My fully loaded BL 15" lost its loudness. What happened?

[MattTheBaker123 0]

Hey everyone,

I've had my fully loaded bl 15 for about 5 1/2 months and i love it. But now all of a sudden im having some wierd issues. One morning when i got into my car and was driving i noticed i had no bass at all so out of curiosity i turned it up to listen closer and all of a sudden the sub kicked in but when it did it was distorted sounding. Now ever since its been the same way and not to mention its not very loud now. Even when i first got it and was using my stock battery it sounded louder and better. Could my setup be clipping? Any thoughts?

All help is greatly appriciated!

[smashedz28 110]

Check all connections, grounds and everything. make sure nothing is loose first of all.

[Optimus_Prime 30]

Yes first check all the connections, and pull the sub and give it a visual and check it with a dmm at each coil, check the glue joint where spider meets cone.

[hondakilla98 29]

Check all connections, grounds and everything. make sure nothing is loose first of all.

Including inside the box.

[Duran 387]

It's a wire, somewhere...

[bassahaulic 155]

I would check ground first, then RCAs, then the rest.

[MattTheBaker123 0]

Thanks for the feedback guys,

Idk how it could be a ground problem if this is the first problem ive had with it but it probably wouldnt hurt to find a better one. All rcas are good. Im replacing my speaker wire with kicker wire next week but for the time being im going to replace it all with fresh speaker wire. Is it possible to fry speaker wire that isnt exactly the best quality? Ive had this role of 16 awg speaker wire ive used on all of my systems and have never had a problem with it. I also live in minnesota, its pretty damn cold here and i've noticed that the sub just doesnt want to go at all when cold and will go on demand when warm but its still quiet and it still distorts. Ugh, I'm just confused.

[MattTheBaker123 0]

Rewired everything today and replaced my rcas and im still having the problem. I swapped it into my friends car who has the same set up and it was pounding like normal again. Now im thinking it might be my amp. Doing an amp swap tomorrow with my same friend hopefully its not the problem but im afraid it might be.

[Optimus_Prime 30]

Sounds like your amp of HU.

[MattTheBaker123 0]

I swapped my buddies ZX 1000.1 into my car today (the same amp i have) and it sounded the same. I also re-did my ground. No change. I am totally confused on how this can still be happeneing. What could it be? Bad alt? I cant even think of anything else.

[CrazyKenKid 64]

sorry just to re-cap what you already did!

first you put the sub and box in your buddies car hooked up the speaker wires and it worked perfect!

second you hooked your buddies amp in your car and tried it all out and same result,

from these finding you can rule out the speaker wiring, and the amp

yes or no?

next thing to do would be to hook and mp3 play to the rca of the amp and by doing this you can rule out the head-unit as an issue.

[CrazyKenKid 64]

Sounds like your amp of HU.

you mean bad pre-outs on the head unit?

[MattTheBaker123 0]

sorry just to re-cap what you already did!

first you put the sub and box in your buddies car hooked up the speaker wires and it worked perfect!

second you hooked your buddies amp in your car and tried it all out and same result,

from these finding you can rule out the speaker wiring, and the amp

yes or no?

next thing to do would be to hook and mp3 play to the rca of the amp and by doing this you can rule out the head-unit as an issue.

Correct. Ok, my neighbor has that exact cord to do that so ill post back as soon as i get a result.

Thanks!

[CrazyKenKid 64]

actually also i am not sure if the mp3 player has enough output... maybe compare the results you get in your car with the mp3 player to the results you get in your buddies car with his setup.

just to make sure it is in the ball park, also don't play with the gains just leave them as they are

[ssh 924]

It lost it's loudness? Perhaps it fell into the box, or it's under a seat?

How does it sound if you hook your rcas from your ipod to your amp, instead of using head unit to amp.

And I read what CrazyKenKid stated, but you may have to adjust your gain when using your ipod, because the ipod signal voltage and head unit voltage are likely different

[CrazyKenKid 64]

It lost it's loudness? Perhaps it fell into the box, or it's under a seat?

How does it sound if you hook your rcas from your ipod to your amp, instead of using head unit to amp.

And I read what CrazyKenKid stated, but you may have to adjust your gain when using your ipod, because the ipod signal voltage and head unit voltage are likely different

ya that is what i meant to say about the gains! lol thanks stefanhinote!

but for quick resetting of the gains be sure to pencil in the old gain position for reference! lol! don't do what i did and be like ya i am going to hook my mp3 player to my amp and turn my gains about half a turn more up and then hook up my rca from my head unit back up to the amp and being like wtf why is it clipping now LMAO

[ssh 924]

It lost it's loudness? Perhaps it fell into the box, or it's under a seat?

How does it sound if you hook your rcas from your ipod to your amp, instead of using head unit to amp.

And I read what CrazyKenKid stated, but you may have to adjust your gain when using your ipod, because the ipod signal voltage and head unit voltage are likely different

ya that is what i meant to say about the gains! lol thanks stefanhinote!

but for quick resetting of the gains be sure to pencil in the old gain position for reference! lol! don't do what i did and be like ya i am going to hook my mp3 player to my amp and turn my gains about half a turn more up and then hook up my rca from my head unit back up to the amp and being like wtf why is it clipping now LMAO

yeah.

OP, I would first leave the gain set to how it was.

Hook up ipod with volume low, start playing a song your familiar with. Gradually turn up the volume, stop if the bass becomes distorted, if you get to max volume and it still sounds good then gradually turn the gain up on the amp.

If your bass is noticeably louder then how its been lately from the head unit and still sounds clean, then your head unit is the source of the problem.

Whether the head unit itself is faulty or merely the settings are off, I don't know. You didn't by any chance happen to disconnect your battery recently and forgot to change your settings on your head unit after they cleared?

[MattTheBaker123 0]

I just plugged my ipod directly into the amp and the beast was loud again so thats definitely the problem. Thats what happens when you buy from jvc . Im just happy i finally know whats wrong!

Thanks everybody i really appreciate all of the feedback !

[ssh 924]

I just plugged my ipod directly into the amp and the beast was loud again so thats definitely the problem. Thats what happens when you buy from jvc . Im just happy i finally know whats wrong!

Thanks everybody i really appreciate all of the feedback !

Before you run out and buy a new head unit, can you verify this: You didn't happen to disconnect your battery recently? This would clear all your settings on your head unit.

[CrazyKenKid 64]

hey don't bash ALL JVC head units! I love mine to death!

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-ki79IAceyeM/s_105KDAVX77/JVC-KD-AVX77.html

also please double check your setting on the head unit JUST to be sure... wait a second please pull out your head unit and MAKE sure that the RCA are PUSH all the way in first before buying a new head unit.

I know with my old old head-unit i had to use black tape to make sure the rca didn't fall out!

[MattTheBaker123 0]

I just plugged my ipod directly into the amp and the beast was loud again so thats definitely the problem. Thats what happens when you buy from jvc . Im just happy i finally know whats wrong!

Thanks everybody i really appreciate all of the feedback !

Before you run out and buy a new head unit, can you verify this: You didn't happen to disconnect your battery recently? This would clear all your settings on your head unit.

Nope. I pressed the reset button behind the faceplate and tried to see if that would do anything. I also contacted JVC and he told me to do the same. I had no luck. My settings havent changed at all i just one day started my car and when i was bumpin the "punch" that the bl usually has wasnt and still isnt there.

[MattTheBaker123 0]

hey don't bash ALL JVC head units! I love mine to death!

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-ki79IAceyeM/s_105KDAVX77/JVC-KD-AVX77.html

also please double check your setting on the head unit JUST to be sure... wait a second please pull out your head unit and MAKE sure that the RCA are PUSH all the way in first before buying a new head unit.

I know with my old old head-unit i had to use black tape to make sure the rca didn't fall out!

I did this several times and even ran new rca cables to be sure. No change. That JVC HU you have is way nice. You get what you pay for i guess. I though forking out $140 would be enough apparently i was wrong. It has a 12 month warranty and ive had it for 14 months . Definately will get an alpine HU next time. Or something of a higher quality in that price range.

[CrazyKenKid 64]

o wow no way your warranty runs out then 2 months later it dies! wow not cool man!

did you buy it direct from them or a store/ maybe give them a call or walk in and ask. I know best buy in Canada (since I live in Canada lol) are super nice about that kind a thing. if they can't see any external damage and it is broken they normally just give you an in store credit which you could use towards a new/better one! this is of course provided you purchased from best buy but if you did the purchase over eBay or online i don't think they would be as nice but you can always try!

at any rate glad we could help you out to diagnose this issue! at least it wasn't the amp or sub! which I think would have cost more then the h/u! so time for a new post for a new h/u for you lol! you say alpine! nice buy! how about those clarions? those sure are nice! plus they can play movies! lol! what is your price range? 150?

all the same good luck and let us know what happens as for the new h/u!

[MattTheBaker123 0]

o wow no way your warranty runs out then 2 months later it dies! wow not cool man!

did you buy it direct from them or a store/ maybe give them a call or walk in and ask. I know best buy in Canada (since I live in Canada lol) are super nice about that kind a thing. if they can't see any external damage and it is broken they normally just give you an in store credit which you could use towards a new/better one! this is of course provided you purchased from best buy but if you did the purchase over eBay or online i don't think they would be as nice but you can always try!

at any rate glad we could help you out to diagnose this issue! at least it wasn't the amp or sub! which I think would have cost more then the h/u! so time for a new post for a new h/u for you lol! you say alpine! nice buy! how about those clarions? those sure are nice! plus they can play movies! lol! what is your price range? 150?

all the same good luck and let us know what happens as for the new h/u!

Yeah its a bummer but I got it from best buy so if I have the receipt laying around somewhere I'll definitely have to go there and talk to them about it because it works fine it just sounds like one of the rca outputs is shot. I want to spend less than $200 if possible. I like the alpine cda-105. I found it on techtronics.com with a 2 year warranty for $160. If best buy doesn't come through that's what I'll end up getting most likely. Any other h/u's you would recommend in that price range?

[ssh 924]

I have owned two alpine cde-102s and they have been great for me. There cheap too, I believe I paid $140 or $150 with a wiring harness from sonic electronix