help me plzz...zane?.......

[Unregistered]

i've got( don't laugh) 2 10" roadgear subs and a 150 w amp... would a bigger amp help or would it just blow the subs right away?......i can only turn up my cd player about 1/3 of the way as it is......i know, i'm completely caraudio ignorant....plz help..

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[zane 10+ year member]

Dont worry man, I wont laugh. Fact is, I just installed a Road Gear RGCM30 Cassette Radio for my sister in her old car, and I was actually quite impressed with it. $27.99 at Wal-Mart, and it was flawless. If anyone needs an inexpensive radio- I would have to reccomend this one. It locked onto radio stations and never wavered, casette play barely even sounded analog- it was crystal clear all arround and very easy to use.

Anway, what most people dont know is that Road Gear is manufactured by Jensen, so there is some quality there.

With your situation we can likely figure out something to give you increased output from your woofers. Just need a little more information first.

What size and type of enclosure are your subs in right now?

What type of amp are you using?

What level is the gain set at on the amp?

What type of HU- source?

What frequency are the subs crossed over at?

Are you more interested in Sound Quality or SPL- Loud Bass?

Lets start with this and see what we can come up with....

take it easy,

-zane

 

[Unregistered]

well......let's see...they're in two seperate truck boxes...in the back seat of my cavelier....not sure on the size...

my amp has no gain control...or any controls on it for that matter..(pathetic, i know, it was givin to me.) anyway.....

HU source?

frequency?

well....sometimes i like to thump...and sometimes i listen to mozart.....i know i'm not giving u much to work with but i'm doin my best..sorry..

by the way...i have two pioneer 6 by 9's hooked up directly from my subs.....someone told me the subs would pull more power out of the amp that way......thanx 4 your help

 

[zane 10+ year member]

OK- heres what we need to do. Firstly- remove your 6x9's from the sub wiring all together.- They are causing more problems this way than anything-the information provided to you before was incorrect.

From what I gathered- the enclosures you have are pre-made, if they are the ones that Wal-Mart sells aside the Road Gear Subs- they should do fine. If you are in doubt- measure each enclosures length, width, and height and then multiply those 3 measurements then divide that total by 1728. This will give you the total enclosure volume.

Anything in the area of 0.80 - 1.5 cubic ft (ft^3) should be acceptable for these woofers.

On the amp side of things- if this amp has no gain control- get rid of it as it is virtually useless in tuning a system.

What I meant by HU source was your head unit or radio- what type is it and how are you running your signal to your amplifier RCA's (low level) or Speaker wires (high level)?

The frequency I was reffering to is the crossover point you have your subs set at- thus at what point are the high frequencies blocked from your subs?

There are several amps out there that offer more versatility as well as built in crossovers- this could simplify things for you a good deal. I believe this is likely the best place to start based on the condiditons you have indicated.

What are we looking at budget wise for this new amp? It may not be so much a bigger amp you need- just one that is more capable.

take it easy,

-zane

 

[Unregistered]

well.....come to think of it , the amp might have a gain control, perhaps if i knew what gain is then i might know.....

my HU is an awia cd player and i'm running RCA's to the amp... and then of course the remote wire is hooked up also ....

as far as the whole frequency thing goes....i'm still confused there....i didn't know u could change any thing on subs.....

anyway...budget wise...i'de say quite low....i don't have a job...so if i kept it that way i'de have to wait till my next birthday or christmas......so untill one of those three things come around i'de say around $100.......

continual thanx......

 

[zane 10+ year member]

What type of amp do you have?

The gain control is used to closely match the Head Units RCA output to the amplifiers RCA input. This is done to achieve the best possible signal with the least interference.

Frequency is basically a measurement of sound- A human ear can percieve sounds between 20Hertz and 20 Kilo-Hertz.

Here is a little tidbit that may help explain this a little better:

http://www.eatel.net/~amptech/elecdisc/frequncy.htm

As for the amps- $100 isnt going to do a whole lot- however you should be able to pick up a JBL BP150.1 on e-bay for that amount- otherwise they are $124.99 at the zeb.

http://www.thezeb.com/caraudio/jbl.html

This amp is a mono (1 channel) subwoofer amp with internal crossovers to customer tailor the frequency (output sound) to filter the higher frequencies out of the woofer, thus increasing its efficiency.

take it easy,

-zane

 

[bry_mo 10+ year member]

my amp is a Super Pro and i just looked...it does have gain control.....there is a little hole by the RCA cables that said gain by it...the amp said 2x75 w on it....so i asume that's 75 w to each sub... it also said 4 ohms 2ohm capable on it...or something to that effect...

if it's not too much trouble, would you mind explaining to me the internal crossover and the 1 channel thing. sorry ....i'm new to car audio......as if u hadn't all ready figured that out....thanx

 

[bry_mo 10+ year member]

sorry i forgot to mention that i just got a user name as bry_mo in case u were wondering about that last reply

 

[zane 10+ year member]

Originally posted by bry_mo my amp is a Super Pro and i just looked...it does have gain control.....there is a little hole by the RCA cables that said gain by it...the amp said 2x75 w on it....so i asume that's 75 w to each sub... it also said 4 ohms 2ohm capable on it...or something to that effect...

 

if it's not too much trouble, would you mind explaining to me the internal crossover and the 1 channel thing. sorry ....i'm new to car audio......as if u hadn't all ready figured that out....thanx

Allright, the amp was a corrrect assumption by us both. This should be your starting point. Take a look at that JBL amp that I mentioned previously- it should work quite well for your set up and budget.

The internal crossover, is just what the name means. It is a frequency limiter or cutoff point that is built into the amp that is adjustabe to eliminate higher; undesirable, frequencies from playing through your subs.

Basically what I meant by 1 channel, is that the JBL amp is a mono or 1 channel only dedicated subwoofer amp. Signal from both left and right stage of the recorded track are combined into 1 powerful channel. you would then wire your subwoofers in paralel so they would have 1 set of speaker wires a + and a - to go to the amp.

Click on the link below for how to wire your speakers in paralel.

take it easy,

-zane

 

[mykeys 10+ year member]

Zane don't those boxes have horn tweeters as well? I know th e tweeters have a small cap on them I just rebuilt a smaller version of one of those for my hatch..(its an offroad toy and gets wet inside and didnt wanna destroy anything decent). The woofers were already gone so I don't know if they had an inductor coil or not though.. but wouldn't that more or less make them full range capable? Just a thought.

Mike

 

[bry_mo 10+ year member]

thanx a lot zane ......for all of your help...i'll look in to that amp

 

[mrray13 10+ year member]

some of the newer boxes at wal-mart don't have tweets. not for sure on the rest of their construction, they look to be about 1^3ft and come with a terminal cup and grill.

 

[bry_mo 10+ year member]

ok zane....one more q...what do u think of this jensen 2 channel 200 watt peak amp at sears.com???it's only $100 and it seams to me to have all the same stuff and more than the jbl u suggested....this is what it says:2 channel car amplifier. MOSFET power supply with bi-polar output transistors and 2 ohm stable stereo operation. 200 watts peak power. Peak power per channel at 4 ohms 100 watts.

Top mounted controls

Pass through RCA outputs .......

is that any better or worse? how does it compare to the jbl p-80.2????thanx

 

[mrray13 10+ year member]

get the jbl. the jensen is overated and you need to look for rms numbers. peak numbers are for show. by getting the jbl amp now, later(as money allows) you can step up to better subs. if you get the jensen you'll have to upgrade both!

 

[zane 10+ year member]

bry_mo- For all practical purposes, that Jensen Amp would work well in your setup. For all reliability, performance, and warrantl purposes, the JBL is still a far better amplifier.

just my take on this.......

take it easy,

-zane