Wired my subs together & bridged my amp today, went from 175w to 918w!

[Bipolar 10+ year member]

OK, I was just messin with some old stuff that I had given to me, its in my wifes car. 2 "old school" MTX Blue Thunder 8 ohm 10" subs and a Fosgate Punch 700s amp. I realized today I just had it running normal which the amp is rated to put out just 175 watts RMS x 2 at 4 ohms, well this was into 8 ohm subs so I was getting like VERY little power to my subs.. Well I wired my subs inline down to a single 4 ohm mono load and that jumps my power up to a rated 700 watts RMS x 1 at 4 ohms, but my birth sheet says 918 watts tested..WoW, what a frikin difference! My CD player now skips like mad when the bass hits, also my alt belt starts squeaking for some reason on long hard notes, and after about 5 minutes of tuning my dome light fell from the roof and just hung by the wires.. Man I dont have to use near as much gain or bass boost now. I couldn't figure out why everyone post about how you never want to turn those up, well it makes sence now that I have quadrippled my power to my lil subs..unless my math is off my subs were getting like 87 watts each now they are getting like 459w each...is this right?...Crazy...

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[reed dollaz 10+ year member]

you shouldnt use bass boost anyway, even if it isnt as loud as you want. purposely boosting your bass like that will just ruin your subwoofer.

 

[king ranch 5,000+ posts]

so only use gain

 

[Tehgregzor 10+ year member]

so only use gain

/MASSIVE SARCASM

And if you weren't being sarcastic, i just saved your ***.

So you bridged your amp, and halved the impedance? Awesome find then man.

If you want it to stay that way, you're going to need to upgrade your electrical system. The squeaking is the Alternator TRYING to keep up with the demands of your amp and car. Big 3, Batt, and High Output alternator are the upgrades you're looking to make if you want it to keep up to par.

 

[Bipolar 10+ year member]

I swear they put those buttons on there to be used. If you touch it & they you ruin your subwoofer then why is the button even there. Its there to be used by people that know how to use them. Yes, if you dont know what you are doing then dont touch them.. Btw I have had car audio equipment for the last 15 years and I have NEVER blew a sub, and I ALWAYS tweak around with my gain and bass boost & I always will. Just like some people never use the "loud" button on there HU, I always do but I dont have a separate amp for my mids & hi's either. Will I use it after I get my amp, I will have to see. There is no way my system would EVER satisfy me with my bass boost and gain untouched or turned very low. Its not like I turn my gains and boost all the way up and turn my HU all the way up..I use it all in moderation and keep a close ear for distortion and clipping. Anyway.. Yeah big 3 and better battery and alt is on my list, CRAP, I just remembered my car has a frikin aftermarket "underdrive" pulley on it, I bet that hurts my alt output. Need to change that too..Really I want to get two good 800-1000 watt RMS 10" subs & a 2000w rms amp eventually and get rid of this thrown together setup all together..

 

[t-money 10+ year member]

I swear they put those buttons on there to be used. If you touch it & they you ruin your subwoofer then why is the button even there. Its there to be used by people that know how to use them. Yes, if you dont know what you are doing then dont touch them.. Btw I have had car audio equipment for the last 15 years and I have NEVER blew a sub, and I ALWAYS tweak around with my gain and bass boost & I always will. Just like some people never use the "loud" button on there HU, I always do but I dont have a separate amp for my mids & hi's either. Will I use it after I get my amp, I will have to see. There is no way my system would EVER satisfy me with my bass boost and gain untouched or turned very low. Its not like I turn my gains and boost all the way up and turn my HU all the way up..I use it all in moderation and keep a close ear for distortion and clipping. Anyway.. Yeah big 3 and better battery and alt is on my list, CRAP, I just remembered my car has a frikin aftermarket "underdrive" pulley on it, I bet that hurts my alt output. Need to change that too..Really I want to get two good 800-1000 watt RMS 10" subs & a 2000w rms amp eventually and get rid of this thrown together setup all together..

they put those buttons on the amps to make kids think they are getting more bass. yes, they are getting a little more but only at certain frequencies.However, if you meter your car, you're told to turn eq's off, to get the most power from the amp to the subs, think about that.If bass boost made systems louder, why do competitors turn them off while metering?Most kids don't know what clipping sounds like anyways, so they turn there gains up and they turn the bass boost up and pound their systems. Now just because you didn't blow any subs doesn't mean that you aren't sending a clipped signal. Maybe the subs were rated high enough it can handle the clipped signal. Remember this too, amps are rated at certain power levels. If you take a 500 watt amp and set the gains correct you're going to get 500 watts, by turning the bass boost up will not give you 550-600 watts, so turning the bass boost up does nothing but boost certain frequencies. Yes, its possible to use bass boost and gain at the same time, but to do so would mean your gain will be set lower than it should in order to not clip the signal. Why would you want to do that, the loudest your subs will be will be the boosted frequencies, while the other bass frequencies aren't as loud. You don't boost bass signal from the amp, boost it with an eq, where you can select which frequency you want, and thats only if its a bad recording too. Just wanted to clear some things up, somethings i said were generalizations but you get the point.

 

[Atimm693 10+ year member]

Paragraphs god **** it!!! Is that so hard? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

/MASSIVE SARCASM

If you want it to stay that way, you're going to need to upgrade your electrical system. The squeaking is the Alternator TRYING to keep up with the demands of your amp and car. Big 3, Batt, and High Output alternator are the upgrades you're looking to make if you want it to keep up to par.

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif

That's debatable, at least.

900w is a long way from a massive soundsystem that requires charging system mods.

I would check the alt belt first. It might just be a little loose and the increased load on the alt was enough to make it squeak.

If there's no change I'd check out the stock charging system wiring.

No need to jump to the conclusion that it's time for a new alternator.