Subs Smells At Higher Notes.Why?

[HawkEye 0]

Hey all.I got my system installed and have been bumping for about a week.Havent had any promblems at all except for when I play higher notes.When I play the higher notes I can smell my subs a little bit.I noticed this like the day I installed them so I have been staying away from songs with the higher notes because I really don't want to ruin my new subs.I have my gain set slightly less than half way and that is really all I have touched on my amp.I have a DC 5k amp and 4 10" DC lvl 3's with lvl 4 upgrades.My enclosure is tuned to 33hz and I have 2 100ah batts as reserve with a 250amp Singer alternator.I have a clipping indicator on my bass knob and I always make sure it never lights up and it doesn't,even on the high notes.So im a little confused.I can play the lower notes all day and have no problems.Even the real low notes.Im not sure exactly what hz the note is that does it I just know that I have never had this problem before and it sucks becasue I can't listen to half my songs.So what should I do?Do I need to set something on my amp or head unit or what?I have a Kenwood KDC x994.

If you guys need for info on my setup please let me know becasue I want to get this solved ASAP.Thanks

HawkEye

[ricksi30 923]

How did you set your gain?

[HawkEye 0]

How did you set your gain?

I just turned it up to where I thought was proper.I dont have anything to set it with really.I thought since I wasn't clipping according to my bass knob I was fine.

[ricksi30 923]

Your gain is probably too high. Those clipping indicators are worthless. Are you using the gain knob? Did you set your gain with the knob at its max setting? What is your ssf set at? What is your bass boost setting?

[HawkEye 0]

Your gain is probably too high. Those clipping indicators are worthless. Are you using the gain knob? Did you set your gain with the knob at its max setting? What is your ssf set at?

No When I set my gain I had the bass knob half way up and right now the knob is a little less than half way.My ssf is set to stock becasue I havent touched it,as well as everything else excpet the gain.

[ricksi30 923]

I would set the ssf no lower than 27 hz make sure your bass boost is off or all of the way down. Start there but I'm willing to bet that your gain is set too high.

[Skullz 8]

When setting gains you want the SSF set just below tuning, you want the bass knob completely up so it is getting full power from the H/U and any setting other than sub out on the H/U off and sub out turned up all the way. Don't make things more complicated than they need to be by using 1/2 setting cause once you go past where you think you had it set your now beginning to soft clip it and eventually getting into hard clip territory if your not careful.

[HawkEye 0]

I would set the ssf no lower than 27 hz make sure your bass boost is off or all of the way down. Start there but I'm willing to bet that your gain is set too high.

Ok.All my bass boost settings are off or set to 0 on my head unit and my bass boost on my amp is turned all the way down.So your saying turn my bass knob all the way down and set my ssf then set my gain?

When setting gains you want the SSF set just below tuning, you want the bass knob completely up so it is getting full power from the H/U and any setting other than sub out on the H/U off and sub out turned up all the way. Don't make things more complicated than they need to be by using 1/2 setting cause once you go past where you think you had it set your now beginning to soft clip it and eventually getting into hard clip territory if your not careful.

Ok cool.I will try doing this later today and let you guys know how it goes.Thanks for the help ricksi30 and Skullz

Edited March 14, 2012 by HawkEye

[ricksi30 923]

No problem man! Set everything with the gain knob maxed, this way when you turn it all the way up you are at the max that you set your gain on your amp.

[HawkEye 0]

I got it all fixed!!No more smelly subs lol.Thanks again for the help!

[TexasZ7-1 0]

I would adjust your HPF. Lower it a bit

[Dangrebel 89]

Hpf is high pass filter. Which is also known as a subsonic filter. It cuts off frequencys below its set point. I think you mean a low pass filter, which cuts off frequencys above its set point.

[KyleBrown 121]

Some amps will put out more power at higher notes, not much....

just throwing it out there

[CHRIS 323 12]

theres some device called a DD1 you might consider buying one

[Dangrebel 89]

Some amps will put out more power at higher notes, not much....

just throwing it out there

I believe that's more common in class a/b amps though.

[TexasZ7-1 0]

Hpf is high pass filter. Which is also known as a subsonic filter. It cuts off frequencys below its set point. I think you mean a low pass filter, which cuts off frequencys above its set point.

haha sorry about that. Just got discharged from the hospital after a 3 week stay. Im on a bit of powerful pain meds.

But yes, thats what I meant

[pmureika 31]

Some amps will put out more power at higher notes, not much....

just throwing it out there

I believe that's more common in class a/b amps though.

In simple terms. turn the gain down and dont play it so loud.

[ShagggDiesel 25]

Some amps will put out more power at higher notes, not much....

just throwing it out there

I believe that's more common in class a/b amps though.

In simple terms. turn the gain down and dont play it so loud.

He already fixed his problem.

[pmureika 31]

Some amps will put out more power at higher notes, not much....

just throwing it out there

I believe that's more common in class a/b amps though.

In simple terms. turn the gain down and dont play it so loud.

He already fixed his problem.

Good to hear.

[CHRIS 323 12]

either your clipping or your subs hate high notes or both

[mlstrass 1]

higher notes have much less excursion = much less cooling for the VC's

you might not have been clipping, just now you've lowered the power even more so the subs aren't being pushed as hard.

You might be able to lower the LPF and turn the gain back up going off your clipping indicator to know how high to set it...

[Munkyhead2_16 0]

higher notes have much less excursion = much less cooling for the VC's

you might not have been clipping, just now you've lowered the power even more so the subs aren't being pushed as hard.

You might be able to lower the LPF and turn the gain back up going off your clipping indicator to know how high to set it...

YES finally someone said it! Your box is tuned to 33 iirc, being probably a basic ported enclosure its bound to not have a very wide frequency range and really inefficient towards the upper range. You are more than likely playing songs out of the range of your enclosure with the higher bass in turn the subs are vibrating faster and less (from the higher frequency) and there is less cooling. Also because the box is inefficient at higher frequencies your amp is throwing a lil extra power to push the sub and with that power comes a lil extra heat also. Everyone is always so quick to jump on the "its your gains, the gains gotta be too high" theory. Now... throw those subs into a 4th order or maybe if possible a t-line or horn which have much wider frequency response range and should be able to hit the brutal lows as well as keep up nicely with the upper double bass in rock/metal depending on the design. Check and adjust all of your settings (double check em, haha), clipping indicators on amps and knobs are pretty damn good these days actually, an O-scope is always the best to use though naturally. (no matter the brand, clipping indicator circuits are all basically the same in design but I'm not going to go further into circuit design here lol.) Just watch the volume knob on those songs you know have a higher bass frequency, get some more songs with low bass in your mix. haha.

Edited March 27, 2012 by Munkyhead2_16

[Dangrebel 89]

I am tuned to 30hz but can hit 80 hz all day long without this problem?

[95Honda 486]

#1 amplifers made today have resonably flat frequency response and do not "put out more power at higher frequencies"

#2 clipping does not increase heat, more power does

#3 the only thing to lower heat it to lower power

#4 every gain setting tip in this thread is meaningless, O Scopes are useless in every situation posted on here.

Just a few points...

You turned the volume down somewhere, that is it.

[Munkyhead2_16 0]

1. I never said anything about the amps frequency response having to do with it putting out more power at a higher frequency. I forgot a comma between the words frequencies and your so possibly it was misread? I was trying to convey that because the box is inefficient at a higher frequency, there is more resistance from the sub (mechanically) at higher frequencies than lower but the amp electrically still has to fight that mechanical resistance to push the sub to its full positive and negative cycle as it did with lower frequencies but with ease and less resistance down low. More resistance = more heat, the heat comes from more current/amps being pushed through to overcome the resistance so the amp will push the sub its full cycle like its supposed to. I think some confusion comes when I used the word "power", when I use "power" im thinking of everything involved within electricity to make the "watts", I'm not necessarily saying the amp is throwing out more "watts" because of the high frequency but my thought is more of the word "power" in general with everything involved. Next... an amplifier does not have a frequency response lol, it will put out whatever signal you give it, however the filters (crossover) built into the electronics within the amp circuit do dictate the frequency response of an amp and where it will cut off (HPF, LPF or FULL which would bypass the filters altogether and pass the full signal). Mono Amps that are marketed for subwoofers obviously have a low pass filter built in because its marketed use is for subs so why would you need the full signal and the higher frequencies that a sub wont need or reproduce? Take that built in LPF circut out of the amp completely and your "sub amp" could power your mids and hi's (providing you are feeding the amp a full signal from your source). Take an old school amp for instance, they didn't have built in crossovers/filters, it just threw whatever frequency out that you fed it from the source, which back in the day you bought external crossovers, more than likely you were buying an external eq as well or any other processors to achieve what was needed, we have it easier now than back then! Today everything can be built into one unit, tech wasn't what it is now so now things can be built into it instead of having to get individual boxes to accomplish the same thing. A flat frequency response does not come from an amp itself but rather processing the signal before it hits the amplification stage to achieve a flat response. The amp does not care what frequency it is receiving or weather it is boosted or cut, high or low, in turn it will spit out what you gave it just amplified. Its not going to boost or cut the individual frequencies for you and make them flat. All the amp does is amplify a signal you give it from line level to speaker level which is then turned into mechanical energy (vibration/sound) through the sub/speaker. That is all an "amplifier" does is boost a lower signal into a higher one, there isn't a little guy in the amp telling workers that the signal needs to be flatter cause its too high here and too low there, however the DSP built into the amp can process the signal and change it (bass boost for example would change the signal but that's done within the signal processing circuit, not the amp). To achieve a flatter frequency response in your vehicle you would need to go test tone by test tone with RTA software and make adjustments through an EQ and tune accordingly for your individual car (every car has a different natural response curve, a small car might have to boost bass +6 to flatten out while an suv might have to cut -6 out to make flat). Want the actual amp itself to put out a flat frequency response before it ever goes through the speaker? Alright... I don't know why since your vehicle response isnt flat anyway so a flat signal fed directly to and from the amp wouldn't make the inside acoustics of your car magically flat in response once you hooked the speaker up. I want to go more in detail but ill stop here... I think a little deeper though which can be confusing and misread sometimes to convey my message i'm trying to get out

2. Clipping doesn't create heat? GTFOH. Clipping does, just might not be enough to thermally fry the sub/speaker but extra heat will be a result of clipping. Read...

http://www.bcae1.com/2ltlpwr.htm

3. True, yes lowering power lowers heat but not the "only" thing you can do. There are other things to also take care of heat... bigger heatsinks, fans, liquid cooling, ferro fluid cooling are some. Naturally someone probably isn't going to bolt on a bunch of heat sinks to a amp or sub but someone could add fans... just sayin...

4. Yes of course the gain tips are meaningless, regardless of the situation on here. That's what I'm trying to say... duh... I however was stating that using an O-scope to check for clipping would naturally be better than a clipping indicator on the amp or remote... If O-Scopes are useless for checking sine waves to see if a signal is clipping because the gain stage is turned up too much, what would you suggest using? Please don't respond with a DMM, last time I checked at the Home Depot I didn't find one that told me if a sine wave was clipped. Have you found a better diagnostic tool than an O-scope that about 99.99% of electrical/audio engineers have been using for the past who knows how long to look at waveforms and what they are doing?

Open your mind up abit bro, look at the bigger picture on things. Not just X and X are this, so this HAS to equal Y. I am sorry if I forgot some punctuation and might of left a word or 2 out here and there and threw some people off, but the message is still the same. To me it looks like you added numbers to your response, mixed my words around like politicians do to fit your situation and came out trying to look like the better guy when all you did was mix things up and add redundant information with a smart ass tone at the end. You don't know everything, as well as I don't know everything and dont claim to. I also do make mistakes, you don't know me and what I know and I don't know you and the knowledge you know, but trying to make someone look like a complete fool is stupid itself. I'm not here trying to show anybody up, look cool or say that's all wrong and i'm only right, i'm just trying to help the guy out and maybe give him a deeper explanation on why his subs smell at higher notes rather than everyone rushing to bump up post counts with the typical "Your gains are set to high" posting. Just trying to help...