jgi420

Yeah, I might do that. So people can get an idea. I could have bought different stuff I like being different. Having different things than other people usually. I just decided I guess the skar stuff seemed reasonable first I got the subs then I tried the amp skar doesn't seem too bad for the money. One audio shop sells sundown stuff and I'm sure they would have liked to have sold me some of that but it was going to be expensive. I asked about a box and they pretty much said they could build me one if I wanted but it would take months they were backed up with work and who knows what it would have cost, but they didn't seem to have anything that would have been 32 Hertz or lower. Probably the standard 39 to 40 Hertz prefab boxes typical I believe that's what they said so I didn't want to end up getting the same thing as before would have been no benefit or gain.

Okay so I went and I tuned everything and dialed in the new amp and it seems like it's somewhat louder than the previous setup. I guess I can't really complain. I mean what do you expect with box ride and everything you know Like you said, you know you would need massive amount of power in order to reach my goal I could have spent five or $600 and maybe I would have gotten close to a realistic number. That was rms level power. One thing that I noticed is on the last amp. It only had one input so technically you could only hook up one RCA so I thought it would be a good idea to get a y adapter and hook that up. Now I hooked that up thinking that maybe I might have only getting half the power which could have been part of my problem not getting as loud. Well I did that and it seemed like nothing changed. Little did I know because of only one input on the amp. I also disconnected one of the wires from the back of the radio so I wouldn't get any extra noise, ground noise or anything I figured. So now I was not using both RCAs still. So I never got to see what the system would have done with both RCAs hooked up. But I mean, I've always been under the impression that subwoofers put out mono sound and you don't need stereo sound to go into them. A mono signal is what you want I always thought but I could be mistaken. You might lose output with less signal so I guess it would have been interesting to have tried the old amp with both pre outs coming out of the deck going into the y splitter then into the amp. Maybe you could chime in if you know anything about that Like I said in the old days it didn't seem to make much of a difference on an amp if you used left and right or just left or say right instead of a stereo signal The amps seem to play just as loud but on the newest stuff that's coming out maybe it does make a difference. One thing that I did notice when I first hooked the amp up the power was on it seemed like but I didn't hear hardly any audio so I assumed something was wrong right from the factory. I was scratching my head for a couple of minutes yesterday then I unplugged one of the RCAs from the amp and it seemed like I noticed I heard music that was real deep like something was coming out of my subs but not very loud. Then I plugged both cables back in. Didn't seem to hear anything. I'm scratching my head again. I'm going What the heck is going on here. That's when I pulled my deck out of the dash and noticed one of the RCAs was unplugged from the radio. Once I made sure both were plugged in going all the way to the back of the car that's when the subs started hitting. Crazy how something simple like one RCA being unplugged can cause a problem and you have almost no sound. Even though I now had sound, it did not seem like the system was that loud which is why I made the previous post because I didn't think the system sounded much different than on the old amp. However, once I started to tune everything and I set the subsonic filter and the low pass filter, everything started sounding loud and deep. One thing I noticed on this skar amp Is that it appears like when you turn the gain all the way up that's 0.2 on this amp. I didn't notice a voltage number on the previous amp so I had no idea the proper voltage to adjust it to. Seems like on this new amp I was able to turn the gain level almost all the way to the right as far as it would go and the system sounds good doesn't seem to have a problem It's currently a little below max. I plan on doing a little more fine tuning so I don't damage the amp or the speakers. I could be overdriving everything. The last amp had a clip light so it made it easy to tell what was going on. So I appreciate some of the advice a few of you have given me on here. This is a great resource that Steve provides to allow people to be able to get help on fine tuning car audio without damaging equipment and making sure that folks do things right, I am sure that a lot of vehicle fires have been prevented by people giving sound advice on here. I'm well aware that people will say anything. Some people know nothing about electrical, current or physics or anything like that so definitely have to be careful. I definitely don't have to do anything more I think my stereo is loud enough and I shouldn't have to purchase a bigger amp. I think everything is loud enough the way it is. I am having no problems my electrical system is up to par My battery came with the car when I bought it. Don't really know how old it is. Probably 5 years old for all I know but it still works just fine. Holds plenty of juice. The alt has no problem keeping it charged fully and my car starts up every time even in 20 below weather it has never failed me. The terminals on the amp for the power and ground seem like they are big but so far everything seems to be working just fine on 4 gauge power and ground I don't think they'll be a problem. I am pleased that I did not have spend a bunch of extra money and upgrade cables and run a bunch of new wires glad that I oversized everything which left room for expansion. Not just anybody can hook up wires and install electronics vehicles you have to be careful what you're doing and make sure you don't drill holes in the wrong areas and create shorts and stuff like that. A lot of good information on sites like this and some bad information. If I can somehow upload a video to this site of the system with music playing, I will try

Well okay so I finally received my package today. I hooked everything up everything's working like it's supposed to, however I don't notice a huge improvement over the last amp I have adjusted the subsonic filter. I left the low pass filter off and I didn't put on any bass boost started off with the game low then I went and turned it up I got it at about 80% near its max level and The output isn't much different than the last one it seems also realized the fuse that I had in the back was a 125 amp. So it was nowhere near a 60 Miss new amp. It's raining for 200 amp fuse but it's not pulling anywhere near that seems to have big terminals for zero or two gauge does not seem like it needs that works great on four gauge. That's too bad I guess should have probably spent more money and got something different now this is two times that I spent a little over $200 and now I've got two amps that sound about the same.

No, I just picked up the skar rp2000d hopefully that's an improvement

I have a cheap clamp meter. I've tried it a few times. I have tried to measure the amps. I have used a voltmeter too. It seems like no matter what I do I don't get that high of a reading if any at all. On the clamp meter I was clamping the power wire going to the amp. Then I read somewhere you're supposed to clamp the positive wire of the speaker terminal coming off the amp so I try that did not see much of a reading doing that either. It was really odd It was like I saw only five or six amps once again though I know nothing about clamp meters. I just picked up a cheap one I don't know exactly what I'm supposed to be measuring to be honest I am not sure if what you want is a DC clamp meter and the problem is the meter that I have only does AC? Also when I ran the test I had the volume up about as high as I can go cleanly seemed like according to the math I might have been getting around 2ohms which clearly you're not going to see full power I would be getting less then what the box says which makes sense I did not consider this when purchasing the new amp. So if any of my numbers are even correct and I did any math right hopefully I should still be able to get at least 500 watts to each subwoofer RMS I'm pretty sure I have the right clamp meter. It's just a cheap one. It doesn't really say true RMS or anything just a hobo freight one clearly I didn't use test tones I just played music we will have to see what happens when I install the new amp. Another guy he had a smart 3 amp 3k and from what his tests showed, it didn't pull much more than a little over 40 amps even with test tones playing so maybe I'm too concerned with amps will let everyone know how it goes with the new amp and see if I can do some more tests appropriately and figure out what the new setup is doing for power

Okay man, good to know. I was starting to get a little concerned because you know, usually when the ohms increase the usable power is cut. So yeah, I think that's the general consensus. I don't have enough power in the first place coming out of the amplifier I should easily be able to figure out something I will see what I can find my price range and install it

I have already done several upgrades. I have an aftermarket alternator already. I've done the big three I shouldn't have to do anymore aside from adding a second battery. I kind of figured out what the problem is. Looks like I am getting a rise of 22 23 ohms When I play music so the amplifier that I have can't possibly put out any power with a box rise like that I don't understand what's going on because I don't know anything about box rise I believe it's called when you measure the ohms of My speakers with no music playing and the power off. It displays the proper one ohm reading coming out of the box but as soon as you start playing music it rises the 22 to 23 ohms how do I fix this?

So what could be going on here? The dyno testing in a few videos they show the amplifier putting out wattage yet when I clamp the amp it doesn't seem like it is sending more than 30 amps to the amplifier Is it possible for an amplifier to display wattage numbers that don't coincide with amperage. Like how is it possible that an amp will put out say 1,000 watts but only draw 30 amps well going by somebody else's dyno anyways.

So if I were to go with a skar audio rp1500 I should get a lot more power than I'm receiving now? Crazy how a company could charge $200 for bogus power at least give the consumer 700w rms It's like I'm not even getting that. I guess I suppose I mean on the website of the company they don't even list a fuse size or mention RMS power. So you could kind of assume 1500 watt is peak power but it's like they don't even give you half that clearly says on the website 1500w RMS at one ohm 750 watt RMS at 2 ohm crazy inflation

Yeah thanks man. I appreciate the support. I mean I clearly didn't pay attention when trying to set up a system. I did all the wiring correctly and got the aftermarket alternator and everything but I didn't realize What I already should have known about true power and the claims of it from different companies from the previous systems. I seem to always overbuild my car's electrical which most of the time is unnecessary for the stuff I end up being stuck with because I don't follow through with due diligence. Beef up your electrical system then cheap out on amplifiers I don't know why I guess I try to be one step ahead of the game and over build everything for future upgrades. I appreciate the advice. I'm going to look for a better amp in the future when my budget allows me to. Is the taramps smart 3 3000k amplifier any good? Would that be something to look into as far as budget friendly and enough power

Correct. That seems kind of odd. It seems like the power acoustik 2500D that I had before from Walmart was putting out just as much power as the amp that I have now which doesn't seem to make sense. I had the NVX XAD 11 before which was supposed to be 700w I was probably getting a lot less with that amplifier. I figured when I upgraded to the XAD12 I'd be putting out a lot more power. I guess in the car audio game it's pretty easy to be misled if you're not careful I saw some of the reviews they make it look like it's doing the amount of watts that it says that it's doing but it doesn't seem like it I see you in a couple video reviews on YouTube. Of course what I was seeing was probably not music being played through the system probably raw peak power on the bench which is different than musical amperage I get that. I kind of figured something was up when I didn't really need to upgrade my fuse from the last amplifier everything seemed to play fine. I guess I'll have to look into getting a different amp I guess you really have to pay attention when you're reading reviews or watching them on YouTube most people don't play the music through the system and then clamp them so you can actually see what the musical power is.

PXL_20240118_221218529.TS~2.mp4 So I put the clamp meter on Cranked the volume up Got it to around 21 volume before the clip light started to go on and off Just barely kicking on seemed like the amount of amps being pulled was maybe 26 or 28 at most. That doesn't seem like a lot of power for a 1,500 watt amp also checked the resistance seems like it's wired correctly I wired it to one ohm I am seeing one ohm coming out of the box when I check the wires. I guess everything is fairly normal this amp is doing what it's supposed to do on these speakers. Not pulling anywhere near 60 amps so I don't have to go any bigger on the fuse. Everything seems to be working in harmony I don't know why a lot of people over inflate power requirements on things.

I would be a little concerned about something that cheap making those kind of claims. Even if it sounds like a good brand you will probably find out It's closest to putting out 200 watts

What my goal was is to be able to hopefully get a 3000 watt monoblock amp and be able to push these woofers at the RMS power. I double checked my fuse and it's blue. It's a 60 amp fuse so I got a 60 amp fuse running to my amp and it doesn't have any problems, so it seems kind of odd that the amp that I'm running would be putting out 1,500 watts. If my system isn't even pulling 60 amps out of the subwoofer amplifier then I don't see any reason why I couldn't buy a 3000 watt version of the same amp and get it to run. I have seen a few videos and stuff and ransom numbers but the math doesn't really compute. That's what's confusing. I mean maybe when you're using the SMD meters and stuff that's going by raw power and not actual music power musical power is different I would assume. I don't see how in one of these videos a guy is claiming he's pulling 165 amps out yet. I don't seem to be pulling anywhere near that. Not trying to sound stupid here or drag the topic out but it would seem like I should be able to upgrade my amplifier and my electrical would be capable of producing enough power safely to run the vehicle and a new amp. All in all, I don't seem to notice any problems with the enclosure. It's put together well. The d4s is a pretty good enclosure for the money I don't think I'll have any problems in the future I put it together myself and I made sure, it was solid. I think the kits they sell are pretty good

Well I mean on almost any enclosure. There's a chance that it will leak air the last MDF enclosure I had well the last three of them the screws all came loose from the subs. I had to turn them facing upward because they wanted to fall out of the box after a short period of time and I pre-drilled pilot holes. Even before I installed the subs I even had to move them around to three different places in almost every box I had. So there is a general concern that even a Birchwood cabinet can still rattle loose or leak air If you put too much power through it. Either way, I'm not running the full amount of RMS the speakers can handle. And the subwoofer amp only has an 80 amp fuse and it has not blown yet I thought that a 1500 watt amp would draw at least 85 amps so I find that a little odd.