i dono if i sent you this site yet, but you need to check it out asap before you screw something up. you've put a lot of work into building your enclosures, i hope that everything works out alright.

www.bcae1.com

look through the site THOROUGHLY, you really need all the help you can get man.

 

all those threads and help did nothing.

::triple sigh::

 

well...he did change his subs at least.

 

that site Exige suggested is very good. it may "look" a little old (just the layout) but it has pretty much all the technical info you could need. it even has stuff to calculate box sizes and port tuning and such.

the easy and really safe way is to set the gain with a DMM. you take a 50hz or 60hz (or anywhere in the sub range really) test tone recorded at 0db, or even -3db is usually safe. put the test tone on a cd. unhook the speakers from the amp, hook the DMM leads to the amps speaker outputs. turn the volume on the head unit to the highest unclipped level you would listen at and play the test tone at that level. start with the gain **** all the way down and slowly turn it up till the voltage gets to the right point.

to figure out what voltage you set it to, you simply take the impedance (ohm load) and multiply it by the RMS wattage the amp puts out or whatever lower wattage you desire. then do the square root of whatever number you got by multipying those two. that number will be your A/C voltage that the speaker would see at that impedance if it saw a signal that was either 0db, or -3db, whatever tone you used to set the gain.

music is dynamic and usually won't ever see a point where it's recorded at 0db, so usually a -3db tone is ok. i set my sub with a 0db tone and i set my front comps using a -3db tone. when setting the gains on comps do the same but use a 1khz tone instead of a lower bass frequency.

have any questions let me or Exige know. if he is still willing to help you that is. lol

 

of course Exige is still willing to help. hey, at least he took 50% of my advice

 

thx for the help im going to read that site all the way through but the only reason i got that amp is because i was tight on money and i asked to local audio shops what they thought and rollin' sound said that they where good for subs but not anything else and the other place daddy os audio said they where alright and where not bad amps but

 

any B&M store is going to say whatever you want to hear so you buy something from them. 90% of the audio shops don't know what they talk about and their best stuff is always the most expensive. and that doesn't mean its the best.

 

yeah daddy os i can see where they just want to sell but rollin sound is high quality like jl and alpine and pioneer they dont even sell crunch and he said it was really good for sub but thats is all

 

well a sub amp is a sub amp to an extent. the only real variables that matter for sub use is the power itself, and reliability. going from one sub amp to another won't make a huge difference in the overall sound. it can make a small difference but not a lot. the biggest difference will be whether it will actually do rated power, and just if the amp will actually be quality and last. those are the two things i think Exige seems to also be hitting on.

 

i'm sorry but saying really high quality like jl and alpine and pioneer isn't really that high quality to me. if they carried rainbow, zapco, dls and arc we might be talking.

 

Beat me to it nebster.

And yea, just cause they say its good, doesnt mean its good. If they sell it then to them its good.

 

agreed, except JL...their stuff holds up well as far as amps go.

pioneer doesn't even count as quality in my book. i'd never run anything from them.

sundown and pre-buyout US Amps is all i run right now.

the shop was out to make money...face it. its amazing how these days i can walk into a shop, mention names like DLS, rainbow, hertz, zapco, CDT, Focal, or dynaudio....and all the guys are clueless. never even heard of the stuff. when i look for audio stuff, the last place i look is at a brick and mortar shop.

i sell CDT because it's great stuff. i hope to one day own a small shop that dealt with strictly high end gear. but until then, dealing online is how i'll have to do it.

 

pioneer makes great head units, and they have a nice comp set in their lineup as well.

 

see but i would hardly consider it "high end"

pioneer makes ok headunits. i wouldn't say they're great but they're a pretty good bang / $. their comps are meh. i've heard their "highest end" and i was less than impressed with their output.

 

my bad, i did forget about their HU's. regardless, i'm an alpine guy. i went from a 9857 (read: no tuning options) to a Pio Premier 980 (full of options). was back to the 9857 in 24 hours. hated that Pio....its like a headlight shining out from your dash. when i can afford a 9887 i'm getting one.

 

ehhh, i liked my old alpine but their newer stuff doesn't impress me. i'll stick to my DEH-7800MP.

 

craigslist?

 

i have a dva 7996 with a c701 and an h701. i'm pretty much in love with them.

 

yea i would be too if i were you. h701 is pretty much a dream to me...i just don't spend money on my car like i used to....6 grand in 2 years was a bit much for me.....