IDmax sounds like crap

[BlackMaxima 10+ year member]

ok from what i have heard is that this infinity amp WILL do its rated power. 854@4 ohm and 1300@2ohms. i am clipping the amp so i am positive its my electrical system. im gonna do the big 3 this weekend, rerun my amp ground and change the batt and see if it helps any.

doin the BIG3 is a good idea. tell us how it sounds after you do that

how come you did not do the big3 whan your droping down to 11.6v ??

 

[liftedcj7on44s 10+ year member]

found out this morning that my stock alt is 110 amps. and running a 1300 watt amp pulls 110 amps not including the rest of the car. cant find a aftermarket alt either. im gonna rewire the sub to only pull a 8 ohm load which should still pull 5-600 watts.

 

[Twistid 5,000+ posts]

WHOOAAA! wait just a min... I think I see the real issue here. Dude I dont care how great one 12" sub is... It will never hit close to those two kicker 15". I made this mistake too in my early install days.

my atomic apocolypse SPL 12" hit as hard as my 2 12" L7's which have the cone area of a 15" (says kicker)

 

[liftedcj7on44s 10+ year member]

yeah i know this idmax will do more than the 2 comp 15's. i mean i had a single idq12 running off a punch 250 and it hit probably 3 times as hard as this idmax is hitting. but its not the sub the box or the amp its the car. i mean if the amp is pulling 110 amps or close too it then there is no way the alt can hang. im gonna do the big 3 this weekend and then run my amp ground to the block and see how much that helps. so to make a long story short, dont put a big system in a newer model taurus. o even my little punch 250 dimmed my headlights a little also.

 

[ace5high 10+ year member]

yeah i know this idmax will do more than the 2 comp 15's. i mean i had a single idq12 running off a punch 250 and it hit probably 3 times as hard as this idmax is hitting. but its not the sub the box or the amp its the car. i mean if the amp is pulling 110 amps or close too it then there is no way the alt can hang. im gonna do the big 3 this weekend and then run my amp ground to the block and see how much that helps. so to make a long story short, dont put a big system in a newer model taurus. o even my little punch 250 dimmed my headlights a little also.

Well it is totally dependent on the install of course... No the max will not match 2 15's in SPL. My point is that all things else equal you should really not be expecting anything close two the output of the 2 15's. Its simple physics. Thats not to say you cant get much more outa that ID MAX, if you can beef up the power going into it.

The IdQ has a much higher efficancy and will get a lot louder under much less power, The MAX will do more overall but not when its underpowered (im sure you have realized this at this point)

 

[BukvaMan 10+ year member]

i think the problem is in ur amp. it has such a low damping factor thats why it makes it sound like shit //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[djman37 5,000+ posts]

have a idmax 12 d4 v3 in a 1.3 cu ft sealed box running off a infinity reference 1211a amp. 854 watts at 4 ohm and 1300 watts at 2 ohm. my problem is is that the sub is not loud at all and when it finally does get loud i get lots of distortion and what sounds like the sub is bottoming out. i have read both coils on the sub and they read 4.3-4.6. i wire the sub up and check my ohms at the amp and im seeing 2.2-2.5 at the amp. My headlights dim real bad at night and like i said its not loud at all but when it does get loud its crappy. Can some one give me some ideas here.

because i am mad. I bought this sub because i wanted more output then my 2 crappy kicker comp 15's that were only getting 200w each. and so far im not impressed. But i know its not the subs fault though.

you're comparing 1 IDMax 12 SEALED against 2 Kicker comp 15's. I'd expect less output from the 1 12.

 

[generalGOTCHA 10+ year member]

well so far i have checked the amp with a DMM. car idling no music gives 13.8. turning the volume up to the point i start hearing the distortion/clipping the clip light on the amp does come on and voltage i have seen drop to 11.6 volts. the reason my gain is up 3/4 way is due to 2v preouts. i need to find out why i am losing voltage and if thats the problem or not. Should i still make the box smaller? ID says not too. but it sounds like i got 1 8 in the car and then bam its clipping all to hell. what do i do? even songs that wang really hard like prodigy's narayan just sound like im running 1 8 and i cant go louder because its clipping like crazy.

Try this.. use a cd player .. using a sterio head phone jack -> RCA converter .. run the cd player (or any audio output device even MP3 player etc that has headphones output on it) and listen to your subwoofer.

If it sounds really nice and clean, you might want to look into your head units RCA output, maybe your head unit is going bad\out. IT happens to brand new equipment all the time. If you find what I said to be true, swap RCA's from the HU to the AMP if still same prob -> bad head unit.

This will isolate the amp to a new signal source. Turn the gain all the way down, and start from there.

Im pushing more RMS than you are, and my alternators not as big, the only thing that happened when my system did draw to much was the lights dimm, voltage dropped down to 12.4 volts. I was almost ready to sell my ORION HCCA 250, I added an extra battery which helped tremendously but it still got hot after its sucked that battery dry and cut off, I added a capacitor and lifes been great ever since.

For now though.. You need to see if your amplifier is going wack, or if the signal from the HU is a possible problem. Ive seen some weird shit with head units dissapointing new subwoofer setups and all along is was the RCA output from the head unit.

try what I said with the cdplayer \ mp3 player as an input source. If you still get the same problem with the sound , then try a new amplifier.. shit.. go to wal-mart buy an amplifier .. test the subwoofer out if it works then you got a bad amp, if it doesnt .. you can always take anything back to walmart and get your money back LOL .. Fkn love wal-marts customer service policy.

 

[liftedcj7on44s 10+ year member]

Ok found out this morning that playing everyday music that the amp starts to clip at 27.6 volts, calculate that to be around 350 watt! im gonna add a batt in the trunk tonight and hope that cures the prob. this morning i woke up, drove the car to the store without listening to any music. left the store and on the way to work i was able to crank the volume past 25(where it clips) all the way to 32 before it started to clip. so overnight the batt charged a little and then running a few miles b4 i played any music chraged the batt up more and it realy woke up big time. only lasted for about half a mile but i do know now that it is a power issue!

 

[Gods_Prototype 10+ year member]

Go get your battery checked, if you think your battery can't hold a good charge go get it tested, most places will do it for free. Voltage drops = lost bass.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

Ok found out this morning that playing everyday music that the amp starts to clip at 27.6 volts, calculate that to be around 350 watt! im gonna add a batt in the trunk tonight and hope that cures the prob. this morning i woke up, drove the car to the store without listening to any music. left the store and on the way to work i was able to crank the volume past 25(where it clips) all the way to 32 before it started to clip. so overnight the batt charged a little and then running a few miles b4 i played any music chraged the batt up more and it realy woke up big time. only lasted for about half a mile but i do know now that it is a power issue!

That entire paragraph made no sense. Low voltage will not send an amplifier into clipping, only gains set artificially high or an overly hot signal will clip an amp.
Perhaps instead of 'clipping' you meant the amp is dropping into protection mode and shutting down?

 

[liftedcj7on44s 10+ year member]

the amp is not dropping into protection. but i have been doing some research on the amp and the amp says it requires 14.4 volts to produce the 1300 watts my car can only give it 13.8. what i am saying is that the amp is clipping when its only producing 365 watts or a output voltage to the sub of 27 volts. O i also changed the HU last night with no help. also put a batt in the trunk with no help.

 

[oneforyou 10+ year member]

I would do a short run like outside of the vehicle. take your box and amp and do everything straight from the hood. You should be able to tell if there is any kind of difference.

 

[James Bang 5,000+ posts]

i think the amp needs replacing.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

the amp is not dropping into protection. but i have been doing some research on the amp and the amp says it requires 14.4 volts to produce the 1300 watts my car can only give it 13.8. what i am saying is that the amp is clipping when its only producing 365 watts or a output voltage to the sub of 27 volts. O i also changed the HU last night with no help. also put a batt in the trunk with no help.

So in other words, you don't know what 'clipping' means. Gotcha.