where the hell do you ground your amp?

[R0ID_RAGE 10+ year member]

yep, blue light turns on

 

[UndercoverPunk 5,000+ posts]

yep, blue light turns on

Okay, take your RCA's out of the amp, turn the sub level up as high as you can on the head unit, play something with LOTS of LOUD bass with the volume up as high as your speakers can safely take.

Using the voltmeter you have, set on ACV, put one lead on the outside contact of the rca, and one on the male prong in the middle.

you should notice voltage fluctuations that follow the beat, (maybe a bit delayed).

 

[95BlackGA 5,000+ posts]

My amps are mounted inside the cabin, not the trunk. You should try that. I have found a lot of good spots for grounding my amps in the trunk though, just don't want to put them in there yet, 'cause I have a peice of shit trunk latch. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wow.gif.23d729408e9177caa2a0ed6a2ba6588e.gif I have mine grounded right underneath the back seat, with a self taping screws and metal tie downs to keep them from moving.

 

[R0ID_RAGE 10+ year member]

what is the sub level...i have the Hz option, i have it set to 50hz(lowest possible), the only other option i have is on, off, or upside-down...

on the pioneer HU, there is a SW button...my sub is "normal" and set on 50Hz...gain is in the middle on my amp...bass boost 0, LPF off

 

[MisterE 10+ year member]

is it a new amp?

pull out your HU and just run a new run of RCAs through the car to the amp, plugged into the sub out on the back of the deck, see if that helps

doubt its the sub wiring because you also tried a single voice coil and, unless you are an idiot, one of those should have worked

so technically it could be the RCAs are bad, the amp is bad, the preouts on the HU is bad, or its a setting.

more than likely a setting or the RCAs

 

[R0ID_RAGE 10+ year member]

alright...now my subs work(i put mine in, DVC 4ohm kickers...wired like in the pic--except it is a bridged 2-channel not a mono)

If i turn my HU up to about 30(about halfway) i can turn my amp gain ALL the way up and it barely changes anything...

I checked the ground and it reads .3ohms, 12.8dcv(everything off) and 12.18dcv(everything on) so it cant be that...

the **** subs are so quiet the only way i know they are on is if i put my hand on them...why?

*brand new amp and HU and subs...****, brand new RCA's too

UNDERCOVER...how many volts should my meter be reading?? it was only jumping around from like .05 to .08

 

[R0ID_RAGE 10+ year member]

alright...when i turn my bass up on the HU, and put the 50Hz volume up, and turn the gain almost ALL THE WAY UP, i get some good bass from my subs, not by anymeans great...

how much does the box have to do with the sound?? i'm using a Rockford Fosgate P2 8ohm single coil prefab box...its ported...i threw my 2 12"CVR dual 4ohms in the box...wired them correctly, ^^^in my pic, and i feel like i have 6x9s in there...(not that bad, but still, they are freakin kickers)---waiting for my other box which has been processing since may 25th!! hooray sonic you ******s!

i realize my amp isn't the greatest(pioneer 5300, about 350 watts actually get to my subs...but it should be louder than it is shouldn't it??

 

[mlstrass 5,000+ posts]

Why is your LPF set to off? Shouldn't it be 80Hz, or around there? Almost sounds like you're using the filters to block out all the freqs.

Also you could try the REAR RCA's on your HU. I did an install for a guy a few months back with a crappy xplod HU and the sub out RCA's didn't work.

 

[UndercoverPunk 5,000+ posts]

UNDERCOVER...how many volts should my meter be reading?? it was only jumping around from like .05 to .08

Wow.... try the rears.... if you did it like I said you should DEFINITELY be getting more voltage than that.

 

[Famous_78]

or another run of wire from the battery negative to the trunk

Winnah!

 

[R0ID_RAGE 10+ year member]

funny thing happened. i switched my rca's to the REAR output...then switched em back, and now it works...cant tell ya why...but it works, good too!

now setting the gain...i have it at 34 volts right now(bridged)...its a 2-channel amp(380watts to my subs) bass boost on 6(out of 0, 6, and 12) and gain at a little past 3/4...with 2 DVC 4-ohm subs, do you think i should raise the gain a little or just keep it where it is?

EDIT* i'm using a 50hz test tone...i'm just a little curious about the equation...sqrt(4*800)??? the RMS of each sub is 400watts...but obviously my shitty little amp cant get that much power to them, so should i use the RMS of the amp? sqrt(4*380) that would be 39volts(which is amazingly how high it gets when i turn the gain ALL the way up) or should i miraculously figure out a way to get it to 56v??

 

[R0ID_RAGE 10+ year member]

and the ground...i found a great spot--just didn't seem like it at the time! but it holds the voltage quite well

 

[phantom240 5,000+ posts]

lol @ this thread.

 

[R0ID_RAGE 10+ year member]

yah, because its SO hilarious...

anyway^^^my questions? i really dont feel like blowing anything--but with that amp, could i even if i tried?

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

Absolutely yes you could damage equipment with that amp.

You've got a pair of subs that want 800-ish watts together and an amp that isn't capable of providing half that amount of output.

This is actually, more often than not, the leading cause of subwoofer damage/destruction - people trying to get more out of an amp than it is designed to provide....they end up clipping the output signal because they feel that the input sensitivity is nothing more than an amp-mounted volume adjustment and consequently fry their sub(s).

Using the proper formula (which you seem to have grasped at this stage) set the output for 350w. 350 is a number the amp can reasonably provide. Beyond that you're asking more of the amp than it can give you.