Subwoofer Is Loud Only When Music Volume Is High

[linex12]

Hello, everyone! I have an active subwoofer (integrated amplifier) in my car. The problem is that it sound very quiet when the music volume is low but once I turn up the volume on the head unit it magically turns on and starts playing like it should.

Today I hooked up my laptop to the amp using 3.5mm to RCA cable and the sub was working perfectly fine a low and high volume both.

Before blaming it on the head unit I must say that I have another HU and it's the same with it - too quiet when volume is low, so it can't be the head unit.

The RCA cable coming from the head unit is way thicker than the 3.5mm to RCA that I used for my laptop. So could it be that the cable is too thick to carry signal from the HU to the amp?

Thanks!

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[1aespinoza 10+ year member]

Today I hooked up my laptop to the amp using 3.5mm to RCA cable and the sub was working perfectly fine a low and high volume both.

Before blaming it on the head unit I must say that I have another HU and it's the same with it - too quiet when volume is low, so it can't be the head unit.

What is the turn on method for the built in amplifier? The amplified Bazooka Bass Tube has an option of audio signal turn on, that when listening at low volumes, would randomly turn off because the signal was too low. When using the 3.5mm to RCA cable, I notice that the signal is stronger than the RCA signal from the car radios. It might be the issue.

 

[linex12]

According to the manual, the amp must always stay on when there is a 12V signal from the remote wire.

However, there is one more thing - I was wrong about the laptop - I hooked it up once more with the amp and it wasn't working properly - it did the same thing the head unit does. Guess I was just lucky when I hooked it up the first time. So, I suppose it's the amp that's faulty or there is a bad grounding.

 

[1aespinoza 10+ year member]

I suppose it's the amp

Did you wiggle the RCAs? Sometimes cold solder joints develop hairline cracks that cause intermittent issues. If amp is bad, you can bypass it with an external unit. You will get better sound out of that sub with it.

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

Kind of sounds like the amp either has some loose connections or is just going out. I've had amps that were older that wouldn't play correctly until turned up to a significant volume. That is sometimes an issue of electronic components slightly losing contact with each other inside of the amp on the board, where you have to turn up the volume and increase heat levels in the amp to expand the components back to proper contact for full electrical flow.

It sounds to make maybe like the amp is going out.

 

[Bobbytwonames 5,000+ posts]

Hello, everyone! I have an active subwoofer (integrated amplifier) in my car. The problem is that it sound very quiet when the music volume is low but once I turn up the volume on the head unit it magically turns on and starts playing like it should.

Today I hooked up my laptop to the amp using 3.5mm to RCA cable and the sub was working perfectly fine a low and high volume both.

Before blaming it on the head unit I must say that I have another HU and it's the same with it - too quiet when volume is low, so it can't be the head unit.

The RCA cable coming from the head unit is way thicker than the 3.5mm to RCA that I used for my laptop. So could it be that the cable is too thick to carry signal from the HU to the amp?

Thanks!

Are you running a line output converter?