subwoofer isn't hitting with the music, instead it just kind of pulses weird

[atown 10+ year member]

It's possible that there's an MTX amp out there that's better than this JL amp, but in the case of the 2 amps I have, the JL is far superior. The MTX is probably 7 or 8 years old and has taken some damage to the body, it's one that my buddy gave me that he got from a pawn shop. It's possible the JL is defective (crosses fingers) but from looking at it it seems to be in great condition.

Sounds like u have a poor ground.
Where it located?

Did u scrap away paint and make sure u have good contact?

I sanded away the paint and tried to get it nice and snug with a ring terminal, but it's possible I have a bad ground, it was much easier to do the ground in my passport. Right now in the grand am I have it on the far left side of the trunk where the frame is, but I'll try and relocate it.I was think of attaching it to the giant bolt that sticks up that the spare tire goes on, attaching it to the bottom part of that. Does that seem like a reasonable ground?

where's the most common place to do it in a car.

Is the subwoofer volume turned up on your jvc deck?????? Also what subwoofer settings do you have on that deck??????

subwoofer is set to the default 0 on the deck, I haven't messed with any of the other settings on the deck yet so everything is at default.

I had a customer with the same issue. Ended up being the head unit. Make sure you do not have a ground loop some where. Check wiring for head unit and for the amp. Make sure your grounds are good grounds. May also want to get a Ground Loop Isolator if anything else. They look like this.

Good luck.

I've never seen one of these, thanks for the tip, in the event that it's not the ground I'll snag one of these.

 

[GMCJimmyslt2000 10+ year member]

drill ur own ground into frame

 

[loopkiller 10+ year member]

drill ur own ground into frame

Watch out for the gas tank //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

 

[kyle187 10+ year member]

if the amp is a 2-channel then it needs to be plugged into the speaker output on the HU, and not the sub output, because a 2-channel amp is considered a speaker amp.

 

[faiz23 10+ year member]

if the amp is a 2-channel then it needs to be plugged into the speaker output on the HU, and not the sub output, because a 2-channel amp is considered a speaker amp.

WHAT THE **** HEBBIE JEEBIIES ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT

DUUHHHRRRR

Why would he hook up his sub amp which is a 2 channel to speakers. he is using it to power subs, how is he suppose to adjust the output of the sub channel,

if i am understanding correctly what you are saying 2 channel amps should be hooked up to speaker output rca like front or rear, and mono amp to SUBWOOFER

you know you can make a stereo 2 channel amp into a mono 1 channel amp by bridging it.

 

[kyle187 10+ year member]

WHAT THE **** HEBBIE JEEBIIES ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT

DUUHHHRRRR

Why would he hook up his sub amp which is a 2 channel to speakers. he is using it to power subs, how is he suppose to adjust the output of the sub channel,

if i am understanding correctly what you are saying 2 channel amps should be hooked up to speaker output rca like front or rear, and mono amp to SUBWOOFER

you know you can make a stereo 2 channel amp into a mono 1 channel amp by bridging it.

My old sub was powered by a 2-channel amp (bridged out course) and it wouldn't play music and made very weird sounds when i plugged it into the subwoofer output. When i plugged it into the speaker output my sub would play.

 

[e126824 10+ year member]

you may have needed a y cable for the sub or maybe your sub output was shorted

 

[faiz23 10+ year member]

me thinks you HU IS FAWKED or the crossover setting very JACKED up on the subwoofer out or i know this sounds stupid but sub out was not enabled.

pioneer and panasonic you can disable the sub out, and other brands as well like alpine and ....

my pioneer came from the factory with sub out not on.

 

[GMCJimmyslt2000 10+ year member]

My old sub was powered by a 2-channel amp (bridged out course) and it wouldn't play music and made very weird sounds when i plugged it into the subwoofer output. When i plugged it into the speaker output my sub would play.

stop giving advice and gtfo noob

 

[atown 10+ year member]

alright, I have the power and ground hooked up to the amp in the passport (where I know it works)

I just ran the RCA and remote wire from the head unit in the grand am, the power light on the amp won't come on.

does this mean the head unit is screwed? It was a good deal, maybe 50% but it was new from crutchfield so I don't know.

 

[faiz23 10+ year member]

do this take a jumper from the 12 volt power wire use a speaker wire like 16 gauge and run it from the + on the amp or distribution block to the remote wire on the amp.

if they amp turns on which it will then you have a bad remote wire output on your radio. not the end of the world since you can use a relay and trigger the amp using a ignition source from the head unit.

i think that if you ran the jumper the amp will turn on and subs should work, if it turn on but sub do not work than check the sub out on the head unit, maybe hook up an ipod direct to the amp using stereo headphone to rca wire.

 

[x1le 10+ year member]

As mentioned above by ahillworks, it sounds to me like it's a ground loop. Get an isolator and that should cure it.

 

[atown 10+ year member]

Thanks for all of the tips guys.

I tried for a while to see if the remote wire would work from any other place, I had it on the stereo's constant, the switch, I put it against the + on the battery, and the power would either come on for a second and go away, or not come on at all. I was baffled. So I skipped and went to getting a good ground, I had everything hooked up in the passport, and then just connected the ground from the grand am, no matter where I put it it wouldn't work, again I was lost.

but all of that is irrelevant cauuuse...

I ended up just saying **** it, I was hooking everything back up even though it didn't work because I wanted to take it to Car Concepts here and have them take a look at it. I get everything setup and finish by just touching the ground wire to the hanging ring terminal that it'd been ripped from on accident earlier. and the amp turned on!

It's all working now and just pounding hard like it should be. I don't know why and I'm not questioning it. I'm just happy

lots of trunk rattle though, it kind of sounds like a blown sub when the trunk is closed.

but thanks again to everyone for the help!