Stiff subs or unrealistic expectations?

Braindead

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York, SC
Just finished my install, and I'm not sure whether to be proud or disappointed. With the gains set at half or even 3/4 and the volume at 25/30 you can only tell the subs are moving by touching them, and they don't put out much bass. Barely outdoes my factory infinity 6x9's. With the gain turned all the way up they move about an 8th of an inch, and shake my rearview somewhat well.

I grounded where the seat connects to the chassis since it was the only place i could find anywhere near my amp, im not sure if thatll be the problem or not.

Anyways, with a dmm i get 13.8 volts at the battery and amp, so voltage shouldn't be a problem. I'm reading 0.95 ohms at my terminals.

I'll go ahead and say my box is sh*t, isn't sealed that well and i made one of the cutouts too large so one sub is only supported on one side, the other side just rests on the edge. The other sub fits perfectly, I'm going to be buying a new box from a custom builder in a couple months.

So are my subs stiff, or is this just how they'll preform?

 
Just finished my install, and I'm not sure whether to be proud or disappointed. With the gains set at half or even 3/4 and the volume at 25/30 you can only tell the subs are moving by touching them, and they don't put out much bass. Barely outdoes my factory infinity 6x9's. With the gain turned all the way up they move about an 8th of an inch, and shake my rearview somewhat well.
I grounded where the seat connects to the chassis since it was the only place i could find anywhere near my amp, im not sure if thatll be the problem or not.

Anyways, with a dmm i get 13.8 volts at the battery and amp, so voltage shouldn't be a problem. I'm reading 0.95 ohms at my terminals.

I'll go ahead and say my box is sh*t, isn't sealed that well and i made one of the cutouts too large so one sub is only supported on one side, the other side just rests on the edge. The other sub fits perfectly, I'm going to be buying a new box from a custom builder in a couple months.

So are my subs stiff, or is this just how they'll preform?

sounds to me like you know some of the problems. Other things I would check: what HU are you running, it sounds like it might not be putting out any RCA voltage. Another thing is what are all of the setting on your amp set at? sounds like your subsonic or low pass are set up wrong.

 
sounds to me like you know some of the problems. Other things I would check: what HU are you running, it sounds like it might not be putting out any RCA voltage. Another thing is what are all of the setting on your amp set at? sounds like your subsonic or low pass are set up wrong.
Its a kenwood unit, model is in my sig. I haven't set up my filters yet, how would i do that?

 
Woweee. Start by getting a properly built box, maybe back your gain knob down some, it's not a volume knob you know? Atleast you know what your doin with a DMM that will take you far, I don't mean that sarcastically lol. I would just wait till you have a proper box though before you hook everything back up

 
its your head unit rca output is only 2.5 which is low get a hu with atleast 4v outputs, and fix all the other minor problems you got and you should be fine...

 
Woweee. Start by getting a properly built box, maybe back your gain knob down some, it's not a volume knob you know? Atleast you know what your doin with a DMM that will take you far, I don't mean that sarcastically lol. I would just wait till you have a proper box though before you hook everything back up
It'd be a couple months before I could get a new box. For now i'm keeping my gain knob at 3/4 until the subs loosen up, i'm just not sure how to set my crossovers on the amp. I know not to use the ones on my hu. Should i just play around with them until it sounds good?

 
It'd be a couple months before I could get a new box. For now i'm keeping my gain knob at 3/4 until the subs loosen up, i'm just not sure how to set my crossovers on the amp. I know not to use the ones on my hu. Should i just play around with them until it sounds good?
look on your amp. turn your gain and "bass Boost" all the way DOWN. now look for something labled "HPF or high pass" and turn it all the way up, now find the knob labled "SSF or Subsonic" and turn it all the way down. play a song and SLOWLY turn the gain up to see if the subs move more. if they do then report back for propper crossover selection.

Matt

 
its your head unit rca output is only 2.5 which is low get a hu with atleast 4v outputs, and fix all the other minor problems you got and you should be fine...
2.5v RCA's are not an issue here. I've never seen an amp that couldnt' run on a 2.5v RCA and get full output. RCA's are a preamp signal not an ouput signal so they won't have an effect on the final output of the system. He doesn't need to spend money on a new HU to get his speakers to move. Don't give advice if you don't know what your talking about.

Now back to the OP. On the cutout side that is too big do you have an airleak around the subwoofer. You can easily build another baffle on top of the front side to fix that without doing much more work and that might help your output by quite a bit. You want a perfect seal behind your sub.

I'd also redo that ground. Make sure it well sanded and if you can find another point I'd do that. You can always make your own if you can find bare sheet metal and drill in a screw. A bad ground could be limiting your amp, but usually it'll go into protect. Last thing I can think is check your wiring. If your accidently wired at a higher impedence that may be a problem also check your HU settings. Low pass around 80hz. Turn High pass on your subs off or at 20-25hz or so. The subwoofer output on a kenwood can be turned up without any issues, it's not a bass boost it will raise the whole bass range equally. I'd turn it up and then reset your gains.

 
2.5v RCA's are not an issue here. I've never seen an amp that couldnt' run on a 2.5v RCA and get full output. RCA's are a preamp signal not an ouput signal so they won't have an effect on the final output of the system. He doesn't need to spend money on a new HU to get his speakers to move. Don't give advice if you don't know what your talking about.

Now back to the OP. On the cutout side that is too big do you have an airleak around the subwoofer. You can easily build another baffle on top of the front side to fix that without doing much more work and that might help your output by quite a bit. You want a perfect seal behind your sub.

I'd also redo that ground. Make sure it well sanded and if you can find another point I'd do that. You can always make your own if you can find bare sheet metal and drill in a screw. A bad ground could be limiting your amp, but usually it'll go into protect. Last thing I can think is check your wiring. If your accidently wired at a higher impedence that may be a problem also check your HU settings. Low pass around 80hz. Turn High pass on your subs off or at 20-25hz or so. The subwoofer output on a kenwood can be turned up without any issues, it's not a bass boost it will raise the whole bass range equally. I'd turn it up and then reset your gains.
the only other thing from what he said would be the ground regardless if the sub had a box or was played free air it would move... seems like the amp is being limited and the hu or amps wiring is to blame... and i don't know but when i went from to 2v to 4v it made a big difference... wonder if the amp is on low pass? but what do i know.... op, sorry for the wrong advice please refer to professionals opinions....

 

---------- Post added at 03:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:00 PM ----------

 

2.5v RCA's are not an issue here. I've never seen an amp that couldnt' run on a 2.5v RCA and get full output. RCA's are a preamp signal not an ouput signal so they won't have an effect on the final output of the system. He doesn't need to spend money on a new HU to get his speakers to move. Don't give advice if you don't know what your talking about.

Now back to the OP. On the cutout side that is too big do you have an airleak around the subwoofer. You can easily build another baffle on top of the front side to fix that without doing much more work and that might help your output by quite a bit. You want a perfect seal behind your sub.

I'd also redo that ground. Make sure it well sanded and if you can find another point I'd do that. You can always make your own if you can find bare sheet metal and drill in a screw. A bad ground could be limiting your amp, but usually it'll go into protect. Last thing I can think is check your wiring. If your accidently wired at a higher impedence that may be a problem also check your HU settings. Low pass around 80hz. Turn High pass on your subs off or at 20-25hz or so. The subwoofer output on a kenwood can be turned up without any issues, it's not a bass boost it will raise the whole bass range equally. I'd turn it up and then reset your gains.
the only other thing from what he said would be the ground regardless if the sub had a box or was played free air it would move... seems like the amp is being limited and the hu or amps wiring is to blame... and i don't know but when i went from to 2v to 4v it made a big difference... wonder if the amp is on low pass? but what do i know.... op, sorry for the wrong advice please refer to professionals opinions....

 
2.5v RCA's are not an issue here. I've never seen an amp that couldnt' run on a 2.5v RCA and get full output. RCA's are a preamp signal not an ouput signal so they won't have an effect on the final output of the system. He doesn't need to spend money on a new HU to get his speakers to move. Don't give advice if you don't know what your talking about.

Now back to the OP. On the cutout side that is too big do you have an airleak around the subwoofer. You can easily build another baffle on top of the front side to fix that without doing much more work and that might help your output by quite a bit. You want a perfect seal behind your sub.

I'd also redo that ground. Make sure it well sanded and if you can find another point I'd do that. You can always make your own if you can find bare sheet metal and drill in a screw. A bad ground could be limiting your amp, but usually it'll go into protect. Last thing I can think is check your wiring. If your accidently wired at a higher impedence that may be a problem also check your HU settings. Low pass around 80hz. Turn High pass on your subs off or at 20-25hz or so. The subwoofer output on a kenwood can be turned up without any issues, it's not a bass boost it will raise the whole bass range equally. I'd turn it up and then reset your gains.
I'll do that once my car works... How can I tell if my amp is still drawing power when the car's off? It has constant power going to it, but i don't see why it wouldn't. I had to jump my car earlier, thought it was maybe a mishap. Now I when i try to jump it the car won't even idle, could the amp have messed up my electrical or did I fry my battery?

 
i got the car running about an hour ago, but it still barely starts and wont hold idle, but i took the fuse out of the power wire and the batter went from about a 13.5v charge while running to a 12.4v charge when i checked an hour later

 
Disconnect everything and start over. Read in depth on how to do each step properly. Start a build log and share all of your pics on here. I guarantee it will go much better.

 
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