ANYTHING ELSE NEEDED!?!?!

[reedal]

Ur system voltage is always 13.8 volts.

No.

[Bayuk89]

Ur system voltage is always 13.8 volts.

No.

I know i had to edit and correct lol thanks reedal.

[Bayuk89]

And sorry ryan, that idea of turing the amp gainfrom the area of 1/4 to 1/2 isnt a good practice either.... if u can fing someone close with a DD-1 u can properly set ur head unit volume and amp for clean signal. The amp gain isnt a volume knob (how u wrote it sounded to me like u wanna play with it like a volume knob) if u treat it that way you could clip and distort the amp and subs and boom there goes your equipment.

[Bayuk89]

So to answer you question, if the amp has 1/0 inputs and reedal (myself included) agree that 1/0 is gonna be your BEST bet for the install even tho IMO the 4 ga with 100 amp fuse under hood is just fine for the 2200 watt amp. So if i just wanted to do the install with wiggle room of having a higher rated amp in the future i would order 20' of 1/0 SHCA or 1/0 welding cable and run a 150 amp ANL fuse under the hood and the 200 ANL on the amp. Use the remanding 1/0 for the big three upgrade and boom ur done with electrical and all u have to do is tun the amp and head unit with a DD-1 and your output is gonna be clean and proper with out distortion.

[RyanRosier]

And sorry ryan, that idea of turing the amp gainfrom the area of 1/4 to 1/2 isnt a good practice either.... if u can fing someone close with a DD-1 u can properly set ur head unit volume and amp for clean signal. The amp gain isnt a volume knob (how u wrote it sounded to me like u wanna play with it like a volume knob) if u treat it that way you could clip and distort the amp and subs and boom there goes your equipment.

Haha I mean no, I know it's not a volume knob but no one here has a DD-1, so like always having to use the old rockford way of like turning head unit up to distorotion, then back down, then amp gain to distortion then back down. And usually that's like around 3/5th -3/4 way up so thats why I used the terms 1/4 - 1/2 way up. But promise haha, I know what all that means. I guess reading over my last couple post's I've made my self sound uneducated loll

[RyanRosier]

Alrighty, see I mean this is my first real big system install. Mine is a SX650.1 on 2 12" Comp S. Running a run of 4AWG RF Tinned OFC, 12 AWG Sky High OFC speaker wire. All set up the old fashion as I described up above^ But on his, I want to do it totally correct and make sure it's perfect. I'm doing it all free as well (mainly cause we're best friends) to get some exposure for other people to come to me. So when he pulls up and is demoing, he can say "Yeah Ryan Rosier hooked me up, go to him."

On speaker wire, In his box he has what I believe is 8, might be 10 AWG tho, what do I need to be running from the amp to there? or will 12 AWG OFC Sky High work? Like since mine is as big as I've looking into, I do not know what measures are need for a much larger system. As you all can probably see

[Bayuk89]

Truthfully 12ga speaker wire is kinda over kill on your system, 14 ga would have worked just fine for BOTH of you. But if u have 12ga then i would use it Try not to get involved in "over indulging" with huge thick wire. If an amp is sufficent with 4ga wire then using 2/0 is pointless because there is literally no gain by using wire 3 sizes bigger than what is necessary. Distance distance distance, power wire is rated at amp carrying capacity over length of distance just like i mentioned about my welding cable. This goes for BOTH power wire and speaker wires. Using 8 ga speaker wire is NOT gonna show any improvement over 12ga or 14ga for his 2200 watt set up. But it wont hurt anything just wasting money.

Also tuning by ear is a good practice either lol sorry man, u CAN do it but its not correct and here is why...... lets say u turn ur radio up till u THINK u hear distortion, but in fact the distortion u hear is acually due to having bad speakers thus making u think ur hearing distorion. It is distortion but what u wanna see is distorted SIGNAL, thats what the DD-1 does you hook ur RCA wires from ur head unit up to the DD-1 and with all the EQ flat u play the supplied test tones on the head unit and turn ur volume up till u see distorion light come on and boom u know excally how loud ur volume is before it sends out distorted signals. Then u hook up the DD-1 to the amp and do the same but u leave ur radio turned up to its max clean volume then turn the gain up untill the distorion light comes on then boom ur amp and head unit are set, there is no guess work anymore.

Also i never have personally turned my gain past 1/2 way ever but that doesnt mean im right or wrong. The DD-1 Is only $150 you NEED to buy it and not mess around with guess work because ur not gonna get full potental outta that system with out it and also everyone hears different so tuning by ear u might think its clean but acually u are sending distorted signal so now the amp is gonna play distorted signal to the subs and might clip the shit outta them now their toast.... i borrowed a guys dd1 and found out my head unit plays clean signal 35/35 and then i tuned my amp and its SOOOOO much louder and deeper than when i tuned by ear or set gains with my DMM.

Tell ur friend hey to to this install CORRECT we need a $150 testing tool so we can play Clean signal and not ruin ur new gear.... also u can charge other people $20 to tune their system and it will pay it self off real quick. Having a CLEAN UNDISTORED system is priceless man.

[Bayuk89]

I learned ALOT from the guys on this forum, there is so much knowledge on here i sugest u just start reading old treads and post u will be amazed on how much u think you know but in reality ur knowledge was only scratching the surface. All the feed back u get is just our suggestions and opinions that doesnt mean if u dont follow what is said that ur wrong, you just have to decide if u want to take the advise or not....... there are guys with $600 systems on here and guys with $10,000 $20,000 $30,000 systems or maybe more !!! Point is u have good advise here on SMD forum from people who actually know what they are talking about and are willing to help (cant say that about every audio forum) so take ur pick on what advise u would like to listen to, to help with your installs. This forum has many years of threads i would read as much as u can in your spare time im reading almost every day....

[RyanRosier]

Truthfully 12ga speaker wire is kinda over kill on your system, 14 ga would have worked just fine for BOTH of you. But if u have 12ga then i would use it Try not to get involved in "over indulging" with huge thick wire. If an amp is sufficent with 4ga wire then using 2/0 is pointless because there is literally no gain by using wire 3 sizes bigger than what is necessary. Distance distance distance, power wire is rated at amp carrying capacity over length of distance just like i mentioned about my welding cable. This goes for BOTH power wire and speaker wires. Using 8 ga speaker wire is NOT gonna show any improvement over 12ga or 14ga for his 2200 watt set up. But it wont hurt anything just wasting money.

Also tuning by ear is a good practice either lol sorry man, u CAN do it but its not correct and here is why...... lets say u turn ur radio up till u THINK u hear distortion, but in fact the distortion u hear is acually due to having bad speakers thus making u think ur hearing distorion. It is distortion but what u wanna see is distorted SIGNAL, thats what the DD-1 does you hook ur RCA wires from ur head unit up to the DD-1 and with all the EQ flat u play the supplied test tones on the head unit and turn ur volume up till u see distorion light come on and boom u know excally how loud ur volume is before it sends out distorted signals. Then u hook up the DD-1 to the amp and do the same but u leave ur radio turned up to its max clean volume then turn the gain up untill the distorion light comes on then boom ur amp and head unit are set, there is no guess work anymore.

Also i never have personally turned my gain past 1/2 way ever but that doesnt mean im right or wrong. The DD-1 Is only $150 you NEED to buy it and not mess around with guess work because ur not gonna get full potental outta that system with out it and also everyone hears different so tuning by ear u might think its clean but acually u are sending distorted signal so now the amp is gonna play distorted signal to the subs and might clip the shit outta them now their toast.... i borrowed a guys dd1 and found out my head unit plays clean signal 35/35 and then i tuned my amp and its SOOOOO much louder and deeper than when i tuned by ear or set gains with my DMM.

Tell ur friend hey to to this install CORRECT we need a $150 testing tool so we can play Clean signal and not ruin ur new gear.... also u can charge other people $20 to tune their system and it will pay it self off real quick. Having a CLEAN UNDISTORED system is priceless man.

I like you. Right out the box you have amazing input without being condescending an not coming off like a total prick. Not saying any one has here, but you know, there's always people out there like that. And Personally I like the way 12 AWG looks SO I can bite the change for self satisfaction on that one right? I knew 14 would work, but I did not know about his because that's some big juice to me. Thank you for that input. 10/10

And oh my gosh that totally makes sense with the distorted signal instead of hearing it! Thank you!

And is $150 the bottom dollar for one..? I mean I know there is some decent amount of cash in this install for him, but I mean I could probably buy one.. Dip into my Beretta A400 savings... I have always wanted one but never saw the real neccesity now.

Now on my Kicker SX650.1 it has like crossovers and stuff and lots of junk inside that I don't know how to use since it's all digital. Would I have to set all those settings to flat like on my HU? and opinion of my amp? Came in 10/10 cosmetic condition. No lie. Perfect working conditions. Paid $175 for it with all the fins and knobs and birth sheet with a 4 AWG Tinned OFC RF wire kit.

[Bayuk89]

Thanks man your heading in the right direction. Im personally running a budget build in my second gen dodge. Its not fancy, just a 1500 watt @ 1ohm amp and two 15" subs in a 6.6 cubic foot ported box tuned to 35 hz. Its all entry level stuff hense only being a $600 build and if i joined the forum earlier BEFORE i bought my gear i would have chosen better equipment but right now it pounds pretty damn good later this year i plan on walling off my dodge and doing three or four 15's but i need ALOT of electrical work to be done before i start building lol.

Heres a very very very generic ball park way to set up a sub amp with out having a DD1

*** this is for setting ur sub amp, if u have a mids/highs amp disconnect the RCA going into that amp and recconect after ur sub is set*****

1. Go on youtube or a website u can download a 40 or 50 hz test tone @ 0 db

2. Disconnet ur subwoofer speakers

3. Set ur head unit volume at 3/4 of max and play that 40 or 50 hz test tone on repeat

4. Set ur SSF on the lowest it will go and the LPF the highest it will go

5. Put ur DMM (digital multimeter) on A/C volts and put the leads in the amp speaker terminal

6. The audio que amp is rated at 2200 x 1 ohm so just find the square root of 2200 which is like 49 something but me personally i would set it at 45 so with ur gain all the way down, HU @ 3/4 on 40 or 50 hz turn ur gain up till u see 45 volts on A/C VOLTS.

7. Turn ur head unit down to 0 and plug ur sub speakers in, turn ur HU to like 1/3 volume and play a 75 hz test tone with ur leads on the speaker terminal and measure the a/c voltage. Times that measured voltage by .707 and then turn ur LPF down till u see that voltage and then do the same with ur SSF filter. With out getting technical in a sealed box u can set the SSF @ 20 HZ if ur ported usually 1/2 octave OR 5 hz below tuning is where u wanna be for a generic "safe" tune. So if ur ported box is tuned to 35 hz u set ur SSF to 30 hz. There is awhole lot lot lot lot lot more factors but i can help explain that later.... if not google and other posts on this forum have the answers.

This is a practice found All OVER the internet, its not the RIGHT way to do it but crutchfield, alpine and other sites say this same procedure. I tuned this way before i was able to borrow and tune with a DD1 and let me tell you after i tuned with a DD1 my subs played lower and harder with retuning with the DD1.

If u decide to tune with above instructions ur max volume WILL be 3/4 volume on the HU. Most head units can play 3/4 volume with no distortion thats why all the sites say turn volume up 3/4 to tune, when i tuned with the DD1 i found out my kenwood goes 100% volume 35/35 with out distortion thats the perk of the tool is to see how high ur volume can go with out distortion and matching ur amp gain until distortion. So u know this for sure is the loudest i can go before i get dirty.

So if ur running a $600 build or $8,000 build it doesnt matter having a DD1 is a must for all system builds u wanna get every single CLEAN watt of power out of your amp.

and if u get the CC-1 it will do the SSF and LPF settings that is the BEST way for setting them. the way as mentioned above is using test tones and math and has been around for decades but it isnt as accurate as the proper testing equipment we have now.