I just had an amp and sub installed. The sub is really nice, but my amp is a Lightning Audio 150.2 400 watt amp. I was wondering if a cheap amp, like mine, can make a bad effect on the sound of the sub. It doesn't sound that great, just tons of base all the time.

 

It may just need to be tuned properly, so you dont have tons of bass all the time. I have seen crappy amps make some subs sound pretty good, it just how long will it last because of it's quality.

 

Guess what.........the only thing between your radio and your sub is your amp!
Your amp is what makes your sub go boom!
That's what subs are supposed to do.....make bass!
If it's your entire system that's too bassy, check you radio, they probably turned it all the way up to make it sound "better"
also, if that's ok, then turn down your "gain" on your amp.
a crappy amp is still a crappy amp, it doesn't matter how good the sub is that you hook up to it.

 

yeah go buy u a dmm and use this to set the voltage comin out ur amp to ur sub. but also make sure to take the positive wire goin to ur sub out. set all eq to flat. play a 50 hz. tone and turn ur cd play all the way up to 3/4 the way. now use this to calculate how many volts u need (rms x ohm) then sqrt=the voltage that u need. thats a good way to get all sq u want out before the really heavy bass come out.
hope this helped if not ill walk u through it more. and if u dont have a 50hz. tone ill be happy to send u one.

 

A much easier and cheaper way is to go to the amp and turn the gain down until it sounds best to you.

 

umm that is cheap buddy. only 14 to 17 dollars for a digital multimeter = dmm from walmart. and there is no garuntee that u will be sending the right volts to your speakers. if u put too much voltage u will then be clipping . that will lead to your speakers not lasting long at all. and it will also hurt ur amp . trust me on this i know what im talkin about.

 

It doesn't sound like you have a clue to me. Clipping has nothing to do with sending too much voltage to the speaker. Clipping is when the amplifier is not capable of generating enough power to produce the full sound wave at the output we desire.
Take the sine wave pic below. Think of this as the output of your amplifier doing normal work.


The pic below represents severe clipping. This happens when you turn the volume up beyond the capabilities of the amp so it goes as high as it can and stops, thereby "clipping" the output signal.


Learn your theory before you preach it or you'll end up ruining someone's system with poor advice.

As far as tuning, most great systems are tuned by ear. Sure there are some preliminary things done with equipment but in the end it's the ears that matter. Also with your DMM method you aren't matching the output of the rest of the system. If you want bass that overpowers everything else, then that's fine. The subs need to be adjusted so that they support the other speakers. Especially when the rest of the system is OEM and isn't capable of keeping up with the high-end aftermarket gear.

Think about this before you start slinging around next time.

 

get off my nuts dude. http://forum.realmofexcursion.com/viewtopic.php?t=2319. i know what i know and i know that its right trust me. my subs where starting to heat up more than they need to and that will cause mechanical failure. i checked how many volts was goin to the sub turned out it was around100 volts that is way to much. just follow tha formula that i gave you this chad dude has no clue when it come to tuning you sub amp and high amp. and basically what u put on there is the same thing im talkin about when u turn ur system up past that poin u will have a higher chance of messing something up. instead of tryin to make me stupid ask me in a civilized way instead of being an ___ about it.

 

look if u dont believe me go to a car audio forum site like realmofexcursion.com caraudio.com soundomain.com or any forum that deals with car audio. id chose realmofexcursion.

 

and on top of that i got most of this from JL audios website so put that in your swisha and smoke it CHAD.

 

First, keep your posts family oriented. References to your genitalia are not.

Second, the information in the post you linked to doesn't match the instructions you posted earlier.

Third, the post you did link to appears to be from a board that focuses on SPL so it doesn't apply to everyone's setup. For a system to sound good it needs to be balanced. If you have several amps in a car and setup each gain according to the method described, the sound levels would be out of sync.

 

it is not for spl. and san mathew just go to JL audios site and get tha info on how to set everything on your amp. u will see what im talkin bout.

 

Do you have a link? I went to JL's site but couldn't find anything on amp setup.

I did find some cool PDFs on making custom parts so thanks for bringing it up.

 

glad u stop bashin my theory and started askin about it.
http://mobile.jlaudio.com/support_pages.php?page_id=143

 

u gotta realize what u said is exactly what i said u just went deeper indepth with it.

 

Now I understand why you posted what you did. There are other things to consider here.

1. Those instructions are for JL amps. They did the measurements for you and it's just a quick way to get them close to a correct setting. They included a table in the tutorial to find the correct reference voltage. Without knowing this information for the amp you own, that tutorial is useless.

2. You didn't post the information in step 9.
"Once you have adjusted each amp to its maximum unclipped output level, turn down the volume of the head unit and turn it off. Reconnect all the speakers, turn the head unit on and proceed to adjust the level balance between the subwoofer and satellite speakers. This is accomplished by listening to the system at a moderate level and turning DOWN the input sensitivity controls of the amplifiers that are playing too loudly. Do NOT increase the sensitivity of any amplifier as this will defeat the purpose of this procedure by permitting excessive clipping."

Since san-matthew doesn' t know the voltages for his amp, that tutorial is useless. He would have to use the less scientific method of turning the gain on the amp down, turn the head unit volume up to 3/4, and adjust the gain up until he/she heard distortion and then back down a little. That would still leave it unbalanced with the rest of the system. Since he/she didn't mention anything about the rest of the system, I assume it is OEM. In which case there are no other adjustments to be made other than the sub amp. So why bother going through all the trouble of finding the clippping point when it will just have to be adjusted down the match the system?

There's a lot of good information on the Internet but there's a lot of incorrect information also. A huge consideration while reading anything is how the information is applied.

From your tone in this post and another that I ran across this morning I can see a trend in the snappiness of your attitude. I don't know you personally so this is just a judgement on what I have seen so far, but you seem to have the attitude like the world should respect you automatically. That will not get you far in this world. Respect is earned.

If the age posted by your name is correct, I was putting my first audio system in my car the year you were born. I started taking electronics classes in 10th grade and continued electronics through 6 years of the Navy as a Sonar Technician. When I post something on these boards you can rest assured it is correct or I will add a disclaimer letting you know that it might be hearsay.

Please think about this before posting in the future. You will have a better experience here and so will everyone else.

 

Go back and reread our first posts. There's nothing even close about them.

More in depth is what was needed in this post. Partial information can be just as bad if not worse than wrong information.

 

this is a free forum i can say and do how i please. i have the right to speak my own opinion on things.

 

just letting u know just incase u forgot.

 

You are 99% correct. Within the site rules you can say and do how you please. I'm not trying to censor you. I just wanted to give you something to think about.