Bass cuts in and out at mid- to high volumes, no idea why

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jrdnhsnbrg
10+ year member

Pimped my grandma's ride
First- my setup.

American Bass XFL 12" dual 4 ohm voice coils at 2 ohms

Alpine MRX-M100 1000W RMS at 2 ohms mono amp (currently for sale)

Eclipse CD1200 head unit

Power Acoustik 5 farad capacitor (currently for sale)

6 gauge wiring (I know, too small- will be changed soon.)

Custom professionally built 7.85 cu. ft. Kerf-ported box

So, a few weeks ago it got pretty hot for Wisconsin, upwards of 95 degrees and I was out driving down the highway, windows down and music up and my sub just stopped working. I figured the amp just got too hot and went in to thermal protection mode. The next night it cooled down to about 65 degrees and it was still cutting out, so I turned my gain down from almost full to about 3/4 and haven't had any issues with it cutting out until today again. If I'm listening to rap with my bass as loud as it can go without distortion I have my volume at 50 and bass at +1 on my headunit. Typically when it would start cutting out I could just turn the volume down then back up and it would come back, but today I was bumping as usual and when I turned the volume down to get the bass back it didn't come back until my volume got To about 20, which is quiet enough to have a conversation over. When I turned it back up it was cutting out around 35. I pulled over, popped the trunk and took a look at the amp and sub. The blue power light on the amp was still on but the sub wasn't moving and the voltage on the capacitor wasn't dropping at all then the bass would just come back. I have a new amp on the way, Hifonics BRX1600.1d which comes with a 2 gauge wiring kit. Gonna use my old 6 gauge wiring to upgrade the stock chassis and engine block ground connections. Also bought an XS Power D680 battery which will be installed as soon as I get the new amp. I for the life of me have no idea why the sub/amp is cutting in and out like it is. I don't feel like the amp is bad because of the fact that the power light stays on constantly, never turns off unless I turn the radio off obviously. I just bought the sub a couple months ago and the amp is about a year old. Anyone have any ideas?

 
Check your wiring and you said you had the gain all the way up? If you were rocking at 50 or max volume, with the gain cranked, with 6 gauge wiring, I can imagine you were well into clipping. Check the resistance or ohms on your sub.

 
As I said I am selling my amp and cap and have an XS Power D680 currently charging to be installed when I get my new amp, wiring, and fuse blocks. Gain wasn't all the way up, about 90% though. I backed it off to about 75% when I first started having issues. I will be rewiring everything when I get it all over the next few days. Thanks for the help guys I'm glad it's not something to do with the amp or sub being bad for some reason, neither one was cheap.

 
Alright I will, it's just kinda awkward because I don't have a DMM. Mine is analog, go figure. From what I've heard American Bass subs are super strong and can withstand a lot of abuse, I've only had this sub for 2 months now of daily use, not always cranked way up though.

 
Looks like I'm gonna make a trip to Walmart tomorrow, I need more ring terminals and a new connector for the negative battery terminal. Current one is covered in corrosion from the old battery, my car is a 2001 Lincoln Continental. I'm gonna use the old 6 gauge wiring to upgrade the chassis and engine block grounds.

 
I know and it hits the lows like no tomorrow for a single 12 on 1000W RMS. The whole trunk lid vibrates up and down around a quarter inch at 28 hz.

EDIT if I could upload pictures off my phone I would. It was custom built to fit in my trunk perfectly, and it does with a little room behind the wheel wells for equipment and whatnot.

 
Sub read 2.1 ohms and when I was disassembling my old setup today I noticed the fuse was corroded and almost charred on one lead, also noticed the ground wire from the amp was almost completely free of the ring terminal I was using. I won't use the screw-type ring terminals anymore, only crimp or solder. All I have left to do is ground the second battery to the chassis, connect positive of second battery to positive of front battery, connect positive of second battery to the digital voltage readout ANL fuse holder, and tune the amp of course.

 
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jrdnhsnbrg

10+ year member
Pimped my grandma's ride
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