more power???

[1badazzbimmer 10+ year member]

i have a Cadence amp that is mono 600wx1 @ 1 ohm. i am using it to run 2 12 inch jl w6's. these are the older discontinued models. they are 300w rms and 600 peak. they do not seem to be bumping very hard. do i need more power or is it my car? i have them in a sealed box facing the rear of the car in a 97 cadillac seville. thanks for any help.

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[bunkerking09 10+ year member]

it could be the box, do you have your gains set accordingly? what impedence are you running it at

 

[1badazzbimmer 10+ year member]

the box is the right size. i am running them in parrallel. they are dual 4 ohm vc subs. so im at 1ohm.

 

[1badazzbimmer 10+ year member]

as for the gain i set it with a multimeter and a 50 hz test tone. i set the volume ion the deck at about 3/4 full and then turned the gain up till it read about 24.5volts on the meter.

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

the box is the right size. i am running them in parrallel. they are dual 4 ohm vc subs. so im at 1ohm.

you running parallel/parallel?

just trying to make sure you didn't forget to wire the coils together

 

[1badazzbimmer 10+ year member]

i have all the positives running together and all the neg together. thats right....right???

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

i have all the positives running together and all the neg together. thats right....right???

positives and negs on each sub, and then pos and neg together at the amp....yes = 1ohm.....test the terminals at the amp with dmm to be sure you are getting 1ohm

 

[blimblam 10+ year member]

with my experience with cadence amps, you gotta crank the gains up

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

with my experience with cadence amps, you gotta crank the gains up

if you set with a dmm, then you will be correct...just cranking the knob will cause equipment to burn up....clipping sux

 

[tcguy85 10+ year member]

don't set the gain with a dmm. as long as you know what you are doing just use your ears.

to gain more efficiency you could use a ported box.

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

personal preference....

 

[tcguy85 10+ year member]

personal preference....

i don't want to turn this thread into a debate about gain setting, but it's not the best method to use. for example: try setting your gains with the DMM method when your running and active front stage..... good luck with that.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif

to the OP: you could stick the dmm on the speaker terminals on the amp and play the most bass heavy song you listen to and see what kinda voltage your amp is actually putting out while playing music. this will give you an estimate on what the amp is actually doing. you could be very far from your 24.5 volts. if so, feel free to turn the gains up a tad. as long as the subs sound good and are not getting warm then give them more.

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

i don't want to turn this thread into a debate about gain setting, but it's not the best method to use. for example: try setting your gains with the DMM method when your running and active component..... good luck with that.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif
to the OP: you could stick the dmm on the speaker terminals on the amp and play the most bass heavy song you listen to and see what kinda voltage your amp is actually putting out while playing music. this will give you an estimate on what the amp is actually doing. you could be very far from your 24.5 volts. if so, feel free to turn the gains up a tad. as long as the subs sound good and are not getting warm then give them more.

i said nothing about active anything....he is setting sub amp gains and dmm works fine for this

 

[tcguy85 10+ year member]

i said nothing about active anything....he is setting sub amp gains and dmm works fine for this

i know you didn't mention active, i was just giving an example. anyway, he could be wasting a lot of power. music is dynamic, test tones are not.

for noobs, the dmm method will make sure the amp won't be driven into clipping but if he knows what he is doing and what to listen for then he might be able to get more power out of his current amp. thats all i'm saying. if you wanna use a dmm feel free, but it's really not the best way.

to the OP: did you use you 0db or a -3db test tone to set the gains?

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

i know you didn't mention active, i was just giving an example. anyway, he could be wasting a lot of power. music is dynamic, test tones are not.
for noobs, the dmm method will make sure the amp won't be driven into clipping but if he knows what he is doing and what to listen for then he might be able to get more power out of his current amp. thats all i'm saying. if you wanna use a dmm feel free, but it's really not the best way.

agreed