Soundstream PCA-1500D help

[thizzkid 10+ year member]

hello all,

the other day i recieved my soundstream amp from this website "www.vminnovations.com" it was refurbished

i connected it to my brand new set of 12" pioneer w308D4,both of the subs set to 4 ohms final impedance

heres the strange part, after i connected everything, i wanted to hear how it sounded so i turned my car on, and had all my amp settings on default low position, i noticed my amp turned on, but my subs were barely moving at all, didint even hear bass

first thing i did was to turn up my HU volume, i have a kenwood MP205, and its maxes at 35, so i put the volume lvl to 20-22, but still sounded like crap, no excursion, so i moved the gain 1/2 up, a little excursion

i know for a fact that theres something wrong, my old 1 12" memphis pr at 4 ohms on a kenwood 1800 watt amp sounded way louder than both 12s but i dont know what it could be

my amp is rated at

800 watts rms at 4 ohms

1100 watts rms at 2 ohms

1500 watts rms at 1 ohm

i even tried changing the ohms of my subs and had both subs at 1 ohm, i know its to much power for my subs since both subs are rated at 400 watts rms each, but i needed to see what the problem was, so i did it and turned my amp up at 1/2 gain and the exurcusion went up a little had my volume lvl at 25 but still my subs didint blow or clip, so im guessin that my amp isint producing much power, because if it did, those subs woulda been toast

i bought 4 gauge wires from ebay, dont think thats the problem

i know my HU is rated at 2v at the pre-out

i did the big 3

and just yesterday morning i turned my car on to troubleshoot again, and for some reason i think the amp blew, or something because i noticed that the power light on my amp just turned off outa nowhere and i checked fuses onboard the amp and under the hood, all look good. so now my amp doesnt come on, and i just got it

anyone please help, i dont know what it coulda been, if you need more info on my setup please ask me and ill tell you

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[thizzkid 10+ year member]

bump? any help please

 

[kyleorsini 10+ year member]

try adjusting your eq settings that are on the amp such as the lp

 

[CRXBMPN 5,000+ posts]

sounds like you turned your high pass filter all the way down to the lowest frequency cut off so its cutting everything out, but that really doesnt matter if you say the amp isnt even turning on.

 

[thizzkid 10+ year member]

lvl was at the 1/2 position

subsonic filter was at the default 15 hz setting

LPF was at the default 50 Hz setting

bass boost at 0 because i heard that if i increase this, it will decrease the life of my amp

i sent my amp back to vminovations, hopefully they will exchange my amp for a better condition one

i just dont know what it coulda been, i resetted my deck to default settings, and still my subs seemed underpowerd

is there a way to measure the amount of power that goes from the car battery to the amp? maybe my ebay 4 gauge wires isint producing enough power to my amp

should i purchase a Oscilloscope or a DMM to measure the current going or comming from my amp?

any feed apreciated thanks again you guys

 

[CRXBMPN 5,000+ posts]

should have turned that LPF up about 1/3 of a turn

 

[thizzkid 10+ year member]

@CRXBMPN thanks for the feedback man, any other sugestions it coulda been?

is vminovations.com a good site to buy refurb amps?

 

[Chris Z 10+ year member]

I don't know much about boxes, but it might be that your box wasn't built for your subs, i.e. there's not enough volume in your box to get your subs pounding. Post the specs of your box on here, and I'm sure there's someone who's reading this thread that can determine if that's the problem. It probably is not the problem, but it's something that you wouldn't think of otherwise.

 

[thizzkid 10+ year member]

well i have 2 12" pioneer ts-w308D4

specs

-Frequency Response 20 ~ 180Hz

-Recommended Enclosure 0.85 ~ 1.75 Cubic Feet

-400 watt rms each sub

my sub box looks much like this,

or this

specs on it

Volume: 3.60 Cu. Ft.

Number Of Speakers: 2

Enclosure Type: Ported

Construction: 3/4 MDF

Speaker Size: 12 Inche

3/4" MDF Construction

volume: 3.60 cu. ft.

dimensions:

width: 32"

height: 13.5"

depth: 19.25"

Port Tuned @ 30-38Hz (not sure)

Air Volume 1.64 Cubic Feet Per Sides. (rough estimate)

this really shouldnt affect my performance right? thanks for the feedback keep it comming //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[CRXBMPN 5,000+ posts]

you could maybe have one of your subs' polarity flipped so it would play modestly loud up to a certain point but then all kinds of cancellation hell breaks loose and it goes to dogshit faster than my valentines day did //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

LPF at 50 will keep a LOT of subwoofer material from reaching the sub. 80 is the usual rule of thumb.

With the ISF at 15 and the LPF at 50 you basically turned it into a bandpass sub with a bandwidth of 35hz

 

[thizzkid 10+ year member]

thanks CRXBMPN, and n2audio

one thing though, i like hiphop-gangster rap so i love that deep bass sound

with that being said would this setup sound right for me?

 

[CRXBMPN 5,000+ posts]

you tell us, when you get it working right. turn up that filter like we asked and go from there. we arent giving you advice that we think will make you waste your time, we are trying to help

 

[CRXBMPN 5,000+ posts]

i'd also turn up your boost a tad, i understand that everyone hates bass boost, but a little aint gonna hurt nut'n //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[bubbagumper6 5,000+ posts]

Leave the bass boost at 0, you don't need it and it only distorts what the bass actually should be

Set the LPF all the way up (at 150hz) just for testing purposes. If it solves your problem, then adjust it where you like it, if your still not getting any decent output, then your problem is elsewhere.