osamio

This is hard to explain, but here goes.. I just installed an equalizer/preamp... I used high level inputs on it, and RCA output to my soundstream amp... I attached a DMM to the amp, set the gains, played a few test tones, seemed good to go, Then i go to connect the subs to the amp, and as soon as i touched the second speaker wire, the subs SLAMMED at there was a large spark at the terminal.. i pulled the wire away like instantly, took out the DMM and touched it to the amp output, there was NOTHING. it seemed fine, i pulled out the RCA going into the amp, and tried attaching the subs again, and it was fine, no spark, no output from the subs. So, i figure there is some signal coming from the equalizer, but why not when the DMM was connected? only the when the subs were connected did this signal or whatever u want to call it come through the amp... I hope i explained this well enough for someone to maybe guess what's wrong?

I'm in new mexico, it's 10 here right now, but it's winter and night time... but i'll be moving to phoenix here in a month so i'm not worried about the actual cca rating as i am about making sure i get a battery that isn't going to mess something up.. like my electrical system, and wont put too much strain on my stock alt... I'm not even sure if those are things i have to worry about, that's why i'm asking lol A new battery wont mess with you alt at all, Just find the largest that will fit in your stock location, also where do you live in NM?? The stock location is the spare tire well in the trunk, but it would be easy to bolt any size battery box in there bacause i don't have the spare tire in. and i live in Albuquerque.

I'm in new mexico, it's 10 here right now, but it's winter and night time... but i'll be moving to phoenix here in a month so i'm not worried about the actual cca rating as i am about making sure i get a battery that isn't going to mess something up.. like my electrical system, and wont put too much strain on my stock alt... I'm not even sure if those are things i have to worry about, that's why i'm asking lol

I don't have a high output alt, does that matter? just curious, and how do i pick a battery? just based off the wattage i neeed, or should i just get the biggest i can?

That's kind of what i was thinking, just didn't know. so it's safe to just replace the starter batter with a an agm battery? like, just put it in in place of the stock battery? sounds good.

I've been looking to upgrade my battery, and add a second, but I don't really understand which batteries would be acceptable to use, obviously i could use the battery recommended for the car, which is 450-500 cold cranking amps or something like that.. now is that the required rating for my car? or just a minimum rating? could i install a battery with a higher cca without modifying the electrical system in my car? also, if i have the stock battery, is it safe to bus bar in a battery with a different rating for cold cranking amps? or should i replace the stock battery with a larger one, and add another of the same cca?

why u mad. you never said what kind of vehicle you had until now so dont start bitching. get an AGM battery as a second battery. not another regular one. No but i said in like, 3 of these posts that the stock battery uses a venting system. it's all over this page. and my vehicle is in my signature. but i'm not mad, i'm just trying to get an answer to my question, not a lecture about proper batter safety. From what i've read, it's fine to run 2 batteries on a stock low output alternator. good. thank you.

STOCK the car comes with an unsealed battery and a vent hose. Don't lecture me, lecture GM. The batteries for cobalts are designed with a fume hood kind of thing on it, and an adapter for a vent hose. STOCK

I know they're very different, i'm trying to decide if i want to use this battery to run when the car is off, that is, an isolated battery, or if i might just go ahead and use it for more power. and the autozone battery is the recommended replacement, i will use a Y adapter to attach it to the vent hose along with the stock battery.

It's probably in the 120-130 amp range lol. and the first battery is stock, the second is the direct replacement from autozone. I'm running 1000-ish watts. (1700w amp with gains turned down) and headlights are dimming pretty bad.. I have a 0awg ground, 0awg engine block ground, but i haven't done the alternator charge wire because the battery is in the trunk, and it's a bitch.. the stock charge wire is 8 guage i believe

It's probably in the 120-130 amp range lol. and the first battery is stock, the second is the direct replacement from autozone.

I would like to run two batteries with either a bus bar or an isolator.. I'm not sure which yet.. But before i start on that, can a stock alternator handle charging two batteries? I'm not sure the stock amperage of my alternator, i'm sure it's not fantastic..

From what i learned from asking a similar question a couple days ago, that is all correct. As for the sub output from the head unit, it's your listening or tuning preference. Ideally, set it to the maximum bass output you would use daily.

That's exactly what I was planning to do, just never done it. Only thing i'm worried about is long-term damage.. Is there a chance they'll appear to be fine, but that after a few hours or even a few days of daily they might blow? or is it fairly obvious right away if they'll hold up or not?

I've had nothing but great experiences with pioneer subs, i've seen two 308D's at 400rms each with basic pioneer highs hit 142.5 in termlab. They're pretty great for the price. and that's good to hear, i've been looking for a real world estimate of what they can handle continuously, i was hoping to push them to 450-500. I'm glad to here they'll last.

So if i there's no audible clipping, and no obvious damage occuring, then it should be ok to jst kind of eyeball the settings? without metering? because i don't have a clamp meter, jst a standard dmm. i suppose if i need to i could get one, if they're not too expensive.

What should i put on the amp as a load? the actual subs? and just start with the gain tuned all the way down? and i need 900 rms because I sold the old amp, upgraded to the 1700w amp, but it's gonna be a few paychecks before i upgrade the subs. so i have 450RMS DVC 4 ohm subs, and a 1700 watt amp. i could wire to 4 ohms, but i'd only get 250ish watts to each sub, so i'm going to wire to 1 ohm, but that's 850 to each sub, unless i set the gains right.

I posted a topic about my amp earlier, and the answer came back to read the output of the amp with a multimeter set to read AC voltage.. but no one gave me a clear explanation of how to do it...so a step by step kind of thing would be great.. I need to set a 1700 watt amp's gains so that it puts out a max of 900 watts with the volume all the way up...

I wouldn't think so either, i figured it was worth asking though. again, any idea about how to set the gain on a 1700w amp so it puts out 900-1000-ish? or is there a somewhat accurate way to estimate the power an amp is putting out real time? so i can tune the gain accordingly? obviously, i mean, without an oscope and such, any quick way to do it?

sounds good man, the more i've been looking around, the more it seems like power increases help spl more than increasing cone area. but any advice on setting the gain on a 1700 watt amp so it puts out about 900-1000 watts? or am i jut gonna have to play around with it?

Caps are for show man.. They kinda helped my bass response, but other than that, they look good when i pop the trunk, I have the big 3 done and an upgraded battery. the stock alt is decent enough to run the set up i have now, should be able to handle this new amp. the box i have now is ported, it's built to the spec's from pioneer. ALSO if i do want the 2 subs to see 400 watts a peice, but i have a 1700RMS amp, how can i set the gain to run the subs at their rated power? should i just adjust it till it clips? and keep it below that point? or is there a process for determining where the gain should be so the subs see 400RMS?

Well eventually that's what i plan to do. I will replace these two 400s with 1000s, but for now, i'm stuck with a 1700 watt amp and two 400 RMS subs, that's 850RMS to each, I want to know how hard i can push these subs without destroying them, if i don't hear any clipping, then it's ok too keep them above their RMS rating?

I focus on both, i'm not all about SPL by any means, but i want a loud system and i want it to look good. I'm planning on dropping to two subs for a while. I can't say for sure what I'm going to do in the future. In the mean time, i still need an answer about the safe amount of power i can deliver to the 400RMS subs.

I'm ok with staying with two if that's the consensus, now you think setting them up to run at 450 watts over their rating is ok? as long as there's no audible clipping?

I have two Pioneer TS-308D4's, they're 400RMS/1200 peak... I have a 1700w RMS amp, i was hoping to run the two subs off it at 850 RMS to each sub, twice their RMS rating, Would that be safe? Eventually I plan on adding two subs and it'll drop to 425 RMS to each of the 4. You're not going to be able to fit 4 decent subs in a Cobalt. You're better off with two good 12's in a good box. I've seen the setup that i want actually. A split box built off pioneer's specs (1.65cu per sub, 3in round port) facing the rear seat with about 6 inches of space, and the same box back to back with it facing the trunk lid.