Ill start with my setup
Pioneer Headunit
2x JL 12w6 (first edition)
2x JL 500/1 (only one at first...continue reading)

I picked up the subs and the one jl 500/1 about 4 months ago. They came inside of a mdf box that was huge but fit into my trunk. The setup pounded real good but there was a little bit of leaking that I noticed and I wanted trunk space again so I began planning. Then about 2 weeks ago i finished building a fiberglass/mdf wood box that fit into the spare tire well of my dc4. (see pic below) I wire everything back up (in series) and nothing happens. The amp does have the power-on light on and as far as i knew everything was wired correctly but absolutely nothing come from the subs.
Well, since I was really missing having bass I just went down to Cartoys next to me and they proclaimed that everything was wired correctly. Then they did a test and found that there was power, ground, and everythign but no signal was coming out of the amp. That could only mean that the amp was dead. It was wierd that it worked great but when I made my own setup it decided to die on me. But i was okay with it and they told me to go to this place near by that fixes amps. Well apparently shops arent allowed to touch JL amps and that I would have to send it in. So, I just said screw it and started looking around for a new amp.
I found another guy who was selling his jl 500/1 for a good price so i picked up his amp and had tried it out on my car before buying. It didnt work. So we took the thing to the local Cartoys (his choice). We found out that his amp did have power but we never actually tested it on some subs to make sure. He had to do something with his kid so i just bought the amp and told him if it continued not to work id have to sell it back to him and he agreed. So as I was talking to the head installer about my problem he decided to look at it personally. Even with his "skills" he couldnt figure out what was up. We tried using a different subwoofer with my old amp and with my newly purchased amp; no work. We tried a different RCA cable; no work. We tried a jl 250/1 he had laying around; no power. Wait what? I checked under the engine and the "installer" put in power before ground with the jl 250/1 and ended up blowing my fuse. I didnt have another one and they didn't either so I was done for the day. I didn't make him reimburse me because at the beginning he said he was doing this as "a friend" and I agreed to that.
So I drove home with less accomplished than before. On my way home, as desperate as I was, i stopped at Bestbuy (they installed my viper alarm and its not working so theyre fixing it tomorrow) and at the same appointment I got them to take a look at my subs so hopefully they can figure somethign out, but I am just out of ideas.

So basically i have 2 500/1s which both may or may not work. 2 subs which, hell, could work or could not. I am really in a jam and am really missing bass, and am starting to just get really frustrated....So anyone with any kind of advice or tip please help me.

...If I'm lucky and the everything is working (thank the lord) then i was thinking of just keeping both of my amps and having them so one amp for one sub. Would that make a big difference in power for 12w6s. Also, would this setup still be strong enough if in the near future I upgraded to 12w7v2s?


btw i know it looks like **** right now but im wrapping it in vinyl/leather/audio carpet and doing my whole trunk up real nice when I get stuff running right.

thanks for any and all replies
i have also posted this on Team-Integra and will reply here with any insights the guys over there have as well

 

You mean upgrade to 12" W6V2's? There is a big differences between the 12W6 and the 12W6V2. But if I were you, I'd strip everything out, and wire it directly hooked up (without the wires ran anywhere) and hook it up to see if the amp puts out any output. Try to hook up the amp into a friends car who has a system hooked up already?

 

Your right it does sound a little complicated, so let me ask you a few things....
1- You say you have two 12W6s, they are a 300W DVC 6 ohm sub, correct?
these ones?... http://mobile.jlaudio.com/pdfs/8-12W6_BDS.pdf

2- You also say you have them wired in series, do you mean both the VCs and the speakers are all wired in series? that would be a 24 ohm load to the amp or a Re of 21.6 ohms, the amp was designed to work within 1.5 and 4 ohms...
http://mobile.jlaudio.com/prod...d=252.

3- Has anybody checked with a multimeter to see if there is continuity on the subs speaker wire? If the VCs and speakers are wired in series, even if one VC is bad the subs will not work at all, [open circuit].

4- When the system was checked, did anybody pull the subs out and check the wiring?

I agree with shyboy817 I would "strip everything" and test things one at a time, pull the subs, disconnect all the wiring, and use a multimeter to test each VC, each one should read between 5and6 ohms, move the cones a little to make sure there is not a "dead spot", you can also use a batt, any one will work AA, AAA, C or a 9V, touch the pos. and neg. of the batt. to the pos. and neg. of each VC, the speaker will 'pop", the batt. test will only tell you that you do not have an open VC, if they, [VCs] are OK connect each one up to the amp, one by one, [keep the volume down] if you get sound then I would install both amps and run one sub to each amp, and I would wire the VCs in parallel for a 3 ohm load, you could use one amp for both subs wire the VCs in parallel and then wire the speakers in parallel for a 1.5 ohm load, although IMO that would be under-powering the subs. 94

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by shyboy817 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You mean upgrade to 12" W6V2's? There is a big differences between the 12W6 and the 12W6V2. But if I were you, I'd strip everything out, and wire it directly hooked up (without the wires ran anywhere) and hook it up to see if the amp puts out any output. Try to hook up the amp into a friends car who has a system hooked up already?</TD></TR></TABLE>

yeh i know theres a difference but i think a jl 500/1 can still handle a w6v2 because isnt the only difference the fact that the v2s are newer and put out more watts?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fcm &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Your right it does sound a little complicated, so let me ask you a few things....
1- You say you have two 12W6s, they are a 300W DVC 6 ohm sub, correct?
these ones?... http://mobile.jlaudio.com/pdfs/8-12W6_BDS.pdf
yes those are the ones as far as my knowledge goes

2- You also say you have them wired in series, do you mean both the VCs and the speakers are all wired in series? that would be a 24 ohm load to the amp or a Re of 21.6 ohms, the amp was designed to work within 1.5 and 4 ohms...
http://mobile.jlaudio.com/prod...d=252.
im gonna have to recheck that because ive popped them in and out like 10 times trying different things...one of the "techs" told me that the way i was running it made it so i was bridging the subs 3 times which gave me a low impedence so i ran it a different way...i went pos from amp to pos sub to neg same sub and same thing but opposite for the other side of the same sub and the same thing for the second sub


3- Has anybody checked with a multimeter to see if there is continuity on the subs speaker wire? If the VCs and speakers are wired in series, even if one VC is bad the subs will not work at all, [open circuit].
didnt check that but will do; thanks

4- When the system was checked, did anybody pull the subs out and check the wiring?
yes they have been checked...several times

I agree with shyboy817 I would "strip everything" and test things one at a time, pull the subs, disconnect all the wiring, and use a multimeter to test each VC, each one should read between 5and6 ohms, move the cones a little to make sure there is not a "dead spot", you can also use a batt, any one will work AA, AAA, C or a 9V, touch the pos. and neg. of the batt. to the pos. and neg. of each VC, the speaker will 'pop", the batt. test will only tell you that you do not have an open VC, if they, [VCs] are OK connect each one up to the amp, one by one, [keep the volume down] if you get sound then I would install both amps and run one sub to each amp, and I would wire the VCs in parallel for a 3 ohm load, you could use one amp for both subs wire the VCs in parallel and then wire the speakers in parallel for a 1.5 ohm load, although IMO that would be under-powering the subs. 94
thank you so much for that info and I will try to complete all of this asap but itll have to wait until tomorrow for teh update</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gargsta &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yeh i know theres a difference but i think a jl 500/1 can still handle a w6v2 because isnt the only difference the fact that the v2s are newer and put out more watts?</TD></TR></TABLE>

The JL 500/1 and JL 12" W6V2 go well with each other, the 12W6V2 is a 400watts rms subwoofer. And for the detailed questions, I'll leave it to FCM since he's more experienced.

 

Yes it sounds like the VCs are wired in series, connect the pos. terminal of one VC the the neg. terminal of the other VC, leaving you with a pos. terminal from one of the VCs and the neg. of the other, [in your case DVC 6 ohm] would give you a series hook up and a 12 ohm load. [re 10.8 ohms] now if you then connected the pos. terminal of on e of the subs to the neg. of the other sub, that again would leave you with a pos. terminal on one sub and a neg. terminal on the other one, [ in your case two DVC 6 ohm subs wired in series for a 12 ohm load, then the subs wired in series for a 24 oem load] or as you put it.. pos. out of amp to pos. of one VC from the neg. of that VC to the pos. of the other VC from the neg. of that VC to the pos. of one of the VCs on the other sub and then from the neg. of that VC to the pos. of the other VC on that sub and then finally from the neg. of that last VC to the neg. of the amp.

Anyway if it is all in series, its wrong, it should be in parallel for a 1.5 ohm load.

Speak at you tomorrow 94

 

so after tons of work on it for the last couple of days i got it all working and after confirmation and checking from a friend of mine who works at a really nice local car audio place i found out that one of my subs is bad but both amps run fine and all wiring was good

all i needed was a distribution block and a new fuse and now i have twice the power i had before
...well after i get the new dub6

thanks alot for all the advice guys

and dont worry ill put completed pics up later to help give back to the community