JL AUDIO 12W7H.O Problem - Advice Needed

[EsotericRod 10+ year member]

Hello everyone, unfortunately my first post on this website is kind of a cry for advice. I apologize for the long story, but i feel it is necessary after the amount of money ive recently spent on trying to get some bass in my car lol..

I have a 2002 Ultra Luxury LS430 with every option available including the Mark Levinson sound system. I blew the 8" woofer above the backseat 2 times and i was not spending $700 to replace that piece of crap again. Therefore,

I just recently purchased a 12" anniversary edition JL audio W7 in an H.O box brand new.

I took it to my local car audio shop and asked the main technician which type of amp he would recommend for the sub. I understand that the JL AUDIO 1000/1 with its "R.I.P.S technology" is probably the best choice for the W7 and its interesting 3 ohm resistance, however, the price of that amp was probably going to cost me around the same price as the entire enclosure+subwoofer. Therefore, i was curious what else he had on more of a "budget" basis. He told me that for $500 he would install a XDi 1000.1 ARC AUDIO and do the entire installation included. I am not really audio savvy, but i googled around and learned most of my "car audio knowledge" from just reading random things online and i hesitantly agreed for him to do the installation.

Today i dropped my car off at 9:00AM and picked up the car at 12:00PM.. He explained to me that everything went well, however after a certain volume, the sub completely shuts off and in order for it to play again i need to shut off the car and restart it...... I dont know about you, but this is quite a nuisance, i spent a significant amount of money on this system and im not quite sure what the actual problem is.. He told me the box is "faulty," and that its loose in the front which causes the sub to trip the amp and shut everything off after a certain volume.. Im not quite sure if i believe this, nor do i really feel that the enclosure is actually loose.. He explained that he thought at first it was the Mark Levinson system, but he tried it with a different car or something and it did the exact same thing... Could it possibly be the amp? I really dont know if i should write back to the manufacturer explaining that the box is faulty, because it seems ok to me, but then again - i dont know much about this stuff and i could be wrong..

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated..

Sorry for so much to read lol..

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[Kangaroux 5,000+ posts]

What's happening is your voltage is dropping too much, the amp is going into protection mode because of it, and the only way to "reset" the amp is to turn off the vehicle or turn off your headunit. If you aren't familiar with the Big 3, look it up. It involves upgrading 3 wires under your hood which are serious bottlenecks. Check the amp and make sure there are absolutely NO bass boosts turned on. Also take a look at the gain and see where it's set at. If doing the big 3 and turning off any possible bass boosts doesn't help, then you may need to either A. upgrade your front battery or B. add a small battery for the rear (a 50AH battery would probably be plenty for 1k)

 

[pro-rabbit 5,000+ posts]

Here are some issues to consider.

The HO enclosure is not that great, but it will work for now. (many complaints that they fall apart)

The amp is 1 ohm stable and that is where it will do the bulk of it's power. Your sub is 3 ohm so you're not getting much for power from that setup.

I would go over his ground and other wiring locations to see how the look and see if they need to be replaced.

Another issue could be speaker wiring. Depending on how he wired everything up you may indeed have an issue there.

I don't think you will have a voltage issue to be honest, I think there is something incorrect else where.

 

[EsotericRod 10+ year member]

so, the consensus is that there is actually some sort of wiring problem that is causing the amp to trip? is that amp actually adequate for the speaker? or is it being severely underpowered?

 

[pro-rabbit 5,000+ posts]

"under powered" is relative to what you expect and if you are happy or not with the performance. You will not damage it from under powering it, unless the amp is tuned incorrectly.

Could the sub handle more power? Yes, it could. Does it need to have more? Perhaps not.

 

[EsotericRod 10+ year member]

understandable lol. im quite pleased with the loudness and crisp sound of the sub, anything louder would be extremely damaging to me.. i just would like to have it stay on //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

 

[DoesDad 10+ year member]

"under powered" is relative to what you expect and if you are happy or not with the performance. You will not damage it from under powering it, unless the amp is tuned incorrectly.
Could the sub handle more power? Yes, it could. Does it need to have more? Perhaps not.

Although anyone with a 12w7 is going to want to see what it can do! At least I would.... I wouldn't be happy just throwing 600-700 at it.

 

[wenn_du_weinst 10+ year member]

you just need to get your car's electrical built up enough to handle the amp. then it will stay on.

 

[EsotericRod 10+ year member]

is there a way i should go about diagnosing this by changing each wire? or battery? big 3? any advice which approach to take first?

 

[pro-rabbit 5,000+ posts]

First thing before anything is to check the ground wire. Take pictures and post them if you not sure. Also check how the settings are set on the amplifier. I do not feel that your voltage is issue here considering you are only seeing around 500 or so rms.

 

[EsotericRod 10+ year member]

there we go..

 

[pro-rabbit 5,000+ posts]

Pics won't show up for some reason.

 

[pro-rabbit 5,000+ posts]

Turn your bass boost back to zero for starters.

Clean your battery post.

Where is the ground ran to on the car?

 

[EsotericRod 10+ year member]

i turned the bass boost back down to zero.. i really cant tell where the ground on the car goes to, its raining here and im quite scared to be digging around searching for where the negative grounds to despite having the car off.. how would that play into a factor?

 

[pro-rabbit 5,000+ posts]

If it is a bad ground or lose in any way it will affect how the amp performs and could very well be part of the issue here.