just not loud enough?

[EvilSquirrel 10+ year member]

Im not sure where to put this because i dont know if its a box issue, woofer issue, or amp issue.

I put 2 Diamond Audio D3 10"s 4ohm with a Pyramid PB1281x(I know, its gonna be replaced soon) with a Alpine Head unit.

I have the Subs wired at 4ohm and each sub on each channel on the amp.

Im not sure if the Amp could handle being ran at much less.

The amp came from my friend, and on his 2 kicker comp 10's it hit way harder, but he had it wired differently.

I have them wired Negative post on amp-neg-neg and positive post on amp-pos-pos

I made the box, its 2 cubes tuned at 31.5hz

its got 4 gauge power and ground (i know, its being changed with 0 when i have a chance.

To get the bass i want, i have to have the sub control on the HU all the way up, and the amp control all the way up, with my volume at about 80% (depends on the song)

I was thinking about going to a thicker gauge wire between the amp and subs first, and any other wiring options would be appreciated.

Click to read more...

 

[Imtjnotu 5,000+ posts]

How do u have thesubs wired? Wire then in parallel to 1 ohm

mobile.jlaudio.com/graphics/Support/Tutorials/wiring_images/DVC_Parallel_2.gif

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

There could be several reasons you are experiencing this problem, or more likely, a combination of those reasons. I tried looking up the specs of your amp, I checked half a dozen sites and they all list the output as 800x2, 1600 bridged. But no mention of at what impedance these specs are given. I'll assume its a class A/B and that's 2ohms stereo, 4ohms bridged.

800 watts x2. Knowing Pyramid, since there is no mention of it in the specs, that is no doubt 'max output', not rms. So cut the output in half right there. And also knowing Pyramid, the output is greatly exaggerated. Cut the output in half again. That 1600 watt amp is probably a 400 watt amp. No advertised fuse rating (on the sites I checked at least) means no way to verify their claim, or mine. Yet another clue to their deception.

Now consider that your conservatively rated 400 watt subs are seeing around half that, and you've put them in a low tuned enclosure. Your friend's might have been tuned to 60hz, who knows. Or your box might have problems other than too low of tuning, you gave us way too little info about it to make more than the most vague of guesses.

Different vehicles affect output differently. Some vehicles are easier to get loud than others. Maybe your friend drives a hatchback or suv, and you drive a trunked car. Probably some less obviously difference in vehicles, but no doubt a contributing factor to variances in performance (not to mention different charging systems).

Some h/u's only give full output the subwoofer preouts if the internal subwoofer control is turned to full.

Maybe its exactly as loud as it should be, and you just had unreasonable expectations.

These are a few of the possibilities off the top of my head.

 

[EvilSquirrel 10+ year member]

Its a cheap amp, not sure if it could handle 1ohm

 

[fyerbyrd22 10+ year member]

then ditch the amp...

/thread

 

[EvilSquirrel 10+ year member]

There could be several reasons you are experiencing this problem, or more likely, a combination of those reasons. I tried looking up the specs of your amp, I checked half a dozen sites and they all list the output as 800x2, 1600 bridged. But no mention of at what impedance these specs are given. I'll assume its a class A/B and that's 2ohms stereo, 4ohms bridged.
800 watts x2. Knowing Pyramid, since there is no mention of it in the specs, that is no doubt 'max output', not rms. So cut the output in half right there. And also knowing Pyramid, the output is greatly exaggerated. Cut the output in half again. That 1600 watt amp is probably a 400 watt amp. No advertised fuse rating (on the sites I checked at least) means no way to verify their claim, or mine. Yet another clue to their deception.

Now consider that your conservatively rated 400 watt subs are seeing around half that, and you've put them in a low tuned enclosure. Your friend's might have been tuned to 60hz, who knows. Or your box might have problems other than too low of tuning, you gave us way too little info about it to make more than the most vague of guesses.

Different vehicles affect output differently. Some vehicles are easier to get loud than others. Maybe your friend drives a hatchback or suv, and you drive a trunked car. Probably some less obviously difference in vehicles, but no doubt a contributing factor to variances in performance (not to mention different charging systems).

Some h/u's only give full output the subwoofer preouts if the internal subwoofer control is turned to full.

Maybe its exactly as loud as it should be, and you just had unreasonable expectations.

These are a few of the possibilities off the top of my head.

We both have hatchbacks, his is an 87 GTI and mines an 84 GTI.

He's running 2 comp 10s in a kicker box with the big round port out the side

im running the diamonds in a custom box (I used the RE box calculator)

The HU sub setting is all the way up.

My HU is an Alpine cda9811

I also have an Eclipse Cd5442 i think it is. would that be a better Head Unit?

 

[EvilSquirrel 10+ year member]

then ditch the amp...
/thread

if you had read the original post, not the last post, you would know that i will be.

This is just till I have the funds for a new amp.

 

[EvilSquirrel 10+ year member]

So i rewired it to 1OHM, and its bunches better,

need to build another box (bigger, and with more port, this one had way to little port)

Please excuse my wiring, i know its ugly, its all crimped with connectors and wrapped. just needs to be run under the carpet.

4ga power and 4ga ground grounded to the rear of the body (i dont think itll matter much being a unibody, but i will find a better place to ground it)

Should be ordering my AQ 1200d either thursday or friday...

and the subs are way far forward, they're about 5" from the rear of the hatch now.

and now looking back at the video, i think one might have the wires crossed?? it seems like as one goes out the other goes in.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNBfqz7UQRU