System not hitting as hard as it should?

[Kibbe17 10+ year member]

I have one 12 in. Alpine type R being powered by an Eclipse XA1200.

This is a great sounding system. Sub THUMPS.....

-But theres a catch.. It only really hits nice with the gain and bass boost up on the amp and the Bass turned up on the head unit. This of coarse i know is terrible for the speakers and the sub itself.. Its been like this since setting it up (about 9 months ago) and I finally really have to figure something out, my speakers are taking a beating.. Ive already asked about a new amp and was told what i have is plenty good enough for the Type R so what could it be thats holding it back when the gain and bass boost and Bass on head unit aren't up?

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[05fronty 5,000+ posts]

what kind of box?

 

[surreyjack 10+ year member]

how do you have the sub wired? is it d4 or d2? did you try another amp?

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

What kind of enclosure do you have?

 

[Kibbe17 10+ year member]

Enclosure is custom built. Very possible that something is screwed up with the enclosure.. it was my first. And it's ported. And I studied and studied but something tells me it's wrong. I started a much better thread all about it but no one replied enough.. I'll try to find a link. As for d4 or d2 - it's a dual 2 wired to 4 and the amp is mono.. I think. I read the wiring choices "sticky" but all of the pictures are outdated and basically pointless.. Hopefully u guys can help me out. Let me find that link.

 

[Kibbe17 10+ year member]

Enclosure is custom built. Very possible that something is screwed up with the enclosure.. it was my first. And it's ported. And I studied and studied with the mathematics and calculations but something tells me it's wrong. I started a much better thread all about it but no one replied enough.. I'll try to find a link. As for d4 or d2 - it's a dual 2 wired to 4 and the amp is mono.. I think. I read the wiring choices "sticky" but all of the pictures are outdated and basically pointless.. Hopefully u guys can help me out. Let me find that link.

 

[05fronty 5,000+ posts]

enclosure specs? size , tuned to?

 

[Kibbe17 10+ year member]

Enclosure is custom built. Very possible that something is screwed up with the enclosure.. it was my first. And it's ported. And I studied and studied with the mathematics and calculations but something tells me it's wrong. I started a much better thread all about it but no one replied enough.. I'll try to find a link. As for d4 or d2 - it's a dual 2 wired to 4 and the amp is mono.. I think. I read the wiring choices "sticky" but all of the pictures are outdated and basically pointless.. Hopefully u guys can help me out. Let me find that link.

 

[xoutofmyheadx 10+ year member]

with that amp, your sub should be getting 350watts right now. is it the 1223 or 1222?(assuming it's a 12) which is about half power that it can take. so that amp is pretty small for that sub but it will be underpowered.

 

[hatedonmostly 5,000+ posts]

I doubt it's the enclosure. What kind of head unit do you have? The head unit probably has preouts with such low voltage that you have to turn the gain all the way up to get the full output out of the amp...

But seriously, if the sub and amp aren't getting warm, then running it full tilt shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Kibbe17 10+ year member]

Sorry about that triple post.. AT&T actin up.. Lol but anyway, here's the link that has the box dimensions and sort of a backstory.. http://www.caraudio.com/forums/amplifiers/488798-amp-one-12in-alpine-type-r.html#post7298432 I too thought maybe the amp was under-powering it but I guess I was told wrong when people said the amp should be fine. And the head unit I'm using is the pioneer 2100IB. And the problem with having the bass on that cranked is it is working my speakers way too hard. (I'm surprised they've lasted ts long..) I've tried bass blockers all around but it had little effect.

P.S. - forgot that thread was about hitting lows but basically its all part of the same issue and that thread has a lot of info about my system - especially my enclosure.

 

[SpeedEuphoria 10+ year member]

you box $ucks and the amp $ucks

if you just using pvc for the port, you need 10-12" square per cube

You may be able to get away with that 350watts if you build a huge 3cube+ box for it with 3x 3-4" pvc ports

 

[brian84corvette 10+ year member]

get a line driver.

turn up the voltage on the rca that is feeding your amp.

keep the headunit bass at normal levels to not play bass thru your normal car speakers.

you want loud sub bass from your sub. not your car speakers.

line driver

some crossovers also have a line driver built in.

then it would allow you to fine tune the frequencys being sent to the amp.

 

[ltr450racer690 10+ year member]

need way more port, i would build a new box, easiest way to get more output from it

 

[xoutofmyheadx 10+ year member]

ok so you've already asked about this before and you haven't attempted to fix it? also. i've seen nobody tell you what the problem is with the box. just that "it's the box". why does everybody say it's the box? you gave the stats, so,........ too big, too small, the port is wrong,..what? there still is NO answer. you say it sounds good if you turn the boost up and the bass on the hu up. so why is this the case if the box is no good? thegdog said that your amp is bigger than his is, and NO IT'S NOT. your amp is 350 @4ohms. 500 @2 ohms. his amp is pushing 600. yours is pushing 350watts. that sub is rated at 500rms, you can run 6-700 watts to it. according to the subwoofer enclosure calclator, you're numbers are good. cept you're box is 1.95 cu. 32 hertz not 34 like you thought. this is what alpine calls for in cube size. your other speakers sould be good unless you're turnng the bass all the way up on the hu. +2 or 3 if fine.