Subs just don't seem loud enough

[grobbins81 10+ year member]

I have two sundown sa15s in a dual ported 6.5 cube 33hz box.. I just recently bought them both and a hifonics brz2400.1d and had the subs wired down to 2 ohms for 1700 watts rms. For some reason they just don't seem as loud as I anticipated. I have all 0 gauge wire. All settings on the head unit are at neutral. Gain is set around halfway between one and two if you were looking at a clock. All of the filters are at various positions not knowing exactly what to do with them. I dont have any dimming of my headlights and my truck already has a high output alternator so I have seen no voltage drop. I have lots of friends with much lesser quality subs (kicker, bazooka, American bass, etc.) and crap amps (boss, power acoustik, etc), and yet their subs seem to be hitting harder than mine. I tried tuning the amp myself with a multimeter and a 50hz test tune and I thought I had it all figured out only to turn my head unit up to 3/4 volume and barely hear bass at all. I don't understand what my problem is and it's really bumming me out that these 15s aren't beating like I thought they would. I don't want to crank the bass knob or gain up only to make the subs start clipping and ruin what I have put my money into. All of the filters on the amp are starting to confuse me also. I'm not necessarily new with car audio but I've just recently started wanting my stuff to be done right. There are not any local shops that really know what they are doing any better than I do and I always would rather do things myself. Any help or possible solutions would be greatly appreciated.

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[RangerDangerV2 5,000+ posts]

turn up the gain.

 

[Falcons 5,000+ posts]

turn up the gain.

dont do this op.

are you sure you wired your subs correctly? you may have wired in series giving youa higher ohm load than 2

 

[grobbins81 10+ year member]

Yes. I checked the leads going into the amp with the multimeter and it reads 2 ohms.

 

[Falcons 5,000+ posts]

what is your low pass set to on the amp and head unit?

 

[grobbins81 10+ year member]

Not sure the exact hz but on the amp I have it at around 11 o clock and on the headunit there is a subwoofer option that I have set at 80 hz but can be switched to 50, 63, and some higher if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Falcons 5,000+ posts]

turn the lpf off on your head unit and turn your sub lpf to around 80 on your amp. then reset your gains again.

 

[grobbins81 10+ year member]

On the head unit it's not an option, you have to select one of the frequencies but you can adjust it to neutral (0) is that what you mean? I have a pioneer head unit if it makes any difference.

 

[Falcons 5,000+ posts]

yeah set it to the neutral option.

 

[grobbins81 10+ year member]

okay. I don't understand how to tell my lpf on the amp is at 80 when it only has two markings 35 and 250

 

[Falcons 5,000+ posts]

okay. I don't understand how to tell my lpf on the amp is at 80 when it only has two markings 35 and 250

you just gotta guess where you think 80 would be. it doesnt have to be exact.

 

[argenis69 10+ year member]

I'm having the same exact problem and I have Weeks asking around to see if a find a correct answer. Falcons, what do you mean on . then rest your gains again?

 

[mazdakid 5,000+ posts]

12 o clock position would probably be about 140hz, just make a good guess.

 

[Falcons 5,000+ posts]

sorry guys, i meant reset your gains

 

[grobbins81 10+ year member]

Okay. Could a bad ground cause a wattage drop in the system? It's just not making any sense to me that my friends l7 12s can be heard from down the road and my two 15s sound like some cheap 10s just enough bass to over ride door speakers.