Still having issues.

[mrbadwrench 10+ year member]

I posted a while back about my mrpm1000, and 12" type x not sounding right, and being extremely quiet.

I ended up replacing the box with a much bigger/better one, found out the sub that i bought used had a blown voice coil, so I replaced it with a d4 alpine type r (brand new), and it was still far too quiet, so I went ahead and assumed the amp was going so I traded it in and got a brand new 1200 watt brutus amp brand new (900w @2 ohms, 1200w @1ohm) My wiring is still the new memphis 4 gauge setup, and has been ground tested.

I have my gain set to my rca output, and I still have to put my bass eq and radio sub output all the way up to barely hear the sub over my stock speakers with no amp.

Absolutely confused as I have gone over pretty much every last bit of testing and replaced everything...

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[NIHL8ION]

I would get yourself a good, clean, HQ 45-50 hz test tone... Set your EQ flat, & your front & rear HPF at like 100 just to be certain they don't receive any output, Turn up your HU to the highest volume you listen at, or as high as you can before you know it to distort... Play the test tone on repeat and slowly turn up the sub amp's gain until you hear a change in tone. Back off a little bit (Set as high as you can without a change in tone) and then you should be set. I'll bet your gain is not up high enough and that's why your sub sounds "too quiet"

 

[mrbadwrench 10+ year member]

My headunit has a 4v rca output so I set my gain on the amp at exactly half, which is about 4-5 volts, as the brutus amps gain goes from 9v-.25v. So you think this is too low?

 

[NIHL8ION]

I never trust the "markings" around an adjustment pot on any amplifier as a reliable difinitive setting, YES I do believe you have your gain set low... If you don't have a DMM & DD-1 at your disposal, take your time and try to tune it by ear like I described, I bet it won't sound "too quiet" to you after that lol

 

[mrbadwrench 10+ year member]

I'll try that thanks //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/driving.gif.c4dead4599dda895032b63e51f52b126.gif

 

[mrbadwrench 10+ year member]

I never trust the "markings" around an adjustment pot on any amplifier as a reliable difinitive setting, YES I do believe you have your gain set low... If you don't have a DMM & DD-1 at your disposal, take your time and try to tune it by ear like I described, I bet it won't sound "too quiet" to you after that lol

I went ahead and did this, I don't know if i'm just not an audiophile or what, but I was able to get all the gain all the way up without hearing a change in tone. Went ahead and played a couple songs im familiar with and they sounded good, and very loud, but after 3-4 songs the center of the subs cone was pretty warm.

 

[NIHL8ION]

I went ahead and did this, I don't know if i'm just not an audiophile or what, but I was able to get all the gain all the way up without hearing a change in tone. Went ahead and played a couple songs im familiar with and they sounded good, and very loud, but after 3-4 songs the center of the subs cone was pretty warm.

Well try this then since you can't hear any change in tone... Turn the gain down all the way & start over... Play a song you are familiar with at the loudest level you would to where your interior speakers are NOT distorting at all but loud where you would want to listen to it cranked up... Slowly turn up the gain, you should be able to find a point where it won't get any louder even if you continue turning up the gain... Set it to where it gets the loudest and stop - This should NOT be all the way up... I'm guessing maybe 75%-ish or so by the sounds of what you have going on... As long as your sub is not bottoming out or distorting you should be good to go after doing this... Hope this helps

 

[SounDrive Pro Seller]

Type Rs will get hot if you give them a lot of power, but like recommended, I'd back the gain down to about 75%

 

[Slo_Ride 5,000+ posts]

so after tuning the gain up everything was ok but the sub got warm? if my sub isnt warm then I assume that I'm not sending enough power.

 

[mrbadwrench 10+ year member]

Type Rs will get hot if you give them a lot of power, but like recommended, I'd back the gain down to about 75%

so after tuning the gain up everything was ok but the sub got warm? if my sub isnt warm then I assume that I'm not sending enough power.

Based on both of these, do you guys think I should be okay? My alpine mrpm1000 wouldnt get this sub going nearly as good as the hifonics is, and it would also get the sub a hell of a lot hotter, and the amp would get roasty after a song or two, On this hifonics now with the gain all the way up I slammed it for a good half hour and the sub was still just a little warm to the touch in the center of the cone, and the amp stayed trunk tempature, so im guessing thats a good sign at least as far as the amp is concerned, and I did wanna play with it to see if i could get it to make a different noise for a couple seconds, so I played a song im familiar with (Box Chevy - yelawolf) and on the high notes I was able to get it to bottom out / distorting by having the sub ouput on the headunit at +2 instead of 0, so im guessing thats a good sign as to where its set now, and not bottoming out? It was a pretty night and day difference for only being up 2 points on the headunit.

 

[SounDrive Pro Seller]

Based on both of these, do you guys think I should be okay? My alpine mrpm1000 wouldnt get this sub going nearly as good as the hifonics is, and it would also get the sub a hell of a lot hotter, and the amp would get roasty after a song or two, On this hifonics now with the gain all the way up I slammed it for a good half hour and the sub was still just a little warm to the touch in the center of the cone, and the amp stayed trunk tempature, so im guessing thats a good sign at least as far as the amp is concerned, and I did wanna play with it to see if i could get it to make a different noise for a couple seconds, so I played a song im familiar with (Box Chevy - yelawolf) and on the high notes I was able to get it to bottom out / distorting by having the sub ouput on the headunit at +2 instead of 0, so im guessing thats a good sign as to where its set now, and not bottoming out? It was a pretty night and day difference for only being up 2 points on the headunit.

If your old amp put out less power and got the sub hotter it was probably clipping and making the amp and sub overheat. The new amp is putting out clean(er) power but still shouldn't be making the sub warm

 

[mrbadwrench 10+ year member]

If your old amp put out less power and got the sub hotter it was probably clipping and making the amp and sub overheat. The new amp is putting out clean(er) power but still shouldn't be making the sub warm

Well thats good to hear, and kinda funny because the alpine is 3x more expensive than the hifonics, a way bigger brand, and is rated to give 100 more watts at 2 ohms, so im glad I went ahead and traded for the hifonics. I will do some more testing tomorrow and see if I can't get her running without heating up at all. Oh and I forgot to mention that using the old amp would get my sub smelling bad on a pretty normal basis, which isnt happening anymore.