Less bass at high volume

[jpcamaro70 10+ year member]

Hey all.

Finished the install in my 2000 dodge Durango.

I have a 400w rms amp powering Polk components in the front doors and full range kicks in the rear doors. A 600w rms amp powering two 10" subs in a ported box.

The bass is great and I have to turn it down sometimes but not at high volume. At high volume it sound like I'm losing bass or it's just totally overpowered by the 100w to the polks.

Has anyone experienced this?. Did I get too weak of an amp for the subs?. I don't want to go buy a more powerful amp if I'm doing something wrong.

I've attached two photos to give you a little perspective.

And thanks to mylows10 for the awesome wiring kit.

Click to read more...

 

[inferno1985 10+ year member]

check your voltages.

may have a bad bat or alt and dropping voltage. buy a $20 volt meter and run the power wire to it, from the amp pos power terminal. that way your volt meter always sees what your amp is seeing .

 

[adulbrich 5,000+ posts]

I would guess that your sub amp starts clipping before your mids/highs amp because of how you set the gains.

As you turn it up and the sub amp starts clipping because it can't produce any more power, it doesn't get any louder. If your mids/highs amp gain was set more conservatively, it may continue to get louder which would make it seem that you are losing bass at high volumes.

 

[jpcamaro70 10+ year member]

I would guess that your sub amp starts clipping before your mids/highs amp because of how you set the gains.
As you turn it up and the sub amp starts clipping because it can't produce any more power, it doesn't get any louder. If your mids/highs amp gain was set more conservatively, it may continue to get louder which would make it seem that you are losing bass at high volumes.

I have the sub amp gain at about 3/4, bass boost at 0, input level is low, and freq crossover looks to be 80 or so (it goes from 10-200 50 it's the middle) it's about 3/4 turned.

 

[inferno1985 10+ year member]

i wouldnt just turn the gain up to 3/4. my gain on almost all my amps have never been past 1/2 set with multimeter.

i would probably have to agree with what was said above about the clipping.

also you ground doesnt look to pretty either. from the picture it looks a little corroded at the ground location.

 

[jpcamaro70 10+ year member]

also you ground doesnt look to pretty either. from the picture it looks a little corroded at the ground location.

It's just dirt,i cleaned it up and removed the paint from the plate under the bolt. I've cleaned it up since the pic was taken.

 

[xr650jkallen]

Stock head unit ?

 

[jpcamaro70 10+ year member]

Stock head unit ?

No I put in an inexpensive kenwood Kdx 399, it's got all the features I need for only 100.

 

[adulbrich 5,000+ posts]

I have the sub amp gain at about 3/4, bass boost at 0, input level is low, and freq crossover looks to be 80 or so (it goes from 10-200 50 it's the middle) it's about 3/4 turned.

3/4 seems high to me too.

That might not be your problem, but that's what I'd guess from the information you provided

 

[Fat...Lac]

Agree with the gain too high. Rule of thumb I learned if you got to use more than one half gain you need new equipment.

 

[lifesproduct 10+ year member]

That's a 4 volt head unit....the gain should probably be somewhere around 25-33 % up

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk