How to blow your sub.

[Morty Mort]

I did a mistake yesterday. I have always known my amp was too big for the sub, but have usually been able to play at it's breaking point.

The mistake I did yesterday was to listen to it while the engine was NOT running. Hence just 12 volts to the amp. I then started and practically gave as much as the car could take, making the alternator charge the battery delivering over 14 volts. This led to the amp giving 350 watts RMS power into 4 ohm. It's bridged by the way. The peaks I'm not sure of, but suddenly the bass disappeared and the amp went into protection mode.

s**t.

I touched the membrane of the sub and it scraped like s**t. Blown to pieces. So, beware the extra power you get while driving.

Off to get a sub that can handle the amp. Luckily subs are 1/4 the expense of the amp.

Morten.


gas lowered on abarth wheels. upgraded interior and visuals. audio through phoenix gold and kenwood.

projects: air in and out.

 

[wolfracepunto]

unlucky
out of interest what sub/amp did u have and what sub are you going for next?

EVERYONE- SPRAY YOUR PUNTOS BLACKDavid

 

[Morty Mort]

The amp (still going strong) is the Phoenix Gold QX2350.

Specifications from producer:

The amp is very durable, and generates very little heat under heavy load. Heavy load is when I borrow my brother's Rockford Fosgate sub.

The sub were a 10" Kenwood which I can't remember the specs of. Worked well until blown. Not too much air pressure from it.

I'd like to go for a new 10" sub, due to our Uno is used as a family estate! A kid's seat, stroller etc. has to fit, and that makes the fitting of a 12-15" very problematic. Too bad Cerwin Vega doesn't make the Stroker a 10". Maybe it will be an RF sub, I don't know yet. It has to handle 350 watts RMS into 4 ohms though. The Kenwood didn't. [xx(]

Do you have any suggestions maybe?

Morten.


gas lowered on abarth wheels. upgraded interior and visuals. audio through phoenix gold and BLOWN kenwood.

projects: air in and out.

 

[chrisunoman]

If you want a good sub Morten that could handle the power, go for the Kicker Solobaric 10
http://caraudiosecurity.com/catalog/product_info.php+manufacturers_id+13+products_id+1064

Or even an Alpine SWR 10
http://caraudiosecurity.com/catalog/product_info.php+cPath+60_64_112+products_id+531

Out of the two, even though there both excellent, id prob go for Kicker because ive never had any problems with them.

 

[wolfracepunto]

are pioneer subs any good like this 1???

http://www.letsbuycaraudio.com/main/speakers/1/1420



EVERYONE- SPRAY YOUR PUNTOS BLACKDavid

 

[chrisunoman]

That Pioneer sub is great but to get the best out of it you'd have find an amp with 750W RMS, and an amp like that would cost at least 300 quid

 

[wolfracepunto]

ive found a 2ch kenwood amp that has a peak output of 1200 watt and an rms of 600watt at 4 ohm bridged.....do u think that would do for the pioneer- id rather be safe and have a lower watt amp than risk blowing the sub......

-cheers

EVERYONE- SPRAY YOUR PUNTOS BLACKDavid

 

[Morty Mort]

No Wolfracepunto.

Think the other way around. You can't get too much power. A small amp will destroy itself AND the sub. With a powerful amp you will be able to hear when it overloads the sub, and you turn the volume down. My Kenwood sub has been played for over 7 years with too much power and it was way to tiny for 350 watts RMS. 100 watts RMS would be MORE than enough for it. I'm surprised it didn't go before.

Morten.


gas lowered on abarth wheels. upgraded interior and visuals. audio through phoenix gold and BLOWN kenwood.

projects: air in and out.

 

[Morty Mort]

Another thing.

The Pioneer sub mentioned above has 4 connections, hence it's a "dual-voice-coil" meaning it operates in either 2 or 8 ohms. I know my Phonix Gold isn't stable into 2 ohms bridged, so you must make sure of this. It may overheat. The speaker itself is propably 4 ohms, but can't be driven that way.

This gives 8 ohms load:

This gives 2 ohms load:

Take this into consideration.

Morten.


gas lowered on abarth wheels. upgraded interior and visuals. audio through phoenix gold and BLOWN kenwood.

projects: air in and out.

 

[wolfracepunto]

ok thanks alot. so would you reccomend a sub for this amp-
http://caraudiosecurity.com/catalog/product_info.php+cPath+3_92+products_id+2507

EVERYONE- SPRAY YOUR PUNTOS BLACKDavid

 

[Morty Mort]

This looks like a great amp.

Don't pay attention to the "Max Power 1200W". These are what matters (given in 14.4 volts - meaning while driving):
2 x 150 Watts RMS @ 4 OHM
2 x 300 Watts RMS @ 2 OHM
1 x 600 Watts RMS @ 4 OHM bridged
We can see it isn't stable in bridged mode into 2 ohms, because they haven't shown the numbers. But 1x600 watts RMS should be enough to crack the welding of your Punto - which looks very good by the way.

A recommended sub for this would be: http://www.cerwin-vega.com/products/mobileaudio/stroker/strokerover.html
I'd choose the 15". You can choose single voice coil which handles 4 ohms as the bridged mode of the Kenwood amp, or dual coil into 4 ohms.

I'll only recommend brands/names I'm familiar with and/or have heard in real life. The Stroker is still the worst (read: best) I've ever heard. There also exists something called Phoenix Gold "Cyclone" which is a new (some years now) way of thinking subs, but it's WAY too expensive.

Morten.


gas lowered on abarth wheels. upgraded interior and visuals. audio through phoenix gold and BLOWN kenwood.

projects: air in and out.

 

[chrisunoman]

You can run that sub at 4 ohm. You would wire the sub in such a way that each of the voice coils has its own channel from the amp, but the sub would be underpowered using that amp.

Get a 2 ohm dual VC sub, so u would be powering with 600w RMS.
http://caraudiosecurity.com/catalog/product_info.php+cPath+60_64_113+products_id+1065

You would wire it so each of the VCs has its own specific channel

 

[wolfracepunto]

Thanks for replies
So the kicker sub will sound better than the pioneer using this amp? Only i didnt want to spend that much on the sub (poor student )

EVERYONE- SPRAY YOUR PUNTOS BLACKDavid

 

[wolfracepunto]

oh and how much are those stroker subs? they look.......expensive [}]

EVERYONE- SPRAY YOUR PUNTOS BLACKDavid

 

[chrisunoman]

If the amp can play in bridged 2 ohm mode, then the sub will sound great. If not then it will be quite underpowered.

There will be loads of cheaper subs out there that you can buy. Either a twin 2 ohm voice coil or single 4 ohm voice coil sub would be great, but try to get a sub that can handle 500-600w rms

 

[chrisunoman]

Just had a look around and this is pretty good

http://caraudiosecurity.com/catalog/product_info.php+cPath+60_64_113+products_id+191

 

[wolfracepunto]

But the amp says it can handle 600 watt RMS @ 4ohm.....???? doesnt say anything about 2 ohm (apart from the RMS for 2 channels)

Yeah i saw that sub, but doesnt say nethin about the max RMS.....

I really appreciate this advice btw, thanks alot


EVERYONE- SPRAY YOUR PUNTOS BLACK

David

 

[Morty Mort]

Then it won't work. It will overheat. It can play 2 ohms through BOTH channels, but not bridged into ONE mono-channel.

Morten.


gas lowered on abarth wheels. upgraded interior and visuals. audio through phoenix gold and BLOWN kenwood.

projects: air in and out.

 

[chrisunoman]

yeh im not too sure bout the kenwoods rms values, i expect them to be 500w rms ish. No probs about helping tho, thats what the forums all about

ive found this too:
http://caraudiosecurity.com/catalog/product_info.php+cPath+60_64_113+products_id+2042

It will be able to take much more than the 400w rms stated, the magnet is huuuuge!