Input voltages not high enough? Do I need a line driver?

[TURSTY]

Hi Guys, I am new to this forum but have read a few posts from time to time.

I have a audio setup in a wakeboarding boat. Its all car audio kit (aside from a marine head unit), and I have a bit of a technical question regarding the input wiring/voltages etc of my new system.

I have just install a new/rearranged set up (details below) and I am having to turn up all the gains on my amps to really high levels to get any decent volume. The sub amp is turned up to 100% gain which is crazy as it should be able to provide 2x what the sub can handle.

Head unit:

Clarion M303

2.0V pre out (at 10K ohm load) x2

The tower speaker amp and sub amp share the rear RCA output from the head unit via RCA splitters.

The in boat speakers amp uses the Front RCA pair.

Only the inboat amp has a pass through RCA out, but I really want to be able to fade out the inboats and keep the sub running (hence the sub and towers sharing the rear channel)

Tower Amp:

Boston mobile audio gt2200

2 Ch. Power @ 2-ohm: 350 Watts x 2 (driving 4x Bullet 770 HLCD. 4 ohm and 180w each, wired in 2 pairs at 2 ohms, 260w per channel)

Input signal range – 200mv to 8V

Sub amp:

Power Acoustik BAMF4000/1D

RMS @ 4Ω 1 x 1,200 (Driving 1x Kicker Solo Baric L5 12” sub, Dual 2 ohm voice coil wired to 4 ohm load – 600W)

Input Sensitivity 200mV-6V

In boat speakers amp:

Power Acustik BAMF 1600/4

RMS @ 2Ω 4 x 180

RMS @ 4Ω 4 x 150

Driving 2x Bullet 6.5” coax speakers on channels 1 and 2 (4 ohm, 80W each per channel) and 4x Bullet 6.5” coax speakers on channels 3 and 4 (wired to 2 ohm and 160w per channel)

Input Sensitivity 200mV-6V

With the Head unit I have, am I correct in assuming that the only way to fix this, is to get a RCA line driver and up the input voltage to each amp to around 6v max?

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[TURSTY]

Bump.

Is anyone able to confirm my thinking or is there something else I should be looking into?

Cheers

 

[fasfocus00 5,000+ posts]

Just get a good 4 channel LOC. It's not like you have a true pre amp anyways.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Bump.
Is anyone able to confirm my thinking or is there something else I should be looking into?

Cheers

Sorry to be the one to give it to you straight. Power acoustik is utter complete junk. Your you'll be lucky to get 1/5 of its rated RMS. Gains at 100% will be clipping your amps like crazy and that equipment will sooner or later be dead weight door stops.

set your head unit like this: subwoofer level max, Equalization set to completely flat, Bass boost turned off or the lowest you can go. Loudness off. LPF/HPF at 80.

amp settings: Turn down bass boost to 0 nothing nada. If you use the mini remote control bass knob, turn that up all the way or unplug/get rid of it completely. Low pass filter turned up (for now) subsonic filter turned down(for now). Use a 50hz test tone(download somewhere and put it on a disk.) play it and turn the gain up until you you hear the sub starting to change tone or hear distortion, then back it off a couple notches.

if you dont have any subsonic filter or other things then dont worry about it if you do, turn it up to 20-25hz. Leave it off if your subs are in a sealed enclosure. Turn low pass filter back down to around 80hz or in that ballpark.

 

[ancorp 10+ year member]

If you want to get some decent power out of that amp, wire it to 1 ohm.

 

[TURSTY]

Thanks for the honest comments guys. It is appreciated.

I think I will try a line drive for starters (or maybe test with another head unit with 5v outputs) and then give it a go with the 1ohm load. Failing that, I'll bin this amp in favour of another one.

Ill let you know how I get on.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Thanks for the honest comments guys. It is appreciated.
I think I will try a line drive for starters (or maybe test with another head unit with 5v outputs) and then give it a go with the 1ohm load. Failing that, I'll bin this amp in favour of another one.

Ill let you know how I get on.

just run the equipment by the forum first before you buy.

 

[los33]

If you want to get some decent power out of that amp, wire it to 1 ohm.

This should be a direct fix to your problem just until you get a stronger amp.

You say your amp only does 150 watts @ 4 ohms and you wired yoir d2 sub to 4 ohms.....

If you even wanna get its max rms out of it you will need to wire it to 1 ohm.. (+ +, - -)

 

[TURSTY]

This should be a direct fix to your problem just until you get a stronger amp.
You say your amp only does 150 watts @ 4 ohms and you wired yoir d2 sub to 4 ohms.....

If you even wanna get its max rms out of it you will need to wire it to 1 ohm.. (+ +, - -)

The sub amp is "rated" at 1200w RMS @ 4 ohms and the sub is only 600w RMS so I figured it should be able to run the sub easily at 4 ohms. I wired it this way so it would run everything cooler. I believe this amp is rated at 4000w RMS at 1 ohm so will be interesting to see the difference. Ill give it a go if a different head unit makes no difference.

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

2v preout is fine. Those amps are not. Except the boston.

 

[los33]

The sub amp is "rated" at 1200w RMS @ 4 ohms and the sub is only 600w RMS so I figured it should be able to run the sub easily at 4 ohms. I wired it this way so it would run everything cooler. I believe this amp is rated at 4000w RMS at 1 ohm so will be interesting to see the difference. Ill give it a go if a different head unit makes no difference.

The amp is 4000 watts max which you will never see.

Its rated 2200 watts @ 1 ohm which wont happen being even that the amp specs requires 4 gauge wire so you prob have 3 40 amp fuses.

You might get 1000-1200 watts or little less out of it at 1 ohm, but you dont have to set the gain that high so you only get 600 watts.

Check with a dmm.