Quick question fellas: I had my amp/sub professionally installed about a year ago and these things were banging. I thought I was going to sell my car about a month ago so in order to sell it and keep my equipment I pulled the subs out (still in the box) along with the amp but left the wires in (RCA,remote,ground,speaker). The only one I took out was the power since it would obviously be seen if I was showing someone under my hood.
Well turns out I'm not selling it so I tried to put everything back in. I ran the power wire through, hooked it to battery, etc... ok life is good. Put everything back in place, made the dumb mistake of putting my RCAs into the outputs of the amp and I thought my subs were dead. Decided to read the manual and found out I did that wrong so I moved the RCAs to input and finally I got some life breathing into my subs. However its not the same sounding as it used to be.
AMP: Kicker KX1200.1 SUBS: Alpine Type-R 1242D x 2
Amp turns on and has power. Subs move. Air comes out of the slot of my box. Everything WORKS. Its just not the same loudness. I'm thinking perhaps the subs are out of phase?
The left sub has a +/-, as well as the right sub. From what I remember I took the +'s, twisted them together, and put them in the + slot on the amp. I did the same with the -. Did I do something wrong? I thought this was how you wired it. Why don't they sound the same? Is it because I left them in a cold garage for like 2 months or did I wire them wrong? I never changed any of the settings on the amp (bassboost, gain, etc). Its driving me nuts that it doesn't sound the same. If I can't figure it out I'm gonna take it to the guys that installed it so they can help me. I figured its a wiring problem and I'd rather fix it myself than take it to them so they can get a good laugh :P
You should only have one set of wires running into the amp. did you you hook up wires to both speaker terminals and run both sets to the amp? If thats the case the subs are not wired correctly. I believe your amp is 1 ohm stable so it should be wired like....
You are correct it is a 1ohm stable amp. I did not wire it like the diagram (slightly off). I just wired it exactly how the guys that installed it did (I drew down how they did it before I removed them)
I can't find a diagram of how I did it online, so I will do my best to explain.
I have TWO sets of speaker wire (each with a + and - lead). Sub on the left has + and - terminal, as does sub on the right. [I have done the followed for both subs]: I have taken one speaker wire, split it at BOTH ends, attached one part of one end to the - terminal of the sub, the other part to the + part of the sub and ran the ends of the speaker wires towards the amp. From here, I have taken the + ends coming from both subs, twisted them together, and inserted them into the + input on the amp. I did the same with the -.
So its similar to the diagram you posted. But they used one speaker wire and split it to go to both + leads on the sub, then just twisted that wire and stuck it into the + (same for negative). I did almost the same thing, just used the + and - parts of the two different speaker wires and twisted them together....
Now that I've looked at that diagram it looks easier to just wire it that way. Since speaker wire comes in a pair... my question is this:
So I take the speaker wire, split it at one end and run each end of the split into the + terminals for the subs. Then I take the end of that wire, twist the ends together, and stick them into the +? Is so that seems easier and I will try it.
Ok this is probably the worst drawing I've ever done, but I hope this helps. The speaker wire represents black, where it has been split I drew in which parts of the split represent + and -
This is how I have it wired:
That is the worst drawing ever. But its how they installed them. The only thing I'm at a disadvantage is that I can't see how the subs are wired inside the box unless I take them out. Hope that helps.
If what I have is in fact the correct wiring, why does it sound off? It still produces bass, just not as loud and not sounding as good? I'm thinking that when my brother was helping me install it that he switched caps over the terminals and I actually have a + where the - is.... that is the only thing I can think of...
No headunit was not removed. I figured I'd sell that with car if thats what it came down to. Everything was left attached to it as well into the HU, including RCA and remote...
No these were never touched even after I took the amp out of the car. I figured that if I was going to get a new vehicle I would ast least leave these the same [gain, boost, and something else... frequency or something]. I called the shop that installed them the guy said I should try switching the wires attached to one of the subwoofers terminals... he said if it was making noise, and amp is powered on that it is probably out of phase. Anything else he said I'd have to let them take a peek. I hope its not THAT dumb of a problem...
hey David,beleive it or not (and im sure u will),Ive had this ame problem with about 5 different installs with all different eqpt.over the past 15 yrs.makes no sense to me either.One day,or for a year,your system is bangin,you simply unhook the amp to relocate it or whatever,hook it back up and it sound about 5dbs less.ive had it happen,so what i do now is ,when i install my systems i never unhook ANYTHING unless im changing vehicles or building a new box.Ive had the same setup for 2 yrs now and am afraid to touch it cuz it sounds great(to me).Ive got 2 new subs waiting for me to build them a new home but i dont want to ruin a good thing.Like I said though as long as im building a new box or changing stuff I havent had a prob,but unhooking stuff then hookin it back up for whatever reason it just sounds like pooh!!!I do all my own installs and i cant figure it out either.I got out of car audio for a while because of that very prob.! time I unhooked my amd so I could check out how a different amp sounded in my truck,then when i hooked mine back up,it was never the same.solved prob by upgrading amp and sub.still have sloppy wiring job from initial hookup because it sounded soo good I didnt want o mess it up.I feel your pain bro,literally.dont know what to tell you because i got all the same advice u got and none helped.sorry to tell you that but atleast you know youre not the only one.and i know im not either.maybe its a conspiracy be the car audio industry to keep us upgrading all the time,as most tru bassaholics,(like me)change their systems with the seasons.good luck,oh ya 1 time i got so fed up with this same deal i bought everything new from hu to wires to subs.that did fix the prob,til i went to put it all in a different car,,lol
Well i tried swapping the speaker wire going into one of the subs terminals. That didn't do much. Yes I'm sure they are both moving because when I have music playing I popped my trunk and watched them vibrate and felt them with my hand. I could even feel the air being pushed out from the slot. So I'm going to take this to the shop I had it installed at and see if they can figure it out. Argh!
Are you sure you have the RCAs plugged into the correct slots? I know you said you now have them in the input, which is right, but try trading the two plugs around.
Alright I will try all of these things: *Switch RCA cables and see if that helps (they are color coded and I know I wired them up according to color) *Switch the speaker wire on the terminal, then try switching RCA and see whats up *If that don't work I'll check the knobs on the amp and see what they say. They are X-Over, BassBoot, and Gain *If fiddling around with the knobs does me no good, I will pull the subs and check their wiring (I just wish the weather was warmer). I will wire them accordingly to the post above mine with the terrible picture I drew and see what happens. *If all else fails, its back to the shop.
I think also when I get some time I will take pictures of whats going on for you guys to see... maybe that will help. I will get to this "project" this weekend and let everyone know what happens.
