New system not working, help.

[darron016 10+ year member]

This is my first post, feel free to move it, if it is in the wrong section.

Okay, I don't know much about car audio so everything I'm about to talk about i just learned in the last week. My friend from work says he is very good at car audio so I bought 2 12's kenwoods in a bandpass box. He comes over to hook it up, we get everything working but only one SUB is hitting and the other one sounds blown or doesn't hit at all.. The next day I start my car, and the bass hits and than instantly turns off, I check my battery connection and it was loose, come to find out the ring terminal was too small, and he just had the wire loosely touching the battery.. But even with this loose connection it was working last night..

Couple questions.

1) Does the connection to the battery need to be tight? Or does it just need to touch the positive charge?

2) after doing research on the internet, they said you should have a fuse holder on the power cord.. I just have a power cord running straight from the battery to the amp.. Is this a problem?

3) The amp won't turn on anymore whenever I connect it to the battery, even though I cannot get a secure connection to the battery. Is it because the connection is loose, or do you think I blew the amp?

4) He didn't disconnect the negative charge while hooking up everything, how can I tell if amp is faulty? Even though it was just working last night..

5) When everything was up and working for the 30 minutes last night, only 1 sub was hitting. Is this from bad wiring, or did I buy bad subs?

Thanks for any replies, this has been driving me crazy and I live in a small town and there is not many professional car audio places out here.

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[DoesDad 10+ year member]

Your friend is an idiot. I don't have a lot of time but I'm sure you'll get some help here. For one thing you DO indeed need a fuse on the power. Size depends on the amp you're using. You have the subs out of phase. That's why only one is hitting. The subs are single 4 ohm. So you should be ending with a 2 ohm load. Google Sub woofer wiring diagram. Your subs should be wired in series. You definitely have some more things wrong I just don't have time to answer right now... Good luck!

 

[wickedwitt 10+ year member]

All electrical connections in any circuit must be tight. Anyone that tells you/does otherwise is setting you up for disaster.

Without a fuse, you could easily lose that car to fire if you don't securely fasten that wire.

 

[darron016 10+ year member]

Thanks for the reply, I googled the diagram and some of them actually have cords from sub 1 connecting to sub 2..

He just did the basic hookup, + from the amp to the + in the sub same with the - wires. Than he did that to the second sub as well.

 

[darron016 10+ year member]

All electrical connections in any circuit must be tight. Anyone that tells you/does otherwise is setting you up for disaster.
Without a fuse, you could easily lose that car to fire if you don't securely fasten that wire.

So if the wire is tight than I don't need a fuse? Or do I need a fuse no matter what?

He also put black tape around the edges of the power cord, right before he put the wire into the AMP.

 

[babsuhl81 10+ year member]

U need a fuse really. It may not catch on fire without a fuse. The fuse will blow to stop fire

 

[darron016 10+ year member]

So i just brought it into a professional, AMP is blown. One sub is 4ohm and the other is at 1ohm. He said the wiring was horrible, the ground wire was loose. I need some connector to connect the terminal ring to the battery. I need connectors for the power and ground cord to connect properly to the amp. So pretty much I need to buy a brand new amp and another 12'' Any suggestions on where I can get both at a very affordable price?

 

[babsuhl81 10+ year member]

What's ur budget?

 

[darron016 10+ year member]

100$ on an amp.

Also I'm trying to get the glass of my bandpass box to replace the blown SUB. I took the screws out but the glass will not budge. Any ideas?

 

[DoesDad 10+ year member]

So i just brought it into a professional, AMP is blown. One sub is 4ohm and the other is at 1ohm. He said the wiring was horrible, the ground wire was loose. I need some connector to connect the terminal ring to the battery. I need connectors for the power and ground cord to connect properly to the amp. So pretty much I need to buy a brand new amp and another 12'' Any suggestions on where I can get both at a very affordable price?

Yeah a budget would be nice. 9 times out of 10 you're going to get the same equipment for cheaper online. Like if you wanted to stay with Kenwood for a sub it should be around 50-60 bucks. If you quoted more check online. An amp to do 800 or so @ 1 ohm shouldn't be more than 150-200 bucks depending what you want. So just be careful. I would also say your buddy should be helping you buy some new equipment... You should be able to get a decent amp used for around 100 bucks or new if you want Audiopoop.

 

[darron016 10+ year member]

Yeah a budget would be nice. 9 times out of 10 you're going to get the same equipment for cheaper online. Like if you wanted to stay with Kenwood for a sub it should be around 50-60 bucks. If you quoted more check online. An amp to do 800 or so @ 1 ohm shouldn't be more than 150-200 bucks depending what you want. So just be careful. I would also say your buddy should be helping you buy some new equipment... You should be able to get a decent amp used for around 100 bucks or new if you want Audiopoop.

1) I get confused with all the OHMS talk, when I went to the shop he hooked it up, one sub was at 3.9 ohms and the other was 1.2 ohms but he said that was blown.. But people are saying you can run sub at 1 and 2 ohms. So shouldnt that sub still be good than if it is still registering 1.2 ohms?

2) I found someone online that is willing to sell a sony amp 500 watt for 40$ its cheap, but is it powerful enough to power 2 12's? Should I look for something with more watt power? Also my amp I have now does not say how many ohms it just says 1200 watt jack hammer. So when I go and look at this 40$ Amp, what specs on the amp should I look for?

Sorry for all the questions,

 

[wickedwitt 10+ year member]

1) I get confused with all the OHMS talk, when I went to the shop he hooked it up, one sub was at 3.9 ohms and the other was 1.2 ohms but he said that was blown.. But people are saying you can run sub at 1 and 2 ohms. So shouldnt that sub still be good than if it is still registering 1.2 ohms?
2) I found someone online that is willing to sell a sony amp 500 watt for 40$ its cheap, but is it powerful enough to power 2 12's? Should I look for something with more watt power? Also my amp I have now does not say how many ohms it just says 1200 watt jack hammer. So when I go and look at this 40$ Amp, what specs on the amp should I look for?

Sorry for all the questions,

You don't need to run subs of varying impedances. There are 1ohm subs, but you need 2 1ohm subs ran in series to get a 2ohm load. You need 2 4ohm subs ran parallel to get a 2ohm load. 2 4ohm subs ran series would be an 8 ohm load. If you have a 1ohm and a 4ohm ran parallel, or series>parallel (wouldn't put it past your friend since he screwed up so much other stuff), you could have very stupid loads, including ones lower than the amps you've ran are designed to handle.

 

[darron016 10+ year member]

You don't need to run subs of varying impedances. There are 1ohm subs, but you need 2 1ohm subs ran in series to get a 2ohm load. You need 2 4ohm subs ran parallel to get a 2ohm load. 2 4ohm subs ran series would be an 8 ohm load. If you have a 1ohm and a 4ohm ran parallel, or series>parallel (wouldn't put it past your friend since he screwed up so much other stuff), you could have very stupid loads, including ones lower than the amps you've ran are designed to handle.

My one working sub is an 1000 watt kenwood. I'm going to buy another sub to go with it since one blew out, does this new sub also need to be 1000 watt?

Edit: Could you also explain the difference between these 2

RMS Power: 165 watts x 2 chan. @ 4 ohms

RMS Bridged Power: 505 watts @ 4 ohms

 

[jungstah 10+ year member]

My one working sub is an 1000 watt kenwood. I'm going to buy another sub to go with it since one blew out, does this new sub also need to be 1000 watt?
Edit: Could you also explain the difference between these 2

RMS Power: 165 watts x 2 chan. @ 4 ohms

RMS Bridged Power: 505 watts @ 4 ohms

you really need to do some searching around.

165 x 2 means just that. 165 watts in 2 channels. which means it can put out 165 watts using 2 SEPARATE +/- speaker wire runs.

bridged means on the amp where the outputs are + - + - you use the outer edge + and - via ONE run of speaker wire. that will put out whatever watts it says, thats called bridging.

 

[darron016 10+ year member]

So if I bridge it, will I get 505 watts?

I'm not into competion amps or anything, i just want my subs loud.

If the amp looks likes ++-- can i just put one speaker wire in the + and one in the - since the speaker wire are connected in one. Than put one positive to one side and one positive to the other side of the box terminal and do the same with the negative? and run both at 2ohm.

Or will this cause them to be out of phase?