subs not hitting at full potential?

[bumpytrunk667]

i had a coustic 400w amp that was on a JL audio 12w04 sub and it hit pretty hard with 12awg wires. recently acquired 2 dual 12" bp1204 subs in a ported box with a "xxx gxf-1200" amp that i got out of my sisters old car. so i changed all the 12awg wires to 6awg wires. but i used normal battery cable that i had laying around the garage, the only real difference i see is that the copper wire inside the insulation is much thicker than the copper inside the wires in my sister old car. she had 8awg ran through the car and the subs made some crazy bass. now that they are in my car, i cant seem to get them to hit any harder than my old jl 12". im currently having grounding problems and also popped the fuse for the battery cable. but that will all be sorted out tomoro. i have a pioneer DEH-1300MP head unit. when i would turn the gain up on the new amp in my sisters car it would just about shake the car to pieces but now they wont get nearly as much bass out of them even though she had them tapped into the rear speakers and a factory radio and i have an aftermarket head unit. so i figured they would sound even better in my car. i dont really know too much about audio but i can hook the stuff up without too much of a problem. why arent these hitting as hard as they used to? i have heavier gauged wires in my car than she did but they still dont seem to hit as hard. could it be that i need wires specifically for audio? i know this is long and kinda rambling but idk where to start and i need help!

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[cannonwillow 10+ year member]

What wires are you using for audio. Do you get more thump by disconnected 1 of the 12's from the amp. might be out of phase, can be wired wrong even inside the box.

 

[mast240 10+ year member]

could be out of phase, could have one with a blown coil (since you were talking about turning up the gain, like it's a volume button), or just the fact that they are duals....

please read this thread to assist you with proper way to set gains, what to expect out of certain brands, and just general info for those new to car audio...

http://www.caraudio.com/forums/general-discussion/532425-new-car-audio-read-first.html

 

[supermaxx123 10+ year member]

Grounding problems? FIX IT.

Popped fuse? This should not happen if everything is set-up correctly.

How are the subs wired into the amp, what impedance is the amp seeing?

The major difference between audio cable and normal cable is flexibility.

What enclosure were you using before and using now?

 

[duanebro 10+ year member]

By wires for audio do you mean RCA cables? You will need to adjust the gain on the amp to match the different input from the radio.

 

[cannonwillow 10+ year member]

I prefer a HU with sub pre outs along with front and rear pre outs. Even HU's from years ago have a signal-noise ratio of over 120db and 4v pre outs with rca aux pre inputs.