I need help! Bought a new amp and sub and the sub barely bumps.

[Redxdesigns]

I just bought a sundown SA 12 and a hifonics Brutus 1100.1 mono amp and my sub barely even vibrates. The sub is a 4 ohm dual voice coil and I'm running it at 2 ohms. The wiring should be right since when I was done wiring it and put it in the box, I measured the resistance with a DMM and it said 2 ohms. Now for the power wire, ground, rcas, remote wire, that is all fine. Hooked up the hifonics to my old jl sub to test it (sundown didn't come in until the day after I received my hifonics) and it was loud. So I unhooked the hifonics and put my Rockford fosgate r500 back and it worked perfectly fine. It's only 300 watts rms and it made my sub bump. So wires isn't an issue. So when my sundown came in I wired it to the hifonics amp and it barely even vibrates to say the least. My door speakers are the same volume as the sub. It should be running at 800 watts rms at 2 ohms so I'm expecting a huge difference but it's as if the sub isn't even playing. I turned the gains all the way up, down, in the middle and it gets louder but nowhere near the right area. Moved the bass boost around and it gets louder but again nowhere near. I know gain isn't a sound control but I was just moving it around to show that the gain wasn't an issue. So I'm thinking it may be my head unit or something. Idk at all how to set low pass filters high pass filters or the frequencies on the head unit. I have a jvc kwv220 I think it's what it's called. I read on the internet that you get a rca to 3.55 millimeter jack and just plug your phone straight to the amp so the head unit is not affecting the sub. Is that true? If so I'd like to test that and see if my head unit settings is the problem. Again the sub is playing at maybe 5-10 percent volume. Please help, I've spent a lot on this new setup and I'd like to enjoy it. Thank you very much

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[Redxdesigns]

Does anyone ever help on these forums?? No replies on both my posts. Please help

 

[Slo_Ride 5,000+ posts]

Why would you think it's the head unit? You said that you swapped in a different amp and it sounded fine. Hifonics is garbage and isn't putting out 800 watts at 2 ohms. 1 ohm maybe.

Re-read post. Ok so you didn't hook the Fosgate amp up to the sundown? Just the jl?

 

[Hertz Mafia]

Sounds like your just expecting to much from that hifonics. Be lucky if u get 200watts from it wired at 2ohm... not sure why u bought that amp on the first place. You need a amp that makes some power at 2ohm.

 

[Slo_Ride 5,000+ posts]

And if you cheaped out on the amp then you probably cheaped out on the box as well, but you didn't provide us with that info.

 

[Redxdesigns]

So the hifonics amp just isn't good? My Rockford fosgate was doing better than the hifonics at 4 ohms 300 watts

 

[Redxdesigns]

Yeah I didn't do that because I had sold the fosgate and had to ship it. Kind of wish I kept it so I could test it out. Was on sonic electronix and read good reviews but I guess I shouldn't have trusted them. My budget is around 180 for the amp. I saw a pioneer amp that runs at 800 watts rms at 2 ohms. Is that a good brand?

 

[BOOMINGRANDPA 5,000+ posts]

So the hifonics amp just isn't good? My Rockford fosgate was doing better than the hifonics at 4 ohms 300 watts

that's Rockford is a better amp.. if u want a cheap amp does good power at 2ohm buy a ppi like mine (in sig) it'll blow your mind..

 

[Redxdesigns]

And sorry guys if I sounded a bit like an *******. I just spent over 400 on this new setup and it not working made me frustrated. And as for the box, I will be making one probably in the next 2 weeks. Saw a free design on the forums which was 2 cubic feet tuned to 35 hrtz. Don't have the cash right now to do it yet. As for the box right now I just put it into my JL sub box that it was previously in. It's not a crap box and is probably better than other pre fabs because it bumped when I had my JL and fosgate connected to it. Only 300 watts rms. The 300 watts easily blows away the so called 800 watts hifonics amp. I thought it was a bad brand but upon reading the reviews on sonic eletronix I sadly changed my mind.

 

[The_Grimy_One 10+ year member]

I mean Hifonics isn't great and doesn't usually do rated, but its not as bad as you all are portraying either. @ 2 ohms I would say both those amps should sound very close to the same (AT LEAST). Maybe something is wrong with the amp... Maybe you have a crossover set wrong... Something of that nature. But yes that PPI is a good amp to run @BOOMINGRANDPA

 

[Redxdesigns]

When I had the hifonics hooked up to my JL sub, they practically did sound the same but the Rockford felt deeper and hit harder. Anyways there is a used Rockford fosgate r1200 which is listed at 145 bucks. That'd probably fulfill my needs correct? Or should I go a cheaper brand but brand new amp. The RF has a 30 day return window as well and they have a good rep. Do you also have any recxomendations for amp that aren't mainstream that run a lot of power and are good quality? Thanks

 

[BOOMINGRANDPA 5,000+ posts]

When I had the hifonics hooked up to my JL sub, they practically did sound the same but the Rockford felt deeper and hit harder. Anyways there is a used Rockford fosgate r1200 which is listed at 145 bucks. That'd probably fulfill my needs correct? Or should I go a cheaper brand but brand new amp. The RF has a 30 day return window as well and they have a good rep. Do you also have any recxomendations for amp that aren't mainstream that run a lot of power and are good quality? Thanks

rf 1200 is a nice amp but idk about used (can't see the 1 u looking at) but u in same boat I was u need power at 2 ohm right?, so most amps like rf 1200 do like 600-800 at 2 ohm and 1200 at 1 the reason I liked the ppi is it tested to do 938 @ 2 ohm and 1100 at 1 ohm so u can use most of the power u pay for.. I love sundown and other amps but the 1200 does like 600 @ 2 ohm 1200 @ 1 ohm so if u only have 1 d4 sub u pay for 1200 u get 1/2 that.. orion xtr 1500 does 975rms @ 2 ohm it's $226 it's stronger than mine but probably not much at 2ohm only $70 difference but that's what I paid for my sub and last amp so u could get ppi and use savings to upgrade something else

 

[Slo_Ride 5,000+ posts]

What model JL sub. A 300 watt sub on 300 watts in a proper box will sound better than a 750 watt sub on 300 watts in a box that's to small.

 

[Slo_Ride 5,000+ posts]

Since you already have the amp I'd focus on building a proper box. Maybe even get a design from Cscstang for a t-line if you're up to building it.

 

[Redxdesigns]

Thanks for the suggestion man. Gonna look into it and do some research