BKOLFO4

The perfect amplifier takes a signal on the input and produces that same signal but amplified. Let's say I built an amp that took a 1 volt input signal and amplified it to 60 volts on the outputs. That is great, but what happens to the guy with the radio that has 4 volt preouts? He has 4 speakers connected to the radio's power outputs and the amp connected to his RCA's. He turns the volume to 1/4 way up - his speakers are getting 1/4 power, but his amp output is maxed. how do I fix that problem? I add a setting on my amplifer design that allows the user to adjust what voltage is required on the input to achieve the 60 volts on the output. A normal amp may give you 0.5 - 10 volts as a range. If I set it at 0.5, then when there is 0.5 volts on the input, there will be 60 volts on the output. Set it at 10 volts, there will be 60 volts on the output when there is 10 volts on the input. Most of the time, you have a good approximation with the radio's rated output and the numbers on the amps gain setting, but: Sometimes the headunit does not produce what it is rated. Sometimes they do more than rated. The numbers on the amps are not perfect (tolerances - I have 6 amps in my van - none of them are set the same to get the outputs to all match). Not all amps actually have a linear output changes as you change impedances. If an amp does 600 watts at 2 ohms and only 800 watts at 1 ohm, there will be a difference in the gain settings depending on the load impedance connected to the amp. Some amps (like the Kicker I just installed in my Silverado) do not even have numbers on the gain setting (just says min - max). The list of variables goes on. . . The best way to set the gains would be to use an O-scope and look for the output actually being clipped. Most people just use a True RMS DMM and look at the amp's output voltage using a 50 Hz test tone. You know the amps rated power and impedance, so you can calculate the maximum voltage you should see on the outputs. Sometimes even this is off due to the actual impedance of the subs in the box playing a 50 Hz tone, but once again it is a great starting point. Some of us can set the gain by ear and then know how to tell when the system is being stress. If you can do this, it really does not matter where it is set, since you will not go past the limits of the system Brian

Man, bring up an old thread and then make that statement. Did you read anything above? Did you understand??? You can make an amp clip with the gain set at 1/8 if I have a strong enough input signal. It is not a volume control or output limiter. It determines what input voltage is required to achieve maximum output. In my own personal vehicles, I keep the gain set so I can maximize output well below full power of the headunit is achieved. I then install an inline controller on the RCA's. Now if I am playing a song with weak bass, or just feel like HEAVY bass, I can just adjust the inline controller. The way I see it, the main problem with Hifonics is not the amp itself, it is that 90% of the people buy them are looking for the lowest cost maximum performance system. Those two things normally do not go together. The user ultimately tries to get more out of the amp than it was made for and kills it. Brian

Not sure what they are going to do yet. Never powered them up. I am hoping it sounds pretty good. I doubt they keep up with the subs, but I have a level controller in the dash for the subs when I want to balance it. It has been raining here so much that I have not had a chance to go finish up the kicker amp wiring. Everything is there, just needs to be connected. Right now I just have a pair of Kicker DS600's in the dash on the radio power and you would not believe how loud they get. . . Never know if speakers are going to add or cancel when they are in funny positions until you try them. In a big system, I would assume the bass is going to be cut from the full range speakers, so there should not be much of a cancelation issue between the full range and subs. Brian

What is the maximum size the box can be and I will make a design he can build from. Brian

So the voice coil was not rubbing the motor, the motor was rubbing the voice coil?? Need to post up some pics so we can see what you are talking about. 6th screw would not hurt anything, although I am surprised it was not there. If I understand correctly, the sub started out working fine, since 5 months would be November/December and you said you got it in the summer. Brian

Man I cannot wait. Never had an IB setup in the house, so these subs should make a good start!

Here is what I did to the alt belt to help control the slipping. Both doors are complete!! Wired and drivers screwed in. Kicker amps Brian

I bet I have the first (8) 22" wall in my HT. . . .

I think Crutchfield is $30?

Look at item 310133844420. Search for "chevrolet speaker adapter" Brian

AA does not have any 8's right now. . .

I figured you were doing something. That was the I worry all the time about hitting my bars in the back of the van. I really need to build something to cover them. Brian

Looks like a short waiting to happen If you ever want to use copper, there is a place here in dallas that has VERY good prices. I bought 7 ft of 1.5" x .25" solid copper for $60. They will precut and ship to you. . . Brian

All depends on the box design. Larger areas of wood tend to flex more and need to be thicker or braced more.

x2 Many times the numbers printed on the amp are just estimates. Too many tolerances there to assume they are correct. You also don't know if your headunit can actually output more than 4 volts. . . If you smelled the coils, they were getting the power

(4) 027-428 - 10 uF cap (2) 027-430 - 12 uF cap (4) 016-1 - 1 ohm resistor (2) 016-2 - 2 ohm resistor (4) 016-12 - 12 ohm resistor (run in parallel for the 6 ohm in the tweeter section) (2) 255-214 - .25 mH coil (2) 255-206 - .15 mH coil (2) 255-260 - 1.5 mH coil (2) 255-226 - .44 mH coil Total - $75.00 for BOTH crossovers. You can upgrade the coils in the woofer section to 15 ga if you want, but those mids will not handle enough power to actually get much difference - 18 ga inductors should be fine. I did the (2) 12 ohm resistors in parallel because PE is out of stock on the 5.6 ohm. Go ahead and spend another $23 and you will get free shipping. . . aero ports for the cabinets, new soldering iron, something? Brian

Just braces in those areas. Even though it is 3" thick, there is not much MDF there. . .

Just finished soldering jumpers on all the mids. 2 mids on each channel of the 900.4's, so I ran 3x 12 ga from the amps to inside each door and then will split it into (2) 14 ga pieces from the 12 ga to each mid. Tweeters are 8 ohms, so there will be (4) tweeters on each of the remaining two channels.

Ran over 100 ft of 12 ga and 30 ft of 14 ga into the doors today. Man was that fun getting through the factory rubber boot between the door and body! Mounted both Kicker amps. Just need to get the mids actually screwed in and finish wiring the kicker amps to the batteries. Videos to come. . .

Suspension will loosen and change the way it sounds. that should have happened within a few days. . . Have you made sure both coils still ohm out correctly? Maybe you have been listening to the same setup for too long

Hi from Denton, TX

You can send your sub in and they will do it for you. Scott said he will be chaning the site to give you the option. If you send it in, you just have to add the cost of shipping the driver back to you (and of course the shipping you pay to get it to them). Brian

Some progress Brian

The parts list can vary depending in component quality. Anywhere from $50 each to $150 each. Do you have a budget?? Parts can easily be found searching on the Parts Express website. . . Brian

HiXmCoil: This coil is simply much longer than the normal dual 1ohm or dual 2ohm flatwire coils and allows for more xmax. If you are using this in a daily scenario we suggest that you choose this option, especially in the 15 and 18 inch models. Inner Heat Sink: Its a machined aluminum ring in the gap that lowers the voicecoils inductance (allowing it to play up higher and have a little better overall transient response). It also reduces the volume inside the magnet gap of the motor increasing air speed with the cooling as well as allowing the coil to kick off heat to a more receptive thermal mass rather than magnets.