Hello everyone! I'm glad to be on this site. I have a questions for everyone. Well, here goes. Couple of days ago, my friend, who's an auto mechanic, was fixing my brakes. This guy came to his garage and gave him a bandpass box with 2 Kenwwod 12" subs in them with a Sony Xplod 1200 watt amp. He gave it to him as collateral. Anyway, after the guy left, my friend asked me if I wanted it. I said SURE!!! lol! He hooked it up and I blasted my radio. But to my dissapointment, the subs weren't hitting hard. I had to turn my volume up to 25 to hear a LITTLE something. Mostly the bass was coming from my 4 car spears rathar than the sub box. We did some adjustments to the Head Unit but it made no diffrence. So today, I go to my local install shop and the guy told me that I do not have control of the bass on my HU. And he persuaded me to buy another one, I did. I had a Kenwood KRC 435 and I bought and had the store installed a Kenwood KDC 138. After the install was done. I could hear my sub box hit a little harder but not that THUMP THUMP. I read the manual on the new HU and made adjustments to it but again, I hear the 4 car speakers more than the sub box. I go to another car shop after the install and the guy tells me that the wiring has to be redone and he asked me if my OEM HU said "Bose" on it, I said yes, then he said the wiring HAS to be redone. Does it? My question is, what do I do, where do I go from here. Do I return new HU? I am beyond confused and this is more of a headache I'm experiencing on getting this box to work right. Please chime in what you guys would do in this situation. I need advice. Any help is appreciated. Sorry for a long post! Syberman
how are the subs wired/ what voice coil configuration are they? 2 ohm or 4 ohm? have you checked the gains on the amp? what size of power wire do you have ran to the amp? are you running rca's from the sub out on the head unit, or are you using a line out converter? even if your car does have a bose system I wouldn't think that it should have any affect on the subs? someone please correct me if I am wrong!
Thanks Lazy Eye for your response. To answer your questions, I am quite sure the subs are 4 ohm. The gains on the amp are all the way up (according to the guy at the local shop yesterday). I bought the car amp install kit from Pep Boys. I believe the gage power wire from the car battery to the amp is 4 gaug. I have RCA's from the HU to the amp out. Now, here's another issue. When I was driving home last night, When the bass kicks, my headlights flicker with each bass kick. They don't turn off all the way, but you can tell. My dashboard lights flicker as the bass kicks as well. Any ideas as to why this happens? Syberman
Well the gains need to be properly adjusted.. but about the head lights dimming/ dash lights this occurs from voltage drop.. if you look at your battery gauge on the dash how low does it drop? it can most likely be fixed by doing the big 3 upgrade (0 gauge wire from the alternator to the battery, 0 gauge battery ground, and alternator ground. plus 0 gauge to the amp.) if this doesn't fix it maybe a larger kinetic battery, or a HO alternator. But back to the main problem.. have you tried pulling the subs out of the box and checking all the wires, and if they are 4 ohm wire them into a 2 ohm load.. I know Sony doesn't make the best quality products but I've heard subs ran by this amp and it can push em' pretty hard, only this amp has a problem with heating up pretty quick..
I just txted my friend that gave me the setup and he told me the subs are 2 ohm. I did not look at my battery gage, I don't know how much the battery drops. Syberman
No, I don't have another amp to try. Do I really need to get the car re-wired and can I return the new HU and have the old one re-installed? Would having a 2 ohm speaker cause a issue for whatever reason? Syberman
Well I wouldn't think that you would need to get the car re-wired.. and no having a 2 ohm speaker shouldn't cause a problem.. hopefully someone else will chime in here and maybe have a solution or something else to check/ try.
as a mechanic, those cars with the bose systems are a pain in the ass, as if you mess around with dash lights and stuff it can make the speakers not work right, etc. But that isn't an answer, just some food for thought. What you need to do is take it back and tell them what is going on, most shops, auto or audio, if they have even the slightest bit of integrity will re-do it. The wiring could have just gotten done incorrectly, people are human and they make mistakes. That is my 2 cents
Hello everyone, thanks for all the replies! I think I found the source of the problem! This is what happenned. I went back to the local car store that installed my new HU and I saw the salesman. I told him that I wanted to return the unit because I didn't hear any diffrence. He asked me if I messed with the settings, I said no. And I was truthful. So, we went to my car and he made adjustments. Which made my car sound louder. And my subs were moving harder than my old HU. But there was no THUMP. He looked at the amp settings and he said everything looks good. And then he, himself admitted that the subs were not hitting the way it should. He went back in the store and bought outside a 10" JL sub in a box. He hooked it up to my amp and then to my amazement, the car SHOOOOKKKKK!!!!! Damm, that sub was really nice and I felt the bass outside of my car. He then put his hand in the ports and inspected the speakers and my right sub is blown and the left is almost gone. We came to a conclusion that the wiring is good, the amp is good also but my subs are wack, lol! I asked him what model number of the JL sub it was. He said it was a 10" JL 10WO. He told me if I had 2 12's of these models, I was rockin' down the street! So, I purchased them and MY GOD!!!! I'm rockin'!!!! Man, only if I knew sooner, I could have been thumpin' sooner!!! Also, he said he bridged the speakers from the sub box to the amp. Anyway, I want to thank everyone for their help and keep that bass kickin' Syberman
well sorry to hear that your subs were blown. atleast you found the problem! and I'm sure your hittin hard now! should post some videos!
I would love to Lazy Eye, but my camcorder is broken and my digital camera is being repaired. Do you think if I get a more expensive head unit that the subs would hit harder or it would not make a diffrence? Syberman
well I'm not really sure. I mean if you got one with a better eq than maybe you could tune a lil' better. but if I were you I would just stick with the current head unit, and just upgrade your amp!
