Car Audio System

[virtuamike]

Originally posted by: nourdmrolNMT1

Originally posted by: virtuamike

Originally posted by: nourdmrolNMT1

Originally posted by: virtuamike

Originally posted by: quakefiend420

Originally posted by: Matt2

Originally posted by: 95SS
Hold on, you've got a stereo amp pushing one DVC sub, one channel per coil? You don't need a new amp, just some wiring help. Each sub has two sets of terminals, wire each set of terminals to one channel of the amp. This is called parallel, and will drop the load to 1/2 of the rated load per coil. If the sub has 4 or 8 ohm coils, this is fine. If it has 2 ohm coils, don't do this. With 2 ohm coils, run the sub in series, meaning from one coil to the other. You would have speaker cable from one channel of the amp to the + of one coil and the - of the other coil, and a wire between the unused connections. I'll find some pics for you.

Ok, that makes a lot of sense, I think I understand now.

HOWEVER,

I'm still gonna need a new amp cause 980 watts is not going to drive both of those 1800 watt speakers. It runs one fine and it sounds excellent, but I can't imagine cutting the power to each of those subs in half. That's why I want to get the 2400 watt amp, that'll be plenty for both subs.

well...kinda...you need to look at your amps power rating at different loads...also is that 980 watts peak or rms out of the amp? if you can run 1 ohm stable on that amp...i would go out on a limb to say you're gona be good to go...like someone else up there said, double the cone area = about 6db...and also like someone else suggested...i would run both subs in a series...

Actually what I'd do is wire each VC in series, so each sub is a 4 ohm load. Wire the subs together in parallel to produce a 2 ohm load. After that, do some praying and hope the amp doesn't fry running bridged.

It looks like the amp is rated at 220W RMS x2 @ 4 ohm whereas it'll do 560W x1 RMS @ 4 ohm. In theory since you're dropping to 2 ohm bridged, each sub will be getting more than 280W RMS (meaning bridging your amp will give you more power per sub than running each on a separate channel).

Specs here, looks like someone already tried bridging to 2 ohm

Sorry to burst your bubble, but there is no way your Power Acoustik amp is putting out 980W RMS. But if you like the way it sounds, stick with it.

Me, I went overkill and went with an ID Max and a JBL 1200.1 in my Accord. I have the gain set to 1/4 because any higher and my trunk goes ghetto, haven't gotten around to deadening the car.

Next time, do yourself a favor and don't trust the Best Buy monkeys to do your install.

just another disclaimer, an amp that is rated for 2 ohm stereo, normally will not be able to handle a 2 ohm bridged load, just because thats theoretically 1 ohm per channel, with impedence probably being higher due to impedence rise at certain frequencies, and with the vc's heating up, and etc.

for full safety, my previous drawing would work.

MIKE

Yeah but my diagram is prettier

I'm not saying your way wouldn't work, but basically this is the same concept as overclocking: getting the most out of your equipment. Someone else has already tried and run the amp at 2 ohm bridged. I'd be hesitant to try to drop down to 1 ohm bridged but 2 ohm should be fine. If anything the amp will get hot. If that happens, just let it cool and run 2 channel vs bridged. I seriously doubt it'll fry his subs or his amp. Honestly, it wouldn't hurt to try.

Also if your subs are facing forward toward the front of the car, you might want to try to flip your box around and have it fire towards the back. Or vice versa. Every car is different (all trunks have different acoustics) so it's a good idea to play around with box direction and placement until you find what works. In general though you'll get punchier bass if you face forward and boomier if you face rear.

he cant do a 1 ohm bridge only .5 ohm and hardly any amp can handle that stereo, let alone a stereo amp bridged.

good suggestion on flip

MIKE

Huh? The way my diagram is wired, he's running a 2 ohm bridge, not 1/2 ohm. Each VC is 2 ohm, in series that makes each individual sub 4 ohm. Bridge the subs and you have a 2 ohm load. Power it up with amp and you're running 2 ohm bridge. How'd you get 0.5 ohm load?

I'm pretty sure Zapco can run 0.5 ohm load.

 

[MikeMike]

Originally posted by: virtuamike

Originally posted by: nourdmrolNMT1

Originally posted by: virtuamike

Originally posted by: nourdmrolNMT1

Originally posted by: virtuamike

Originally posted by: quakefiend420

Originally posted by: Matt2

Originally posted by: 95SS
Hold on, you've got a stereo amp pushing one DVC sub, one channel per coil? You don't need a new amp, just some wiring help. Each sub has two sets of terminals, wire each set of terminals to one channel of the amp. This is called parallel, and will drop the load to 1/2 of the rated load per coil. If the sub has 4 or 8 ohm coils, this is fine. If it has 2 ohm coils, don't do this. With 2 ohm coils, run the sub in series, meaning from one coil to the other. You would have speaker cable from one channel of the amp to the + of one coil and the - of the other coil, and a wire between the unused connections. I'll find some pics for you.

Ok, that makes a lot of sense, I think I understand now.

HOWEVER,

I'm still gonna need a new amp cause 980 watts is not going to drive both of those 1800 watt speakers. It runs one fine and it sounds excellent, but I can't imagine cutting the power to each of those subs in half. That's why I want to get the 2400 watt amp, that'll be plenty for both subs.

well...kinda...you need to look at your amps power rating at different loads...also is that 980 watts peak or rms out of the amp? if you can run 1 ohm stable on that amp...i would go out on a limb to say you're gona be good to go...like someone else up there said, double the cone area = about 6db...and also like someone else suggested...i would run both subs in a series...

Actually what I'd do is wire each VC in series, so each sub is a 4 ohm load. Wire the subs together in parallel to produce a 2 ohm load. After that, do some praying and hope the amp doesn't fry running bridged.

It looks like the amp is rated at 220W RMS x2 @ 4 ohm whereas it'll do 560W x1 RMS @ 4 ohm. In theory since you're dropping to 2 ohm bridged, each sub will be getting more than 280W RMS (meaning bridging your amp will give you more power per sub than running each on a separate channel).

Specs here, looks like someone already tried bridging to 2 ohm

Sorry to burst your bubble, but there is no way your Power Acoustik amp is putting out 980W RMS. But if you like the way it sounds, stick with it.

Me, I went overkill and went with an ID Max and a JBL 1200.1 in my Accord. I have the gain set to 1/4 because any higher and my trunk goes ghetto, haven't gotten around to deadening the car.

Next time, do yourself a favor and don't trust the Best Buy monkeys to do your install.

just another disclaimer, an amp that is rated for 2 ohm stereo, normally will not be able to handle a 2 ohm bridged load, just because thats theoretically 1 ohm per channel, with impedence probably being higher due to impedence rise at certain frequencies, and with the vc's heating up, and etc.

for full safety, my previous drawing would work.

MIKE

Yeah but my diagram is prettier

I'm not saying your way wouldn't work, but basically this is the same concept as overclocking: getting the most out of your equipment. Someone else has already tried and run the amp at 2 ohm bridged. I'd be hesitant to try to drop down to 1 ohm bridged but 2 ohm should be fine. If anything the amp will get hot. If that happens, just let it cool and run 2 channel vs bridged. I seriously doubt it'll fry his subs or his amp. Honestly, it wouldn't hurt to try.

Also if your subs are facing forward toward the front of the car, you might want to try to flip your box around and have it fire towards the back. Or vice versa. Every car is different (all trunks have different acoustics) so it's a good idea to play around with box direction and placement until you find what works. In general though you'll get punchier bass if you face forward and boomier if you face rear.

he cant do a 1 ohm bridge only .5 ohm and hardly any amp can handle that stereo, let alone a stereo amp bridged.

good suggestion on flip

MIKE

Huh? The way my diagram is wired, he's running a 2 ohm bridge, not 1/2 ohm. Each VC is 2 ohm, in series that makes each individual sub 4 ohm. Bridge the subs and you have a 2 ohm load. Power it up with amp and you're running 2 ohm bridge. How'd you get 0.5 ohm load?

I'm pretty sure Zapco can run 0.5 ohm load.

dude, were talkin BB amps.

im talking theoretical on my loads.

2 ohm, 4 ohm, 8 ohm and .5 ohms are the only loads he can run bridged. i was referring to your "hesitant to drop down to 1 ohm bridged" statement.

and a 1 ohm bridged amp is getting a .5 ohm per channel view basically.

MIKE

 

[virtuamike]

Originally posted by: nourdmrolNMT1

Originally posted by: virtuamike

Originally posted by: nourdmrolNMT1

Originally posted by: virtuamike

Originally posted by: nourdmrolNMT1

Originally posted by: virtuamike

Originally posted by: quakefiend420

Originally posted by: Matt2

Originally posted by: 95SS
Hold on, you've got a stereo amp pushing one DVC sub, one channel per coil? You don't need a new amp, just some wiring help. Each sub has two sets of terminals, wire each set of terminals to one channel of the amp. This is called parallel, and will drop the load to 1/2 of the rated load per coil. If the sub has 4 or 8 ohm coils, this is fine. If it has 2 ohm coils, don't do this. With 2 ohm coils, run the sub in series, meaning from one coil to the other. You would have speaker cable from one channel of the amp to the + of one coil and the - of the other coil, and a wire between the unused connections. I'll find some pics for you.

Ok, that makes a lot of sense, I think I understand now.

HOWEVER,

I'm still gonna need a new amp cause 980 watts is not going to drive both of those 1800 watt speakers. It runs one fine and it sounds excellent, but I can't imagine cutting the power to each of those subs in half. That's why I want to get the 2400 watt amp, that'll be plenty for both subs.

well...kinda...you need to look at your amps power rating at different loads...also is that 980 watts peak or rms out of the amp? if you can run 1 ohm stable on that amp...i would go out on a limb to say you're gona be good to go...like someone else up there said, double the cone area = about 6db...and also like someone else suggested...i would run both subs in a series...

Actually what I'd do is wire each VC in series, so each sub is a 4 ohm load. Wire the subs together in parallel to produce a 2 ohm load. After that, do some praying and hope the amp doesn't fry running bridged.

It looks like the amp is rated at 220W RMS x2 @ 4 ohm whereas it'll do 560W x1 RMS @ 4 ohm. In theory since you're dropping to 2 ohm bridged, each sub will be getting more than 280W RMS (meaning bridging your amp will give you more power per sub than running each on a separate channel).

Specs here, looks like someone already tried bridging to 2 ohm

Sorry to burst your bubble, but there is no way your Power Acoustik amp is putting out 980W RMS. But if you like the way it sounds, stick with it.

Me, I went overkill and went with an ID Max and a JBL 1200.1 in my Accord. I have the gain set to 1/4 because any higher and my trunk goes ghetto, haven't gotten around to deadening the car.

Next time, do yourself a favor and don't trust the Best Buy monkeys to do your install.

just another disclaimer, an amp that is rated for 2 ohm stereo, normally will not be able to handle a 2 ohm bridged load, just because thats theoretically 1 ohm per channel, with impedence probably being higher due to impedence rise at certain frequencies, and with the vc's heating up, and etc.

for full safety, my previous drawing would work.

MIKE

Yeah but my diagram is prettier

I'm not saying your way wouldn't work, but basically this is the same concept as overclocking: getting the most out of your equipment. Someone else has already tried and run the amp at 2 ohm bridged. I'd be hesitant to try to drop down to 1 ohm bridged but 2 ohm should be fine. If anything the amp will get hot. If that happens, just let it cool and run 2 channel vs bridged. I seriously doubt it'll fry his subs or his amp. Honestly, it wouldn't hurt to try.

Also if your subs are facing forward toward the front of the car, you might want to try to flip your box around and have it fire towards the back. Or vice versa. Every car is different (all trunks have different acoustics) so it's a good idea to play around with box direction and placement until you find what works. In general though you'll get punchier bass if you face forward and boomier if you face rear.

he cant do a 1 ohm bridge only .5 ohm and hardly any amp can handle that stereo, let alone a stereo amp bridged.

good suggestion on flip

MIKE

Huh? The way my diagram is wired, he's running a 2 ohm bridge, not 1/2 ohm. Each VC is 2 ohm, in series that makes each individual sub 4 ohm. Bridge the subs and you have a 2 ohm load. Power it up with amp and you're running 2 ohm bridge. How'd you get 0.5 ohm load?

I'm pretty sure Zapco can run 0.5 ohm load.

dude, were talkin BB amps.

im talking theoretical on my loads.

2 ohm, 4 ohm, 8 ohm and .5 ohms are the only loads he can run bridged. i was referring to your "hesitant to drop down to 1 ohm bridged" statement.

and a 1 ohm bridged amp is getting a .5 ohm per channel view basically.

MIKE

Ah ok, well in that case my "drop down to 1 ohm bridged" is a theoretical statement too. There's no way I'd take a BB amp down to 1 ohm.

I still think it'll run fine at 2 ohm bridged.

It's late, I have PMS. I need my beauty sleep.

 

[MikeMike]

Originally posted by: virtuamike

Originally posted by: nourdmrolNMT1

Originally posted by: virtuamike

Originally posted by: nourdmrolNMT1

Originally posted by: virtuamike

Originally posted by: nourdmrolNMT1

Originally posted by: virtuamike

Originally posted by: quakefiend420

Originally posted by: Matt2

Originally posted by: 95SS
Hold on, you've got a stereo amp pushing one DVC sub, one channel per coil? You don't need a new amp, just some wiring help. Each sub has two sets of terminals, wire each set of terminals to one channel of the amp. This is called parallel, and will drop the load to 1/2 of the rated load per coil. If the sub has 4 or 8 ohm coils, this is fine. If it has 2 ohm coils, don't do this. With 2 ohm coils, run the sub in series, meaning from one coil to the other. You would have speaker cable from one channel of the amp to the + of one coil and the - of the other coil, and a wire between the unused connections. I'll find some pics for you.

Ok, that makes a lot of sense, I think I understand now.

HOWEVER,

I'm still gonna need a new amp cause 980 watts is not going to drive both of those 1800 watt speakers. It runs one fine and it sounds excellent, but I can't imagine cutting the power to each of those subs in half. That's why I want to get the 2400 watt amp, that'll be plenty for both subs.

well...kinda...you need to look at your amps power rating at different loads...also is that 980 watts peak or rms out of the amp? if you can run 1 ohm stable on that amp...i would go out on a limb to say you're gona be good to go...like someone else up there said, double the cone area = about 6db...and also like someone else suggested...i would run both subs in a series...

Actually what I'd do is wire each VC in series, so each sub is a 4 ohm load. Wire the subs together in parallel to produce a 2 ohm load. After that, do some praying and hope the amp doesn't fry running bridged.

It looks like the amp is rated at 220W RMS x2 @ 4 ohm whereas it'll do 560W x1 RMS @ 4 ohm. In theory since you're dropping to 2 ohm bridged, each sub will be getting more than 280W RMS (meaning bridging your amp will give you more power per sub than running each on a separate channel).

Specs here, looks like someone already tried bridging to 2 ohm

Sorry to burst your bubble, but there is no way your Power Acoustik amp is putting out 980W RMS. But if you like the way it sounds, stick with it.

Me, I went overkill and went with an ID Max and a JBL 1200.1 in my Accord. I have the gain set to 1/4 because any higher and my trunk goes ghetto, haven't gotten around to deadening the car.

Next time, do yourself a favor and don't trust the Best Buy monkeys to do your install.

just another disclaimer, an amp that is rated for 2 ohm stereo, normally will not be able to handle a 2 ohm bridged load, just because thats theoretically 1 ohm per channel, with impedence probably being higher due to impedence rise at certain frequencies, and with the vc's heating up, and etc.

for full safety, my previous drawing would work.

MIKE

Yeah but my diagram is prettier

I'm not saying your way wouldn't work, but basically this is the same concept as overclocking: getting the most out of your equipment. Someone else has already tried and run the amp at 2 ohm bridged. I'd be hesitant to try to drop down to 1 ohm bridged but 2 ohm should be fine. If anything the amp will get hot. If that happens, just let it cool and run 2 channel vs bridged. I seriously doubt it'll fry his subs or his amp. Honestly, it wouldn't hurt to try.

Also if your subs are facing forward toward the front of the car, you might want to try to flip your box around and have it fire towards the back. Or vice versa. Every car is different (all trunks have different acoustics) so it's a good idea to play around with box direction and placement until you find what works. In general though you'll get punchier bass if you face forward and boomier if you face rear.

he cant do a 1 ohm bridge only .5 ohm and hardly any amp can handle that stereo, let alone a stereo amp bridged.

good suggestion on flip

MIKE

Huh? The way my diagram is wired, he's running a 2 ohm bridge, not 1/2 ohm. Each VC is 2 ohm, in series that makes each individual sub 4 ohm. Bridge the subs and you have a 2 ohm load. Power it up with amp and you're running 2 ohm bridge. How'd you get 0.5 ohm load?

I'm pretty sure Zapco can run 0.5 ohm load.

dude, were talkin BB amps.

im talking theoretical on my loads.

2 ohm, 4 ohm, 8 ohm and .5 ohms are the only loads he can run bridged. i was referring to your "hesitant to drop down to 1 ohm bridged" statement.

and a 1 ohm bridged amp is getting a .5 ohm per channel view basically.

MIKE

Ah ok, well in that case my "drop down to 1 ohm bridged" is a theoretical statement too. There's no way I'd take a BB amp down to 1 ohm.

I still think it'll run fine at 2 ohm bridged.

It's late, I have PMS. I need my beauty sleep.

its early, i havent slept, have class in 30 minutes.

MIKE

 

[brxndxn]

Whatever you do, wire the amp for MONO and not stereo for the subs. If you have two subs in the same chamber, you're going to get horrible sounding bass on some recordings because bass is slow enough to cancel itself out quite often.

Stereo for subs is pointless since your ears simply cannot tell where the bass is coming from. You might as well have the bass being played uniform.

BTW, imo, two 1800 watt speakers is overkill for any car unless you're planning on breaking store windows. In high school, I had two 500W peak 12" subwoofers in my car and it was plenty loud enough to hurt my ears and get me a detention for playing it in the school parking lot.

 

[Matt2]

Alright guys,

I put the subs in series and got them both to fire like you guys explained.

The bass is clearer, but I definately need a bigger amp.

The bass is just not as loud and on songs where the bass used to drop and slump, that doesnt happen anymore.

So I'm gonna go back to the setup I had before because it just hits harder and I didnt like how it sounded with both subs as opposed to one.

Now the question is, do I bridge the one sub and use the amp in mono (560x1) or should I go back to the way I had it where both voice coils had their own channel (280x2)???

 

[Matt2]

also, suggestions on a new amp?

 

[jamesbond007]

Originally posted by: Matt2
also, suggestions on a new amp?

Drop all that Best Buy junk and get a real setup! Seriously. Unless you are looking for something to rattle your car, give you a headache, and sound like poop. The amp you want depends on what you want to get out of your system. Quality? You're shopping in the wrong place. Crappy sound? Then continue at Best Buy.

Get an Alpine M1005 amp. It'll surely drive those subwoofers to death. I have an Alpine M501 550@2ohm running a single 12" JL W3 in a custom box with a 2 farad cap. It is PLENTY loud, hits extremely hard and deep. The rest of my setup is Boston Acoustics. 3.5" in my front dash, SL65s on my doors, SL95s in my rear dash. My Bostons are powered by a Clarion 400W multichannel amp.

What deck do you have? Does it have 4V+ preouts?

 

[MikeMike]

matt, there is one thing you could have done wrong.

you could have wired one of the subs up incorrectly thus causing phase cancellation which will reduce output.

MIKE

 

[jamesbond007]

Originally posted by: nourdmrolNMT1
matt, there is one thing you could have done wrong.

you could have wired one of the subs up incorrectly thus causing phase cancellation which will reduce output.

MIKE

Cheap amps like Power Acoustik don't have the real output that they're rated for. You can get a 4000W PA amp and it'll be beaten by any name-brand 500W. (JL, Alpine, Boston Acoustic, some Rockfords, Soundstream Reference)

 

[MikeMike]

i know that.

however if his output went down, thats what could cause that.

and 400 watts is nough power.

id assume 300

MIKE

 

[Matt2]

All I know is that one of the FUBR 12 Power Acoustik subs I have connected to the Power Acoustik amp slumps hard, sounds better than I thought it would and I am happy with these subs, but my amp just doesnt seem powerful enough to run both of them.

They're 1800 watts peak and 800 watt RMS speakers. So the speakers are not the problem.

I'm a newb at this so can someone explain to me how a 300-500 watt amp is going to power TWO 1800 watt speakers?

 

[Matt2]

any thoughts?

 

[CTrain]

Originally posted by: Matt2
All I know is that one of the FUBR 12 Power Acoustik subs I have connected to the Power Acoustik amp slumps hard, sounds better than I thought it would and I am happy with these subs, but my amp just doesnt seem powerful enough to run both of them.

They're 1800 watts peak and 800 watt RMS speakers. So the speakers are not the problem.

I'm a newb at this so can someone explain to me how a 300-500 watt amp is going to power TWO 1800 watt speakers?

Because they are horribly overrrated.
First, don't ever look at the peak power rating...its useless.
Second, even Power Acoustik RMS power rating are overrated.

Power Acoustik are OK car stereo stuff in the "cheap" category.
I mean they're great for beginners wanting something decent.
I was wanting to get some stuff for my car and I did buy a PA AMP to play with.
Now that I know a little more, I'm eager to get some better stuff for the car.