Pretty Dumb Question...

[BigRooster 10+ year member]

Ok. I'm new here, hey everyone, lol. Anyways, I have a Power Acoustik OV2-1600 Watt amp it's 2 channels, and 2 ohm stable. The subs I have are a old school rockford fosgate punch HE series 8", and it's a 4 ohm sub. I also have a new 10" kicker CVT shallow mount sub and I just got it and I'm surrently breaking it in. It's also a 4 ohm sub. Well in a couple of weeks I plan on turning my gains up to increase the power, but I do not want to increase the power to the 8" because it will bottom out, believe me I've already tried. I was wondering if there's any way possible to increase the power JUST to the kicker CVT and keep the rockford sub at the same power level. Thanks.

-Zebulon

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[sacsking916 5,000+ posts]

So your running different brands and sizes?

 

[BigRooster 10+ year member]

Yes but don't be fooled, it's hitting in the 130s right now with the amp only 1/4th power. So is there a way to increase power to the 10" Kicker and keep the power the same on the rockford 8"??

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

sure; power one sub from one channel and the other sub from the other channel then adjust left/right balance at the HU...

but that balance change will mess with the sound from the speakers. that amp doesn't have independent left and right gains - which complicates things (better amps do). that amp is also only 4 ohm mono stable, so you can't bridge the amp to run both subs anyway.

replace the 8 with a matching 10" kicker sub. that is the second best thing you can do.

the best thing to do is get a pair of 2 ohm SVC (or 4 ohm DVC) subs so that you can wire the amp bridged into a 4 ohm mono load so you get all of it's power. right now, you're only getting half of the available power from that amp.

 

[Dirtrider4eva 10+ year member]

wire the he 8s in parallel, than series with kicker. you'll see a 6 ohm load. bridge the channels. the kicker will receive 60% ofbpower. fstates will get 20%. excuse my spelling. my phones auto correct is really lame

 

[ace_800 5,000+ posts]

Another dumbass running 2 different size subs......let me guess are they both in the same box too?

And ^^^^ he only has 1 8 and 1 10, there is not 2 8's to run parallel.

 

[BigRooster 10+ year member]

Why the **** am I a ******* for running two size subs?? What's wrong with it? If it sounds good, it's ok am I right? Well mine sounds amazing, and I wish I could somehow prove that. They are not in the same box thank you.

 

[optimusprime 10+ year member]

running different size subs is thought to cause cancellation . and also complicates matters in the manner which you are asking about. so its best to run matching subs one sub at a time or different amps to each sub and a low pass filter on each sub to make each sub play at different frequencies so they dont cause cancellation issues maybe?

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Why the **** am I a ******* for running two size subs?? What's wrong with it? If it sounds good, it's ok am I right? Well mine sounds amazing, and I wish I could somehow prove that. They are not in the same box thank you.

The problem you're running into now is one good reason why you shouldn't try to mix and match brands and sizes. Generally without very careful planning, testing, and EQ options mix-matching subs is more often an accoustic disaster. Theoretically it could be done, and done well, but I'd say 50/50 chance it wouldn't just sound like total ***.

Go to a real car audio show/competition and hear what "sounds amazing" really is. Really if you're happy it's good, but be aware if it were an optimum situation you would have never started this thread.
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[BigRooster 10+ year member]

Yeah I see what you're saying, I already knew about all that, but the only reason I still got the 8 in my truck is because I'm breaking in the sub and I'm not playing it incredibly loud because I'm breaking it in, and I just want as much bass as possible //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

the reason to run the same subs is the same reason you started this post. you can't run the 8 as loud as you can run the 10. if you had the same subs, this wouldn't be a problem for you. if you had the right impedance combination, you'd get the most power out of that amp.

don't let people get to you, it's common in forums for people to criticize. ignore it.

you don't have the equipment to do what you want to do (run 10 harder than the 8). a better amp could. a 4 channel amp would have been a better choice, you could have bridged it to each 4 ohm sub and you would have had separate crossovers and gain adjustments.

 

[TheUnderFighter 10+ year member]

If you just want as much bass as possible you'd probably be better off selling all of that and getting different gear.... But more likely than not, that Kicker is already broken in... it's a lower powered sub to begin with so there isn't much to be worried about. And what you think "sounds good" is probably just terrible. I remember thinking my first system sounded good, then had it tuned properly and it was a whole new world. But in the mean time, just pull the Rockfords off and bridge the kicker. And you certainly should not be needing to turn the gain up more than a quarter of the way. But really, you could get a much better subwoofer for your goals, for the same price if you sold the kicker and the rockfords.

 

[optimusprime 10+ year member]

Yes but don't be fooled, it's hitting in the 130s right now with the amp only 1/4th power.

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[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

we cannot (and should not) knock his system without hearing it. good bass is 90% positioning - the sub position and listening position determine how it will sound.

when someone asks a question we should focus on providing an accurate answer to the specific question and avoid bashing or lashing out. this is a forum for questions and no one should be lambasted for asking them. we've all learned over the years and musical preference is just that, preference. what one person loves, another may hate. but that doesn't matter. what i've learned over the years selling/installing/repairing/consulting is that making the owner happy is all that matters.

so let's avoid passing judgement. we all agree that different size subs ran from the same amp is not ideal, and presents the problems addressed in this thread. but that's not to say it can't sound good. maybe having different subs with different performance results in a balanced sound since each sub covers what the other cannot. maybe... we don't know. maybe the bass is tight and articulate, accurate and clean. at least the OP has enough care to prevent over-driving the smaller sub. that puts the OP above a lot of people i've met and helped in forums.

 

[BigRooster 10+ year member]

Thanks man, yeah I know I was just gonna let all the people saying it was stupid to have two different size/brand subs slide, I mean, if you judge it by that then technically people should buy the same brand headunit, subs, amps, wires, and speakers //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif and some companies don't even make headunits! So they would be screwed hehe. It really does sound clean and tight, it's definitely the best I've ever had, I've been into the audio ever since I got my license which was two years ago //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif