Question about subs

[kdoggx2o00]

Hey guys, i have a quick question. I used to run a 10'' kicker l7 powered by a kicker kx600.1 amp. I decided after a little bit that i wanted to run two l7s, and i bought two kicker 400watt amps. For some reason, the power is going to the subs but they are not hitting anywhere near what they should. The amps are all powered up fine, but the subs are not hitting 800 watts.
Any ideas of why this is happening?
Thanks

 

[LaN-]

what are the brand of amps you got now and is that 400 watts RMS or max?

basically more info needed

 

[kdoggx2o00]

they are both kicker 400.1 amps rated at 400 watts RMS

 

[DGajre777]

Kicker 400.1 - 200 watts RMS x 1 at 4 ohms (400 watts RMS x 1 at 2 ohms)
Kicker L7 - Dual 4 Ohm Voice coils 600 Watts RMS. (I'm not sure if Kicker makes Single voice coil subs, but if they do and you have them, it changes everything below)

Wire each sub and amp like the pic below. It will give each voice coil 200Watts RMS.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[kdoggx2o00]

I have each one wired like that, that's why im really baffled right now.

 

[DGajre777]

Pic is from a 400.1 Kicker ampL

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

1) What gauge wire are you using for the amp?
2) What gauge wire are you using for the sub?
3) What is your 'gain knob' on the amp set at? What volts are your pre-amp outputs on your receiver/cd player? - These 2 are related. If your receiver has 1volt outputs, set your gain to the 2'o clock position. If you receiver has 2 volt outputs, set your gain at the 10'o clock position. If your receiver has 4 volt outputs, set your gain all the way down. You can also use gain to set it at a point where you don't get any distortion at the volume you listen your music at. The gain control is not a volume control, don't use it like one.
4) What is your crossover set at? - The sub has a frequency range below 100Hz, you need to have your low pass x-overs on the amp set at 100hz.
5) Is your box for the sub within specs?
6) Have to tried wiring each voice coil individually to see if they all work and the voice coil isn't damaged?

 

[kdoggx2o00]

Pic is from a 400.1 Kicker ampL

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

1) What gauge wire are you using for the amp?
2) What gauge wire are you using for the sub?
3) What is your 'gain knob' on the amp set at? What volts are your pre-amp outputs on your receiver/cd player? - These 2 are related. If your receiver has 1volt outputs, set your gain to the 2'o clock position. If you receiver has 2 volt outputs, set your gain at the 10'o clock position. If your receiver has 4 volt outputs, set your gain all the way down. You can also use gain to set it at a point where you don't get any distortion at the volume you listen your music at. The gain control is not a volume control, don't use it like one.
4) What is your crossover set at? - The sub has a frequency range below 100Hz, you need to have your low pass x-overs on the amp set at 100hz.
5) Is your box for the sub within specs?
6) Have to tried wiring each voice coil individually to see if they all work and the voice coil isn't damaged?

I'm using 4gauge with a distribution block to two 8 gauge, one for each amp. I forget the exact gauge of the speaker wire powering the sub, but its thick and its monster, and i used it with my last setup, which was a 600watt kicker setup. My head unit puts out 2v, but even when i set the gains properly, I am not getting the full sound i want. The boxes for each sub are within specs, and the subs are brand new and working properly, but for some reason I am not getting the sound that should be coming out. Also, could you elaborate a little more on the x-over frequency. Thanks for all your help and time.

 

[DGajre777]

I'm using 4gauge with a distribution block to two 8 gauge, one for each amp. I forget the exact gauge of the speaker wire powering the sub, but its thick and its monster, and i used it with my last setup, which was a 600watt kicker setup. My head unit puts out 2v, but even when i set the gains properly, I am not getting the full sound i want. The boxes for each sub are within specs, and the subs are brand new and working properly, but for some reason I am not getting the sound that should be coming out. Also, could you elaborate a little more on the x-over frequency. Thanks for all your help and time.

Is your ground wire the same gauge as your power wire? Do you have a capacitor?

If your L7 is a 10" it has a frequency range of 24 - 0.1k Hz. Which means it will play bass from 24hz to 100hz. 12" L7s have a range of 20 - 0.1kHz. In order for the subs to get this range, you need to set your low pass crossover to make sure that only frequencies below 100hz are going to the sub. When you set your x-over to 100Hz, your sub will only get frequencies below 100Hz.

 

[DROOPY209]

From what i see, it seems like your subwoofers arent the correct ohm load for the amps that you have, in order to get the full potential of those amps. Keep in mind that you have to factor in the efficiency of the amps as well, so in reality, your amps wont make those 400 watts rms they say they will.

how many voice coils do your L7's have?

hopefully they have (2) 4 ohm voice coils. Wire those voice coils up in parallel like a guy showed u above. one sub to each amp. set the low pass crossover the lowest setting you can.

Your cd player only has 2volt preouts? thats not that good. higher pre-out volatge would give your amps way cleaner sound. example....my alpine with 2 volt preouts, i had the gain on the old school fosgate amp almost all the way up to the max, it sounded nice. I got my eclipse cd player with no built in amp, 8Volt preouts(clean)....with this cd player, my gains on my sub amp are now bearly even cracked...almost nothing, and it still hits harder and sounds cleaner then before.

Also, what fuse do you have on the amps? If the main fuse by the battery is too small, your amps are choking, trying to get the current they need but arent getting it as fast as they need it.

DON'T GET A CAP!!!!

that is a big mistake people do when they have this problem. Its just a band-aid for the real problem....Current isnt getting to your amps fast enough. There are many ways to fix this, and cheaper then getting a cap.

 

[DGajre777]

I agree everything with everything that Droppy said. Since those amps are 40amps, make sure you have a 80amp fuse up front by the battery. I don't recommend the cap, but IF you have one, make sure it is wired correctly. 2Volts output are better than 1 volt, but at the same time they should not limit your subs getting 400watts RMS. Check for seals in your box that are not sealed, maybe you have a leak somewhere. Did you put anything around the sub (like foam or something) when you put them in the box? You don't have the subs pointing in towards to cabin, do you??

 

[kdoggx2o00]

Well right now, I think the problem is hte fuse. I still have my old fuse up front, which was only 60amps. Ill get a new one and let you guys know how it goes.

 

[DGajre777]

Yeah it's the 60A fuse that's the problem and making your amps choke due to lack of power. If you don't want to deal with fuses, get a 80A circuit breaker that Stinger makes. It has a kill switch too. You can buy it at www.sounddomain.com or any authorized Stinger audio store.

 

[devlish]

I just called my ALPINE Dealer Tech Line and confirmed my thoughts: switching from the 60amp to 80amp fuse won't make that much of a difference for you. If the amps where wanting to pull that much more power, it would pop the 60amp fuse for you by being stressed. your not choking off the amps at all with that 60amp fuse. the fuse is there to pretect the wire. your never really reaching max output on most amps, and if you are, it will then pop the 60amp fuse, and you know you need a bigger fuse. what i'm saying here is.... it's probably not your fuse

My bet is the 2v output on your headunit. another key thing to check is the ohm load. get yourself a multimeter or borrow one and double check the ohm load on each sub. Without checking it is very possible you might just have one wire wrong and now your getting an incorrect ohm load.

my $'s on the 2v headunit being your main holdup though.

as for the circuit breaker... the only problem with those are that each time it 'breaks' it looses a little of it holding power. for example, after lets say 10x it breaks, it may only be a 75amp breaker now. don't quote me on those exact numbers, but you get the idea. it wears out slowly. you shouldn't have this problem with that small of a setup.

 

[Attack Eagle]

thoughts.

2v output split between 2 amps = 1v output each.


feeding all 4 amp channels? 2 on each?


you sure you don't have a voice coil or sub wired out of phase?

you sure the settings are identical on both amps? Are you using seperate enclosures?

if not BOTH move doesn't mean both WORK.