Subs are very quiet

[Jake Cooley 10+ year member]

I just hooked up new speakers and subs to my car.

I'm underpowering my subs with a D3600.1 (450w @ 2ohms) and i have the gain turned about half way as to not ruin the voice coils

I have 2 12" kickers 400w RMS a piece @ 2ohms DVC and I bought them pre installed in an enclosure. Theres a positive and negative on each side of the enclosure and i have the two positives going to the positive on the amp and same with the negatives.

I can feel my seats vibrating a little.. but I know it should be a lot louder. I don't really know how to tweak the amp to get it sounding like i want. Can anyone help?

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[Cruzer 10+ year member]

need bigger amp, but u can try going higher with the gains, just listen for distortion

 

[nateberrier 10+ year member]

sux

 

[Jake Cooley 10+ year member]

i didn't hear any distortion with the gain all the way up, i'm ordering the kicker zx750.1 today so if i ruin my subs before then, i will be extremely mad, i'll mess with it but there were other knobs and stuff i had no idea what meant like Slope, Phase, Lowpass, Subbass

 

[DonWan 10+ year member]

make sure to keep it down so it dont ruin them

 

[Cruzer 10+ year member]

low pass, if its set to like 50hz ur not hearing a whole lot. bump it up to 75/80 see if it changes much.

but ya dont ruin them, wait on the new amp

 

[pro-rabbit 5,000+ posts]

Do you have a DMM so you can check the ohm load?

 

[09civic 5,000+ posts]

kicker...hmmmmm

 

[xoutofmyheadx 10+ year member]

ok if you have 2subs @ 400each, which means you can push 800rms to them. you're amp does 450x1, which is giving each sub 225. why would you only turn your amp half way if it doesn't even distort at full tilt? i wouldn't max it out even if you don't hear the distortion tho, i'd back if off just a tad. you want your LP filter to be on and set somewhere around 80-100hz. besides that, you asked "my subs are quiet yet i'm underpowering them". kinda answered your own question.

 

[Jake Cooley 10+ year member]

I knew underpowering them has a lot to do with it, that's why i'm buying a new amp. I was more seeing what I could do till it comes in

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

You need to properly set the gain. You can find out how to do this by searching. Setting the gain all the way up is not very smart. Even if the subs can handle all the power that amp can make, you may already be sending them a distorted signal. I've read that most people can't hear distortion through subs until it's a very high percent, far higher than what it takes to hear it through your speakers.

You should unhook the speaker wires you have going to the box and test the impedance with a DMM. You want to see roughly 2-3 Ohms. If it's higher that could indicate why your subs sound quiet.

 

[09civic 5,000+ posts]

when you buy the new amp...by new subs while your at it

 

[Jake Cooley 10+ year member]

Why is that, these subs are brand new. Yes, i have a DMM

 

[09civic 5,000+ posts]

...nvm

 

[Jake Cooley 10+ year member]

are you just saying kicker *****? i mean i'm a broke college student and i got dual 12's in a box for 200 bucks, i thought it was a great deal and i've heard kicker cvrs before and I like them. It's a sealed box too, so SQ will be better

Edit: why does this site filter s u c k?