Well, I'm at it again... :S

[Trepkos 10+ year member]

Just finished finally installing my previous system in my 99' Ford F150 Single Cab pickup early last Fall. Ofcourse with it being my first install altogether, I ran into alot of problems and also with the installation taking place in the time that it did, I was also rushed in installing the different components.

But finally, Early Fall 2007, I finally completed my first build and what an absolute dissapointment. The head unit is defected, constantly grabbing USB errors, producing engine whine through the front RCA's only and other small errors. The PG RSD component sets producing no real midbass(mainly due to the lack of deadening and poor mounting). The Hifonics Txi1008d mono amplifier, also defected, not outputting any power to the Kicker CVT subwoofers at all, requiring all bass boost and EQ setting to be turned way up to produce any real bass response, which in turn results in distortion and overclipping.

So why on earth would I want to keep this system as it is?

I don't, so I have proposed a plan on upgrading, saving up and purchasing all components so that the installation will take place in the beginning of the summer allowing for as much free time as possible and ofcourse the lack of being rushed.

So what is this upgrade consisting of?

- I will be replacing the current head unit with another one, different kind: Hopefully one that is not defected. Not completely sure of which head unit I should get. Any suggestions would be welcomed.

- I will be replacing the current 4-8awg wiring with 0/1 - 4awg wiring, 0/1 gauge from battery to distribution block, 4awg to amplifier and vice versa with the ground.

- I will be upgrading the Big 3, under the hood electrical with 0/1 gaug wiring.

- I will be replacing the Hifonics Txi1008d Mono and Profile AP1000 2-channel amplifiers with either the Hifonicx Bxi1606d Mono and the Hifonics Zxi6406 4-Channel or Hifonics Zxi4406 4-Channel amplifier.(Whichever 4-Channel amplifier that fits under the seat, the best.)

- I will be replacing the 2.36cu^ft sealed enclosure and Kicker 12" CVT's with full-size Kicker 12" CVX dual 4-ohm subwoofers in either a 2.5cu^ft - 3.5cu^ft sealed dual chamber enclosure, whichever amount of airspace I can maximize behind the seat in a single cab pick-up truck.

- The PG RSD 6.5" component set will be moved from their door positions and replaced with a Rockford Fosgate T1682S 2-Way 6x8 component set which will sit in the original factory speaker locations. The PG RSD component set will be moved to the kick panels on each side.

- The doors will be completely deadened using RAAMat deadening material and kit following the RAAMat installation guide.

So in summary, I will be pretty much upgrading and changing the entire system....

Any suggestions, tips, critiques?

Amplifier choices are mainly dependent on where they will be placed(underneath the seats.)

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[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

I find it hard to believe the amplifier is 'defective' in that it wont output any substantial power unless bass boost is turned up. Amps dont go bad like that. generally it either works, or it doesn't. That said, and this being your first system, IMO its most likely you have made an error or two in setting the system up to cause at least that problem, maybe some of the others as well (engine whine could be from poor grounding methods, or from mounting amplifier to sheetmetal, etc).

Where did you buy all this stuff that you received so many broken units that you apparently didnt/couldnt return? IMO it might be a good idea to make an appointment with a decent local shop, and take it in to have them ***** what's going on. There is no shame in needing some professional help once in a while.

 

[Trepkos 10+ year member]

I find it hard to believe the amplifier is 'defective' in that it wont output any substantial power unless bass boost is turned up. Amps dont go bad like that. generally it either works, or it doesn't. That said, and this being your first system, IMO its most likely you have made an error or two in setting the system up to cause at least that problem, maybe some of the others as well (engine whine could be from poor grounding methods, or from mounting amplifier to sheetmetal, etc).
Where did you buy all this stuff that you received so many broken units that you apparently didnt/couldnt return? IMO it might be a good idea to make an appointment with a decent local shop, and take it in to have them ***** what's going on. There is no shame in needing some professional help once in a while.

The Hifonics Amplifier didn't work with I first received it, as in it wouldn't output any sound to the subwoofers. This was not only on my setup but also on numerous other setups that I also tested it on where other amplifiers performed flawlessly.

I sent the Hifonics amplifier to a amplifier repair place to see if they could pinpoint any problems on the main circuit board, they couldn't and stated that it was working fine. So they shipped the amplifier back to me and I hooked my sub woofers up to it when they were previously hooked up to the Profile amplifier because the component system had yet to have come in yet and I was running aftermarket 6x8 coaxials off of the HU deck. One thing I noticed after hooking up the subwoofer to the Hifonics amplifier was that there was no noticeable increase in overall sound output from the subwoofer as you would expect from an amplifier outputting 500watts of power compared to one that was outputting roughly 230watts.

Another thing I noticed was that to actually get any movement from the subwoofers at all, I would have to increase the gains to nearly max as well increase the remote bass boost and other bass EQ settings. So I decided to use a DMM and test tones to set my gains appopriately. I did this by ofcourse tuning the amplifier to 55hz, setting all EQ settings on the HU, Amplifier and Ipod off and I hooked the DMM up to the speaker outputs to detect the voltage. In the course of doing so, according to a web-base gain setting application, I was looking around 28-31v's as my initial aim. According to the DMM, on several tries, the maximum amount of voltage that the amplifier was outputting went no higher than 0.4hz(Thats with the gains at max). It wasn't until I began to increase the EQ and bass boost settings that this number increased to the target voltage.

To make sure that the problem was not my DMM, I properly set the gains of a friend's amplifier in his system which showed the correct readings and the procedure went smoothly in contrast to mine which showed clearly no voltage output. The physical movement and sound outputted by my subwoofers reflected what the DMM was accurately showing.

Now the head unit engine whine was a problem that plagued me for weeks before I finally found the less obvious solution. I went as far to ground out the RCA outputs, I tried several grounding locations, such as grounding it to the main grounding distribution block, even grounding it directly to the main power cable grounding point and even going as far as to ground it directly to the battery negative. Each method shown absolutely no decrease in the amount of engine whine. I even purchased a ground loop isolator which for some odd reason knocked out the complete left channel of my system. I traced the engine whine to Head unit using methods involving the isolation of testing the amplified via ipod and a y-adapter. It wasn't until I plugged the RCA's into the rear pre-out RCA connectors that the engine whine completely disappeared.

Also my amplifiers are not bolted to sheet metal or bolted at all, they're pretty snug in their position and the wire connections keep them pretty much constrained to the floor.

Recieved the amplifier from Sonic Electronix which requires proof of professional installation before they will exchange or refund defected products. The headunit was bought from an ebay store.

 

[Tehgregzor 10+ year member]

What ohm load do you have your subs wired to? That could be a cause for concern...

 

[Trepkos 10+ year member]

The Hifonics Amplifier didn't work with I first received it, as in it wouldn't output any sound to the subwoofers. This was not only on my setup but also on numerous other setups that I also tested it on where other amplifiers performed flawlessly.
I sent the Hifonics amplifier to a amplifier repair place to see if they could pinpoint any problems on the main circuit board, they couldn't and stated that it was working fine. So they shipped the amplifier back to me and I hooked my sub woofers up to it when they were previously hooked up to the Profile amplifier because the component system had yet to have come in yet and I was running aftermarket 6x8 coaxials off of the HU deck. One thing I noticed after hooking up the subwoofer to the Hifonics amplifier was that there was no noticeable increase in overall sound output from the subwoofer as you would expect from an amplifier outputting 500watts of power compared to one that was outputting roughly 230watts.

Another thing I noticed was that to actually get any movement from the subwoofers at all, I would have to increase the gains to nearly max as well increase the remote bass boost and other bass EQ settings. So I decided to use a DMM and test tones to set my gains appopriately. I did this by ofcourse tuning the amplifier to 55hz, setting all EQ settings on the HU, Amplifier and Ipod off and I hooked the DMM up to the speaker outputs to detect the voltage. In the course of doing so, according to a web-base gain setting application, I was looking around 28-31v's as my initial aim. According to the DMM, on several tries, the maximum amount of voltage that the amplifier was outputting went no higher than 0.4hz(Thats with the gains at max). It wasn't until I began to increase the EQ and bass boost settings that this number increased to the target voltage.

To make sure that the problem was not my DMM, I properly set the gains of a friend's amplifier in his system which showed the correct readings and the procedure went smoothly in contrast to mine which showed clearly no voltage output. The physical movement and sound outputted by my subwoofers reflected what the DMM was accurately showing.

Now the head unit engine whine was a problem that plagued me for weeks before I finally found the less obvious solution. I went as far to ground out the RCA outputs, I tried several grounding locations, such as grounding it to the main grounding distribution block, even grounding it directly to the main power cable grounding point and even going as far as to ground it directly to the battery negative. Each method shown absolutely no decrease in the amount of engine whine. I even purchased a ground loop isolator which for some odd reason knocked out the complete left channel of my system. I traced the engine whine to Head unit using methods involving the isolation of testing the amplified via ipod and a y-adapter. It wasn't until I plugged the RCA's into the rear pre-out RCA connectors that the engine whine completely disappeared.

Also my amplifiers are not bolted to sheet metal or bolted at all, they're pretty snug in their position and the wire connections keep them pretty much constrained to the floor.

Recieved the amplifier from Sonic Electronix which requires proof of professional installation before they will exchange or refund defected products. The headunit was bought from an ebay store.

The only local car audio shop around here quoted me 150 for the component set installation, stating that they would have to physically cut into the metal frame of the door to mount the speakers.

 

[Trepkos 10+ year member]

What ohm load do you have your subs wired to? That could be a cause for concern...

The CVTs are SVC 2-ohm, the amplifier even though mono has two different sets of + and - speaker ports, so they are on a 1-Ohm load.

 

[Trepkos 10+ year member]

Anymore suggestions?

 

[Jeremy M 10+ year member]

turn the subwoofer levels up on your pioneer HU to +6.

 

[bigbangtheory 5,000+ posts]

turn the subwoofer levels up on your pioneer HU to +6.

Awesome suggestion!//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/rolleyes.gif.c1fef805e9d1464d377451cd5bc18bfb.gif

Sounds to me you have done some good testing. Sucks you had to do all that, but it does happen. Happened to me a couple weeks ago. I didn't use to have engine wine and I took it out to sound deaden my car and put it back in and bam, engine noise out the Yahoo! So still in the process of trying to find out the problem. Have a friend who is a professional installed coming over tomorrow to try and figure it out. Wish me luck, as I am at my witts end and ready to sell all the shit.

 

[Trepkos 10+ year member]

Yeah, a lot of problems and freak problems are definitely not a bad thing on a first install in my opinion. Even though, they do cause a lot of head aches and are sometimes very hard to find a solution, they usually help by:

- Highlighting any careless mistakes which you may have made without knowing; therefore you can prevent making such mistakes in the future.

- Familiarizing yourself with hundreds of different troubleshooting techniques.

- Firsthand experience with a lot of different problem possibilities.

Anyways I decided to opt out of getting Hifonics Zxi6406 4-Channel amplifier and purchasing the much more expensive but also much more space friendly, Alpine PDX 4.100.

Here is the stuff I have already purchase for the installation:

25ft 1/0 Gauge Power Wire

15ft Red Split-Loom

In-Line KnuKonceptz Waterproof ANL w/300A Fuse

2x KonFused Negative Battery Terminals

2x KonFUSED 2-Way Distribution Block(2x 150A) Fuses

Wedge-On 0/1 Crimping Tool

8x 1/0 Gauge Crimps

Several Feet Of 4 Gauge Power Wire

Hifonics Bxi1606d Mono Amplifier

 

[MikeyB 5,000+ posts]

Awesome suggestion!//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/rolleyes.gif.c1fef805e9d1464d377451cd5bc18bfb.gif
Sounds to me you have done some good testing. Sucks you had to do all that, but it does happen. Happened to me a couple weeks ago. I didn't use to have engine wine and I took it out to sound deaden my car and put it back in and bam, engine noise out the Yahoo! So still in the process of trying to find out the problem. Have a friend who is a professional installed coming over tomorrow to try and figure it out. Wish me luck, as I am at my witts end and ready to sell all the shit.

Find a better ground

 

[Trepkos 10+ year member]

Find a better ground

My thread dammit >.

 

[IDSkoT 5,000+ posts]

A Single 2-ohm VC at 1-ohm...? That might be a problem. =|

 

[Trepkos 10+ year member]

A Single 2-ohm VC at 1-ohm...? That might be a problem. =|

Two SVC 2-Ohms = 1-Ohm's, on a 1-0hm stated amplifier which is probably producing close to 1000w x 1 channel @ 1-Ohm...?