Sub Installation Problem

[mdodge]

Hello all. Hoping someone might help me with a dilema. I have an audiobahn aw1200q 12" sub I have just installed in a custom box i got from jamcllw. Below I have attached a crude logical layout of my system. The EQ is a Pioneer digital EQ, amp 1 is a audiobahn 4ch amp and amp 2 is an alpine 4ch amp. I have everything hooked up as you see below. The problem is that the bass sucks. How bad? My pioneer 6x9's in the rear produce cleaner/better bass. The sub is working, but I'm hoping it's an installation problem rather than the sub being that weak. I know I'm only driving about 100watts to the sub, so maybe that's a problem. However Marie is driving the same sub with the same amp, and it hits much cleaner and harder. EQ only has sub off and on function. It is on. I have check polarity of wires a million times, from sub to amp and amp to EQ. Amp 2 has low pass on and even with gain pretty high it's really weak, even if i turn gain down, and eq or HU up, it's still weak. Hoping to get your guys expertise in maybe finding out my possible problem. Thanks in advance. :)

[jamcllw]

I would think the amp isnt strong enough to power the sub. That sub craves 700 watts RMS. If the sub is dual 4 ohm voice coils your either running a 8 Ohm or 2 Ohm load. I don;t know if that amp is 2 Ohm stable bridged. If you have it wired to make it an 8 ohm load and the amp puts out 100x1 @ 4 Ohms then your only sending the sub about 50 watts. Adversly if the amp has a protection circuit and if your running it at 2 Ohms the amp may not be sending full power to the speaker protecting itself from burning up. Find out if the amp is 2 Ohm stable running in 1 channel? And how are the voice coils wired?
On another note how do you like the box?

[Screamin eagle]

so you're running this sub with a 4 channel alpine amp? If this is the case you are running it 4 ohms bridged( 4 ohms per channel X 2) you shouldn't have any trouble running it like that, it's just not very much power for a larger sub like this one.

[jamcllw]

Nevermind what I said up there I thought you were running a 2 channel amp to it. Bridge the front channels of the amp to 1 coil and the other 2 to the second coil and you should be alright.

[mdodge]

Originally posted by jamcllw@Feb 12 2005, 07:10 PM
Nevermind what I said up there I thought you were running a 2 channel amp to it. Bridge the front channels of the amp to 1 coil and the other 2 to the second coil and you should be alright.
ahh. I see. Now, that' means i have to run another pair of speaker wires into the box for the other coil right? I like the box, but i'll prolly have to make another hole in it if the above info is correct. :P

Thanks guys! :thumbsup:

[mikegett]

You should realy think about getting a bigger amp for that sub. Besides the fact that it will sound pretty poor with 100 watts, you will eventually burn up the four channel.

[Screamin eagle]

If I was you I would put both wires from the voice coils onto the one connector that is already on the box. That would give you a 2 ohm load. Buy an amp that is 2 or 1 ohm stable bridged to one channel. That should rock your little audiobahn sub.

Here's one......
http://www.thezeb.com/p-Audiobahn-A8000T-M...fier-100152.htm (http://www.thezeb.com/p-Audiobahn-A8000T-Mono-Subwoofer-Amplifier-100152.htm)
http://www.acaraudio.com/product_info.php?...roducts_id=1480 (http://www.acaraudio.com/product_info.php?cPath=22_36&products_id=1480)


or you could put in another connector on the box which would give you 4 ohms per channel and get a big 2 channel.

http://www.acaraudio.com/product_info.php?...products_id=641 (http://www.acaraudio.com/product_info.php?cPath=22_37&products_id=641)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...5749448459&rd=1 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=18796&item=5749448459&rd=1)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...5749560587&rd=1 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=18796&item=5749560587&rd=1)

[cutelilcntrygrl]

Originally posted by mikegett@Feb 13 2005, 02:33 AM
it will sound pretty poor with 100 watts
I have the same amp and the same sub... mine hits pretty hard and sounds really good.. mdodge can vouch for that.

[Screamin eagle]

same box too?

[FormulaNERD]

a box with the proper volume will make a world of difference.

[Youngblood77]

My advice is to pretty much copy Marie's wiring layout, and then double check that your headunit doesn't have an internal crossover. Seeing as how everything is being split from a 2-channel signal inside your eq, it's a possability that the lower frequencies are being cut out before the signal even gets to the eq. Go through the menus on your deck, and double check to make sure. might be something simple. ;)

[bigd6983]

Originally posted by Youngblood77@Feb 13 2005, 10:24 AM
My advice is to pretty much copy Marie's wiring layout, and then double check that your headunit doesn't have an internal crossover. Seeing as how everything is being split from a 2-channel signal inside your eq, it's a possability that the lower frequencies are being cut out before the signal even gets to the eq. Go through the menus on your deck, and double check to make sure. might be something simple. ;)
yea what he said, check your head unit, i dont if your headunit has dedicated subwoofer pre-outs but make sure they are on, go through everything........sometimes you can find controls on your head unit you never knew were there because i did.....

next the wiring to your sub, it is a dual coiled sub so you need to bridge 2 channels from your amp to each coil, now you can either drill a hole for that and just run the wire out, or get another connector carve your hole and make sure you get a seal when you install it.....

those are the 2 reasons i can come up with.......

[mdodge]

Box is good, had jamcllw get the proper air volume and dimensions for that sub. I have sub preouts on my head unit and low pass on or off on the hu after digging into the manual. I have talked to jabatram and we agreed the best way is to hook the alpin to the hu preouts, set the correct settings on the amp. and bridged the 2 channels to each coil. Gonna give that a try. I would get a better amp, but no money so that's not an option.

I'll let ya know how it goes. Thanks guys. :)

[mdodge]

BOOM BOOOM!!! :D :D

YAY! Got it working great! Thanks everyone for their input and especially jabartram who helped me one on one with it. I bridged the 2 main channels to both coils. Big difference. I knew even with that low watt amp it could pound harder than that.

+1 for aleromod. :thumbsup:

[cutelilcntrygrl]

Good deal.. I knew you would get it working ;)