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Underpowered/ Weak sub?


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Hey guys, recently got my small sub setup put in. Its a Skar EVL 12 with a Skar RP1500D AMP. Box is close to 1.5 cubes sealed. I got an oscilloscope and tuned gain for clipping. No bass boost is on the amp or the HU. And i feel extremely underwhelmed. The sub is in an open cab truck and I feel like it should be hitting much harder than it is. The only thing i was thinking it could be is I have the Sony XAV AX3000 head unit. The back end only has 1 "sub" RCA port. So I ran the other rca into a "rear" port on the head unit. Do you think this is the problem or is the sub and amp combo kind of just meh? It was more of a budget build I'm just feeling like it should be putting out much more. Anything helps. Here's a pic for reference.

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That's a tough one to diagnose without hearing and seeing the setup. It could be a bunch of different things. 

It could be that you don't like the sound of a sealed enclosure. It could be your electrical not being able to handle that amplifier. It could be your crossovers on the amp at set wrong. It could be the music that you listen to is just that much quieter than the test tone you used to set it. Or, it could be that you're just wanting more than that single sub can deliver. 

Also, it could be that is getting a weird signal from the RCA's. The "subwoofer" signal is mono, so technically, you don't need 2 RCA plugs, but damn near every RCA wire is dual, so I get it. Get yourself a Y splitter. 1 male to 2 female. Unplug the RCA from the rear, plug that Y adapter into the sub port and plug the RCA's into that. See if that helps. 

2011 Chevy Silverado under construction

My build log here. Check it out! 

 

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On 1/5/2022 at 9:34 PM, molly4lyfe said:

Hey guys, recently got my small sub setup put in. Its a Skar EVL 12 with a Skar RP1500D AMP. Box is close to 1.5 cubes sealed. I got an oscilloscope and tuned gain for clipping. No bass boost is on the amp or the HU. And i feel extremely underwhelmed. The sub is in an open cab truck and I feel like it should be hitting much harder than it is. The only thing i was thinking it could be is I have the Sony XAV AX3000 head unit. The back end only has 1 "sub" RCA port. So I ran the other rca into a "rear" port on the head unit. Do you think this is the problem or is the sub and amp combo kind of just meh? It was more of a budget build I'm just feeling like it should be putting out much more. Anything helps. Here's a pic for reference.

 

 

Open cab truck? Probably that alone is the reason as you have no cabin gain, then you are using an undersized sealed box, ported should be used, down firing designs help sometimes in such conditions. more pictures of the vehicle would better help see your situation.

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On 1/6/2022 at 7:13 AM, Dafaseles said:

That's a tough one to diagnose without hearing and seeing the setup. It could be a bunch of different things. 

It could be that you don't like the sound of a sealed enclosure. It could be your electrical not being able to handle that amplifier. It could be your crossovers on the amp at set wrong. It could be the music that you listen to is just that much quieter than the test tone you used to set it. Or, it could be that you're just wanting more than that single sub can deliver. 

Also, it could be that is getting a weird signal from the RCA's. The "subwoofer" signal is mono, so technically, you don't need 2 RCA plugs, but damn near every RCA wire is dual, so I get it. Get yourself a Y splitter. 1 male to 2 female. Unplug the RCA from the rear, plug that Y adapter into the sub port and plug the RCA's into that. See if that helps. 

When I set the gain with the test 40 htz test tone it was pretty loud. But then when it translated over to music I wanna say its about half of what it sounded like with the test tone. Maybe I will try using a splitter and see what the difference is. The test tone i used is from YouTube music, and that's the streaming service I use for all of my music. Not sure if that matters.

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On 1/7/2022 at 10:34 PM, Joe X said:

 

Open cab truck? Probably that alone is the reason as you have no cabin gain, then you are using an undersized sealed box, ported should be used, down firing designs help sometimes in such conditions. more pictures of the vehicle would better help see your situation.

I'm aware the box is a bit small for what is recommended. Ran into a could hiccups when building so that's what I had to run with. The truck is an 03 Silverado extended cab. I took out the Center console and built a center console and built the box inside. The sub fires facing the rear. The biggest problems is when i set the gain using an O scope. I use a 40 htz test tone and its loud!! Maybe even a little too loud for me. But then when I go and play a couple bass heavy songs its just meh. I feel like something is wrong with my tuning maybe? My biggest worry is to the blow the sub. I love bass and I'm a college student. I can only afford so much. I just don't get when it slams while tuning and then switch to a song and its not even close to what it was.

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I found the issue. I had my dumbass friend help me wire things. And he wanted to run the speaker wire for the subs. So turns out I’m wire to 4 ohm load instead of the 1 ohm I’m supposed to be running. Makes sense. According to scar and a 4 ohm final load I’m only pushing 550 watts. Literally half my sub rated rms lol. 

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6 minutes ago, molly4lyfe said:

I found the issue. I had my dumbass friend help me wire things. And he wanted to run the speaker wire for the subs. So turns out I’m wire to 4 ohm load instead of the 1 ohm I’m supposed to be running. Makes sense. According to scar and a 4 ohm final load I’m only pushing 550 watts. Literally half my sub rated rms lol. 

Did you switch it up? Is it good now? 

2011 Chevy Silverado under construction

My build log here. Check it out! 

 

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25 minutes ago, Dafaseles said:

Did you switch it up? Is it good now? 

I think I’m just gunna stick to the PC building forums cuz damn I look like an idiot on this one. No. Turns out it was wired right. He said he thought he did it wrong. Pulled the sun out and it was wired right. Idk if I should feel stuck or just feel like this is the power the sun gives. I’m gunna try the rca splitter. Even though I doubt that’s gunna do anything. Maybe I’ll use a different test tone. At this point. I’m gunna try those last too things and if that’s all she makes then that’s all she makes. Maybe the problem is the test tune is so much louder than the music. Or maybe I need a bigger amp. I think I’ll just call it good for now. Tired of feeling like my sub is under powered when in all reality it’s probably sounds just how a 12 inch sub in a sealed box should lol

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I suppose I should also add that when watching the subwoofer move. It flexes A TON. Like it should. So maybe the box is too small and maybe I should have gone ported? I’m gunna take this as “it’s working how it should” I mean again it was just a budget build. I will say I do love the setup. I guess I just like more bass LOL. All in all I’m happy with it. Gave me alot to learn for the next build! Thanks for the help. If anyone needs help with a PC lmk lol. Something I’m actually knowledgeable in😂😂

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25 minutes ago, molly4lyfe said:

I think I’m just gunna stick to the PC building forums cuz damn I look like an idiot on this one. No. Turns out it was wired right. He said he thought he did it wrong. Pulled the sun out and it was wired right. Idk if I should feel stuck or just feel like this is the power the sun gives. I’m gunna try the rca splitter. Even though I doubt that’s gunna do anything. Maybe I’ll use a different test tone. At this point. I’m gunna try those last too things and if that’s all she makes then that’s all she makes. Maybe the problem is the test tune is so much louder than the music. Or maybe I need a bigger amp. I think I’ll just call it good for now. Tired of feeling like my sub is under powered when in all reality it’s probably sounds just how a 12 inch sub in 

When you have the time, you should have the box designed by someone who knows how to take the T/S parameters, and design an optimized enclosure around those values. Also, try ported. You might like that better. 

In the mean time, try setting your gain with a -5 db 40 hz test tone. Yes, a specific, 0 db test tone is going to be focused on that one particular tone and be louder than music. Music is typically recorded at a -10 db. 

Here's a little excerpt from a book I like to post about using overlap when setting up your gains. I think it explains it quite well. Yes, i stole it from an older post from this forum 🤣1087261443_Screenshot_20201103-215547_SamsungInternet.thumb.jpg.a86df385b8ef2b23a82cf7bc0074d186.jpg

2011 Chevy Silverado under construction

My build log here. Check it out! 

 

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