Subwoofer wont work!

[Hexagram]

99% sure the sub works fine...Hooked everything up to the best of my knowledge. Using a 800w American Pro VS2042 Amp with 2 12" Volfenhag subs 800 rms wattage on those...

My only guess is that I use 8 guage wire....which might be a problem for 800 watts?

I really am stumped, first time installing. I installed the amp\speakers without a problem...

I dont have the exact model on the Alpine head unit I'm using but I can get it if needed.

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[pimpedout97x]

does the amp turn on? check ground, RCAs, remote wire, fuses, etc.

 

[jmoreno150 10+ year member]

beef up ur power wire to a 0 or 4 . howmany amps r u running? do u have a distrobution block if so 0 gauge to the dist. block and 4 gauge to the amps. make sure ur amps turn on and the remote wire is goin to them.

 

[Hexagram]

I have 2 amps. a 1000w xplod for my speakers, and the 800 american pro.

The amp does turn on, the American Pro has a power\on light that lights up when I turn on the car so I know its getting power. I double and triple checks the wiring and all seems ok...

My only quest is really the guage of the wire and when I hooked up the positive and the ground wires to the battery the o-rings for the cables were touching each other. By that I mean the ground for one amp was touching the ground for another - I had them back to back.

And I dont think I have a block, I didnt install one...not sure exactly what that is.

thanks for the fast replies!

also on my head unit, I have 4 RCA connections. 2 for what I'm guessing is front and 2 for the rear...normal red\white connections with label "F" and "R". I put speakers as my front and subs for rear...I tried every combination possible and didnt seem to get the subs to work.

 

[Hexagram]

Just switched the subs, nothing. Connected to one at a time and nothing as well. I switched amps, tried the 1000w amp I am using for the speakers for the subs....still nothing.

I just also noticed the tweeters in the subs are working, I get a little sound out of them.I tried unhooking 1 amp at a time as well and still no luck.

I am absolutely stumped! Going to the store to pick up some lower guage wire now.

 

[type[s5] 10+ year member]

Perhaps your subs are wired in series together instead of parallel? Are they both DVC or SVC coils? Search the forums for voice coil configs and make sure you have the proper impedance. Having too high of an impedance can cause very little to no power draw on your amp.

 

[type[s5] 10+ year member]

99% sure the sub works fine...Hooked everything up to the best of my knowledge. Using a 800w American Pro VS2042 Amp with 2 12" Volfenhag subs 800 rms wattage on those...My only guess is that I use 8 guage wire....which might be a problem for 800 watts?

I really am stumped, first time installing. I installed the amp\speakers without a problem...

I dont have the exact model on the Alpine head unit I'm using but I can get it if needed.

8ga wire is fine for 800 watts.

Hold on... are these subs 800 watts RMS each? If that's the case, 800 watts distributed between the two isn't gonna be satisfactory at all. That would send only half of each sub's RMS. I'm hoping it's just a typo seeing as how your issue seems to require urgent attention. Hope some of this helps.

 

[Hexagram]

I understand what you're saying and I honestly cannot tell you if the subs are 800 each or 400 each...I will look up the product number when I take them out of the enclosure and find out.

And from the sticky I figured 8 guage would be ok for 800 watts... but I went ahead and got some 4 guage wire just in case and just about to install it (none of the stereo stores or best buys around where I live sell anything larger then 4 guage).

I'll post how it goes with the 4 guage...

Worst case sencerio Best Buy said they would test my subs if I brought them in for like 35$, might do that.

 

[Cubed1 10+ year member]

I understand what you're saying and I honestly cannot tell you if the subs are 800 each or 400 each...I will look up the product number when I take them out of the enclosure and find out.
And from the sticky I figured 8 guage would be ok for 800 watts... but I went ahead and got some 4 guage wire just in case and just about to install it (none of the stereo stores or best buys around where I live sell anything larger then 4 guage).

I'll post how it goes with the 4 guage...

Worst case sencerio Best Buy said they would test my subs if I brought them in for like 35$, might do that.

If you hook a 9 volt battery up to the sub you can tell if it is ok, can someone confirm this?

 

[Hexagram]

Oh, well if that was the case, save me 35$ seeing how I had to spend 90$ on a **** 8 guage amp wire kit at a local store yesterday :|.

I just hooked up the 4 guage wire, got the sub pumping! but thing is I have to have the sub RCA cables hooked up to the deck where it says "F" which I'm guessing means front, which brings my question of this effecting the speakers which are also hooked up to that seperate amp...

Also the sub seems a little off...I have to have the gain almost completely up for it to really be heard...and to my knowledge, you never want to have your gain that high for a long period of time? I'm wondering if everything has to be 4 guage or bigger...I just used a ground cable (4 guage) to power it, they didnt have a 4 guage power cable. and when I hve the gain that high, its fairly distorted.

 

[hardhitta47 10+ year member]

Oh, well if that was the case, save me 35$ seeing how I had to spend 90$ on a **** 8 guage amp wire kit at a local store yesterday :|.
I just hooked up the 4 guage wire, got the sub pumping! but thing is I have to have the sub RCA cables hooked up to the deck where it says "F" which I'm guessing means front, which brings my question of this effecting the speakers which are also hooked up to that seperate amp...

Also the sub seems a little off...I have to have the gain almost completely up for it to really be heard...and to my knowledge, you never want to have your gain that high for a long period of time? I'm wondering if everything has to be 4 guage or bigger...I just used a ground cable (4 guage) to power it, they didnt have a 4 guage power cable. and when I hve the gain that high, its fairly distorted.

You don't want to have your gain up that high. What model Alpine is it? Are you sure there's no sub rca output? If not, then your rear rca outs should be run to your subs. Try messing around with the settings on your HU. You could have the bass turned way down, everything faded to the front, etc.

I just also noticed the tweeters in the subs are working, I get a little sound out of them.I tried unhooking 1 amp at a time as well and still no luck.I am absolutely stumped! Going to the store to pick up some lower guage wire now.

What do you mean "tweeters in the subs"??

 

[Hexagram]

The subs came with 2 small speakers built into the corners...thats what I meant by tweeters.

I'll try and figure out the rca problem...but by hu what do you mean? Head unit?

 

[hardhitta47 10+ year member]

yeah. hu = head unit

 

[hardhitta47 10+ year member]

Wait a minute...check to see how you have everything wired as far as those tweeters in your sub box. Sounds kinda ghetto...

I wouldn't even use those tweets in the box. WTF are they there for? You're not gonna hear them in your trunk. Don't use them. It doesn't make sense to have them, and only complicates the wiring.

 

[Hexagram]

Yeah I found that out when only they were working and not the subs itself, very very small amount of sound comming out of them...meant to unhook them.

I believe I got it after fiddling with the fader and bass control...not sure how loud a sub should be but I have the gain about on mid and my ears hurt from the 2 minute ride home... =\