Can a Fi Q 12" be damaged by a Kicker ZX750.1?

[CaptNKILL 10+ year member]

I finally got my Q installed and I have to say, its an impressive sub. It looks awesome and sounds awesome. But I'm still a bit of a noob when it comes to picking out distortion, clipping and other problems that can arise with speakers and amps.

My amp doesn't have a clip light (my old Infinity did, but I know they aren't always accurate). I've set the gains with a DMM, but its so imprecise that it almost seems pointless. None of my music resembles a test tone (I listen to metal and rock), so setting my gains to match a test tone seems like a good way to waste a lot of power. But its pretty much impossible to get a good voltage measurement during a song because it changes too much.

My main question is:

Is this amp capable of damaging this sub with a clipped signal? According to this thread , to damage a sub with heat you need to send it more average power than it is able to dissipate and clipping simply increases the average power, though not beyond the output of the amp obviously. My amp is rated at 891w (from the birth sheet) and the Q 12 is rated at 1000W rms, and I know people send them more than that all the time. So it seems like the amp would be incapable of sending enough power to cook this sub, even when clipped. This doesn't seem to fit with the other things I've read though.

Am I missing something?

Also, are there any other things I should watch out for? Is this amp powerful enough to make the sub do anything that could damage it? Over excursion, too high of frequencies, too much volume in general, too low of frequencies at high volume...?

Thanks

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[jfsh90 10+ year member]

I'm pretty sure you can damage a sub from clipping even if it's not pushing a sub it's rms.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong; I don't want to misinform the op

Edit: I don't get why you're asking this question. If you send the Q a clean signal with proper xover and ssfilter, you'll never have to worry about clipping //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[CaptNKILL 10+ year member]

I'm pretty sure you can damage a sub from clipping even if it's not pushing a sub it's rms.
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong; I don't want to misinform the op

Edit: I don't get why you're asking this question. If you send the Q a clean signal, you'll never have to worry about clipping //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

I'm just asking because there isn't any way to guarantee a clean signal outside of setting gains very low, which obviously defeats the whole purpose of having a decently powered system.

I don't have access to (or the money for) an o-scope, and I don't really have enough experience with this stuff to be able to respond to the sound of clipping as soon as I hear it (if I can hear it in my trunk). I listen to a ton of different kinds of music, and I'm just wondering how easily something can be damaged if a song comes on that has significantly more bass than others and causes my amp to clip.

 

[t-money 10+ year member]

I'm just asking because there isn't any way to guarantee a clean signal outside of setting gains very low, which obviously defeats the whole purpose of having a decently powered system.
I don't have access to (or the money for) an o-scope, and I don't really have enough experience with this stuff to be able to respond to the sound of clipping as soon as I hear it (if I can hear it in my trunk). I listen to a ton of different kinds of music, and I'm just wondering how easily something can be damaged if a song comes on that has significantly more bass than others and causes my amp to clip.

its possible that amp can blow a 12 Q if clipped. Set the gains a little higher than the tones and use your bass knob, its a remote gain. So if you play a song with more bass than others you can turn the knob down and you'll be fine.

 

[IDSkoT 5,000+ posts]

its possible that amp can blow a 12 Q if clipped. Set the gains a little higher than the tones and use your bass knob, its a remote gain. So if you play a song with more bass than others you can turn the knob down and you'll be fine.

Don't do that.

Definitely DO NOT do that.

If you're worrying about it clipping, turn the gains down. Better to be safe than sorry.

But don't use the bass knob as a "remote gain." That's b!tch-a$s retarded.

 

[SHOemup233 10+ year member]

I'm pretty sure you can damage a sub from clipping even if it's not pushing a sub it's rms.
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong; I don't want to misinform the op

Edit: I don't get why you're asking this question. If you send the Q a clean signal with proper xover and ssfilter, you'll never have to worry about clipping //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

I think I remember someone knowledgeable on this subject saying that if it is below the RMS of the sub, even if clipped, the sub will not blow. But. I may be remembering wrong. And I have never worried about it as I personally just get an extra powerful amp and set gains with a DMM.

 

[t-money 10+ year member]

Don't do that.
Definitely DO NOT do that.

If you're worrying about it clipping, turn the gains down. Better to be safe than sorry.

But don't use the bass knob as a "remote gain." That's b!tch-a$s retarded.

really, i've done that for awhile with no problems. If hes not playing tones and the music isnt recorded as well, by turning the gains a little higher he will not be clipping the amp playing music. He will clip the amp a little playing tones and thats why i advised him to use his remote gain. You have no idea what you're talking about, he will be fine. I'm not telling him to crank the gains but if hes not playing tones he will be losing output since the music is recorded as good.

Op, i've been into car audio since 1986, i have never blown an amp. I've blown two subs in 22 years and the funny thing is they were both ED subs. You can leave it the way it is but you will have no problems with what i recommended. I'm not here to argue, if you wanna do what i said fine if not cool, but you will not have any problems with how i recommended you to set it up. Nothing wrong with having the gains a hair higher than yo would set them for a test tone.

 

[SHOemup233 10+ year member]

really, i've done that for awhile with no problems. If hes not playing tones and the music isnt recorded as well, by turning the gains a little higher he will not be clipping the amp playing music. He will clip the amp a little playing tones and thats why i advised him to use his remote gain. You have no idea what you're talking about, he will be fine. I'm not telling him to crank the gains but if hes not playing tones he will be losing output since the music is recorded as good.
Op, i've been into car audio since 1986, i have never blown an amp. I've blown two subs in 22 years and the funny thing is they were both ED subs. You can leave it the way it is but you will have no problems with what i recommended. I'm not here to argue, if you wanna do what i said fine if not cool, but you will not have any problems with how i recommended you to set it up. Nothing wrong with having the gains a hair higher than yo would set them for a test tone.

I do this - for metal and rock I raise my EQ a little bit and turn it down for Rap and bassy music so that I don't clip.

 

[IDSkoT 5,000+ posts]

I do this - for metal and rock I raise my EQ a little bit and turn it down for Rap and bassy music so that I don't clip.

EQ =/= Remote Gain.

And people've done the math to figure out what voltage at what hertz will be the appropriate gain so that it puts out the RMS necessary. If the amp is operating in it's range, it will not clip. And that's the logic behind DMM setting. I'm a youngin', and recently got into the car audio world. But I've done a lot of reading / research.

And I'm sure you can use your remote gain and all of that stuff that you'd like to do, and not really blow up anything unless you exaggerate it. But it doesn't mean it's the right way to do it.

 

[tee 10+ year member]

Don't do that.
Definitely DO NOT do that.

If you're worrying about it clipping, turn the gains down. Better to be safe than sorry.

But don't use the bass knob as a "remote gain." That's b!tch-a$s retarded.

I thought the bass knob that came with the zx750.1 wasn't a "bass boost" and could be used as a "gain". I just set the gains normally with the knob all the way up, then adjust it if I needed to.

 

[snb778 5,000+ posts]

tune into the "how to blow a sub" thread currently going and you'll find your answers there

 

[t-money 10+ year member]

I thought the bass knob that came with the zx750.1 wasn't a "bass boost" and could be used as a "gain". I just set the gains normally with the knob all the way up, then adjust it if I needed to.

i set my gains with the bass knob out, then after the gain is set i put the bass knob back in

 

[skateboardkid 10+ year member]

If you throw the 750.1 at the cone real hard it might damage it, you might be able to break the basket if you really whale on it with the 750.1. But as far as clean power.... no

 

[Ineed$ 10+ year member]

I've never used a remote bass knob. do they work like a gain or like the bass boost?

 

[tee 10+ year member]

I've never used a remote bass knob. do they work like a gain or like the bass boost?

The one that comes with the ZX750.1 is supposed to work like a gain. Turning it up all the way is suppose to be like pulling it off.