 ohms 1.5 ohm load.

Check your amp and for sure the HPF, LPF settings, gains, and HU settings.

 

[MXINXS 10+ year member]

My amp recommends only running it down to 2 ohms. Is there any other way to wire these to get close to that, as in one sub parallel and one in series? And also, what does the lower ohms affect?

 

[forbidden 10+ year member]

Disconnect one sub and see what happens, do you have more or less bass response? And no do not connect the sub in a differing arrangement as the subs will then receive an unequal amount of power. Your amp is not a powerhouse by any means either. To me it sounds like a phasing issue which is why I suggested to unhook one sub only.