Burning smell. Am I clipping or ?

[FML 10+ year member]

Having an issue with my setup. Ill list specs first.

1 Kicker L7 15 D2VC wired to 1 ohm

Ported enclosure

Rockford T1000.1BD

Rockford non digital capacitor

4gauge wiring

Kenwood HU

I recently picked up this amp and rewired my woofer to 1 ohm, and been having a strange but that all too obvious smell of burning electrical coming from my woofer. I set the gain with a DMM, so conservatively now that im getting less bass response than when I had my woofer wired at 4 ohms only getting 750w RMS. The 15" is 1000rms, 2000 peak, and its not uncommon for the T1000.1bd to push in excess of 1200 rms.

I just dont understand. Is it normal? The woofer has seen little to no time at 1 ohm until recently, so my friend said its probably just getting hot, nothing to worry about. But i start smelling badness after only minutes of moderate play. And like I said, the gain is set so conservatively that songs that normally would be flexing my truck, well, they just aren't.

So, whats the deal? Am I just burning off "excess glue ", or does it sound like im on my way to ruining some equipment? If the latter, please give me some ideas on what to try or what I may need to look at to get to the bottom of it. Thanks fellas

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[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

How are you setting the gains? are you just guessing randomly and think its conservative or are you using the DMM method?

 

[FML 10+ year member]

I set the gain with a DMM, so conservatively now that im getting less bass response than when I had my woofer wired at 4 ohms only getting 750w RMS.

,.

 

[blazian87 10+ year member]

OP, It sounds like you're clipping.. Even though you set your gains with a dmm, you can still clip if the song is bass boosted. What tone did u use when setting gains? -5? -15? If you smell burning coil, it could damage your speakers, tone it down alittle once u smell it. Do you have a gain knob up front?

 

[macsdad 10+ year member]

First, lose the cap. Second, make sure that there is no bass boost from the hu. If that hu has a subwoofer control, you can just about turn it all the up. I have a kenwood x398, it has controls for treble, mid, and bass, plus the sub control. The bass control is never more than 0, the sub is at +15, the max setting. Check your amp controls to ensure that there is no bass boost, at all. Cross over should be around 80-100. Hope this helps.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

,.

my bad, was skimming,

So pretty much wired parallel with jumpers to each pos and negative then have a pos and negative run to the amp and now you are getting far less output and getting smellyl?

 

[FML 10+ year member]

I used a 50hz sine wave. Didn't specify what the dB ratio was. And no knob up front, i just ordered the RF parapunch dual bass/equalizer knob though. Im just stumped. Definitely not a n00b, but i could tell a significant difference in sound running 750rms at 4 ohms, then now running 1000+ at 1 ohm with how little gain I do have turned up. Just can't see how i could reduce it anymore, i already sound like im pushing 500rms. Pretty disappointed.

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

I used a 50hz sine wave. Didn't specify what the dB ratio was. And no knob up front, i just ordered the RF parapunch dual bass/equalizer knob though. Im just stumped. Definitely not a n00b, but i could tell a significant difference in sound running 750rms at 4 ohms, then now running 1000+ at 1 ohm with how little gain I do have turned up. Just can't see how i could reduce it anymore, i already sound like im pushing 500rms. Pretty disappointed.

Dont use that knob. All it is is adjustable bass boost, its not a gain knob.

 

[FML 10+ year member]

my bad, was skimming,
So pretty much wired parallel with jumpers to each pos and negative then have a pos and negative run to the amp and now you are getting far less output and getting smellyl?

Yeah its wired to 1ohm. Only option I have is 4, or 1 ohm with a 2ohm DVC. And yeah, my gain is at 32 volts, which is conservative for around 1100 rms. And it sounds weak. I had previously run the older 1000bd, oldschool one with the big riffle-like heatsink running 4ohms, probably around 750 rms, and had zero issues. Tweaking with a DMM wasn't even needed. It sounded much better. But it.was underpowered, so I upgraded and rewired to 1 ohm.

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

You have a 1000 watt amp set for 1100?

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

get rid of any extra knobs, just use the gain setting straight from the amp. Have the head unit EQ on flat, sub level max, bass boost and loudness off on the head unit. Around 3/4 volume then set the gain for 750-900 watts rms.

As said before, you are clipping the sub if you are setting the amp for 1100 watts if the amp is rated for 1000. Doesn't matter what the birth sheet says, you could very well be clipping it and kicker subs take their rated power and not much more.

 

[FML 10+ year member]

You have a 1000 watt amp set for 1100?

Yeah, as I said, its not uncommon for these amps to push 1100 to 1200 even with standard electrical. Typically the birth sheets are around 1300 at 1 ohm, higher if you have super solid 14v+ electrical. So i thought setting gains for 1100 was pretty modest. Its literally 1 or 2 volts higher than 1000. Anyways, i played with the DMM at both voltages, didn't make a difference for the issue at hand.

 

[FML 10+ year member]

get rid of any extra knobs, just use the gain setting straight from the amp. Have the head unit EQ on flat, sub level max, around 3/4 volume then set the gain for 750-900 watts rms.
As said before, you are clipping the sub if you are setting the amp for 1100 watts if the amp is rated for 1000. Doesn't matter what the birth sheet says, you could very well be clipping it.

Yep, that's how I set it up. It may be 1 or 2 volts high, but with the way it sounds, turning the gain down any more, will make my huge investment sound like a Sony xplod 10" with a Boss 300w amplifier. Makes zero sense for that huge of a woofer.

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

Yeah, as I said, its not uncommon for these amps to push 1100 to 1200 even with standard electrical. Typically the birth sheets are around 1300 at 1 ohm, higher if you have super solid 14v+ electrical. So i thought setting gains for 1100 was pretty modest. Its literally 1 or 2 volts higher than 1000. Anyways, i played with the DMM at both voltages, didn't make a difference for the issue at hand.

They get birth sheet numbers at 100hz, on a test bench, on a resistor, on a power supply. Its hype. Something is wrong, either still wired at 4ohm, sub is shot, amp is shot.

 

[FML 10+ year member]

They get birth sheet numbers at 100hz, on a test bench, on a resistor, on a power supply. Its hype. Something is wrong, either still wired at 4ohm, sub is shot, amp is shot.

Fair enough. Still, running at exactly 31 volts (for 1000w) did nothing to help. Before we move past the clipping idea,tell me, if you could, where my LPF should be at when setting gain? I noticed the voltage would jump quicker and to a higher point from increasing the frequency, without even touching the gain.