dual amp problem please help

[sentra120]

I originally had one rockford fosgate 301m amp powering two 12 inch rockford subs, but i decided that i will eventually upgrade the subs so i wanted to add a second amp, one for each sub so i got another 301m and a rockford dual amp kit. After i hooked it up i used spliters for the preouts coming out of the reciever since there is only one set of preouts for the subs. when i hook up both sets of rca's it seems as if i get less bass than if i were just to leave only one set of rca's for just one amp. it is as if i lose power when i put both sets in. i have alternated the set of rca's and both amps seem to power up strongly if i only leave one set in, but like i said before as soon as i add the second there is a bass decrease. i don't know if the rca signal from the is too weak or what, i was wondering do i need to by a preout to boost the signal? if someone could help me out with this problem i would be most appreciative.

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[KaeZoo 10+ year member]

Try switching the wires on the positive and negative terminals at ONE of your subs and see if that makes any difference. I doubt splitting the RCAs is causing your problem, but the subs might be wired out of phase.

 

[sentra120]

Thank you for your suggestion but i had no luck with it

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[sentra120]

still have no idea what the problem could be please help

 

[jleecong 10+ year member]

I personally have notice when using a splitter on my PC the signal is split between each destination. Like each runs at 50% volume vs. 100% without the splitter.

I bought a cheap radio shack splitter and figured that was the problem.

 

[Johnny Drama 5,000+ posts]

If your head unit puts out 4 volts(RCA's) then each amp will only get 2 volts. That means you have less signal to amplify causing your amps to be quieter. You may want to upgrade your headunit to get better signal. Or you could get an adapter to turn your speaker wires from the head unit into RCA. Walmart sells them for $30.

 

[sentra120]

i also have another problem, i now notice when i turn the car on and off, or when i change radio stations the subs make a boom like sound( 1 time) and then plays pretty normally. I also notice sometimes the subs seem to beat to the accelaration of the car. Does any one have any suggestions?

i was wondering could a bad ground connection be the problem?

 

[sentra120]

i'm still having no luck please help

 

[pavengmike6 10+ year member]

It sounds to me like you are getting a power problem. When you hook up the second amp you may not be getting the full 14 volts at each amp. Check to see what the volts are at each amp with the radio turned up about mid volume.

As for splitting the RCA's you should not notice a difference using a Y splitter. NO each amp is not getting 2 volts. The voltage may not be 4 like it is a the preout, but it is not cut in half.

Are you using the same ground for both amps????

what size ground and power wire are you using?

If you do not have a GOOD ground you are hurting the sound. Your ground may be able to handle the power of one amp, but when you add a second one it will not handle the extra load. Re-due the ground and see.

make sure BOTH amps are set at the same level (gain, bass boost etc).

 

[sentra120]

i'm using the rockford dual amp kit.....idk if you're familiar with that or not

its a 4 gauge running to a distribution block, then from that it splits to two 8 guage wires. For the ground it takes a 8 guage wire from each amp and connects them to a 4 guage wire that gets grounded. Should i make two different grounds, and would gettinga capacitor help....my lights do not dim or ne thing.

 

[sentra120]

Thanks everyone for helping me, i finally figured out what the problem was. It turned out that my ground source wasn't good enough for two amps so now i have two amp sources and that seems to work

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

:thumbsup

c'mon, a thumbs up isn't ten chars? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif