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Amp Recommendation for two Zv5 15s


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I was hoping to hear a few opinions from anyone who is familiar with sundown subwoofers, specifically the Zv5 line. I recently purchased two Zv5 15s, theyre the 1ohm version. I also purchased a SFB-8000D amp. I have the subs wired so that my amp is seeing a 1 ohm load. After I got them all hooked up I wanted to see how they sounded so I turned up the volume and played some music which had a lot of bass. Maybe about 4 mins into their test run I got a whiff of a semi strong burning smell so I turned the music off before I toasted something. Ive read a lot of places that sundown rates their subs very conservatively which is why I bought the 8k amp. Now Im wondering if that was overkill and I should have went with somemthing a little smaller? Or is the 8k fine and I would be better off adjusting the amplifiers gain, bass boost, etc.? Also I am curious to hear if anyone would have a recommendation for a different amp that would pair nicely with those 2 subs.  Any input would be appreciated. Currently Ive got 1  mechman 375 amp alternator installed and another on its way which will be installed once I get it, two yellow top batteries and one run of 0 gauge wire to a distribution block where it splits into two 0 gauge wires that go to the amp. 

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It sounds to me like you're clipping. 

Have you checked your voltage at your amp while listening at full tilt? 

How did you go about setting your gains and your crossovers? 

How high do you turn up the volume on your head unit? Do you know the max volume of your head unit before clipping? 

Are you using any other outside source to listen to music? A phone? SD card? 

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Amp would be fine. With rise you would probably be fine with the sfb 1350k . But I question your electrical. You definitely need two runs of 1/0 front to back .and what size yellow tops ? How stable is your voltage? Do you have a gauge? That alternator with proper reserve battery you should never have an issue but the subs can definitely take more clean power .

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On 4/21/2021 at 11:07 AM, Dafaseles said:

It sounds to me like you're clipping. 

Have you checked your voltage at your amp while listening at full tilt? 

How did you go about setting your gains and your crossovers? 

How high do you turn up the volume on your head unit? Do you know the max volume of your head unit before clipping? 

Are you using any other outside source to listen to music? A phone? SD card? 

No I havent checked the voltage at the amp thats a good idea ill do that today. I have a rough idea of my volume when the head unit starts clipping, i say rough idea because i have done it by ear. Playing a 40hz test tone and turning up the volume slowly and when it starts making a humming noise thats what I settled on as max volume. It was 28 when it started humming but when i play music if I go over volume 20 it becomes really distorted so i dont pass 20. For my sub amp I also only have a rough idea because I set my gain with a multimeter using the voltage = square root of watts x ohms method. I ordered a dd1+ which arrived last night so ill give that a try today and hopefully that helps. This is probably a dumb question but are the crossovers the same as the low pass filter and high pass filter? As you can probably see from me having to ask that question, i have absolutely no experience messing with crossovers. On the dial for those two options on my amp theres a dot for maximum level, a dot for minimum level, and then they both have a random dot which isn’t labeled so I assumed that might be the standard setting and thats where I put them. When I listen to music its always through wireless apple car play. My head unit is a kenwood DDX8706S. I believe it plays it through bluetooth 

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The only gauge I have is the battery gauge on my dashboard and if that thing is accurate then my voltage is not very stable at all. If Im on the highway it will be decent but my headlights still dim when the bass hits. I bought a 10 farad capacitor, and that was a big waste of money lol didnt help at all. Then during city driving especially when I stop at red lights the volts get down around 12-13 according to my dashboard. The batteries are size 34 with 750 cca. Good idea, I will get the second run of 0 gauge ran in there this week 

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Yes, the crossovers are the low pass and high pass filters. You should have the low pass set around 80-90 hz and your high pass filter set half an octave below the tuning of your enclosure. On that amp, it looks like if you put your low pass filter all the way to the left dot, that's 80 hz. And your high pass filter starts at 15 hz. So maybe just turn it all the way left, then turn it right a little. It's just a guess, but better than just setting both at 12 o'clock. And keep your level dial all the way to your left. 

If you have your low pass filter set too high, it's playing frequencies that are too high for the sub and can be creating a ton of extra heat at the voice coil. If the high pass filter is set too low, if the frequency is low enough, the sub can easily reach it's mechanical limit. 

Are you using the bass knob that came with it? It has a clip light on it. 

Your dashboard voltage isn't very accurate, so if that's going all over the place, that's all bad. For 8k, you need quite a bit of electrical. I don't think 1 375 amp alternator and 2 yellow top Optima batteries are enough. In car audio, you're not looking at CCA's (cold cranking amps), you're looking at AH (amp hours). The more AH the better. Those Optimas are only 72 ah. I don't even know if I believe that. So yeah, I would look into maybe XS batteries or going lithium in your setup. It'll help! 

Invest in a voltage meter. Even a cheap one will help a lot more than the one on your dash board. 

 

2011 Chevy Silverado under construction

My build log here. Check it out! 

 

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What he said. And your gain is probably turned up too much and you aren’t getting enough juice. Which means, you are clipping because of incorrect preout voltage reading and incorrect frequency reading and don’t have enough battery reserve. Just alternator isn’t gonna do it. You need better batteries, more wire, and you need to buy a dd1 to get your gain correct and a cc1 to get your filters correct. And just to let you know, zv5’s get that hot coil smell easier and more often than any other subwoofers I’ve owned or heard. I love em though. I had owned one 15” zv5 and demoed a guys 6 zv5 18s in a 4th order on 2 aak-7500s at .67ohm. Zv5s are nasty, but smell up quicker on clipping. Just clean up that amp signal and crossover, add another wire and buy more batteries. Why did you buy an extra alternator? Are you planning to use 3 or 4 of them amps? And if you hook up another alternator then you would have to do 3 1/0 gauge positive battery runs to support that alternator current. You don’t need an extra alternator unless you are gonna do 3 or 4 or more of them amps and you would have to add more battery reserve too. Alternator needs battery reserve, no matter what anybody tells you. And have you thought about lithium? Because you would need at least about 240ah (2 120ah batteries) of agm to give that amp near what it wants on that alternator. Sfb amps are current hungry amps.

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the customer isn’t always right.”

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  • 3 weeks later...

 

On 4/24/2021 at 1:53 PM, DanMan said:

No I havent checked the voltage at the amp thats a good idea ill do that today.

 

 

Voltmeter if possible directly wired to the amplifier power inputs is really a must have, you'll be able to have an eye on your build :)

other than that, everything has been said by the other bassheads in the topic :)

 

Seems to be a nice setup, do you have any picture ?

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