quick signal question

[soulnomad 10+ year member]

okay i have one pair of rca's running from h/u to my first amp and then from my first amp i daisy chained to my 2nd amp. i have both amps on switches and each runs to one sub, but when i turn only the 1st amp only it is louder than if i turn on the second amp alone. i switched the directly ran rca's from the h/u to the 2nd amp instead of the 1st and it was just as loud as the 1st amp alone was! Does this sound like a set of bad rca's or is the signal just weakened because it has to travel through the 1st amp that is off.

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[knukonceptz 10+ year member]

When you switched the Main RCA to AMP 2 did you still connect AMP 1 like you had ealier (daisy chained from AMP 2)

Are both woofers the same impedance? I assume they are the same make/model

Are both amps the same brand? - Have you matched the gains (how to some where on the board) - Is the polarity correct from each amp/woofer combo?

 

[soulnomad 10+ year member]

oo yeah, gains are set with dmm and matched to one another, equipment consists of: 2ohm re sx's and two hifonics 1606's, when i hooked my 2nd amp as the main and my 1st as the slave, i didnt daisychain back to the 1st, i just ran the main rca's the 2nd amp solely

 

[knukonceptz 10+ year member]

Is the box ported? One woofer playing and another sitting at rest will result in loss of output. Powering up the second sub out of phase (polarity) would cause even more cancellation. Which sounds like what you are dealing with, check to make sure your have +'s and -'s all lined up right.

If you matched the gains and the amps are putting out the same voltage, then you obviously do not have a signal problem.

 

[soulnomad 10+ year member]

yeah they are in 4.8 cubes, common chamber, i only play it at a verrry low volume when playing with one sub, but im almost positive i've got my polarities straight, but it would never hurt to check! i'll get that done tomorrow, but yeah when i set my gains with my dmm, visually, they appear to be at about the same level on the amps, when i set them they were matched, possibly the rca may have been damaged over time so ill recheck my output voltage tomorrow too. i appreciate the help!

 

[cshaw 10+ year member]

Is the box ported? One woofer playing and another sitting at rest will result in loss of output. Powering up the second sub out of phase (polarity) would cause even more cancellation. Which sounds like what you are dealing with, check to make sure your have +'s and -'s all lined up right.
If you matched the gains and the amps are putting out the same voltage, then you obviously do not have a signal problem.

we have a winner

 

[soulnomad 10+ year member]

okay problem solved, the main amp needs to be powered on for the slave to receive the full rca signal.