Subs running hot with new amp. Advice?

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

Hey guys,

So I've got 2 Sundown SA-8v2 D2's wired at 2ohm running off an RF T2500-1BDCP. Before you go saying "your overpowering them". The amp is tuned to put out aprox. 1000W at my desired "loud" volume. So they should be getting around the perfect amount of power for running 2 of them.

That being said, after running them fairly hard for 10-20 minutes or so the dust caps are getting pretty warm/hot. But no odd smells are coming from the port or in the car while playing, so I have to assume the VC's are not burning. But still kinda worrying. Also the amps heatsink becomes EXTREMELY hot (too hot to touch for more than 5 seconds), but weirdly enough it's only hot on the one side of the amp and the other side is just "warm".

Everything as far as I can tell is wired well (0awg to the Power+GND) and I have a good solid ground bolted to the chassis of the car. Voltage remains fairly strong (usually above 12.5-13v).

I should also mention everything is being wired through a Knuconceptz KNF-60 Power+Ground Distro block. 0AWG SHOK wire IN and 0AWG KNU wire out to the T2500 and 4AWG KNU out to my AQ 200.2.

Does anybody else here run these particular subs or this amp and can confirm this is normal operation?

Also the "output" signal on the amp is able to hit the "red line" still when tuned for only 1000W. This seems rather odd to me considering that's not even 1/3rd the power this amp is capable of putting out. Or is this amp somehow intuitive and can determine what the speakers attached to it are approx. capable of and adjust the "output" LED's accordingly? Seems a little far fetched but not impossible.

Anyways, sorry for the long winded schpeal but if anyone has any info pertaining to either of my listed concerns that would be awesome thanks.

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[tc300 10+ year member]

Pretty sure CP stands for constant power.... That amp is a lot for those subs also

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

Pretty sure CP stands for constant power.... That amp is a lot for those subs also

I know what the CP stands for. Doesn't mean it's putting out 3000W at all times no matter where the gains are set though. Also yeah I realise the amp is overkill for the subs but like I stated already the amp is tuned accordingly to put out aprox. 1000W (give or take)

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

But these subs are also rated extremely conservatively and most people are able to run 1000W+ to EACH without the cones getting hot. So I'm a little concerned that mine are getting that hot with being fed only rated power or a little more.

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

And theres no possible way I could be clipping I don't think. I only run my head unit at volume 28-30 out of 35 and the amp's gain is barely a 1/4 of the way up so theres no possible way the amp should be clipping.

 

[98GCLimited 10+ year member]

f it jam out with ur clam out man sounds like a nice setup if they arent stinky they arent burning up you would smell them first

 

[NIHL8ION]

sometimes when you put a load on a given amp it behaves differently than when you just have a meter hooked up to dial in your "desired output voltage" My SA's dustcap gets pretty warm to the touch, I'm giving it around 950 rms in a box that's too big (spec'd for the new X / Z.v4) - I play my sub daily and I push it hard, never had any issues in the past few months...

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

f it jam out with ur clam out man sounds like a nice setup if they arent stinky they arent burning up you would smell them first

Yeah well the other night I had em tuned to get about 1600W and the cones were nearly too hot to touch after a 40 minute run. Still no smells, but STILL. Should dust caps EVER get that hot?

 

[gramser57 10+ year member]

sounds like you are getting insane voltage drop and starving your amp or you are using 14 gauge speaker wire

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

sometimes when you put a load on a given amp it behaves differently than when you just have a meter hooked up to dial in your "desired output voltage" My SA's dustcap gets pretty warm to the touch, I'm giving it around 950 rms in a box that's too big (spec'd for the new X / Z.v4) - I play my sub daily and I push it hard, never had any issues in the past few months...

Yeah well when you say "warm to the touch" I'm sure you mean that as "meh it's a little warm"....when I pushed em the other night at 1600W total power the dust caps were fu**in HOTTT. Like I mean to the point where it was uncomfortable leaving my hand on the cap for too long. Still no weird smells from the port or otherwise but still, that doesn't seem safe :S

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

sounds like you are getting insane voltage drop and starving your amp or you are using 14 gauge speaker wire

Voltage drop isn't THAT bad. Like I said in OP, usually above 13v (charging at about 13.8v hot with no draw). Or is 13v low enough to produce THAT much heat? Even though I'm running the amp WELL below rated power. I would think it would take WAY worse voltage drop to make that amp clip at less than 1/3 power.

 

[NIHL8ION]

Yeah well when you say "warm to the touch" I'm sure you mean that as "meh it's a little warm"....when I pushed em the other night at 1600W total power the dust caps were fu**in HOTTT. Like I mean to the point where it was uncomfortable leaving my hand on the cap for too long. Still no weird smells from the port or otherwise but still, that doesn't seem safe :S

- If I were to go back there immediately after slamming it hard for 30 min or longer it **** near feels like it could burn me, I've yet to smell coil or hear it reach it's mechanical limit where I have my amp set right now, so I just keep bangin', I don't even check it anymore lol

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

- If I were to go back there immediately after slamming it hard for 30 min or longer it **** near feels like it could burn me, I've yet to smell coil or hear it reach it's mechanical limit where I have my amp set right now, so I just keep bangin', I don't even check it anymore lol

So you think maybe it would be safe for me to crank these subs back up to 1600W where I had them? Cuz that's what I was running them at before I felt them that hot, then I was like "uh oh, too much". But if it's normal for the SA line to get that outrageously hot and still perform fine then alright.....also if the subs continue to get considerably louder with each bump of the volume does that mean they are still NOT clipping or at risk of burning up? Or is that just a myth? Cuz when I was running them hard the other night they just kept getting louder and I kept playin em till I felt how hot they were and it scared the be-jesus out of me haha.

 

[gramser57 10+ year member]

Voltage drop isn't THAT bad. Like I said in OP, usually above 13v (charging at about 13.8v hot with no draw). Or is 13v low enough to produce THAT much heat? Even though I'm running the amp WELL below rated power. I would think it would take WAY worse voltage drop to make that amp clip at less than 1/3 power.

In your OP you said 12.5-13v, 12.5 is a HUGE difference from 13v, it sounds like your electrical ***** and its causing heat.

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

In your OP you said 12.5-13v, 12.5 is a HUGE difference from 13v, it sounds like your electrical ***** and its causing heat.

12.5v is usually the lowest I see it drop to during really heavy bass songs. What I meant was the voltage is usually above 13v under load and 13.8 with no draw on the system.