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Big Tex db

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Everything posted by Big Tex db

  1. Upon further research, I might had been bottoming out my sub. Clean signal, just too much movement for the sub. I'm in a slightly oversized (+ .1-.2cu ft) sealed enclosure compared what is recommended on manufacturers website. It's a 1000w rms 2ohm DVC sub. Currently wired parallel to 1ohm. The amp is stable at 1500w 1ohm, 1000w 2 ohm, and 700w 4ohm. I'm going to rewire in a series to 4ohm and see how she likes it with only 700w. It's been running great with the gain set way below it's distortion point. Infact even getting a little warm/smelly a couple of times. For a single 12 in a sealed box, it's been hitting strong and clean. I'm itching to try a ported box, but can't justify the cabin space I'd lose in the truck, and possibly lose some quality of sound.
  2. Not yet. Planning on trying to tune again in the next day or two.
  3. A combination of remote knob turned down some, but HU turning up would cause it. Or, HU turned down some and remote knob turning up would cause it. This was after setting the amp's gain via the distortion light turning on continuously, then backing off until it turned off. I tried tuning the gains with the remote knob at 50% and 75% but the DD1 would not show me a continuous distortion light even when I had the amp gain all the way up to 100%. Once I realized this, I've always had the remote knob at 100% when tuning the amp's gain. It is not just blinking. I've noticed the distortion light consistently blinking 1 or 2 times before I would find the point the distortion light would turn on continuously. Just like in many of Meade's instructional videos on YouTube. Yes my signal light is on. I am considering the big 3 upgrade in the future. I want to do more research on alternators, batteries, and such before moving on with further audio projects for this truck. I've just recently started a new career and might purchase another truck within the next year. Not sure how committed I am to spending more money on the current truck. The box looked and felt solid during installation of the sub. All of the corners and bracings appeared to be secure and sealed. It had decent reviews online, but who knows if they were throwing a 1000sub in their box. I do plan to build my own box when I have the time and plan to get as close to the 1cu ft recommended by Soundstream. I've read wishy-washy opinions about adding stuffing to a sealed box. I currently have nothing added inside of this box. Any thoughts on this?
  4. I have no sound deadening besides what came stock on the truck. I walked around the truck today with everything on full blast. Windows up, doors shut. You can clearly hear what song I was playing from the door speakers and just a little bit of vibrations from the sub. Open the door and you get blasted with a wall of quality sound. It's discreet to others around, while I'm bathing in loud music on the inside. Can't wait to get sound deadening and another amp for the mids/high to add even more quality to the sound. I'm really quite happy with where it's at for how little time and money I've put into improving the system.
  5. + 2012 F150 quad cab. + Grounded to the floor in the rear of the cab - I might try sanding the paint/metal more next time I am able to work on it. AFAIK, the area I have the ground connected to is steel and not aluminum. I still have some cables to hide under the carpet to complete the install. I also need to figure the final position of the sub in the rear of the cab. + OFC wire. I purchased a Skar 1/0 kit + Have not done the big 3. At the moment I don't plan on throw more amps/subs into the equation. I do not run the sub at full blast for long periods of time, and do not always listen to bass heavy music that draws a lot of power from the battery. Currently, I've only found 1 song I've listened to that dims the headlights slightly on the drawn out low tones. + When leaving my amp's gain just below the distortion point indicated by the DD1, it was clipping immediately after starting the vehicle. The time the engine has been on, driving/parked, etc. didn't change anything in the quality or performance of the amp or sub. + It's a prebuilt sealed box with 1.26cf volume. This sub is recommended around 1cf for a sealed enclosure. I've considered this as well. Even though the amp's gain is turned way below where the DD1 said distortion starts, it is putting out quite a loud and clean signal to the sub. The sub and amp have not become even warm to the touch or shown any signs of becoming overheated.
  6. Appreciate the help so far y'all. I'm not sure I found the "perfect" solution yet, but I'm happy where I have things set for now. I am not able to leave the amp's gain where the SMD DD1 says the amp is not distorting, but it's more than loud/clean enough for now AND I am very happy with the product. I do not believe the DD1 is the issue in my situation and look forward to using it again on future projects. The DD1 was putting my amp around the 60-70% range of my amp's gain dial, while 30-40% seems to be the highest it can be set to run cleanly as my set up sits right now. I found a setting in Spotify that "normalizes" all tracks. I turned this off. Doing this caused Rockford Fosgate's 40hz 0db tone to really wake up the door speakers as I set the amp's gain. Significantly louder than before I turned off the normalize, I think. This may had been a big issue. I also used this 40hz 0db track to set gain on the amp, which I ended up turning down quite a bit below what the DD1 said was the distortion point. Maybe my vehicle is underpowering my amp when the gain is turned up higher. I'm keeping my phone 1 click below max volume .. can't confirm this changed anything, but things are good where they're at for now. I can run my HU at max volume without any distortion when using my phone, I'm okay with this as it's pretty loud at max HU volume. I might slowly bump the amp's gain up so I can use the knob to boost the bass on quieter tracks - Paradise by Coldplay comes to mind. Now at full HU volume and amp knob turned to max, the sub is very loud (this may be relative around this forum, but it shakes the truck, mirrors, and my vision a little bit) while staying crisp and clear - cleeeaan strong bass - just about what I was expecting from a single 12", 1500w amp, and sealed box. I believe I'm getting a fairly good and clean power/ground connection thru the set up. I need to check my volts at the battery and at the amp to confirm. I was playing the song Release by Slight (found on spotify) and it was drawing enough power to dim the head lights during the lowest long notes. Appreciate the input so far, I'll be back to check for anymore replies.
  7. Possible. I have not noticed any lights dimming or such though.
  8. Everything is flat after tuning except 80hz LPF on HU. Bass knob is set to max when setting gain on amp. I can hear the sub burping, or sputtering. It makes a repeated thud/pounding noise. As if it's bottoming out or being stopped repeatedly. I assume this is clipping/distortion from too much gain.
  9. Turning phone down a click from max didn't change anything immediately. I'm thinking about removing the gain knob from the equation and giving it another shot. Might try tuning at 40hz 0db as well to play it extra conservative. Frustrating having so little control from the knob. I don't hear any extra noise, whine, hissing in my speakers or my sub. Would external noise in the lines cause distortion to occur? 2012 F150 quad cab if that helps.
  10. I tuned using Rockford Fosgates 40hz 0 and -10db tracks on Spotify. I yielded similar results... My head unit didn't distort at max volume, was able to turn up to 35/35. My gain on sub distorted around 60% turned up. I backed all the way to about 50% gain to play it safe. I am still getting clipping even at lower volumes. Remote gain knob barely turned up 20-25%. When I originally installed the sub, I did not own a DD1 yet. When I conservatively tuned the gain by ear, it seemed 30% was about all the amp would turn up before sub would start clipping. I'm kinda stumped. Finishing up last shift at work before holiday break. Will try with phone turned down a click.
  11. Will try tuning thru the phone today. It's a sealed box. IIRC, Soundstream says 12" sub in a box this size is tuned around 49~ hz. I do not have an amp for my mids/highs yet. Front 6x9s have been replaced with a pair of Infinity 2ways. Rear speakers and tweeters are stock at the moment.
  12. Alpine 172-BT - using bluetooth connection for music, generally spotify and youtube for music sources, phones always set to max volume, zero bluetooth db boost in headunit settings Memphis Audio PRX1500.1 - 1500w @ 1ohm - 1.27cf sealed enclosure Soundstream Reserve 12" 1000w - wired @ 1ohm SMD DD1 HU - Everything is zero, flat, no boosts, no bass engine, except HPF @ 80hz (to reduce the 40hz tone pounding on door speakers when setting gain on sub amp) Amp - Gain @ lowest, LPF @ highest, Subsonic Filter @ lowest, 40hz bass boost turned completely down/off Disconnected sub speaker wires from amp. Ran track 1 (40hz 0db) to find max volume from HU. 34/35 volume is highest HU volume before distortion. I first tried using tracks 3 (40hz -5db), 5 (40hz -10db), and 7 (40hz -15db) with my Memphis Audio Gain remote control knob set at half way. I could not get the distortion light to stay on continuously at any gain level on the amp. I then decided to turn the remote gain knob all the way up when setting gain on the amplifier. Using tracks 3, 5, or 7, I found that I ended up with my amp gain setting around the same point, about 60-70% turned up before the distortion light would come on continuously. I always backed the amp's gain off 1 or 2 clicks after finding the point it would light up the distortion light. Confirmed distortion light was off after pulling away the flathead screw driver. Regardless of which 40hz track (3,5 or 7) I set the amp's gain to, it would immediately start clipping the sub once I started listening to music. Even at lower volumes on the HU. I could barely turn the remote gain control knob up 25% (after adjusting amp's gain with the remote knob at 100%) before the sub would start clipping/burping. Lost by Gorilla Zoe, On My Level by Wiz Khalifa, Rain by Breakage were my immediate go to songs to test the sub - all played from Spotify app. I am fairly inexperienced with car audio, though I do my research before I get into new hobbies. About 8 years ago, I owned 2 used 12" JL Audio W3s in a custom sealed box that I had "tuned" by ear (box was made to fit in a F Body Camero before I threw it in the back of my Volkswagen GTI). I ran them very hard and never had burping/clipping issues like I'm experiencing now. They ran great until one of the surrounds deteriorated from old age and being exposed to the Texas heat. I say that to say this, they may had been in a box that was perfectly built for them, while I am using a cheap prebuilt box for this current Soundstream sub. I honestly do not know where or why this clipping is happening. Don't know if I'm setting my gains correctly, not setting my HU correctly, not understanding how my remote gain knob works, if this sub will not work in this enclosure, etc. etc... The sub sounds great, hits fairly good for a single 12" .. I would just like to have a more definitive "max" to set it at without having such a high ceiling on the remote control knob. Should I try using the DD1 to set the gain using the 0db track? Should I try setting the gain with my subwoofer level turned up on the HU settings? Should I replace this remote gain control know with a different one (tbh this knob is very small and hard to adjust anyways)? Should I look into building or purchasing a custom built box for this sub to help it perform healthly? Sorry for the wall of text, just trying to get all the info out there. Thanks for your time.
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