Sundown SA-12: less powerful than I tought?

[Golitan11]

I have a Sundown SA-12 D2 subwoofer, an Hifonics BRX1100.1D amplifier and a Pioneer DEH-X7500S headunit and my friend and I did a comparison of our subwoofers. He has a Kicker L3 12" subwoofer (11VS12L32, with the Kicker box) running from a Kenwood KAC-5001PS amplifier and he is running it at 500W RMS. I run mine at 800W and the bass coming out of the two is barely the same! He has a Kenwood headunit with 2V preouts and my Pioneer headunit has 4V preouts. He run them at maximum subwoofer output level and me at normal (0), but even if I drive them to the maximum, I get only a bit more bass. Even so, I have way more excursion than him and run it in a 2 cubic feet ported box tuned at 35 hz. Also, I tought I would be able to show off with this subwoofer and at least ear it outside the car, but nothing! I have no flex at all and I don't ear it AT ALL outside the car, even windows open (I only ear speakers). I can admit that the bass is pretty solid inside and the miror is shaking like hell (a bit more than my friend with his Kicker L3) but from what I have seen, this subwoofer can flex and be heard outside the car (his Kicker L3 cannot be heard as well). I am really asking me what people that you ear in the street (like Alpine guys) have in their trunks lol now that a Sundown cannot even be heard from 1 meter of the car... What guys do you think? Did you had similar experiences with these? Thanks.

P.S. My friend as an Honda Civic 2000 (subwoofer facing back) and I have a Toyota Matrix 2004 (hatchback, subwoofer facing up).

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[murph 10+ year member]

Maybe the gain is too low or a setting is wrong on the head unit. Also his box is probably tuned 38hz or higher since it is a prefab. I think you also are not playing the right music. Find the right songs for your setup. (Frequency range)

ps. Put more power on it.

 

[Dmac1991]

You probably have that sundown wired to 4 ohms.

There's no way in hell that that Sundown isn't **** near breaking your car in half, and isn't beating twice as hard as that L3

Im 95% sure you have it wired to a 4 ohm load instead of a 1 ohm load.

wiring should look like this

 

[Dmac1991]

Yep that's your problem. I just reread your paragraph and did you think just because you have a 2 ohm sub that your amp would automatically play at 2 ohms?

A dual 2 ohm sub can only be wired to 4 ohms or 1 ohm. You have it wired to 4 ohms

 

[Golitan11]

No I have it wired at 1 ohm, I tested the terminals resistance with a DMM and I get ~1,1 ohm.

 

[Dmac1991]

but you said that you have it running at 800 rms. That amp puts out 800 rms at 2 ohms and a D2 sub can't be wired to 2 ohms bro

 

[Golitan11]

LOL I don't know if you understand that a gain can be set to whatever you want..

 

[T3mpest 10+ year member]

How do you know your gain is set to 800 watts? What did you use to set your gains? If it's a DMM what tone did you use? I'd imagine the sundown can take more power than that for at least short periods of time without issue. I'd set your gains up a bit higher and get a full 1000 out of your amp, if it'll do 1k cleanly (probably will). It won't make a huge difference depending on what tone you used, but if you set your gains on a 0db tone, it should help get power out of your amp on music.

Also it's only 1 12. That isn't going to be that loud or destructive. Even my 1 21 doesn't rattle or shake the outside of my car very much, albeit I do drive a cadillac which is a bit more solid than some other brands.

Also if you can hear the difference between your sub and his, that means your at least a decibel or two louder, which with a better sub and a bit more power, is expected.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

You'll need to get into a real big boy sub and real power before you start doing much out of a single 12. Also IMO 35 tuning is too low if you're even considering getting loud.

 

[NASTY08IMPALA 5,000+ posts]

i had a single sa12 on a saz1000 and hit a 139 and if was def heard from outside the car ..and blew all of my friends setups away when i had it.years ago ..thees sonething.wrong.with ur setup ..i think they are quite impressive for a single 2.5" coil ...so either a setting.is.off or u have unrealistic expectations ...where do you have the lpf set?

oh and ive never tuned above 33htz and have never had a problem getting loud

 

[Golitan11]

My low pass filter is set to 80 hz on the headunit and the amplifier.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

The bass you hear outside the car is mainly above the 45+ hertz range which is usually the box tuning of those guys on the streets are having on their prefab boxes, its considered a booming type bass sound. If your box is tuned low, you'll dig deep to the low notes and get deep bass, it'll be loud inside the car but it wont be leak outside unless its a strong enough system which is good for sound quality. I've heard a sundown sa 8 inch in an spl tuned box at 45 hertz and that **** was nucking futs for an 8. If its a single SA 12, you can have better output in a 4th order banpass or at least seal it from the trunk and raise the tuning a bit you'd be surprised what a difference it can make along with giving it more power, you might also be having box rise which your multi-meter can't catch..

 

[Golitan11]

How do you know your gain is set to 800 watts? What did you use to set your gains? If it's a DMM what tone did you use? I'd imagine the sundown can take more power than that for at least short periods of time without issue. I'd set your gains up a bit higher and get a full 1000 out of your amp, if it'll do 1k cleanly (probably will). It won't make a huge difference depending on what tone you used, but if you set your gains on a 0db tone, it should help get power out of your amp on music.
Also it's only 1 12. That isn't going to be that loud or destructive. Even my 1 21 doesn't rattle or shake the outside of my car very much, albeit I do drive a cadillac which is a bit more solid than some other brands.

Also if you can hear the difference between your sub and his, that means your at least a decibel or two louder, which with a better sub and a bit more power, is expected.

50 hz test tone at 0 dB with the subwoofer output level on the headunit set to the maximum (+6) and the volume at about 45/62.

 

[gckless 5,000+ posts]

50 hz test tone at 0 dB with the subwoofer output level on the headunit set to the maximum (+6) and the volume at about 45/62.

Set that bish with a -5dB test tone at 50/62 volume. And leave the sub out level on the HU at 0, and don't turn it up. Easy way to clip.

 

[rfluvinmf 10+ year member]

The impedance of the sub come from the wiring configuration. How did you get 2 ohm using a DMM?