Boss audio blx 3500m amp any good?

[playmysong 2]

I bought a Boss audio blx 3500m amp about a year ago when i knew nothing about car audio and just tried to buy the cheapest amp i could find. I've read that boss audio products aren't that good. Is this true and does this reputation also go with this amp. I'm just wondering because i had it hooked up to a Boston Acoustics g5 12" single 4 ohm and the sub made a funky slapping sound (not tinsel lead slap, those are fine) that i could just not live with. Could this be a problem with the amp.

[jrod1050 5]

im not sure about the slapping noise you getting, we would need more info to determine whats causing that problem. It might be that you enclosure is tuned to high and your sub is bottoming out but Boss audio doesnt make the best products in the world. There in the same boat as Pyramid, Legacy, Jensen.

Edited June 24, 2009 by jrod1050

[playmysong 2]

Yeah i know. As i stated earlier i said i bought when i knew nothing about car audio when i bought it. I had several boxes for the sub. 2 sealed boxes, one with a passive radiator and one with just the sub and 2 ported boxes, one slot port and the other a flared port both 2 cu. ft and tuned to 32 hz or just a little higher. That noise came with every box i put it in. I checked the sub, nothing was wrong with it visibly and i even got a recone for it, same noise came. I guess this is more of a sub question than an amp one. I'm just wondering because there has to be a reason Boston Acoustics stopped selling this model.

[playmysong 2]

More info on the sound. It only happened at a certain frequency range when playing songs i think below 50 or 40 hz. I played test tones from 20 to 80 hz and couldn't hear that sound it only came on during music. It sounded kinda like when you open your mouth and hit yourself on top of the head with your knuckles. Weird i know but it sounded similar to that. The amp itself had a db boost 0-18 db and a level bass boost which i guess would be the gain. Both nobs when turned would make the sub play louder so i don't know which is for what. The instruction booklet it came with didn't even mention anything about these nobs.

[Lucky 76 5]

u might have set ur gains too high ... even tho that is a boss amp it is stll rated at 1200 ms which means it can probably do 600-800 and u are probably sending that much to that sub clipped ... that sub is 450 rms ... u are probably clipping your output if u turn those up ... bass boost is engaged around 45 hz so i would not doubt that is ur prob ... read this http://www.soundsolutionsaudio.com/forum/i...?showtopic=3704

[dbjunior 0]

ive run a g512 before and had the same issue notice it more on low volumes i think it is a resonance issue with the sub. the best box i had mine in was large and tune to 18hz. the sub can get loud though 2.5cu tuned to 38hz off 300w got me a 140

[playmysong 2]

Cool thanks for the replies. I never heard any clipping with the sub and it got pretty loud. I thought clipping only happens when you get an underpowered amp and push it too far and it sends a square wave instead of a sine wave. The amp would probably only go over 1000 watts rms if put on a 1 ohm load which it might not even be stable at but it claims it can so i couldn't be overpowering the sub too much. Well i don't have the sub anymore but i was just curious because it was my first set up and i know i didn't choose the best amp (probably should have got a sundown amp) but i tried to go for a sq sub. It sounded good, don't get me wrong, but that sound it made at that frequency just annoyed the crap out of me. I now have my heart set on a Sounsplinter rl-p 12 or 15.

[Lucky 76 5]

clipping can occur no matter what as long as you have your gains wrong ... what happens is you push your amp so hard that it is giving off other forms of power instead of wattage ... clipping is also not audible all the time ... most clipping you cannot even hear ... you should switch your amps out before you get a new sub ... the same thing might happen with a new sub and you will be damaging it by sending out clipped signals ... your amps hold the key to the sound quality of your subs

[playmysong 2]

Ok thanks. Never knew that