preamp line driver necessary

[vario 10+ year member]

Decided to reinstall my two subs and two mono block amps (one per sub) I use a Y splitter on each channel rca. The problem is I have to have the gain knobs cranked really high to get the necessary 30 volts on each amp. This is causing a lot of distortion and it makes the amps overly hot.

Should I run a preamp line driver right in front of the y splitters? I want something that presents as flat a signal as possible with no worthless bass boost or anything.

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[Rashaddd 5,000+ posts]

You can't just turn up an amp till it gets to whatever voltage your subs need (you can, don't.)

If the amp is distorting and clipping at 30 volts, its not capable of producing the power you're trying to get out of it. A line driver will not have any effect on this. A line driver essentially lowers your noise floor, by boosting preout voltage, which means boosting sound/noise ratio. A stronger signal is less prone to picking up noise.

Turn down your gains and if you want it louder..buy a bigger amp

 

[vario 10+ year member]

You can't just turn up an amp till it gets to whatever voltage your subs need (you can, don't.)
If the amp is distorting and clipping at 30 volts, its not capable of producing the power you're trying to get out of it. A line driver will not have any effect on this. A line driver essentially lowers your noise floor, by boosting preout voltage, which means boosting sound/noise ratio. A stronger signal is less prone to picking up noise.

Turn down your gains and if you want it louder..buy a bigger amp

Okay, I guess cadence overrates their amps by a lot. I figured a stronger signal required less amplification.

 

[boomzilla 10+ year member]

could be settings on your h/u.... are they maxed out on the bass settings?

 

[vario 10+ year member]

Yeah, even bought a new pioneer with 5 volts supposedly instead of the 3ish voltage of my older one and it helped a little bit but now that I am running two subs again it requires double the preamp voltage I believe.

Just trying to get 500 watts @ 2 ohms as rated.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

Y-cables don't affect the voltage at all. Signal voltage has nothing to do with how hard the amp works to make power. If the amp is getting really hot, or distorting, then the amp is clipping and going with higher preout voltage won't help that either. In fact it might make it worse. You're asking too much of the amp, period.

 

[vario 10+ year member]

I guess cadence overrates their amps significantly then. Best I can get is around 20-25 volts @ 2 ohms without clipping. That should be around 300 watts @ 2 which is kind of ****ed up.

 

[GearGuy2001 10+ year member]

Is your amp 500w x 1 (@ 2 ohms) or 500w x 2 (@ 2ohms)

 

[Rashaddd 5,000+ posts]

I guess cadence overrates their amps significantly then. Best I can get is around 20-25 volts @ 2 ohms without clipping. That should be around 300 watts @ 2 which is kind of ****ed up.

check your grounds/power wires...

 

[vario 10+ year member]

check your grounds/power wires...

both amps claim 500 watts @ 2 ohm x1 (its a mono block). Subs are DVC Infinity 10's with 4 ohm per coil wired to 2 ohm, not that it matters as I have them disconnected when testing voltage of course.

Best voltage I can get with no bass boost and no distortion is actually around 16 volts @ 2 ohm which seems really pathetic. Head unit settings:

Flat EQ. SLA (source line amp) +4. Sub: LPF 100 hz sla +6. Bass Boost : 0 Fade 0 HPF: 50 hz

Grounds and power wire are good, IMO. Power wire is 4 gauge. It goes into a fuse block that splits into three 8 gauge wire, each about a foot long, 1 to each amp and each amp is grounded on 8 gauge to a central block that grounds to the chassis, also about a foot long per ground wire. I can take a picture later if that helps its a pretty simple wiring setup.

Its a civic with a stock alternator. Think that could do it? Or are cadence junk? I have my doubts about cadence quality. I bought both amps for $50 each. How do I test the input voltage? Measure off the battery?