subwoofer problem

[ChevelleMan73 10+ year member]

Hi all I just built a ABC Enclosure for my pioneer 10's(I Know!), and they were working fine in my chevelle. But I felt like trying something else and put them in a GEO Metro and when I turn it up the subs will bottom out and clip like he11. And during parts of songs with no bass the subwoofer keeps moving, the cone seems to be moving very random. I am using a 8 gauge power wire and 8 gauge ground grounded to a rear shock tower bolt. Can someone help me out??

(sorry for the long post)

Thanks

Joel

Click to read more...

 

[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

sounds like your amp is possibly clipping. turn down the gains some. also could be a bad ground try regrouding it. also check to see if your sub is out of phase. just a couple suggestions.

 

[ChevelleMan73 10+ year member]

Ive sanded the shock tower down to metal, so I dont think it is ground. When it was in my chevelle i had the gains turned all the way up, and it never did this before. Do you think that it could be the deck or the rca cables?

Thanks for the help.

 

[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

turn the gains down! there is no need for them to be turned all the way up. the gain is not a volume control, it is so you can match the input voltage from the headunit. if that doesn't work there could be a possibility of a ground-loop. are your rca's on the opposite side of the power wire? if that still doesn't work it could still be the ground even though you sanded it good it might just need to be in a different location.

 

[ChevelleMan73 10+ year member]

Ok I will turn gains down, and my RCA's are on the same side as the power wire in fact they are probably touching in some places is that bad??

 

[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

well i have run rca's on the power wire side before, but your rca's can pick up some interference from the power and you get unwanted noise. after you told me about having the gains all the way up i think your amp is clipping. also what is the volume set at on the head unit? is on the max volume? if so the headunit could be clipping too. set the volume of the headunit to about 2/3 and turn down bass boost (also turn it down on amp too) and loudness. even if the problem isn't fixed by turning the gains down, keep them down because with them all the way up you could be clipping the hell out of your amp and risk damaging sub/amp.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

Noise interferance will add noise to the signal, but not likely make the subs bottom out. You may need to run a subsonic filter, considering you are using a ported enclosure, or turn it down (the ssf).