Hooked up old school RFP 12" in 1.19 sealed ( sealed vs ported )

[mrpep]

So I bought this old Honda Civic 1996 and had these old HE2 RFP 4212 12"s laying around. I wired to 2ohm load and put them on a kenwood 600 rms at 2ohm monoblock and although the subs are 400 each at 4ohm RMS I'm not sure what they are after converting to 2 ohm but it sounds good. I have in my van a JL HO112w6v3 which is ported and it's bad to the bone loud, clear and deep but had to get sealed on the Honda to compare - Had to have the both worlds. The sealed is tough meaning it's not as loud as ported but the Honda vibrates so hard feels like it's going to fall apart, lol. It's a bit more punchy but it usually takes me a while set up adjustments since I'm always tweaking. I have to say that sealed and ported are both nice . It's all preference but all in all you really can't go wrong with either. Happy pounding all and enjoy your holiday weekend all!

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[Umbra]

So I bought this old Honda Civic 1996 and had these old HE2 RFP 4212 12"s laying around. I wired to 2ohm load and put them on a kenwood 600 rms at 2ohm monoblock and although the subs are 400 each at 4ohm RMS I'm not sure what they are after converting to 2 ohm but it sounds good. I have in my van a JL HO112w6v3 which is ported and it's bad to the bone loud, clear and deep but had to get sealed on the Honda to compare - Had to have the both worlds. The sealed is tough meaning it's not as loud as ported but the Honda vibrates so hard feels like it's going to fall apart, lol. It's a bit more punchy but it usually takes me a while set up adjustments since I'm always tweaking. I have to say that sealed and ported are both nice . It's all preference but all in all you really can't go wrong with either. Happy pounding all and enjoy your holiday weekend all!

I've used a pair of HE2 RFP3212s (very, very similar) in a sealed box and gave them each 1.25 cubes with a similar outcome. They got pretty loud in a trunk environment and it shook the car pretty hard. After tons of work deadening panels and tracking down and eliminating rattles it still got loud, but without the added noise. Right now I have a different ported setup in a van and I think just because it's not contained to a trunk there's not nearly as much rattling, so I'm putting off deadening.

I'm confused, did you you one or two subs? The title makes it seem like you hooked up one, especially with 1.19 cubes. Then you say you put "them" on the amp. However, you say you wired them to a 2 ohm load. You can wire a single DVC 4 ohm sub to 2 ohms in parallel, but if you're doing two your options are 8 ohms, 4 ohms, or 1 ohm.

Also, I think you misunderstand power ratings and impedance. The sub is rated 400W RMS - that's how much power it can handle regularly without thermal failure. Impedance (measured in ohms) doesn't matter for this rating. The impedance of the voice coils only affects the amp when you're wiring it. Impedance is resistance to the amp. The higher the ohm rating, the more resistance. That's why when you look at amp specs you'll find that its output at 4 ohms is typically less than it is at 2 ohms. If the amp is a monoblock (meaning one powerful channel), whatever its output is gets divided among all the voice coils on the speakers hooked up to it (assuming they're wired properly). The higher the impedance presented to the amp the less power it'll put out. The lower the impedance the more power it'll put out (or at least try to). Wiring a high ohm load (i.e. 8 ohms, like one 4 ohm DVC wired in series) on an amp is fine. It's actually easier on the amp, but it'll be putting out much less power. If you wire to an ohm load lower than the amp was designed to handle you risk breaking the amp.

Anyway, as far as it applies to your case, the speakers are 4 ohm DVC, you can't get a 2 ohm load if you're wiring both of them up, so you might want to double check that to be sure you're not at 1 ohm. I don't mean to derail your thread, I just want to be sure it's not hooked up in a potentially damaging way.

Happy holiday weekend. Hopefully the good cooking is BBQ and not an amp.

 

[mrpep]

Thank you for the details , I've never quiet read it laid it this way, very easy to understand. I used a drawing and the drawing was for 2 subs wired down to 2ohms. It seems to be working but I guess the only way to tell would be with an ohm meter. Regardless it pounds hard so I'm pretty satisfied with the sound but if I can get more ill take it.

 

[mrpep]

Now that I think about it , I think I'm wired at 1 ohm. I will test tomorrow . Also, when I run ported I usually never use bass boost, loudness, and a few of those other enhancements but I did today to see if I can get more out of this sealed box and my God doubled the bass. I can't even hear the voice in the mids anymore. Crazy thing is it still sounds clear and if I turn all that up in a ported it usually sounds distorted.

 

[mrpep]

http://www.kenwoodusa.com/Car_Entertainment_2013/2008_Car_Entertainment/KAC-X10D

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-X1IJ4j6CK2p/p_113BT362U/Kenwood-KDC-BT362U.html?tp=5684&awkw=96894608905&awat=pla&awnw=g&awcr=57217582705&awdv=m

 

---------- Post added at 11:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:19 PM ----------

 

This is the HU and amp I'm using

 

[mrpep]

So I couldn't help it and I threw my HO110w6v3 in my civic. I really wanted to use the RFP's since it's just a work car but couldn't resist and man oh man what a difference , JL is so solid and I know all the JL haters will laugh but seriously speaking, they are good to the ears.

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[mrpep]

Here's my hoopty by the way - she's a work car but I can't help it , is always have to add a little style to my rides .

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[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Thank you for the details , I've never quiet read it laid it this way, very easy to understand. I used a drawing and the drawing was for 2 subs wired down to 2ohms. It seems to be working but I guess the only way to tell would be with an ohm meter. Regardless it pounds hard so I'm pretty satisfied with the sound but if I can get more ill take it.

no to actually know the proper impedance rise, you need to clamp test and burp 30hz to 50hz and create a whole graph. You think you are wired to 2 ohms but in reality, you would most likely fall under 3 or 4 ohms after rise. Just look up how people do clamp tests and you'll see the reality of how much power your amp actually makes after rise.

 

[mrpep]

no to actually know the proper impedance rise, you need to clamp test and burp 30hz to 50hz and create a whole graph. You think you are wired to 2 ohms but in reality, you would most likely fall under 3 or 4 ohms after rise. Just look up how people do clamp tests and you'll see the reality of how much power your amp actually makes after rise.

I tore these subs out today and went with my HO 110w6v3. Much better and much happier . I might mess with those RFP's another time

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