Ok im having a problem here and i need some help...i recently had 2 xplode subs (bought em cuzz they were cheap)and i wanted an upgrade so i bought some fosgate punch 12s...500 max,250 rms i think...so anyway i hooked up the subs and they sounded great...my friend told me i should also upgrade my wires (power and ground) which were both 10 guage...so i updated to a 800watt 4 guage power and ground wire and after that things went down hill...it sounded good for about a day and now im gettin really bad muddy sounding bass and i dont know what to do! they sounded fine before i switched over to the 4 guage and now it just doesnt sound right at all,the bass just hits wierd...now one thing i thought it coulda been is that when i unhooked my battery all my decks settings reset...i spent hours configuring it all back to the way i had it and still really bad sounding bass...is it possible that i blew a sub? im just starting to learn about this stuff but i dont know what to do about this...if anybody could help me it would be MUCH apreciated...if its a blown sub or something its no biggie cuzz i got the insurance for a year so they will replace em over at the place i got em...somebody please help me cuzz a day without good sounding audio is like a day without sun!
I know what you mean. Audio is very important in a car. When you say "bad" sounding bass or "bass just hits wierd", what is it? Describe in detail. Bad can be different things to many people. Are you saying it's not producing low bass or distortion mixed in? What amp are you using? Are your subs 4ohms DVC or SVC?
nikateen
Unregistered guest
Posted on
My subs are 8ohms single voice coil...and by bad bass i mean the bass hits kind of muffled,yet it hits kinda distorted at the same time,almost like i got one sub in the trunk thats not gettin enough jiuce...and my amp is a kenwood 800 watt peak probably running 400-500 continuius.
check your ground. it should be made as close to the amp as possible, to bare sanded chassis metal with a bolt. if the ground isn't solid, this will cause clipping and the amp will sound bad. it's caused by lack of good power..
NikateeN
Unregistered guest
Posted on
The ground is good and solid,close to the amp...i tried both subs by themselves and each sounded good,but when i put them on together they sound kinda distorted....also when i would tyr a single sub the other one would still move,is this because of the air flow in the box? Im not so sure...and could it be that now that i got the 800 watt 8 gauge wire its tryin to pull more power? power that isnt there? but anyway im gonna get a power cap soon maybe it will help.
Let me see, the subs sounded good when tested separately? How are you wiring the subs? Series? Parallel? If you wire them in parallel, it'll drop the 8ohms to 4ohms. Do you have a DMM to measure them? Not all subs are created equal. Some could be 6ohms not 8 as stated. After the subs are wired, measure the total ohms. If it's close to 4ohms then you're okay. Judging by your post, it looks like your amp can't handle it. Is the gain/level set properly? If that's set incorrectly, it will give you distortion/clip as the volume increases. What model of kenwood do you have? You mentioned 800w, it could be 400w rms or lower. There is no rule when it comes to stating peak powers by the manufacturers. Some use a factor of 10!
If you've unhooked your subs prior to having this problem make sure you've got the polarity right. If you've got one sub's terminals hooked up backwards(neg to pos, etc) the two will play out of phase, basically cancelling each other out.
This is something you would notice right away however. If its been a gradual thing then the problem lies somewhere else. Is your amp getting hot?
-Fishy
NikateeN
Unregistered guest
Posted on
The amp is a kac 7201 and i think its running like 400 coninious...im not so sure how its wired...i hooked up in the box the same way my last subs were hooked up,and all i know about the ohms is that the book that came with the subs says 8 ohms...the gain is set about 3 quarters of the way up,thanks for the help guys.
That amp won't give you 400w rms. According to Kenwood, the rating was done at 14.4v. Any company that only lists 14.4v is trying to hide something. You should check the amp's manual for the gain/level setting. If for example your amp is 200ma - 8v, and you have it set 3/4 of the way up for a 4v HU system, you'll induce distortion/clipping. Check your wiring. Last thing you want to do is guess with an amp like Kenwood. It will not handle anything less than 4 ohms bridged.
NikateeN
Unregistered guest
Posted on
Well guys i think its good now...i bridged the subs and they pound hard with a nice solid bass...i really apreciate all the help and knowing me ill probably be back in a few months with a new problem...thanks guys.