Alright I replaced my kicker amp that took a dump on me

I replaced it with a Alpine MRP-M500 pushing my Type R aaaaaand it's clipping at higher volumes esp with songs like We be steady mobbin by little wayne and the like.

I have the gain set to where I have good base throughout the spectrum of volume I enjoy

Bass Boost at 2db

LPF at 55hz

and its clipping. I called alpine and he told me it's caused by 2 problems; a box to big or power starving. I have the NGT extreme recommended by emp and I'm running 8 gauge wire. So I don't understand he said I need 4 but I barely got 8 gauge to fit the terminals. My box is just slightly larger than a recommended specs at 1.1cu ft

sigh. I just want the damn thing to work. I've had so much trouble with this car in relation to music. On the 3rd sub, 3rd headunit, 2nd amp.

Help!

 

OK LPF at 80hz
I really wish they would stop putting that damn bass boost knob on amps, just turn it off.
Turn the gain all the down (on the amp)
Set your HU volume to 3/4 of its full range.
If you have a sub volume on the HU set it to default (middle of the spectrum)
Set your bass and treble or EQ at what ever you want it set at.
Now put in a Little Wayne or whatever CD you want to test it to (heavy bass)
Play the CD
Slowly, turn the gain on the amp up.
When it starts to distort, stop.
Turn it back a little bit.
You should be good. If you need more/less bass for some songs you can adjust the sub volume to compensate

Everyone is going to have there own way to do this, I'm just telling you what works for me, take it for what its worth.

 

Yea I was gunna say LPF needed to be higher like spun said 80hz...although if I remember correctly it's the amp and not the sub that clipped (sending clipped signals to the sub)

 

Ok guys I'm begging here help me find out what I'm missing.

I have an Alpine Type R rated at 500w RMSx 2ohm
I have an Alpine MRP-M500 rated 500w RMSx 2ohm

In a perfect world these 2 things would work perfectly together but they don't. So I'm turning to you guys cause you've yet to let me down.

Ok. I tried it the way Spun posted and it worked great but then the bass still cuts out. I turned the gain all the way down and it still cuts out. I just keep clipping during any bass intensive song.

I think I'm starving the amp of power but I don't know where or how. I'm running 8gauge power and grounds with the NGT extreme battery that Emp recommended in the FAQ

My HU goes up to 50 anything above 29 is a gamble. Sometimes I get bass sometimes I don't. If I lose it I have to turn it back down to around 25 give or take and then I can turn it back up.

I'm screwing up somewhere I don't know where. If you guys need any additional information to help me figure it out let me know I'll answer to the best of my ability. Multimeter in hand

I'm not getting any distortion btw it's just stopping.

 

Ok spun I tried to do this a few times each time I do it I think I have found the sweet spot and then put of nowhere a few songs later it will start to miss till I turn it down. I'm starting to think maybe the amp isn't getting enough power but I don't understand where I'm losing it.

 

You know I over looked something here.
What version of the type R are you running, dual 2 or dual 4?
Alot of the new amps don't shutdown when there over worked, they just dial the power back instead of going into protect mode

If your running a dual 2 ohm type R, then its a no brainer as to why 3 songs into it all hell breaks loose. The amp is only rated for 2 ohm mono.

In any case it really sounds like the amp is being run at to low of an imp.
I read through alot of the reviews on the amp at Crutchfield, there are a couple things that almost everyone said, it hits hard for its size, and plays for hours without overheating.

So I think you either have it wired wrong(or the wrong sub/amp combo) or your loosing power somewhere, since you have a good battery then I would turn to the alt. next to see if its starting to go.
Hell I know mine is (alt, and not starting, its pretty much gone)

 

Yeah I have the 1224 D that's the dual 4 ohm I have it wired at a 2 ohm lose triple checked it although I was getting. 2.6ohm on my multimeter. I'd assume if the alt was going I would have some kind of dimming right? Cause I don't have any and I'm not seeing any voltage drop between the bat and the amp. That's why I'm so confused. I have it wired correctly as far as I know unless I'm really missing something and I have the power available to drive it I even had the amp replaced in the off chance it was faulty

 

well he's at 100% of where he should be in terms of nominal power......I don't suggest that myself. upper third but not 100% he's going to burn the **** out of that coil, the sub is overpowered imo.

 

Alright I literally pulled over to the side of the road on my way home from work so I could get some numbers off the multimeter. Mind you this is the $15 one I got at the hardware store nothing fancy and I dont know exactly how accurate it is.

Voltage at battery terminals 11.5-14.2
Voltage at Amp terminals 11.5-14.2
Ground to amp+ 11.5-14.2

as far as I can tell I'm not losing any volts between the battery and the amp.

im using 8 gauge ground and power wire

NGT Extreme battery standard ground

Inline fuse is hot to touch not cant handle it hot but def hot.

Ohm's at sub terminals 1.9-3.0 that number sticks out to me but I don't know what the tolerance limits are.

Ohm's at amp terminals 2.6 again this number seems high to me. .

To correct what I wrote earlier its the Alpine type R 1242D dual 4ohm voice coils wired for 2ohms

I'm literally out of ideas. Doesn't seem to matter what the setting on the amp are doesn't matter what the settings on the HU are although I had bass for over a halfhour with sublevel set at -4 and the gain set exactly where I thought it should be roughly 5 volts.

 

At c4w18, there is no way he is over powering with that amp. I am pushing the same sub with a kicker kx600.1. It's rated at 768 RMS at 2 ohms per the birth certificate. I think the next option would be to run 4 gauge and see if the helps. Are you running a capacitor? What kind of head unit are u running? What is the voltage for the subwoofer pre outs? I have had troubles in the past with low voltage pre outs. Also check the ground and make sure it's grounded properly. All the steps u have tried should have yielded results, but there is a lot that it could be also.

 

I'm running 8 gauge but it's less than 4 feet and it's real 8gauge not the walmart crap according to the wire charts that should withstand 600+ watts.

I actually did not run a capacitor. The reason why being quite simply that Emp thinks they are full of **** and he seems to be some kind of car audio demigod brought from the future to teach us the ways of car audio. <- see what I did there? It was an offering so he can come give me a 2 word answer that fixes my problems like he did with the tinsel lead issue I had with sub number 2. I mean seriously who can diagnose torn tinsel leads through the incoherent jibberish i put on here. Yes it's ass kissing but im desperate

im running the JVC KW-AVX 810 its a 5v preout

I think I've checked the ground like 450x in the last week im not losing any voltage.

aaaaand im out of ideas.

 

Where are you grounded to and how long is the ground wire.
If you had the amp replaced then its not the amp.
If it comes and goes, then I doubt its the sub, voice coils are very particular they are either there or gone.
Your not getting any dimming.
There are only 3 things left.
1)Power/Ground wires.
2)Signal wires.(not likely but still possible)
3)Head Unit
Try hooking an MP3 player up to the amp rather than your HU, this if it does not do it then you can count out the power or ground wires, if it does than that's the only common variable left hooked up

At this point I think you need to, one at a time, eliminate the possible problems untill you get down to the last one

Caps only help if there is power there to start with, if your not producing enough power from your charging system then caps will actually hurt your system in the long run

 

Ok I have the amp mounted to my rear passenger seat. I have the ground wire connected to one of the bolts that holds the bracket that the seat latches on to. Does that make sense? I got it down to bare metal with sand paper and the ground is maybe 18 inches long? at most.

I can try the ipod straight to the amp thing after I get up (worked all night)

If it's the head unit watch the news for a story about a man going on a killing spree at JVC USA. I bought that JVC HU in july and I just now got it back a week ago and they have had it since november. Back and forth between JVC engineers.

 

What amp did you have before ? Iv been out of the game for a while , i was an installer about 3-4 years ago ,so I'm not up today on current products .

Problems like this are hard to diagnose over the Internet , because we can see or hear whats going on. One problem i always had with consumers were they would expect to much from there equipment,if it doesn't preform like they think it should then it must be broken or something must be wrong.
I'm thinking the stranded was just set to high by your old Kicker amp, because kicker would underrate their amps hard core . i remember bench testing some 700w kicker amps @ 950+ watts...were as alpine makes great stuff ,but they are ..."Accurately rated".

 

it was the kicker zx400.1 birth certificate had it tested at 482 watts @ 2 ohms. The only reason I replaced it is because it took a **** on me like all other kicker products I've purchased in the last year. I'm not expecting 1000s of watts of sound out of this setup that isnt the purpose. I just want it to work. I have barely any base below 18-19 on my headunit and anything over 26-30 is a gamble as to whether the sub just stops working.

 

have you made sure the coils arent wired out of pahse

 

http://a248.e.akamai.net/pix.crutchf...4-ohm_mono.jpg

this is exactly like I have it wired. Thats why im so befuddled.

 

You have it wired right. Not like you needed me to tell you that

I have that same head unit, I have tons of bass at low volumes, it ised to drown out my highs with anything under 12-15 but whaen I changed my fronts to pods everything changed. I alson changed my subs and amp at the same time so...I used have it so 35 was the max I would go to on the volume, with my new setup depending on the song 20-25 is is high as I'm willing to take it. That is because the DD 6.5's up front start to make my ears bleed, nothing to do with the subs.

If you have sent that unit back to JVC, then I think we might have found your problem.
If its a lemon then god only knows what alls wrong with it.
Is there any way you can get your hands on another headunit, for testing purposes?
I know it would be alot work to wire in a new one but at this point I'm guessing you would rip the whole system out and put it back together again if it meant you figure out the problem.

As for your ground, its not the best place but it shouldn't really be the problem.
Just for ***** and giggles, take your multi meter, set it for continuity (the beeping one) and put the leads on your amp ground and the bolt that the battery is grounded to. If it beeps then its good to go.

You might want to check this website out, its awsome for explaing car audio. Scroll down the right side till you see #63 (Gain Controls) it has some usefull info on clipping. The whole site is actually reallly good.

http://www.bcae1.com/

 

I think I may have discovered the problem. I go so fed up I actually pulled the JVC out and put the sony deck I bought as a stop gap in. Same problems. So I hooked the ipod up to it right a he amp. Same problem. I i hooked he ipod up to the end of the RCAs at the head unit. I'm almost completely convinced it's the power wire at this point. Every time it start to clip the inline fuse gets HOT I called my uncle who's an electrician and got some feedback from him he said that if the power wire is hot thats where I'm losing power. Maybe the 8gauge isnt enough or most likely the shop I bought it from sold me some junk wire. So I'm going to up it to 4 gauge here and see if the problem presists

 

Do yourself a favour.
Don't go cheap, I've said it before, I'll say it again. Wires are the most overlooked, yet IMO the most important part of your system.
You should be happy this happened, even if its not the problem, it sounds like it was a matter of time before the wire melted out, this can lead to your car in flames.

That Alpine only has 8guage connectors on it huh? If I remember correct there the screw down style ones also.
You can get connectors that go onto 4 guage wire but then have 8 guage fork style ends on them, it will make life alot easier. I know Stinger makes them for sure.

Brands of wire
Street Wires- Good but hard to work with, really stiff.
Knukoncepts- Good but make sure you get the flexable stuff, (FLEX, or FLAX or something along that lines) the other stuff is copper clad, which is probably what your running now.
Stinger- Good, the also make a flexible wire as well, however they are expensive.

Your best bet is to go to a local audio shop, they should be able to sell it to you by the foot and just cut it off the roll since I don't think you'll need 20 feet of it.

When looking for a new fuse/holder I'm really a fan of the mini ANL style ones I have in my other car, you can get them in smaller sizes (I think your amp needs a 60 or 80 amp fuse but don't quote me on that) and there really easy to work with, I guess I just hate the AGN style ones.

What is the name brand on the wire you are using now if you don't mind me asking

 

I actually got my wire from a car audio shop that has since gone out of business. They cut what I needed right off the roll. I'm thinking it was either low quality or not really 8 gauge no brand on the wire but it says 8gauge. There is another shop not to far from here that I heard good things about I'm going to go grab some wire from them on payday.

The amp uses 2 30amp fuses should I just get a 60 amp inline fuse or go higher?

Yeah I'm not impressed with the terminals on this amp at all. They say 8 gauge but I barely got the wire I have to fit in there now. So I'm def going to be looking for some connectors. I Think I'll just go with some real 4 gauge then if I ever want to upgrade to something a little more powerful I'll have the wire already.

 

If you go with a 60 amp fuse then you might blow fuses every once in a while.

Go with an 80 amp fuse you should be fine.

If the company went belly up then they might have sold you some of the crap the couldn't get rid of, or had sitting around for a while. Oh well you live, you learn. I hope it all works out for you with the new wire.

 

I went and got the 4 gauge yesterday. Hooked it all up and like magic it works. Finally! Thanks for your help it was greatly appreciated.

 

rockford makes the 8g>4g connector's come in a pack of 4 for like $5 at best buy...gotta be in the power wire...upgrade your wire, and upgrade your inline fuse as well (not sure if you have the mini-fuse or not) ive got a 75a fuse on my system and im running a sony 1200 watt and a sony 600 watt (the only amp's i havent killed yet lol)

also try grounding out your rca's...take a 4" piece of 12-14g wire and wrap it around your rca's at the h/u (like around the female part )....doesnt sound like an rca problem but it wouldnt hurt...

****...day late and a dollar short....oh well atleast my post was right lol...

 

I'm late to the party but who cares. 500w=13v*28A 8g wire is rated at 24A so your wire is not rated for your current load. 4g is rated at 60A 0g is rated for 150A just for reference. This is assuming that the wire is copper not aluminum or CCA (Copper Clad Aluminum)