sa-8 bottoming out?

[Fanman 0]

Hey all. not sure if my sub is bottoming out or i have the settings done incorrectly. its an sa-8 running at 2ohm 500watts. during some songs it sounds like the sub is banging into something but if i turn the volume down it stops. box is a .75 ^3 tuned to 34hz designed by ram designs. this is my first attempt at a stereo install in over 10 years so im sure its something ive done. gain is set to half on the dial and sensitivity is at 3/4. Amp is an alpine mrd500.

Any thoughts? Thanks

kevin

i

[jokers10 19]

My initial thought has nothing to do with the sub bottoming out, but the method you used to set your gain, and sensitivity knobs. Read some more about setting gains, or take it to a shop that can set your gains for you.

Most likely your improper gain settings is introducing a distorted signal to your woofer causing it to make noise that shouldn't be there. Unless the box is designed wrong, I really doubt a properly set up mrd500 would bottom out the SA-8.

[ssh 924]

Does the amp have a sub sonic filter? If so, try raising it. The silk screened labels aren't always accurate in relation to the turn of the dial (pot).

Your gain may or may not be set too high.

What's the difference between the gain and sensitivity?

[jokers10 19]

I just downloaded the manual to the Alpine MRD-M500, and if that is the amp you have it seems rather easy to adjust the gain settings. Download the manual from alpine's support page. It is a neat looking amp, with an interesting way to adjust the settings. Adjustments start on page 11.

[Fanman 0]

I actually failed at listing the right amp. Its a mrP-500 not the mrD. Either way i do believe the sound in question is my fault. Doing no homework before adjusting the settings on an amp is probably not the best way to start. I think once i do a bit of reading and adjust the settings correctly, the noise will stop. The 3 adjustments the amp has is gain, bass eq, and lpf.

[dbsupra 69]

I just looked up the amp and saw the SSF is fixed at 15hz. That's kinda dumb imo.

Be sure you have the bass eq at 0.

Don't forget to also check your wiring. As long as I've been at this I've screwed it up and wired it out of phase before.

[Fanman 0]

By out of phase you mean reversing the pos/neg? If so those are right 100%. Pretty sure i have the bass eq turned up as well as the gain. Will have to check once i get some time to piddle about with the car again. Damn divorce, bleh