gains up, sub not pounding

[dtbrown 10+ year member]

Ok, here are your things you need to trouble shoot. First check and make sure the polarity of the sub is good on both coils. Some times Sub companies that hand make subs will reverse wire the outputs by accident. So test each coil with a battery to makes sure they are in phase.

Assuming that the sub wasn't the problem, second your impedance rise may be crazy high depending on what kind of box you have sub in. What kind of box is it? Ported, sealed, prefab, etc. So at 4 ohms nominal you may be rising to as high as 12ohms and not getting much power at all. And to run that amp at 1ohms you'll have to monitor amp closely to make sure it doesn't get to hot. Best way to know if you can run that amp at 1ohms is power test and see your impedance rise. If you rise 3 ohms you'll be good. Also to run that amp at 1ohms you single 4ga wire won't cut it.

If all that checks out and you still same problem then check ground and make sure it's got good contact to metal. And only having one run of 4ga to that amp isn't helping either. At least 2 runs of 4ga for power and ground from battery and make sure battery is grounded well too. It may look small physically but that's a strong amp. Check those things out and get back to me.

 

[dennis09x 10+ year member]

So gentlemen, checked out bcae1.com and a bunch o sites as a reference... So i got about 7 feet of 4 gauge power wire from batt to the 2k6d amp.

2100 watts at 14.4 volts amp is drawing 146 amps

2100 watts at 12.5 volts amp is drawing 168 amps

Now since im not gonna be burping or getting metered, music tones are whats gonna be reproduced, so at the "worst" (i assume) we are looking at 1/2 that amperage with music, right?

If that is correct, then 73 to 84 amps of draw from the stetsom should be commonplace... right?

Now then...to my point... Do i really need two runs of 4 gauge then? shouldn't one suffice with that length and current draw?

Please correct me if im wrong.

Edit: also, ill be running the amp at 1 ohm with the gains turned low low, round 45.7 volts on DMM, if that makes anything easier to answer...

 

[dtbrown 10+ year member]

You 100% need more power wire if you plan on running amp at 1ohms and if you ever plan on playing the amp hard. If not you'll be starving the amp of current and that in turn can make the amp not run as efficient as it can and make it work harder than it should. Which in the end isn't good for any amp. That's why it has 1/0 input. I'd personally run 1/0 or at a minimum another 4ga for power and ground and especially if you plan on running it at 1ohms which may or may not work depending on impedance rise. Just think of this enalagy, running only 4ga wire for that amp is like trying to **** a golf ball through a water hose. In the end it's your amp and you can do what you want but doing it the right way will protecting your investment. Better paying $20 in more wire compared to $200 in repair bills. Good luck.

 

[dennis09x 10+ year member]

Well, can't afford anymore wire, so ill use some 2/0 battery cable I got laying around.

Any problems with this stuff?

I heard from some people you get sound quality issues, and obviously less flexibility. But i think if its free, carries big power, doesn't need to be flexible, and is powering my "dirty" subwoofer amplifier, it should be ok.

Once again, please correct me if im wrong

 

[denali804 10+ year member]

Man that amp was mine I think and its very strong. I think that you have huge box rise in your sub setup and you need to wire subs to 1 ohm and set the gains with speakers disconnected using a dmm. Run 1/0 ga wire back to a distro block that has 1/0 in and 4 ga out and then keep the 4 ga as short as possible. A 3-4 inch length of 4 ga can take a lot of current. Look for something like these. And you can also do one on the ground side of things. Try it with sub wired to 1 ohm and monitor amp for heat. I think that you will be okay.

http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/products/product_details.asp?cat_id=5&series_id=39&family_id=73&item_id=83211&locale=en_US&p_status=discontinued

im also selling some here.

http://www.caraudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=360681

That amp beatup my ti pro 18 pretty **** good

 

[dtbrown 10+ year member]

Man that amp was mine I think and its very strong. I think that you have huge box rise in your sub setup and you need to wire subs to 1 ohm and set the gains with speakers disconnected using a dmm. Run 1/0 ga wire back to a distro block that has 1/0 in and 4 ga out and then keep the 4 ga as short as possible. A 3-4 inch length of 4 ga can take a lot of current. Look for something like these. And you can also do one on the ground side of things. Try it with sub wired to 1 ohm and monitor amp for heat. I think that you will be okay.

x2

 

[systemincheck 10+ year member]

yOU DONT say

 

[microhaxo 10+ year member]

I have similar problems with my hifonics amp, but i was just trying to reach 1000w..

I got a clamp meter and saw that im only pulling 19 amps at MAX gain and that equates to ~780w But i was giving enough AC Volts to equal 3k at 1 ohm if just doing by dmm..

my sub sounded like it was going to explode and its rated to take that so i dont know if the amp was severely clipping or what.

box rise was a big factor at the 19 amps i was at 2.8 ohm Its an exponential losing battle!

So just use your DMM and take the advice that i was given.. Dont get caught up in the numbers. Tune it to how you want it to sound.

I was supposed to be giving my sub 1000w and at 32v i thought i was but in fact it was getting 480w.. Sounded great too.