Need some help here w/ my Sub
Thread Starter
Protege Enthusiast
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 97
From: Philadelphia
Need some help here w/ my Sub
I need some help here really fast.
I recently bought 2 10'' MTX Thunder series subs, 200 watt rms, and 400 watt peak. I wanted to hook them up to my Power Acoustik sapphire series 300 watt amp (bridged). I also bought a LOC (for about 20 bucks at a local sound and alarm shop) because I wanted to hook up the amp to my SHU, but it sounds like crap !!!
It doesn't kick at all. I mean theres sound that comes for the speakers but it sucks 
.
So then I was recently told by a guy that works in circuit city in the car/ audio department that my amp is the main reason why my subs aren't kickin. He said that Power Acoustik amps aren't good with them subs. So now what am I suppose to do.........Buy a new amp, or could it be the fact that my LOC connecter sucks and I would be better of hooking up my Blaupunkt rpd552 headunit with the same Power acoustik amp and running the RCA directly from the amp to the headunit. So now I need some advice on what I should do.
I recently bought 2 10'' MTX Thunder series subs, 200 watt rms, and 400 watt peak. I wanted to hook them up to my Power Acoustik sapphire series 300 watt amp (bridged). I also bought a LOC (for about 20 bucks at a local sound and alarm shop) because I wanted to hook up the amp to my SHU, but it sounds like crap !!!
It doesn't kick at all. I mean theres sound that comes for the speakers but it sucks . So then I was recently told by a guy that works in circuit city in the car/ audio department that my amp is the main reason why my subs aren't kickin. He said that Power Acoustik amps aren't good with them subs. So now what am I suppose to do.........Buy a new amp, or could it be the fact that my LOC connecter sucks and I would be better of hooking up my Blaupunkt rpd552 headunit with the same Power acoustik amp and running the RCA directly from the amp to the headunit. So now I need some advice on what I should do.
I Can Be Teh W1N!!!!
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 1,870
From: Calgary
gimme more specs! are your subs dual voice coil? can your amp run at 2ohm mono stable? 4ohm mono? how did you wire it?
________
Lincoln mkr
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Lincoln mkr
Last edited by pr5owner; Mar 10, 2011 at 10:12 AM.
Registered User
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 112
It could be something very simple. Are the subs in phase in the box or to the amp? Is the LOC wired in phase? The easiest way is to test this is disconnect one sub and see if the other sounds alot better. Also you may hae to run the amp in steeo if the amp cannot handle a 2 ohm mono load on it.
Protege Enthusiast
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 146
From: Kanata, Ontario
what to do...
I'm guessing the speakers are out of phase...you could also check the gain control on the LOC; it may be set too low...as well, how have u set up the cross-over? Does the amp have it built- in? Make sure you have the settings for the cut-off set for low signal output (120hz or lower) rather than high signal output...
let us know how you make out!
let us know how you make out!
Show Layne some respect
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 2,458
From: Long Island,NY
I'm guessing he's got an 8 ohm load going on that amp, and is only getting 150 watts (at most) from it, which is only 75 per sub. Not enough for boom.
Pete, some more info is really necessary. First of all, how are the subs wired, and did you install this yourself? Explain the wiring if you can, like + of amp to + of sub1, etc, etc.
Another issue IS the amp - it may not be very good. Power Acoustik might be kind of a flea-market brand, and I AM NOT SURE ABOUT THIS, SO "BlueLEDz" please don't shoot me in the knees!!! He may know better about P/A's amps - I do not know the quality of them. Anyway, the difference between a reputable brand and a flea-market amp is the ACTUAL power. Reputable compaines will rate their amps LOW - meaning that if you buy a 300 watt amp, the amp can actually put out well more than that - this means that when you ask the amp for the 300 watts you bought, you get them CLEAN and undistorted. The P/A amp you have may not be rated as "fairly" - sometimes call the WLS rating, as in "when lightning strikes". The amp can put out 300 watts, but only at its absolute peak level, when it is just about to overheat and go into protection shut-down. So you don't have 300 USEABLE watts, which is what you want. Again, this may or may not be the case, as I have no real knowledge of these amps and their ratings. But it's good info to know anyway.
Also - the subs are rated for 200 each RMS, and you are only giving them (or trying to give them) 150 each. You'd do better if you matched up the RMS of the subs to the RMS of whatever amp.
So I think you have two issues - an amp that is questionable (but might work just fine, so don't ditch it yet!!), and the possibility that your wiring is not done the right way.
Get back to us on the wiring scheme, and we can go from there - we'll get ya' boomin, don't worry bout that!
~HH
Pete, some more info is really necessary. First of all, how are the subs wired, and did you install this yourself? Explain the wiring if you can, like + of amp to + of sub1, etc, etc.
Another issue IS the amp - it may not be very good. Power Acoustik might be kind of a flea-market brand, and I AM NOT SURE ABOUT THIS, SO "BlueLEDz" please don't shoot me in the knees!!! He may know better about P/A's amps - I do not know the quality of them. Anyway, the difference between a reputable brand and a flea-market amp is the ACTUAL power. Reputable compaines will rate their amps LOW - meaning that if you buy a 300 watt amp, the amp can actually put out well more than that - this means that when you ask the amp for the 300 watts you bought, you get them CLEAN and undistorted. The P/A amp you have may not be rated as "fairly" - sometimes call the WLS rating, as in "when lightning strikes". The amp can put out 300 watts, but only at its absolute peak level, when it is just about to overheat and go into protection shut-down. So you don't have 300 USEABLE watts, which is what you want. Again, this may or may not be the case, as I have no real knowledge of these amps and their ratings. But it's good info to know anyway.
Also - the subs are rated for 200 each RMS, and you are only giving them (or trying to give them) 150 each. You'd do better if you matched up the RMS of the subs to the RMS of whatever amp.
So I think you have two issues - an amp that is questionable (but might work just fine, so don't ditch it yet!!), and the possibility that your wiring is not done the right way.
Get back to us on the wiring scheme, and we can go from there - we'll get ya' boomin, don't worry bout that!
~HH
Show Layne some respect
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 2,458
From: Long Island,NY
Well, maybe try putting the gains on the LOC up some? If they are all the way down, you are sending very little signal to the amp.
Also - what impedance (ohms) are the subs rated at? Are you sure your amp is stable below 4 ohms? Because with this wiring, assuming the subs are 4 ohms each, you are presenting a 2 ohm load to the amp and may have damaged it.
More info! Need more info!!
Are the subs playing bass, or do you hear other frequencies also? If you do, the crossover is not set properly.
Keep investigating - it can' be that bad if everything is set up right, so I think something's gotta be screwed up somewhere along the line.
Don't give up just yet....
~HH
Also - what impedance (ohms) are the subs rated at? Are you sure your amp is stable below 4 ohms? Because with this wiring, assuming the subs are 4 ohms each, you are presenting a 2 ohm load to the amp and may have damaged it.
More info! Need more info!!
Are the subs playing bass, or do you hear other frequencies also? If you do, the crossover is not set properly.
Keep investigating - it can' be that bad if everything is set up right, so I think something's gotta be screwed up somewhere along the line.
Don't give up just yet....
~HH