How much power should I expect from my Civics electrical system?

[briman1001 10+ year member]

I first thought my problem might be that my ground was not good but now that I have tried different places with all the same result I am wondering if maybe I am just not getting enough juice to my amps.

2000 Honda CIvic EX 2 door.

No upgrades on electric or battery.

Have 4 gauge running to the trunk and it runs into a 4 way distribution block that has 4 8 gauge wires running from it. I have the same thing for a ground. I am using 2 8 gauge wires each going to each amp. I have 2 amps.

Alpine 9857 HU

My system consists of a Memphis MCA3004. I run my front 6.5s and rear 6x9s off this

it is 75watts x 4 rms.

Amp #2 is a Soundstream rubicon 302 which puts out 300 rms bridged into 4 ohms. I have my 2 10" subs bridged running off of this.

It all sounds pretty decent and clean but if I turn it up the subs will not increase in volume like the rest of the system. And sometime they will play a little louder than other times. I am not imagining this as I have had the same subs in 2 other systems and I have heard them play much louder with even less power.

Is the amp maybe not getting enough current for bass peaks? It is kind of strange. I changed out less powerful amps recently and my system got less powerful sounding at least where bass is concerned. Any thoughts?

My next idea is to run 4 gauge from the trunk to battery for the ground just to ensure this is not the issue. Just need to order the stuff.

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[lostdaytomorrow 10+ year member]

Check voltage at the amp during bass peaks.

 

[j3bus2k3 5,000+ posts]

Why are you using 2 8awg wires per amp?

First off, run 2awg at the smallest to the back, 1/0 to be safe...into a d-block and split to 1x 4awg per amp...

Have you done the big 3? May want to look into a small battery for the back...

 

[XaznKewLguyX 10+ year member]

i run my md2 off of my stock electrical system in a 99 civic just fine. pushes out about 1k watts. run of 0awg power wire and upgraded the ground on the battery. waiting to install my hc1400.

theres barely any dimming with stock batt though.

 

[briman1001 10+ year member]

Ok so I must need to upgrade the size of the power cable. Everything I have read has said that 4 gauge is enough for 600 watts. That is the max these amps can put out. Do you really think that I need bigger wire? Would that explain the bass not always hitting hard and volume from the subs coming and going? Could it be the amp? I keep seeing people refer to "the big 3" what exactly are they referring to?

I cannot imagine needing a second battery for 600 watts. Maybe I am wrong.

Probably get smaller amps before I have room for batteries and such. Thanks for the ideas.

Checking voltage at the amp during bass peaks will tell me there is not enough voltage because it dips?

 

[lostdaytomorrow 10+ year member]

Yes, if it goes below ~13 volts or so you probably have a bad ground or your alt. just can't keep up. Bigger wire will help the voltage drop. With 600w total, you really shouldn't need much more than 0/1 to a distro. block in the back and then the Big 3.

Check sticky...

LABELED BIG THREE

 

[lostdaytomorrow 10+ year member]

http://www.caraudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=152355

 

[XaznKewLguyX 10+ year member]

maybe your amp just sucks

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

could be the gain setting on the amp...

 

[pboulos 10+ year member]

iirc that amp is an a/b but i still wouldnt imagine its enough power to cause that

 

[hardhitta47 10+ year member]

could be the gain setting on the amp...

x2

Redo your gains. Your subs don't get louder when turning up the volume, but your front speakers do? Sounds like gain setting.

 

[briman1001 10+ year member]

Buying a DMM from sears tomorrow. I think my ground might not be good. Or something somewhere is not connected right. I lowered the gain on the sub amp but now I get almost no volume from it. Kind of strange that the other amp works just fine. I am going to disconnect the Memphis and just run the Bass amp and see if it works fine by itself. Surely this way with only 1 amp pushing 300 watts off of 4 gauge power wire I can isolate the amp and make sure it works right. I bought it off ebay 2 weeks ago so I hope it is not the amp.

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

it's not the 4 ga - the wire's plenty big.

Just a bad connection somewhere would be my guess.

Fuses can go bad, but not blow sometimes. Any type of connection can work itself loose over time. There are a lot of possibilities.

 

[22mountaineer 10+ year member]

What are the 2 10" subs that you have? That may be the problem..

 

[briman1001 10+ year member]

They are JL audio 10W1. I have heard them be much much louder. And occasionally the volume from the subs will get louder for a few seconds then go back down to a lower level. They work but they are not loud at all unless I turn the gain on the soundstream all the way up. I know this is wrong but it is the only way I get any volume out of them. They are rated at 125rms each and the amp puts 300rms so power should not be an issue.