Sencheezy

Also, since your ONLY going with SSA, then just grab the Zcons when they come out.

Nope. Mainly to allow the manufacturer to get more money out of your wallet and into theirs. Some of them also include other "useful" features, such as some equalizer bands and such, which in certain circumstances may be of benefit to the system (note that it's the other features and not the "line driver" feature that would be the primary benefit to the system in this case). But other than that the only, ONLY, benefit to a higher preamp voltage is if you are experiencing noise in your system that can only be eliminated with either a lower gain setting or higher signal voltage level, and this is rarely the case. As helotaxi said, a higher preamp voltage improves the SNR of the signal transfer and allows for a lower gain setting. Some amplifiers can have audible noise with a high gain setting, so increasing the preamp voltage allows the user to lower the gain and eliminate the noise issue. But with modern amplifier designs, this is pretty much a non-issue in most situations. Or if there is a high noise floor during the signal transfer, increasing the voltage of the signal increases the SNR of the signal. But again, this is rarely the case and in most cases routing signal cables away from noisy areas in the vehicle will solve the issue. The gain (or input sensitivity) knob is on the amplifier to allow the amplifier to output full power with a wide range of input voltages. The gain knob basically adjusts the level of the input signal so that it will effectively "see" the same amount of input voltage. Rather you start at 2V or start at 8V, if you properly set the gain the amplifier won't know the difference and it will output the same amount of power in either circumstance. If you properly set the gain, there would be no difference in output levels between a 2V headunit and an 8V headunit. Now, what happens if you start with a 2V HU and then switch to an 8V HU but don't readjust the gain? The amplifier is set to adjust the input signal based on an expected 2V of input signal. But you are now sending it 8V, so it's not properly adjusting the level of the input signal. It's receiving a lot more than it was expecting to see. As a result, it's going to output more power because it's letting too much of the input signal pass through to the amplification stage. This means the amplifier is going to output more power with the gain set to the 2V setting and an 8V input signal than it would with a 2V setting and 2V of input signal. In order for the amplifier to properly adjust the input signal for the higher 8V input signal, the gain would need to be reset to the 8V setting. Now you might be thinking "Hey, cool, if I don't readjust the gain that means I can get a lot more power out of my amplifier then, right?" No, this is bad. This is bad because the amplifier is going to amplify the input signal too much and clip the signal it is outputting to your speakers or subwoofers. This clipped signal contains more average power than the amplifier operating below clipping (with a properly set gain), and as a result could potentially damage your speakers or subwoofers depending on the circumstance. Hey thanks a lot for replying and explaining this to me bro. I really do appreciate it. You took a lot of time to fill me in on this, just wna say thanks. It all makes sense, and it answer my question.

I'm not sure sure about that a lower gain setting provides more headroom. Simply because the gain knob is just for level matching. But if you can provide a link to the article I'll happily read it Nope :-( couldn't find anything...

Hey thanks for explaining that to me. I understand much better, it makes sense too. Where can I find more detailed infromation about this, do you know? I understand what your saying, I would just like to read up on it, to burn time @ work, and learn a little bit lol. Check out David Navone and Richard Clarks's tech pages. Most of them are viewable online, I can't remember where. Maybe carsound or speakerworks. Also alot of info by doing a Google search. Bueno :-)

Hey thanks for explaining that to me. I understand much better, it makes sense too. Where can I find more detailed infromation about this, do you know? I understand what your saying, I would just like to read up on it, to burn time @ work, and learn a little bit lol.

:ughdunno:hmmmmm, alright

So your saying that the output voltage a HU puts out has NOTHING to do with the output of the speakers? So then what is the purpose of an line driver? I'm confused, so by the installer wrongly adjusting his gains after installing a higher rated HU, the output is louder until he readjusts his gains?

I have a Arc Audio SE-2150se, and I have it in mono mode, running at 2 ohms to my fully loaded, D1 18'' fi btl. Everything works fine, but I wanted to turn it up this past weekend to show of to my friends, so when I turn up the amp, from 1/4, to 3/4, it sounded much louder. But when I turn it up, the protect mode light will flicker red, just for when the bass drop, now I know this can't be good. It goes back green, but when ever the bass drops, a big one, it will just flicker red for that one second. Can any body tell me why this is, and is it safe to play it that loud? Not daily, I'm not stupid, but whenever I want to show off for a song or two, can I or should I play it loud without damaging the amp? Also, I have a Eclipse 5342r, and whenever the bass is up, it skips the cd player. It is a older model, and the guy who had it before me was using it for his 4 12s. Is it skipping just because its been through a lot, and its a few years old now? Is there any way I can get it to now skip any more? Like, is there any way I can like, open it up, and clean the lense or something like that? I really like this unit, plus its 4v.

well right now, Im running two runs of 4 gauge, and I have a volt meter on the dash, but, it doesn't show numbers. It just has a H and a L, and the meter will be in the middle at idle with nothing on. It drops and goes back to normal, unless im at a stop light, and have it up, then it kinda stays low, until i drive again. I drive a 96 explorer, so the battery upfront is pretty big. so where can I buy a dmm? and how much does it cost? If I turn down the bass boost on the amp, then it won't produce any bass

I wired the sub in series to the amp, bridged.

well I have the big 3 done, I have a 80 amp alt, regular batt, using 4 guage wiring, also have a amp for my highs. I have the bass boost 3/4 up on the amp, and on top of the amp, I see the gain label, but there is like, two white things, i can turn them either left or right, but there is no indicator, for me to know how much it is to the left or to the right, that is why it is hard for me to set the gains right also, its not going into protect mode, the light just flickers red for some reason, but it keeps playing normal with no problem.

well I have the big 3 done, I have a 80 amp alt, regular batt, using 4 guage wiring, also have a amp for my highs. I have the bass boost 3/4 up on the amp, and on top of the amp, I see the gain label, but there is like, two white things, i can turn them either left or right, but there is no indicator, for me to know how much it is to the left or to the right, that is why it is hard for me to set the gains right

I have a fully loaded 18 fi btl D1. I have this amp, Arc Audio 2150se. Its 300x2 @ 2ohm. I was wondering if it would be ok to run this amp on my sub daily? I have a 96 explorer, and stock electrical system. using 4 gauge power wire.

No, the voltage isn't dropping too badly, and it recovers rather quickly. I might have the gains too high like you said, last night it was too dark for me to check, I will check today and see, and thanks for the info. I thought I could burn up the power supply in the amp for asking too much power from the amp if it can't provide as much. Yeah you can but it has nothing to do with how many watts the sub can produce. It has to do with you pushing the amp farther than what it is capable by: wrong gain settings, using bass boost or not controlling the volume knob wisely. The sub doesnt tell the amp to give it more power than the amp can handle, the user tells the amp to send out more power than the amp can handle. yeah, that makes sense, but, I the bass boost is off on the head unit, and the bass is set to zero also, I will check the rcas and gains today though, and see what happens, I hope I didn't ruin that amp, because like I said, I smell no burning, and it still comes on, lighting up red and green.

No, the voltage isn't dropping too badly, and it recovers rather quickly. I might have the gains too high like you said, last night it was too dark for me to check, I will check today and see, and thanks for the info. I thought I could burn up the power supply in the amp for asking too much power from the amp if it can't provide as much.

well hey guys, I have bad news. The amp played just fine, for a good 20 minutes. As I was pulling into my apartments, I turned down the volume, and it just stoped playing. It went into protect mode. And now, it keeps flickering in between protect mode and normal mode. Like, the light, will keep fliping, red, red, red, then green, and then back to red repeatedly. After I ran some erands today, and came back home, it came back on, for a split second, and went back into protect mode!!!! I hope I didn't ruin anything, especially a thousand dollar amp. If you guys have any idea, please let me know, should I just take it all back out until I get a bigger amp? or what? The voltage is dropping too badly, and recovers with no problem at all.

i wired it series to the amp, so that would bring it to a 2 ohm load, so it would be 600 watts. I was just wondering if it would be safe or not, since its only 600 watts, I don't want to burn it up, you know what I mean. I hooked it up for a sec without the box, and it moved the sub, a lot actually lol. But like I said, I don't want to strain the amp.

the box style is called CRX style, i am not sure if it sounds louder to the ear. my new box is on its way and when i get everything setup ill let you know how it sounds CRX style compared to the regular way. maybe someone else will chime in also. if you are going to be getting a box made for ur magnum i would do the CRX style or something diffrent then the sub and port faceing rear just for looks and having something diffrent to most people I did an install in a Magnum with 4 Pioneer 12"s with a CRX style box and it sounded good, it slammed also. I have this setup in my 96' explorer and it sounds great. I'm not sure if there is a noticeable difference, I don't think there will be a sure way to find out either unless you have the exact specs of both setups and compare that way. I asked some guy at a local car audio store, and they told me that the port back, sub back setup is the "right way" he told me its "physics" lol, and that if you have the sub up, port back, than that cancels out some sound waves, because the sub is producing sound wavew up and down, and the sound waves coming out of the port are front to back.

your the best bro, thanks again

Hay guys, I was just wondering if anybody knows anybody that might or is selling two Incriminator Audio 20.1's? I live in Nashville, TN. I am willing to drive a few hours if needed. I am wanting to strap two of these on my one 18. I don't fell like paying there retail price, so I'm checking around first. Thanks for helping.

Hey, I'm a noobie with the whole forum thing, and a novice with the whole audio things too, but I have learned a lot since the beginning of the summer. I have a 96' ford explorer 4dr. And my current box is ~6.7cu ft tuned at 32hz. I am powering it with a PA a3000bd at the moment, and it sounds great. But I plan on buying another one soon. And my question is do you guys think that it could handle 4600 watts rms @ 1 ohm? I know that 01 tahoe on 26's lol puts over 5k with his new build, and was putting over 4k with his old system and has been slamming his BTL's since day 1. I know it wont be 4600w exactly since I still have stock batt and alt. But lets assume thats taking care of along with 0gauge wiring and the big 3. I wont hook another amp until I build my new box which I plan on making 8cu ft still at 32hz. Also, if it can handle this much power, should I bridge the amps to one coil, or put each 1 on each coil? Any advice concerning this matter would be GREATLY appreciated!! I am also just a daily driver who loves the bass. I can almost do a full hair trick already with this current system.

THANK YOU! lol That's the answer I was looking for. Alright, I would use that 6cu ft than. Would I be able to keep the port 32hz? or do I have to make some changes there 2? Or could I build say a 7cu ft, and than brace the whole inside to love the cu ft after displacement? this is what i said before. when the box is bigger the power handling goes down. nobody can tell you if its going to take 4600 or not. this is for you to find out. when you hook it all up and start playing it check for it to get hot and see if you can smell coil. if you can back the gains down. if you cant then it can handle it. ohhh yeah I see what you mean. Well what box size do you recommend for me with all this power? I am a daily driver. well fi recommends 5-10 cubes. id say go with about 6 cubes. give or take some. you'll have more chance of it taking 4600 with a smaller box. alright. thanks a lot bro.

THANK YOU! lol That's the answer I was looking for. Alright, I would use that 6cu ft than. Would I be able to keep the port 32hz? or do I have to make some changes there 2? Or could I build say a 7cu ft, and than brace the whole inside to love the cu ft after displacement? this is what i said before. when the box is bigger the power handling goes down. nobody can tell you if its going to take 4600 or not. this is for you to find out. when you hook it all up and start playing it check for it to get hot and see if you can smell coil. if you can back the gains down. if you cant then it can handle it. ohhh yeah I see what you mean. Well what box size do you recommend for me with all this power? I am a daily driver.

Yeah that is what my car audio adviser told me. I think I am going to lower the gains asap because I don't want to do anything stupid to my baby lol. I only have stock alt and batt right now, and I have had this setup for about 3 months now and I can start to see the effect it is having on my electrical system. My voltage meter doesnt go back up as fast as it use to after a low note, and my car starts to almost shut off at stop lights. But what you are saying is that, once I complete my upgrade on my electrical system, I will be able to apply 4600w daily to it? it just depends. the bigger the box is the lower the power handling is. put 4600 to it and see if it takes it. if not back off the gains. "if not"- is that after it blows? haha lol See thats what worries me. I don't want to put 4600watts to it, and than it blows. I really wish Fi or anybody could tell me what is the BTL max? Honestly you just need to get the words "peak" and "max" out of your brain. You have been listening to too much marketing drivel. Plus if you think about it, amplifiers would have peak ratings also. If you look at many of them, they'll say 1000 watts RMS, 2000 peak. So there you go, match up your RMS and your peak ratings of the amp and subs if that's what will get you through the day. But just so you know, peak ratings on amplifiers mean as little as peak ratings on subs. The best thing to do once you get your sub is to just not worry about absolute power handling numbers and figure out a gain setting that the sub will be happy at. If you turn it up and hear the sub stressing or bottoming out, lower the gain. If you smell burning, lower the gain. If you hear the sub not getting any louder or beginning to sound flat as you turn up the volume, lower it. Your ears are your best tools, sharpen them. Alright will do. Thanks bro for your advice, I will def take all that in and go by it. I already have my sub, its in the pic of my sig. I'm trying to use them lol, but they just keep wanting to hear more bass. lol. But I will go head and retune everything asap because my alt is dying on me after 3 months of hard slapping.

Yo thanks bro, for showing my post some love. I know you know what your talking about when I was reading your post. Alright I wont, damn, I just wanted to be louder, and I was kinda compareing my subs to dms(<-backwards lol). Because I c him putting that much power on his. Thats the reason why I wanted to know the peak, so that I won't come close to it. But with out knowing, I don't know how much it can handle without damageing it. I know I don't have a hole lot of experience, skills, or the know how, but I don't want to go through that whole learning phase, when I can just learn from the pros. I already had 3 other shit systems, I want to setup for the long run instead of buying new shit over and over again.