What Is Up With My System?
Hey Y'all...
I have a modest "system" in my 99 Accord's trunk; it consists of a massive sealed box containing two Rockford Punch XLC 15s and a Rockford Punch 800.2 amp to power them; the amp is running in bridged mode, with the wiring of the subs in parallel. I have been pleased with the overall sound quality of the stock deck in this car, as well as the speakers, so I didnt want to change the head. What I did want is earth-shaking bass---not sound quality--added to the factory system; and so, I went with these 15's...
Problem is, folks, NO ONE hears me coming when I crank it up, and it really doesnt sound like this amp is putting out the advertised "800 watts" mono to be honest; first, let me tell you how my installer friend set everything up (and he installed everything in front of me)...originally running the amp in stereo mode to these two 15s yielded unsatisfactory results for me, so I told him to go ahead and run it in bridged...once he did this, the sound immediately slammed harder. What he did was, he took the positive leads from each terminal on back of the sub box and twisted those together and did the same with the negative leads...then took those and fed the combined positive leads to the left "+" terminal of the amp, and fed the combined negative leads to the "-" of the amp; he said this way, both subs are getting the bridged signal of the amp and they are wired in "parallel"...is this correct? The box is facing backwards in my trunk; that is, when you open the trunk, you see the subs facing you...and he has the box pushed right up against the back seat wall...is this right? I was told this would give the most boom...
Now, the specs for this amp say 200 watts x 2 stereo, 400 watts x 2 (at 4 ohms?) and 800 watts x 1 mono bridged. My installer hooked this up to have the amp running bridged, so what is my system seeing? Am I getting the advertised 800 watts x 1, or supposed to be getting that? Being that I have two subs, is that 800 watts being broken up into, say, around 400 watts a piece? (of course, this is all just estimated; Im sure the amp isnt running on 100 percent efficiency)
Now, here are the other problems...why isnt this enough power for my bass to be heard outside the vehicle? Is it because I am running these 15s in a sealed box and not ported? Is it because the box is trapped in a sealed trunk with no port to the passenger cabin? Is it because its being controlled from a factory head unit, coupled with an RCA converter running inline between the rear 6X9s (for tapped signal) and the amp? Shouldnt 800 or so watts be enough to rattle cars next to me at a light? This is not what Im experiencing at all---and my friend tells me he turned the gains on the amp way up AND the gains on the RCA converter way up---he insures me this is all correct. Also, he did use high quality Lightning Audio install kits and wiring throught the job, so the wiring isnt a problem, nor is the installation; I watched him do the whole thing, and everything was done clean....thick, 4 gauge power cable and everything...
Some have told me these subwoofers are the problem...the Rockford Punch XLCs, that is...that I need to get some Kicker L7s in there or perhaps some good MTXs...but I have been searching the Net and have found that many soundoff competition vehicles have had XLC subs in them and put up some good numbers on the IASCA circuit; I know these things are only supposed to handle 200 watts RMS or so, but the power from this 800.2 amp bridged has not blown these yet, nor caused any kind of distortion...I dont get it. Also, I need to turn my head unit's volume up past halfway to really get the bass rockin'....is this normal in a system? Does it take any of your systems to be turned up kind of loud before others can hear the bass coming?
Thanks in advance for any light you can shed....
Hey Y'all...
I have a modest "system" in my 99 Accord's trunk; it consists of a massive sealed box containing two Rockford Punch XLC 15s and a Rockford Punch 800.2 amp to power them; the amp is running in bridged mode, with the wiring of the subs in parallel. I have been pleased with the overall sound quality of the stock deck in this car, as well as the speakers, so I didnt want to change the head. What I did want is earth-shaking bass---not sound quality--added to the factory system; and so, I went with these 15's...
Problem is, folks, NO ONE hears me coming when I crank it up, and it really doesnt sound like this amp is putting out the advertised "800 watts" mono to be honest; first, let me tell you how my installer friend set everything up (and he installed everything in front of me)...originally running the amp in stereo mode to these two 15s yielded unsatisfactory results for me, so I told him to go ahead and run it in bridged...once he did this, the sound immediately slammed harder. What he did was, he took the positive leads from each terminal on back of the sub box and twisted those together and did the same with the negative leads...then took those and fed the combined positive leads to the left "+" terminal of the amp, and fed the combined negative leads to the "-" of the amp; he said this way, both subs are getting the bridged signal of the amp and they are wired in "parallel"...is this correct? The box is facing backwards in my trunk; that is, when you open the trunk, you see the subs facing you...and he has the box pushed right up against the back seat wall...is this right? I was told this would give the most boom...
Now, the specs for this amp say 200 watts x 2 stereo, 400 watts x 2 (at 4 ohms?) and 800 watts x 1 mono bridged. My installer hooked this up to have the amp running bridged, so what is my system seeing? Am I getting the advertised 800 watts x 1, or supposed to be getting that? Being that I have two subs, is that 800 watts being broken up into, say, around 400 watts a piece? (of course, this is all just estimated; Im sure the amp isnt running on 100 percent efficiency)
Now, here are the other problems...why isnt this enough power for my bass to be heard outside the vehicle? Is it because I am running these 15s in a sealed box and not ported? Is it because the box is trapped in a sealed trunk with no port to the passenger cabin? Is it because its being controlled from a factory head unit, coupled with an RCA converter running inline between the rear 6X9s (for tapped signal) and the amp? Shouldnt 800 or so watts be enough to rattle cars next to me at a light? This is not what Im experiencing at all---and my friend tells me he turned the gains on the amp way up AND the gains on the RCA converter way up---he insures me this is all correct. Also, he did use high quality Lightning Audio install kits and wiring throught the job, so the wiring isnt a problem, nor is the installation; I watched him do the whole thing, and everything was done clean....thick, 4 gauge power cable and everything...
Some have told me these subwoofers are the problem...the Rockford Punch XLCs, that is...that I need to get some Kicker L7s in there or perhaps some good MTXs...but I have been searching the Net and have found that many soundoff competition vehicles have had XLC subs in them and put up some good numbers on the IASCA circuit; I know these things are only supposed to handle 200 watts RMS or so, but the power from this 800.2 amp bridged has not blown these yet, nor caused any kind of distortion...I dont get it. Also, I need to turn my head unit's volume up past halfway to really get the bass rockin'....is this normal in a system? Does it take any of your systems to be turned up kind of loud before others can hear the bass coming?
Thanks in advance for any light you can shed....