HELP QUICK PLZ JL JX1000/1D

[infamous23]

I just bought 2-12inch JL WXv2's and put them in my dodge ram 1500 quad cab. I currently have a Phoenix Gold MS-275 and its not pushing the speakers to be very loud. So I was looking at getting the JL JX500/1D but I saw for $100 more I could get the JL JX1000/1D so I gunned for it and got the JL JX1000/1D not thinking the JL JX500/1D would push those speakers to the max. But I wanted the JX500 because its 4 inches shorter which helps with space because I have to stick the Amps under the front seats in my truck. I currently have a Kicker DX400.4 pushing my infinity ref 6x9's and rear 5' speakers in doors.

Well the specs for the speakers are 200 rms-500 peak. So together with 2 it would be 400 rms or 1000peak in 4ohm. I have them bridged to 2Ohm not sure if that does anything to the RMS or not. Do you guys know if the Jx500/1d would max out my 12's or not? Should I cancel my order on the jx1000/1d? is it going to be too much for the wx 12's even if I don't turn the amp up all the way? I don't know what to do. I have til the end of the night to cancel my order on the Jx1000/1d. If the jx500 will not maximize my speakers than I don't want it. the voltage at my distribution block under the seat is 13.1-13.8v. I measured voltage coming out of amp with speakers hitting bass and it was 11.8-12.8 stayed more in the 12's. I don't know if I made a mistake going with the jx1000 over the jx500 for these speakers. Am i going to blow them are they going to sound like crap? plus the space I have to work with. my current amp phoenix gold is the same physical size as the jx1000. but its a tight fit. Thanks in advance

currently have 4 gauge wire from battery to distribution block. and 4 gauge to phoenix gold and 8 gauge to kicker dx400 from distribution block. don't know if this info is needed. though i'd throw it in.

PS I bought the SMD DD-1 and the SMD CC-1 they both arrived today =)

[Efreakingt]

Well the jx500 will do 500 watts rms at 2 ohm. The jx1000 does 1000 at 2 ohm.

Both will max out your subs, they both will have wattage to spare. The 1000 will have 600 watts of headroom.

You can set either to the desired level by using a DMM and only dialing in gain appropriate for 400 watts rms.

[infamous23]

Do you think that I should stay with the JX1000 or go with the JX500? I've been trying to do as much research as possible myself. I've been reading most sites say match the amp with the speakers that its bad to use a bigger wattage amp for lower watt speakers. some sites they say its not a bad thing just don't overdue it. So getting a little confused, that's why I turned to the forum. See if I can get some help here.

As far as the DMM I bought the SMD DD-1 to adjust the gain. But how would I adjust the gain for it to push 400-450 watts with the DMM? Would the SMD DD-1 not be good to do that?

[DTS909]

For a little bit more money you could get sundown SD 12's, 500 rms and like a smaller box then the jl's. You ported or sealed?

[Efreakingt]

You have to use ohms law to set gains with a DMM. You take your target wattage, times it by your ohms and then square root that number. So for 400 watts at 2 ohms you'd want 28.28 volts on the amp terminals.

Look up guides on setting gains with a DMM. The DD1 will only tell you if a signal is clean. As far as going over on watts, I don't know how those jl amps handle but I know most amps can be held back, less stress on the amps by not being pushed fully. If it was me I wouldn't have ordered more than the 500 since it's still 100 watts over my needed power.

[reedal]

You'll be fine with the 1000. find your HU max clean with DD-1 like the instructions say, then with the amp, set your gain with the -5dB tone (which ever track that the manual says is the sound quality track), then use the DMM method to back it down to the subwoofers RMS, so 400w output from your 1000w amp. Your amp will run very cool and efficient given you have so much headroom.

[infamous23]

You'll be fine with the 1000. find your HU max clean with DD-1 like the instructions say, then with the amp, set your gain with the -5dB tone (which ever track that the manual says is the sound quality track), then use the DMM method to back it down to the subwoofers RMS, so 400w output from your 1000w amp. Your amp will run very cool and efficient given you have so much headroom.

Thanks guys, I think I'll stick with the JX1000 for now. BUT NOW... dont know if i need to make a new thread somewhere else

Reedal I checked out your build and setup in your tahoe. Great job man. I haven't built a system for around 12 years so I'm a little rusty and not sure of the new tech out for systems. I like your battery setup and alternator setup with the Big 3 upgrade. I'm wondering If the battery and alternator is necessary for my install.

Here is my current setup and the voltages i've taken at points in my truck. First I have a 2002 Dodge Ram 1500 with a new rural king battery (1 year old) stock alternator and wire setup to it. I have ran 4-gauge lexani or lexi i dont remember the name of it but it is NOT OFC cable. I'm not sure if its true 4 gauge, i got it from sonics but i was unhappy with it when i got it and the copper is really soft and just shreds when twisting it to put into a terminal or amp. I have a 4 gauge T-spec MANL 80amp inline fuse i just bought 18inches from battery. (btw will NEVER buy t-spec ever again, suppose to be waterproof and gromets wont fit through plastic with wire so it is not waterproof, t-spec inline waterproof fuses are junk.) the 4 gauge runs to a XScorpion fused MANL distribution block from there. Both 60amp fuses its 2-8 gauge input to two 4-8 gauge outputs. I have 4 gauge running to the subwoofer phoenix gold ms-275 amp and 8 gauge running to my kicker dx400.4 amp that pushes my infinity reference 2-6x9 and 2-6.5 inch speakers. Both amps are grounded separately with 8-gauge wire. (wondering if 8 gauge is too small a ground on the sub amp). The 12inch WXv2 JL's are in a sealed box that goes under the back seats in the truck. I can get pics of everything if it helps

now for the voltages so far, at the distribution block on the 4 gauge wire with the music on its 13.3-13.8. on the input of the phoenix gold amp on the power negative and positive my voltage is 12.5 when bass hits hard it will drop to 11.8v but bounce back up to 12.3-5 quickly. At the kicker amp im at like 13.1 continous, maybe 12.9 doesnt drop very low. So my initial thought maybe is that my subwoofer amp is not getting enough juice. so before i waste more money this was my idea.

I'm thinking about getting NVX 1/0 OFC power cable to run to the distribution block. use the same 4 gauge wire from distro to amp. I'm wondering of the 1/0 wire will keep my above 12.5 or in the 13's alone. I bought a t-spec 3.0 farad capacitor but I have no room to install it so i think i'm going to send it back to sonics.

but after seeing your setup and you saying you have a constant 14.4v I'm wondering if a battery like yours and and alternator would juice things up? would i still need to go 1/0 on the cableing? if i upgrade battery and alternator do i have to do the big 3 upgrade? is it necessary or will the 1/0 cable upgrade itself do the job?

[reedal]

If you plan to upgrade to a more powerful setup at all or there's a possibility, then I would recommend getting a higher output alt. I'd say 250A or higher at least. But I think some wiring upgrades should help you plenty before you get an alternator or deep cell AGM battery.

To start with your voltage problems though, here are my suggestions based on what I would do:

Your front to rear distribution, make that a 1/0 OFC (in case of future upgrades, you already have the power run in a larger cable), with a reducer to the size you need if you want to continue to use that distribution block. Do big three in 1/0 OFC. From distribution to sub amp, I personally would run more 1/0 and use a 1/0 to 4ga reducer to wire the amp, but if you don't want to change your 4ga, that should be fine. For your amplifier ground, that should be the same size wire as your power wire. You currently have 8ga, which has a higher resistance to current flow than the 4ga, so upgrading your ground to match your power should alleviate some of your voltage drop. The 8ga to your mids/highs amp should be fine, as long as it's rated for the amount of current your amplifier is fused for at a minimum, but if it has the ability to take 4ga wire at the inputs, I would use 4ga. If not, I'd still use 4ga and use a 4ga to 8ga wire reducer. The larger the wire, the less resistance, the less voltage drop through the wire.

The next thing I want to ask is how did you set your gains on the amps? What did you use to determine where your head unit volume is clean until, and where your amplifier starts to distort at that volume? Amplifiers improperly set to make clipped signal reproduction is also another culprit of voltage drop.

Edit: just remembered you said you had a DD-1, so I assume that's what you used for amps and head unit. My apologies.

My disclaimer is that while I had no drop from around 14.4v at the time, I've changed a few things since then with some settings, I have a more efficient enclosure, etc. So now I drop to about 13.4. But that's still good because that's above battery resting voltage. Means the alt is still doing all of the work. But hopefully this time next year I'll be able to have my three other amps wired up and pushing power to some voice coils, and then we'll really see some drop

[infamous23]

next post below this one was messed up

[infamous23]

If you plan to upgrade to a more powerful setup at all or there's a possibility, then I would recommend getting a higher output alt. I'd say 250A or higher at least. But I think some wiring upgrades should help you plenty before you get an alternator or deep cell AGM battery.

To start with your voltage problems though, here are my suggestions based on what I would do:

Your front to rear distribution, make that a 1/0 OFC (in case of future upgrades, you already have the power run in a larger cable), with a reducer to the size you need if you want to continue to use that distribution block. Do big three in 1/0 OFC. From distribution to sub amp, I personally would run more 1/0 and use a 1/0 to 4ga reducer to wire the amp, but if you don't want to change your 4ga, that should be fine. For your amplifier ground, that should be the same size wire as your power wire. You currently have 8ga, which has a higher resistance to current flow than the 4ga, so upgrading your ground to match your power should alleviate some of your voltage drop. The 8ga to your mids/highs amp should be fine, as long as it's rated for the amount of current your amplifier is fused for at a minimum, but if it has the ability to take 4ga wire at the inputs, I would use 4ga. If not, I'd still use 4ga and use a 4ga to 8ga wire reducer. The larger the wire, the less resistance, the less voltage drop through the wire.

The next thing I want to ask is how did you set your gains on the amps? What did you use to determine where your head unit volume is clean until, and where your amplifier starts to distort at that volume? Amplifiers improperly set to make clipped signal reproduction is also another culprit of voltage drop.

Edit: just remembered you said you had a DD-1, so I assume that's what you used for amps and head unit. My apologies.

My disclaimer is that while I had no drop from around 14.4v at the time, I've changed a few things since then with some settings, I have a more efficient enclosure, etc. So now I drop to about 13.4. But that's still good because that's above battery resting voltage. Means the alt is still doing all of the work. But hopefully this time next year I'll be able to have my three other amps wired up and pushing power to some voice coils, and then we'll really see some drop

Okay i'll come back to some that you listed above. I have not changed my ground or anything yet but i do have enough extra 4 gauge i can change the sub amps ground to 4 gauge as well.

I actually just used my ears to set the gain and all that on the amp. did not use dmm or dd-1. I just received my dd-1 yesterday i put in system thursday. But i just did go outside and used my dd-1 to find my headunits clean volume. i'm confused both of my amps are giving different distortion numbers.

My headunit is a Alpine CDA-105 I wasn't sure if i should turn defeat on or off. so i did all tests with both on and off and got same numbers. I have both amps hooked up so i put the dd-1 to both of them. weird they didnt have the same result. i followed directions from the book.

Headunit alpine cda-105/ max volume number is 35

The kicker dx400.4 results: ( i dont know if either of my amps are full range amplifiers i just did the 1khz test anyway.)

Track-1/ 40hz test / when i got to 30 the distortion light came on backed down to 29 no distortion light, safe. I checked all 4 channels on amp. switch for crossover-Off

Track-2/ 1khz test / 30=distortion 29=safe same results xover off as well. i did not have a flat setting. it was either, off, hi, or lo. so i did off.

so if i did it right the kicker says 30 is distortion and 29 is safe clean volume.

Now the phoenix gold ms275 results: ( i dont know if either of my amps are full range amplifiers i just did the 1khz test anyway.)

Track-1/ 40hz test/ It never distorted on this amp. I went to max 35 with no distortion signal light at all.

Track-2/ 1khz test/ It also never distorted could max out the HU 35 with no distortion signal light.

so which amp do i go by and trust to be my HU clean signal volume with the dd-1? why am i getting different results? am i suppose to just do one amp and unhook the other one? or is what i did okay?