Oni

Ok, so I finally finished stage 1 of my install today. It's gonna take too much time for the custom fab needed for my components to fit in my door so I used a Line Out Converter to get me by. I couldn't change out my HU because of the factory amp and it would cause the speakers not to play and there is no harness for it yet. Anyway, back to the point of the post. So I have my Q in a sealed box with about .8-.9 cubes after displacement. It's a cheap $20 prefab box. I'm just not happy with the current output of the sub. I've seen 10" Q videos, sealed and ported, where there was trunk flex and the rear view mirror noticeably vibrates, and this is only on 1000 watts. I'm running about 1200-1300 max off of my amp. Mine seems louder than the stock sub from the car and cleaner (I love the SQ from this thing), but I know it can get louder. I tried setting my gains off of my DMM for 1200 watts rms coming from my Hifonics 1505D at 1 ohm with a 60 Hz -3db test tone. I got it all set and I was unimpressed with the output as I said. So knowing rock is recorded at something like -6 or -10 db, I reset it with a bass heavy song I listen to. Much better, but still not like what I've heard and seen this thing do. And if I tweak the gain slightly up to where it sounds better, the amp goes into protect mode well before I can hear clipping. I did some trouble shooting and found some things. 1 or 2 of the screws for the sub weren't super tight and there was a small air leak so I went back and tightened everything up nice and good. That helped quite a bit, but still not perfect. I haven't checked the terminal cup/mount for air leaks yet, but it's a cheap box so there's probably some. Next, how sensitive is the Q to a box that's bigger than recommended; large enough to hurt its output a lot? I eliminated the LOC by hooking my IPOD to the amp and setting the gain the same way, and on the same song the output of the sub sounded about the same. Could it just be my amp? Would a fancy custom built ported enclosure make a huge difference and if so, anyone got some designs? It just confuses me how it's super clear compared to my factory sub, but only seems about 30% louder (Factory was only like, 100 rms 10"). Sorry for the long post and Thanks!

... FINALLY WORKS! I rewired the LOC to the rear speaker wires past the factory amp instead behind the deck and it all works now! Apparently the radio puts out a signal no matter what, and the factory amp is what controls the volume. So that's why I was getting output at 0 volume. All I have to say is it sounds amazing! It gets the output and clarity I wanted and the 10 is loud, but beautifully crisp. Amazing products from the guys at FI.

Like I said, It's actually playing. The bass output changes with the song and follows the bass in the song. I'll try the LOC gain adjustment tomorrow.

OK, so I have my new amp and got everything installed. Now I have a new problem. When I fire everything up, my sub is playing with the radio volume at 0 and amp gain all the way over at 8V, but it stops when I push the button to turn the radio off and the rhythm changes when I change songs. When I use my Ipod, the volume changes with my Ipod volume and doesn't have this problem. I didn't have enough time before the Sun went down to troubleshoot this anymore, but would this happen if I had the gains on my LOC too high? They are adjustable and I think they are all the way up. PS - With the IPOD, The sub sounds amazing. So much better than with the crippled amp.

What would be good for getting the most volume out of my 10" Fi Q. I want it to go ported for some more output, and it'll be running off of a MD1D at 1 ohm (1200 rms). Thanks a bunch

So I just ordered a Used US Amps MD1D that was in my price range. Should replace that junk Hifonics and get me up and going.

So who here is rocking the 10" Q. Just wondering what everyone else thinks about it. I'm looking forward to when my new amp finally gets here so I can play with mine.

To answer all the questions 1.) Yes I've tested the sub, it's brand new and it's fine. No scratching metal from pushing the cone. I've also put pressure on the dust cap (Fi Q) and it didn't go away. 2.) It's not, I just saw the question never get answered on another forum and I thought that was the answer, but I didn't know for sure. 3.) The different sub was also in a different enclosure. So that's why I feel it's the amp. But I have no experience with broken parts on an amp (First time I've had one break before I sold it) so I am just wondering what would cause this noise.

So I've tried both my HU and Ipod for a source to my amp and wired the amp to 2 different subs at different impedances. Always turns out the same way, some rattling sound coming from the speaker. So Obviously it's the amp because I've tried two of everything else. The "sound" plays with the signal, not with engine RPM, so I know it's not related to my ground. You can hear it at low volume with gain turned up just enough for sound to come out. I think it's also causing my amp to go into protect mode prematurely for some reason because it would go into protect around 30 volts on the DMM when setting with a test tone. Amp is a Hifonics 1505d (explains a lot, I know) left over from an old install in my last car. I'm planning on buying an AQ1200d because it is in my budget, but I'm curious to know if anyone has had a similar problem because I want to know what caused the problem for my own knowledge. On a side note, I have another just for my knowledge question. Would running only a single RCA connection (only left or right, not both) to a mono-block amp affect anything like the sound quality, output level, etc or would it work the same as with both connected.

Also, I just saw your second video and after listening to it, my sound isn't the same as yours. And at that volume it's a much louder noise. I still feel like mine is from something like bad RCA inputs on my amp. There's a local electronics shop here that can test it for 10 bucks so I'm gonna go there Friday when I have the day off work.

Glad you found out what's wrong. I'll try checking mine just to be sure, but like I said, I still got the same sound from a totally different sub in a different box on my amp so I doubt it'll help.

Like I said in my post with similar noise, I tried 2 of everything (RCAs, Signal Source, Sub with different brand and impedance, etc) except the amplifier minus changing all my power/ground/remote wires. None of it got rid of the noise. The noise was even reproduced perfectly in the other subwoofer. It was a 4 or 5 year old hifonics amp so I can't say I'm surprised.

I think i know what happened to my amp. When I first moved from Michigan to Texas, my engine died on my car after 152,000 miles. So I bought a new car, but didn't have my tools down here yet, so the dealership unhooked the amp and all my wires for me. I would bet they didn't disconnect the amp in the right order since I haven't used it since then and all of a sudden it isn't working.

I don't know if you saw my post, but I had mine narrowed down to either amp or sub and took it to a super cool local audio shop to help me test it. They gave me a preboxed JL of some sort that ran at 4 ohm (my Q is wired to 1 and amp is 500/1000/1500 at 4/2/1) and at low volume, I heard the sound on the JL as well. I have a feeling it's your amp. That's what it seems like to me if it does it to 2 completely different speakers. Try the speaker back in your car for chits and giggles fast to see if it stops the sound. My problem is different than you though, my bad amp is the hifonics

So I figured out what's going on. The amp is sending a bad signal for some reason to the sub. Tried a different sub/box and it made the same noise. Dumb Hifonics. It worked a year ago when I used it last. Apparently Closet>Hifonics, since it hasn't moved from that one space in a little over a year, with nothing on top of it. On that note, who's selling an AQ1200 or Sundown for a good deal!

Well, I did some more digging. The noise is still there with or without the LOC (using ipod to send amp signal instead). The amp worked fine on the 2 Kicker subs I used to have so I have a hard time believing the amp is bad. I wouldn't be so disappointed with the output if I hadn't seen videos of more vibration on less power with the same speaker sealed to about the same volume. Here are a few things I have questions on that may or may not be the cause of said noise. 1.) Would mounting the amp to the back of the rear seat through metal possibly cause this. 2.) What about a loose wire inside the box where it connects to the terminal. It is using the female quick connecters. A loose wire may explain issues pushing as much power as I should be able to. 3.) How could I tell if the amp is bad easily. There are no visable burn marks and everything seems fine other than the noise. I know the speaker is fine fine itself because the coils show normal impedance values and there is no noise if I push on the cone. Thanks

That's what I was figuring you guys would say. I just thought of another question, if I have my subsonic and low pass filter set properly (Set using the appropriate test tones), what would cause the sub to make this weird quiet noise from the sub when only high frequency stuff is playing. It's like a low pitch rattle or almost like the sound coffee brewing makes. Do you think it might be noise from a bad ground on my Line Out Converter causing? Would it be ok to run some extra remote wire from my LOC to my ground distro block to see if this is it?

So I have a 10" Q I'll be running about 1000 rms to. What kind of box dimensions do you recommend. I bought a prefab box for $20 because I figured if it didn't work, oh well I'm out 20 bucks. Well, the Q is a little oversized for the box so I figured, well, might as well just build one. What dimensions should I build it if I plan to run the above mentioned power? Is the .6 cubes best or would it be better to have closer to 1?

Well, The part that is getting stuck is the widest part of the metal spoke basket. There is a custom install shop about 3 miles from where I am at. Since I just moved down here and won't have room to move my tools down for a while, I'll probably see about having them take 2 min to trim it open slightly. I also need my firewall hole drilled because my buddy still has my drill bit and he's in Iraq atm.

So here's a question I don't know the answer to. What happens if I build a sealed box bigger than recommended spec? Will it hurt the bass at all? I'm not familiar enough with box design.

That one won't work either. The Q needs 9.25" of clearance and that one is only 9 1/8. I wonder if I could find someone locally with a router or something to cut mine out to 9 3/8 or so.

I'm going crazy. My Q should have shipped on the 20th according to my UPS quantum and it still hasn't. I mean, it is all I have left to do my install to make my car go from sounding like to :bigclap: It's driving me crazy! Need....good...music!

Scott, It's in a sticky on the FI General forum. EDIT: Nevermind, you already changed it!

Score, it's in Phoenix!

You can replace them if you do it right (sand to bare metal!). My damn grounds look like 16 AWG speaker wire. Yay for 1/0.