picked up a new sub,another coming

[VanishingImage]

Today I bought an AudioBahn AW1251T sub. Its a 400 watt RMS sub,got it for 50 bucks. Got it from a buddy from my class at school. He has another one and a sealed box that he said he will hold for me until I pay him next week. I can already tell this sub sounds clear and hits good. I put it in my slot ported box,its like a 1.3cu ft box.


Am having one problem,but I think its an easy fix,just wanna get some other possible ideas....

After about 15 min of decent volume with the bass and settings on the HU turned up the sub or amp cuts out for a few seconds then it comes back. Im thinking a connection somewhere because I don't have my box held down and the amp is temporarily mounted. So I think the box may be sliding(somewhat heavy box so it doesn't slide real easy) and might be tugging at the connections on the amp.

[hamiltonaudio]

you don't specify what the impedence of the subwoofer is and what amplifier you're using. My bet is the amp is heating up and cycling into thermal protection....

be sure the load is acceptable for the amp.

bmoney

[VanishingImage]

Subs are dual 4ohm and the Kicker amp Im running is 2ohm stable its a 2 channel amp

[VanishingImage]

ok need some extra brains on this,mine seems confused.....

Ok My amp specs....

Kicker KX350.2

110watts RMSx2 at 4ohms(175watts RMSx2 at 2ohms)
350watts RMSx1 in bridged mode(4 ohm stable in bridged mode)


The subs...

Audiobahn AW1251T DVC 4ohm.

Looks like I need to run them in series to able to run them at 350watts RMS in bridged?

[SpecialFX]

I don't entirely follow your question, but two 4ohm speakers in series is 8 ohm, and 2 ohm in parallel. And if it's two 2 ohm speakers, they are 4 ohm in series and 1 ohm in parallel. Not sure your exact question, but I should have managed to cover all the bases

[VanishingImage]

actually,just looked. Since my amp is 4ohm stable in bridged mode, I can wire the subs in series parrallel and get a end result of a 4ohm load at the amp so I can get the 350watts to each sub.

My question was basically how could I wire the subs to get a total end result of 4ohms at the amp....Just found my answer.

Thanks for the help though:)

[PontiacGT]

Yeah thats how mine's wired. My kicker amp is bridged, 4 ohm stable and I have 2 dual 4 ohm audiobahns that I have series, then paralleled for a 4 ohm load at the amp.

However, i have ALWAYS had the same problem with cutting out, I think it's the amp. I cant turn the volume up past 20 while playing CDs otherwise the amp will go into protect......

[VanishingImage]

yea, I might just get a bigger amp down the road if this Kicker one doesn't do what I need it to do for me

[tprj82]

wheres your gain set at? make your headunit do the work not the amp, back the gain down and go up on the radio volume to adjust it

[hamiltonaudio]

Originally posted by tprj82
wheres your gain set at? make your headunit do the work not the amp, back the gain down and go up on the radio volume to adjust it

wha huh? I never knew you could avoid having your amp do any of the work :D Setting a gain is simple:

1. on the deck, turn OFF all boosts, eq's, etc - set everything to flat
2. on the amp, do the same - all bass eq's, boosts, gains, etc, back them all out and set them to zero
3. for subs, pick some bassy music that you're familiar with - now set the deck to about 3/4 volume (if your volume goes to 30, set it at 25 say)
4. slowly start backing in the gain, listening very closely to the subwoofers. as you increase gain, their volume will increase.
5. when you get to the point where the subs sound like they're straining (it will be obvious), stop, and back the gain down just a touch

congratulations! you just correctly set your gain! :cool:

bmoney

[SpecialFX]

Originally posted by hamiltonaudio
wha huh? I never knew you could avoid having your amp do any of the work :D Setting a gain is simple:

1. on the deck, turn OFF all boosts, eq's, etc - set everything to flat
2. on the amp, do the same - all bass eq's, boosts, gains, etc, back them all out and set them to zero
3. for subs, pick some bassy music that you're familiar with - now set the deck to about 3/4 volume (if your volume goes to 30, set it at 25 say)
4. slowly start backing in the gain, listening very closely to the subwoofers. as you increase gain, their volume will increase.
5. when you get to the point where the subs sound like they're straining (it will be obvious), stop, and back the gain down just a touch

congratulations! you just correctly set your gain! :cool:

bmoney

That is almsot word for word the instructions from my Kicker amp that I jsut read like 30 mins ago.

[hamiltonaudio]

only my instructions come from 15 years of practical experience <wink> its not hard, and certainly not a secret. you just have to factor in a few limits - like your decks outputs clipping (most decks go to 3/4 volume unclipped) and the amps ability to accept your decks output voltage (some amps don't even like common 4V preamps)...

the strain you're hearing is the amplifiers power supply clipping - in the front of the car you won't hear it and it'll seem louder...great! WRONG....that clipping is causing your subwoofers to strain like crazy and will yield almost certain failure. A common misconception is that "too much power" will harm a driver....applying common sense (like don't put 1KW on a 100w speaker), this is FALSE....

its clipping and distortion (or both) that do the damage. I routinely exceed factory power ratings on speakers, sometimes to a large margin, and don't even flinch. My MX12 (for example) is rated to take 1500 wrms...I'm putting 2.2kw on it <wink> That power rating on your subwoofer is a THERMAL RATING. Nothing more. Translated it means if your driver is rated for 300 wrms, the motor and voice coil assembly can effectively dissipate 300 wrms worth of heat generation. In the right box with clean power, its probably more like 500 wrms. Distortion and clipping from above cause MASSIVE heat buildup in a voice coil. So 200 wrms badly clipped can easily do harm to that voice coil that would otherwise accept 500 wrms....Clean, properly setup power is your friend...

bmoney

[tprj82]

Originally posted by hamiltonaudio
wha huh? I never knew you could avoid having your amp do any of the work :D Setting a gain is simple:

1. on the deck, turn OFF all boosts, eq's, etc - set everything to flat
2. on the amp, do the same - all bass eq's, boosts, gains, etc, back them all out and set them to zero
3. for subs, pick some bassy music that you're familiar with - now set the deck to about 3/4 volume (if your volume goes to 30, set it at 25 say)
4. slowly start backing in the gain, listening very closely to the subwoofers. as you increase gain, their volume will increase.
5. when you get to the point where the subs sound like they're straining (it will be obvious), stop, and back the gain down just a touch

congratulations! you just correctly set your gain! :cool:

bmoney
i meant dont have the volume of your headunit half way or 1/4 the way up and over comensate on the gain of the amp,

[VanishingImage]

Im just running the settings low for now. Once I get the other 12 and the box then I'll start looking into it more. My connections are usually pretty good,tight,and clean.

My Pioneer HU goes up to like 40 I think on the volume

[kamoguy]

Wiring two 4 ohm subs in a series creates 8 ohms of resistance. Wiring the subs parallel will still have 8 ohms of resistance on the circuit. Ohms won't go away, they are just as much a part of the subs as their weight. You need a bigger amp.

[VanishingImage]

This shows the subs wired at 4ohms in Series-Parallel.....

*edit* have to select 2 speakers then dual 4ohm for impedence then its the last diagram. Shows 2 speakers and the amp is at a 4ohm load

http://www.the12volt.com/caraudio/woofer_configurations.asp

[hamiltonaudio]

Originally posted by kamoguy
Wiring two 4 ohm subs in a series creates 8 ohms of resistance. Wiring the subs parallel will still have 8 ohms of resistance on the circuit. Ohms won't go away, they are just as much a part of the subs as their weight. You need a bigger amp.

YIKES...how does that work man????? You are correct a pair of 4 ohm loads in series will yield 8 ohms total (with speakers its IMPEDENCE, not RESISTANCE). Wiring the subs in parallel will yield 2 ohms total load (not "still 8 ohm" as you suggest)

A DVC4 ohm sub is essentially either a 2 ohm or 8 ohm driver. So feasibly you can only have:

1. 2 ohm in parallel = 1 ohm total
2. 2 ohm in series = 4 ohm total (as stated below)
3. 8 ohm in parallel = 4 ohm total
4. 8 ohm in series = 16 ohm total

As such, you can indeed arrive at a 4 ohm nominal final load with a pair of DVC4 ohm drivers....

bmoney