Doesn't sound the same - help?

[fly_marlin]

So I've been running an audiobahn 2300HCT (class A/B) amp in mono for years. It was powering 2 TC-1000 subs (10", 400W RMS each). On paper, it's claimed to do 2400W RMS at 1ohm and it has 160A in fuses on it. No way I'm getting that much out of it and my guess is it'll do 1400W RMS tops while having horrible efficiency. However, it drove my subs perfectly and sounded simply awesome. Box is tuned to 34Hz, about 1.5 cu ft per side. My lights dimmed when I turned it up a bit. I decided that I'd swap it for audioque 1200W mono amp. It's a better fit for my stock electrical system, but it just doesn't sound the same. The gain is 3/4 of the way up, bass boost is half way up, but it's still just not the same. It's lacking that umph. Also, the trunk is now deadened with 100mil deadening. Is there anything I can adjust on the head unit (pioneer DEX-9500BHS) or on the amp? I'm hoping I can as I just can't believe that this amp just has that much less juice than the audiobahn. Any help is appreciated.

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[LOUDNDEEP 10+ year member]

that amp will do close to rated power. it has already been discussed here in the past with a man that knows his old school amps. they are power hogs being a large class a/b amp but that amp will make power.

 

[fly_marlin]

So the difference is really because the Soundqubed 1200 is just less powerful?

 

[LOUDNDEEP 10+ year member]

im positive that audiobahn is making more power than the sq1200. probably close to 1000 more on good electrical.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

What impedance to each amp

 

[fly_marlin]

They're running at 1ohm.

 

[fly_marlin]

I'm thinking I should just get another one of those amps, strap them and that should do the trick. This then gives me the possibility to upgrade my subs, too. The subs are dual 4ohm VCs, together wired down to 1ohm. When strapping 2 of those amps, they're stable down to 2 ohms. I'm not exactly sure how this works. Do I need to rewire the subs in a different way? Diagrams I've seen, including the AQ manual, only show strapping 2 amps to 1 sub.

 

[phemps 10+ year member]

Stable at 2 ohms strapped means that your nominal resistance seen by the amps needs to be no less than 2 ohms. This is because the amps will actually see a 1 ohm load each, the impedence is split. With your subs you can only present a load of 1 or 4 ohms. at 1 ohm strapped each amp will actually be at a half ohm and will be extremely current hungry. The amps may very well be able to run that way with beefy electrical but the company rates more conservatively for warranty reasons. On the other hand if you strap them at 4 ohms each amp will be running at 2 and you wont see a ton more power.