Help setting up my system. (Noob)

[Jaames93]

I’ve finally pieced everything together with my setup and after some help.

I’ve got a single Orion H2 15” 2000w rms wired down to 2 ohm with a Orion XTR PRO 2400@2ohm. I’ve run an extra battery to the boot, 70mm2 power earth for second battery and amp. Using a visual ice custom ported box tuned to 29hz. I’ve got a couple of questions as I have 2 of these subs, first one started smoking and smelling real bad. No crunching when pushing on the cone and still reads 2ohm however at low volume the speaker is popping and sounded real bad. I’ve now pulled that sub and replaced with my other one.

I have a Kenwood DDX4016DAB which has a subwoofer level setting. -50 to +10, as far as I can work out this isn’t a bass boost as there is a bass boost setting else where on the head unit which is obviously set to OFF. But I think it’s to do with the RCA Voltage. When it’s set to 0 the subwoofer is really quiet and can hardly be heard. I’ve tried setting the gain through a DMM with subwoofer disconnected using a 50hZ test tone on Spotify, I done the maths equation to find out the voltage for my gain setting which was 69v (2400x2 ohms = square root of 4800 = 69) and when I set the DMM to V~ 200 and connect to the speaker outputs of the amplifier with the gain on its maximum it only shows 39.2, now I’m not sure if I’m on the right setting or not as the gain will never be maxed out. I obviously don’t want to kill another sub so what am I doing wrong? Is this because the sound is playing out my door speakers? Do I need to find a way to remove the sound from them while playing the test tone? I’m really new to this audio game but I’ve spent a lot of money to get to where I am now and don’t want to ruin all my equipment due to lack of knowledge.

Could someone possibly help me set the gain up on my amplifier to make sure I’m not clipping but still have a great deal of bass?

The LPF I currently have set low at 35hZ. Is this correct?

Sorry for the lengthy post but I just want everything to be set how it should be and not make the mistake I did the first time.

Thanks in advance

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[SourDeez 10+ year member]

What wire are you using and what size? Where is your ground? Sounds mostly like a wiring issue to me if everything you said is correct.

 

[ThxOne Premium Member]

Step #1. Find the maximum undistorted output of the head unit. If the Kenwood goes to 40, set it at 35 if you have no way to measure... Just to be safe.
Step #2. Set the crossover for the subwoofer to 80hz
Step #3. Make sure ALL your levels in the head unit are @Zero. Balance centered, Fade centered, no bass boost, sub level at zero, All EQ's flat
Step #4. Use a 40hz or 50hz tone and try to set the gain now... it should go above 39v

You were sending a 50hz tone to your amp then measuring with a multimeter... since it was crossed over set to 35hz there was no way it could be gained correctly as it was set below the signal you were using. Set LPF to 80hz, use a 40hz tone and you should be close to where you want to be.

 

[Jaames93]

Step #1. Find the maximum undistorted output of the head unit. If the Kenwood goes to 40, set it at 35 if you have no way to measure... Just to be safe.
Step #2. Set the crossover for the subwoofer to 80hz
Step #3. Make sure ALL your levels in the head unit are @Zero. Balance centered, Fade centered, no bass boost, sub level at zero, All EQ's flat
Step #4. Use a 40hz or 50hz tone and try to set the gain now... it should go above 39v

You were sending a 50hz tone to your amp then measuring with a multimeter... since it was crossed over set to 35hz there was no way it could be gained correctly as it was set below the signal you were using. Set LPF to 80hz, use a 40hz tone and you should be close to where you want to be.

Fantastic Thankyou for that information, I will do this tomorrow and try again, now you’ve said that I understand exactly where you are coming from. The frequency was higher than the LPF so it wasn’t going to pick up the Correct voltage. The head unit goes upto 35, I run at 27 as that’s the cleanest my audio sounds, 28 is also clean but 27 is always clean regardless what type of music I listen to. When the gain is set keep the LPF and subwoofer level at 0 yes? I’ve done some reading and people are saying the Subwoofer level is to do with the voltage from the RCA +10 being 4V but I’m not convinced. I would never use the bass boost setting. Clipping central that is.

Previous post regarding wiring. I’m using 70mm welding cable as power and ground. Ground is bolted to the boot floor and sanded to bare metal. That then goes into a distribution block to x2 4awg As this amp has pathetic power connectors made purely for aesthetic builds

 

[ThxOne Premium Member]

Fantastic Thankyou for that information, I will do this tomorrow and try again, now you’ve said that I understand exactly where you are coming from. The frequency was higher than the LPF so it wasn’t going to pick up the Correct voltage. The head unit goes upto 35, I run at 27 as that’s the cleanest my audio sounds, 28 is also clean but 27 is always clean regardless what type of music I listen to. When the gain is set keep the LPF and subwoofer level at 0 yes? I’ve done some reading and people are saying the Subwoofer level is to do with the voltage from the RCA +10 being 4V but I’m not convinced. I would never use the bass boost setting. Clipping central that is.

I would keep it at 0 unless you need just a hair more bass... but the gain will be set for 0 so anything above that may add distortion.

 

[Jaames93]

I would keep it at 0 unless you need just a hair more bass... but the gain will be set for 0 so anything above that may add distortion.

Okay cool, I have noticed though that when it’s on 0 it really doesn’t sound like a 2000w
Rms subwoofer, sounds more like a £20 woofer. Real quiet etc. I will try and set the gain correctly on 0 and see what happens, if not I’ll set the gain again using the subwoofer level that way should clarify having no distortion

 

[Jaames93]

Update - so I set the gain as instructed above which gave me my 69v. The problem I have now the sub isn’t loud at all, isn’t half as much bass or flex than before. Considering it’s a 2000w rms Orion H2 and a Orion 2400w rms amp with a custom 29hz enclosure it’s really disappointing, I tried setting the gain again with subwoofer level 10, obviously to reach 69v the gain was turned up about 1%, slightest turn and it was within its 69v region.

Something must be wrong For this subwoofer to be as quiet as it is as I’ve watched videos online of these creating havoc in turns of panel flex etc and this sounds like a $20 woofer on 69v

 

[ThxOne Premium Member]

How do you have your subwoofer wired on each coil? What wire is going to what?? Something isn't right here. Use your voltmeter to measure each voice coils ohms and tell us what you get.

 

[Jaames93]

Wired down to 2 ohms. Both coils show two ohms on MM and 2 ohms on box terminals, jumper from pos to pos and neg to neg then positive on one coil negative on other. As this diagram shows

Amp is Stable at 2400@2

 

[ThxOne Premium Member]

Wired down to 2 ohms. Both coils show two ohms on MM and 2 ohms on box terminals, jumper from pos to pos and neg to neg then positive on one coil negative on other. As this diagram shows

Amp is Stable at 2400@2

Um.... I probably won't be the only person to tell you this but if BOTH of your coils say 2ohms then that sub can only be wired with both coils together to either a 4ohm final load or 1ohm final load. The only way you can run it to the amp so that the amp sees 2ohms is by only hooking up one voice coil to the amp... which would sound like ass.

 

[ThxOne Premium Member]

Are you sure it isn't wired like this?

 

[ThxOne Premium Member]

Maybe I misread what you said.

 

[Jaames93]

It’s a DVC 4 ohm subwoofer, wired as the photo I posted shows a final impedance of 2ohms on each coil, then test with a MM to the speaker terminals on the box also shows 2 ohms. I only have 1 subwoofer.