New System not as loud as I assumed or see on YouTube

[b0r 10+ year member]

Purchased a Fi BL 15 D2 and a Rockford Fosgate T1000-1bdCP. Birth sheet has the amp at 1640W RMS at 1 ohm and 14.4V. YouTube videos of the Fi BL 15 with varying types of amps, not many over the rated power of 1500W, show it potentially flexing doors/windshields/etc. I know every vehicle is different, but even their subs have some excursion to them and mine just bangs, not much movement from the sub.

Car usually sits around 13.8-14.1V. Sony XAV-70BT headunit with I believe 4V outputs. It only has 1 Sub out so I had to run to walmart and grab some Philips brand Y splitter to plug both RCA's in. Sub is wired down to 1 Ohm, volt meter showed 1.3 at the speaker wire before plugging into amp so I think it's correct.

Gain set with a DD-1 (SoundSolutionsAudio says it's useless) at volume 47 out of 50 which is where the DD-1 showed clipping. Gain barely up a 1/4 turn. Maybe less. Box is 3.55 cubes after displacements tuned to 31.8Hz according to my box builder. Infrasonic filter is on at the amp which is 28Hz I believe. Subwoofer level is max at +6 at the headunit. No bass boost, LPF at 80Hz on Headunit. EQ set to flat and no other options on or turned up. Door speaker levels turned down -6 at the headunit.

At volume 40 or so, it bangs, but being 7 off from "max" according to DD-1, it's not doing anything extravagant and the sub doesn't have any excursion worth talking about...it doesn't move too much. It is still new which could play a part in that. The only anomaly I can think of is the cheap Philips RCA Splitter I'm using at the headunit. Maybe it can't handle the 4V? I'm not sure and I'd have to look up how to read the voltage at the RCA's with a meter.

Sub and port are facing IN the cabin and not toward the trunk with seats down. Sub is about 4-5 feet from driver's seat. Using 14 Gauge wire on the sub to the box and 8 gauge from the box to the amp. Voltage barely drops if at all, which I expected it to drop. 160A stock alternator and an XS Power D3400 as the only battery in the car. Amp is grounded to the battery as the battery is in the trunk stock on my car.

Am I just expecting too much? Thanks in advance for any advice.

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[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

your signal might be weak, either turn up the gain if your not clipping yet or get a better splitter/line converter.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

did you use a test tone and a multi-meter to set your gains to put out the proper amount of power?

 

[b0r 10+ year member]

did you use a test tone and a multi-meter to set your gains to put out the proper amount of power?

I used the DD-1 to set the gains. I used the 40Hz -10db tone at volume 47 on the headunit. The gain is barely up but that's what the DD-1 had me do.

 

[quakerroatmeal 10+ year member]

You lost me at sitting the sub Pre output with a y splitter? Why are you splitting this? Get rid of the trash head unit and go for a better main source.

 

[b0r 10+ year member]

You lost me at sitting the sub Pre output with a y splitter? Why are you splitting this? Get rid of the trash head unit and go for a better main source.

A $400+ Sony Headunit is "trash"? What? "Trash" puts out 2V, my HU puts out 4.4 and yes, it only has ONE RCA Sub out that people on this very forum told me to split when I inquired.

 

[quakerroatmeal 10+ year member]

Have you tried turning the gain up until the sub actually moves? I just looked up the hu. Never seen any hu wih a single rca output for sub to where you had to split with a y splitter.

 

[b0r 10+ year member]

Have you tried turning the gain up until the sub actually moves? I just looked up the hu. Never seen any hu wih a single rca output for sub to where you had to split with a y splitter.

Well, I set the gains with the DD-1 which basically means I'll never put out 1600W until I am at the volume I set it at, which is 47. The gain is no where near halfway and realistically probably not even 1/4 up. I think I am going to re-set the gains with a multimeter to 40V which is what I calculated 1600W and 1 ohm to be.

 

[bbeljefe]

Your power wire is too small. On an amplifier that produces 1600 watts I would be running 1/0 cable with a 1/0 to 4 gauge reducer and, you need a second battery. At the absolute least, you should have a good, solid run of 4 gauge to that amplifier and you should have the big three installed.

You have good equipment that's being starved of power. The y connector isn't the problem and I doubt the gain setting is any part of it, unless the person who used the DD-1 didn't know how to use it. But with insufficient wire, you'll never know if the DD-1 was used properly.

And, your head unit isn't a problem. The entire purpose of the gain is to match the amplifier with the voltage level of the preamp and if that's only 2 volts and the gain is set properly, the amp will produce its max power... so long as you give it ample power with which to do so.

You don't have a signal or gain or speaker or amp or box problem, you have a power problem. Correct that and you'll have good bass.

EDIT: And, you need a second battery. ;-)

 

[gckless 5,000+ posts]

^^this. Also, turn off bass boost and reset your gain. And turn your box around.

 

[quakerroatmeal 10+ year member]

I'm not sure if I'm understanding his post. But I don't think he posted what size power wire he's using. I believe he's using 14ga speaker wire inside of the sub box. And from the sub box terminal to the amp he's using a 8ga speaker wire. Is that right?

 

[b0r 10+ year member]

I'm not sure if I'm understanding his post. But I don't think he posted what size power wire he's using. I believe he's using 14ga speaker wire inside of the sub box. And from the sub box terminal to the amp he's using a 8ga speaker wire. Is that right?

Correct. I have 1/0 from the battery for the power and ground into a 1/0/4 reducer running to the amp. $120 worth of power/ground/reducers etc.

 

[b0r 10+ year member]

^^this. Also, turn off bass boost and reset your gain. And turn your box around.

Bass boost not on, and I turned my box inward because I have a spoiler on my Charger and the sub is breaking the spoiler at the base, so I turned it around until I could get some Second Skin to help reduce the vibrations that are cracking the spoiler.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

yeah set it without the dd-1, just monitor the temperatures of both amp and subs after a full tilt run at proper rms.

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

You are not powering a resister with a power supply, you have a 1000 watt amp, Rockford is good about fooling people with those birth sheets. Your box seems a bit small for that low of tuning and you might want to turn it around to face the rear