jbl 600.1 question

[bigtbuck 10+ year member]

i just got a 600.1 and i dont think i'm getting near the power it's capable of. first, i hooked it up to some old mtx 8" subs and it didn't sound any better than my old amp, which was an urban audio works and it only put out 160 rms (it was rated for that, it probably didnt put it out though). now, i have a 10" elemental designs k sub wired into 2 ohms and it doesnt seem much louder than the mtx subs. it's in a sealed box with just the right amount of volume required for it. my box is custom made out of 3/4" mdf and it is firing down towards the floor. the mtx's were in a truck box and they were firing towards the floor also. the grill that covered one was actually touching the floor. i believe i had the amp tuned up right also. i've done a few of them and they've all sounded good. this sounds good, just not loud. i could be doing it wrong but i dont think i am. right now i have rockford fosgate 8 gauge wiring and it only has a 40 amp fuse. the amps max current is 57 amps so it isn't drawing near its max. if you have any ideas on what is wrong let me know

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[MikeofTulsa Moderator]

try facing the sub a diff direction see if that makes a diff....

 

[bigtbuck 10+ year member]

i would but i dont think that is the problem. shouldnt the amp be drawing a lot more power than it is? i just got the box done and i really dont want to have to redo it.

 

[i3abyjay25 10+ year member]

not sure.. but have u chk your gain levels? and are you runnin the subs bridged??

 

[bigtbuck 10+ year member]

i didnt know the amp could be bridged. when i read on it it just said it had two sets of power outputs for wires to help with multiple sub configurations. it went -+-+ so i hooked up the outside two to the mtx subs and then i read the instruction manual and it sounded like it didnt matter so i just hooked up the the -+ on one side. it didnt really sound like it mattered. but it could be it

one thing i wondered about is the amp is supposed to have nonfading bass. 2 sets of preouts are supposed to be plugged in, one for the front and one for the rear. but in the instruction manual it sounded like it only mattered if you wanted nonfading bass so i didnt worry about it too much.

anyone else have a 600.1 that would know what's wrong?

i'm 99% sure the gains are set right. i've set them before on diff amps and never had any problems

 

[dr. no 10+ year member]

You can get some Y adaptors for your rca's so they are going to both rca inputs on the amp, that will make it louder. What's your gain at now?

 

[avistar23 10+ year member]

Originally posted by i3abyjay25 and are you runnin the subs bridged??

The amp is internally bridged.

 

[ws140 10+ year member]

I would get 4 guage wire and a 60 amp fuse, that way it can draw more power especially if it is in your trunk that is a long way for 8 guage wire.

 

[ngsm13 5,000+ posts]

Originally posted by ws140 I would get 4 guage wire and a 60 amp fuse, that way it can draw more power especially if it is in your trunk that is a long way for 8 guage wire.

i have the amp...it's wired w/ 4ga. wire and an 80 amp fuse(i know overkill but i'm expanding soon) check the gains...all the way left is low, and turned all the way right is high. And look at the bass settings on ur HU. My 600.1 is runing 2 12" K's w/ 2.5 cubes each ported @33hz and the fukkin slam...so ur amp only running one should still sound **** good. peace

NG

 

[joshpoints 10+ year member]

I would say it's the direction of the box. When I first put my subs in my new car they were not loud at all. I thought that it had something to do with my new deck. It turned out it was the direction I had them facing in my car. If you have a backseat, have the subwoofer cones pointed into the trunk. Push the box as close as you can to your backseat. See if this works.

 

[bigtbuck 10+ year member]

i have 4 guage wire but i haven't installed it yet. i wanted to get the problem figured out before i ran the new wire and since it hadnt blown my 40 amp fuse on my 8 gauge wire i wouldnt need to have anything bigger than that yet. my gain is turned down pretty low. i didnt even get it turned 90 degrees and it started distorting pretty bad. i have a sony xplod hu hooked up to an equilizer that has a crossover in it. i have that crossover sat on 80 hz. the sub is firing down towards the floor. when i stick my head down there it doesnt sound very good. it surely isn't blown is it? it's brand new

 

[bigtbuck 10+ year member]

hey i switched cd players in my truck. i put in my pioneer 4400 and everything sounded way better now. i havent moved the gains on the amp or anything. it's a lot louder and really clean. is the pioneer just that much better than my sony or what?

 

[joshpoints 10+ year member]

Originally posted by bigtbuck hey i switched cd players in my truck. i put in my pioneer 4400 and everything sounded way better now. i havent moved the gains on the amp or anything. it's a lot louder and really clean. is the pioneer just that much better than my sony or what?

It probably has to do with the preamp outputs voltage. Depending on the amount you pay for a deck usually decides whether the preamp outputs are going to be very low voltage, or somewhere between 2 and 4 volts. Most of the newer sony stuff I see doesn't even have a preamp output voltage rating, ever since they got rid of Mobile ES.

 

[bigtbuck 10+ year member]

ya that's what i figured. now that that problem is solved i'm going to go ahead and run the 4 gauge wire. i just did a quick installation on my 8 guage wire because i had just got my truck and wanted to get my subs in it and i ran it through the door. i know its a shitty spot but i checked it every time and nothing went wrong so it worked out ok, but i dont want to do that with my 4 gauge cause it's going to be permanent. what's the best place to run it through to my cab? it's a 99 chevy ext. cab

 

[Mac11 10+ year member]

Originally posted by bigtbuck . is the pioneer just that much better than my sony or what?

yea sure is.....