Blaze45

I didn't plan the system like I would of an engine build or a boost/NA setup and I am paying for it now... Here is how it went down. My buddy had a 10in RF sub out of his EVO X and offered it to me for my 00 Accord. I thought it would be nice to add a little bit of bass to the system. I built a box for it, ordered an amp off of Ebay- the Sony Xplod XM-1652Z to be exact. I had some 4ga wire and fuse from an old setup I had laying around. Used that for the main power and the ground for the amp.
Hooked it all up and now and whenever a decent bass note hits all the lights in the car dim. A lot. I have herd that it can be a weak alternator or poor grounds. I have only spent $80 on everything thus far so and am trying to stay budget minded. I currently have the amp under the front pass. seat with the ground connected to the seat mount bolt. I plan on running a wire brush over the bolt in the morning and really cleaning the threads for where the bolt screws in as well as making sure that the paint is off of the seat rail where the ground for the amp is connected. I would like to upgrade the ground for the batt. but just by adding another 8ag wire that I have laying around. Is that going to help or should I just get a 4ga wire? I have the 8ga wire and connectors sitting right here and wouldn't have to spend any money so that is why I ask...

I have debated on putting a capacitor in... Some people say that it is just a band aid and doesn't really fix the problem but never mentioned why it isn't such a great idea. It sounds like a good idea to me... and is cheap!

The next issue is the amp overheats after about 30min of continuous use. I have the gain up to about 75% of the turn radius of the **** because anything lower then that and I can't really tell that the sub is even on. I have read that this could be because the amp is trying to push the sub harder then the sub can handle and so all the extra electricity is just pumped off the amp as heat. Perhaps I need to get a higher quality and larger sub? I have debated getting a 10 or 12in that has a decent RMS wattage. I am unsure of what the specs are on the sub that I am running because there is only a 75w marking on the back. The amp is currently bridged. It is rated @ 1000w max but I am unsure of what the bridged operating RMS is for one speaker.

Any help in the right direction ( I have read about 500 different opinions at this point lol) would be sweet!

Thanks!

PS- I have read about the "big 3" mods and then have read about others who don't do this but find other ways (IE capacitor) to take care of the light dimming issue. Then again I could just need a sub that uses more power?

dohcvtak

iTrader: (1)

....your amp
take the sub out and look on the back... model number? DVC? or SVC? ohms?
in the mean time i wouldnt bridge it until u know what ohm setting is the sub is at...
and confirmed specs...

Blaze45

I would love to know specs on the sub myself, but all that is printed on the back is 75W, so I am in the process of figuring out what the specs are on the sub. I have had quite a bit of difficulty finding them. Thanks for your help thus far.

fcm

If you have a multimeter you can use it to find the impedance of the sub.

You can tell if it is a SVC or DVC just by looking at it.

The amp will get hot if the load is too low, a 4 ohm DVC sub wired in parallel is a 2 ohm load and the amp is not stable below 4 ohms when bridged, amp will get hot.

As pointed out, your amp is 1x400W RMS into 4 ohms and not stable below 4 ohms.

At this point the wattage of the sub is less important then the impedance of the sub and if it is a SVC or a DVC sub, you need to find that out. 94

XstreamRocker

I had the same problem except that my system was getting a lot more sound than your's is. What I did is to make sure that if the sub is a DVC that it is wired in series (not parallel) and then make sure there are no shorts inside the box. No one has pointed this out yet so I thought I would emphasize it. Make sure your wires inside the box aren't shorting on the magnet or the frame of the sub. If they are then that would explain your loss of sound. From what you've described, you're way overpowering your sub so you should hear plenty of sound... Just my thoughts on the situation.

mrdeadman

A short inside the box would put the amp into protection (usually) as a short inside the box brings the effective impedance to zero ohms...

Blaze45

Well, I unbridged the amp... No more overheating and considerably less dimming of the headlights... :p I have not clue what I am doing when it comes to system installs...

XstreamRocker

Ehh...didn't think of that. Forgot that most newer amps have that protection circuit.

fcm

You will need to explain, "I unbridged the amp" you only have 1 sub, so you only need one channel to drive it, when you bridge a 2ch amp it becomes a 1ch amp, if you "unbridged" it, you have two channels, how are the two channels wired to the sub.

Although not recomended, the one possible way is that the sub is a 4 ohm DVC, [dual voice coil] and you wired one channel to each voice coil, only option with that amp and a 4 ohm DVC sub.

Please say you didn't either just wire one of the amps channels to the sub or one of the VCs of a DCV sub. 94

Autointeg

full of fail.. somethings gonna fry..

Blaze45

Too true. The sub went today. When it tries to hit, it sounds like poping popcorn. When I said that I unbridged the amp, I just wired the sub to get power from the left + and - side where you can wire up speakers. I used to have it wired to the R + and the L - and that is when it would overheat.

I don't really understand how the specs work with a sub and amps but I have been looking at this sub for a possible replacement, let me know what you all think. Any help or insight is appreciated. Maybe a good explanation/link about ohms, wattage ect... I am a serious newb when it comes to sysyem setups so any constructive help is appreciated.

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=299-740

fcm

OIC, you used one channel of the amp, [165W (4 ohms) or 200W (2 ohms) RMS.

You really need to pull the sub and check if it is a DVC or a SVC and what the impedance of the VCs are.

You have an amp that will make 1x400W RMS into 4 ohms, as mentioned and you already know, the amp is not stable below 4 ohms when bridged, that's why it is important to know the subs VC impedance, [ohms].

If you get a new sub, look for one that is no more then 400W continuous, [RMS] and is a 4 ohm SVC or a 2 or 8 ohm DVC, so it can be wired to a 4 ohm load.

My guess is the sub you have is a 4 ohm DVC and the VCs are wired in parallel for a 2 ohm load, if so, it is the wrong sub for that amp.

There is a saying, "it's better to be over-powered then under-powered" and I agree.
That does not mean you can't have a 500W sub and a 400W amp, or a 400W amp and a 500W sub, either way you can have good sound and either way you can blow the sub.

Lots of very good info here... http://www.the12volt.com/Default.asp? 94

Blaze45

The sub that is in the car is currently a SVC sub with no other marking then 75w. I have been debating on what I should do because now, thinking about it every system that I have made for myself has blown, and I am kind of tired of that. I would just like something that kicks decently that I don't have to worry about blowing. I used to have a 12in sub @ about 250rms running 2 or 4 ohms ( I don't recall) and it worked decently but eventually it blew because of the dumb ultimate bass test on an Ipod that my cousin mentioned running.

Now I have this setup, and I have blown it as well. The 10 that I have in the car never really hit that hard to begin with, perhaps I should think about running a 12 instead? Even if I match the specs properly with the amp, what are the chances that I could still blow the sub or even the amp?

This 12 seems to fit what my amp could do- http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=297-277

Then again there is this 10 here that looks like it would fit my needs too but is more expensive and doesn't seem perform as well as the 12 listed above.
http://outlet.crutchfield.com/p_236T...3&tp=111&avf=N


PS- Thanks for the link to that 12v site, lots of great information there.

mrdeadman

You are looking for something with a power rating of ~400rms that can be wired to 4 ohms.
This would be an example:
http://outlet.crutchfield.com/p_2067...l?cc=07&tp=111

fcm

Either the MTX or the Kicker, IMO the MTX is the better sub, installed in a proper sealed box with 400W RMS to drive it, should sound pretty good.

It is very important to get/build the correct box.
The box represents more the 50% of the subs output, it makes no diff. if you have the best sub and amp money can buy, if it is not in a proper, [well constructed, absolutely airtight and correct volume] box, it will not sound as good as it can and the sub will eventually be damaged and possibly damage the amp.

More then a few times I have replaced customers sub systems with "smaller", [smaller/less subs and/or less power to drive them] ones, and outperformed what they had.
Sometimes all that was needed was proper box.

Remember...
Proper internal volume.
Absolutely airtight.
Solid, "bracing" construction.

Even one of those $49.95 boxes from Crutchfield can be made to work by adding the bracing, [even if you can't build a box, you can add bracing] and sealing it, "paint" inside of box with a few coats of fiberglass resin to seal the MDF, run a bead of silicone along all inside seams, add dampening, [jute carpet underlay to at least two surfaces inside the box, do not use the carpet on the box as a gasket, [cut it out from under the subs mounting lip] make a gasket, do not use silicone, pre-drill all the mounting holes, dip the screw in silicone before you screw it in, it will seal the screw hole and keep the screw from vibrating loose, use proper pan-head screws. 94

edzy

These are better in my opinion

http://www.soundsolutionsaudio.com/s...87-Series.html

http://www.soundsolutionsaudio.com/s...-SA%252d8.html

and
http://www.soundsolutionsaudio.com/s...7B47%7DS4.html

mrdeadman

According to the website, the first two are dual 4s which means he won't be able to use them properly with his amp.
The last one does not give a specification, but unless it can be wired to 4ohms then he won't be able to use it either...

XstreamRocker

The last one has an option to choose from a DVC or an SVC.

also........

This one might be worth looking into. It's a 2ohm DVC so it can be wired to 4 ohms. I currently have one but am looking to get rid of it so it can be replaced with a 4ohm DVC. It's a great sounding sub and I highly recommend it. http://outlet.crutchfield.com/p_2067...bwoofers&ssi=0

mrdeadman

I already recommended that one.

XstreamRocker

Oh, my bad. Any ideas of where I can sell mine? I've advertised a few places but no one seems interested...

edzy

Forgot to add that u can ask them for dual 2's

this can work too

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-PowerBass-45...item2eaad81322

http://www.powerbassusa.com/products...ubwoofers.html

Blaze45

One of the subs linked above was a 10in and had a HUGE magnet... How much does that play an effect of how the sub performs and what it sounds like?

Thanks for all the help and input....

mrdeadman

That's because you want $100 for it.
You can get it online for like $50...

bmxkills

iTrader: (2)

Alright, just my little 2 cents... I love my music, so I had to throw in a system, but I didn't need a $1000 system. I just picked up 2 10" Pioneer subs from walmart, and threw them in a box. I picked up a 800W amp (plenty for these 2 subs), head unit, and the wiring kit with a capacitor. I know most people consider this stuff shitty, but it does the job, even better than I expected. I wired everything up with no capacitor, and the lights were dim, and the amp would occasionally go into safe mode when turned up. I wired the capacitor in, and there are no problems whatsoever. My suggestion is that a capacitor was needed to fix this, and as for your sub issue, I'd buy 2 10's, cuz it will definately hit better than a single 12". It's a simple fix, and you won't regret it. Also, replacing the speakers make a world of difference. Go ahead and hate guys haha.

edzy

that's the motor

i would try to explain but i'm high as a kite right now