Help with bass

[MustangLXT]

I bought an 8 inch sub to put in the trunk of my '88 notch. It sounded good but I could only turn the amp up a 1/4 of the way without worrying about damaging the speaker. I decided to by another sub and hook it up through two channels and turn the amp up a little more. One speaker thumped harder than two, why is that? is there any way to make my two speakers (since i already have them both) thump harder without buying new equipment? Thank you.

 

[ChingonStang]

Are they Bazooka tubes? I had a pair of 8's made by Bazooka a while back and they didn't last too long and seemed to not be able to handle quite a bit of power. I just opted for some Kicker 10's in a box.

You have a cross over in between the bass amp and the head unit? My advice would be to just be careful with those tubes and not really pound them out.

 

[ForPointSex]

If you reverse the polarity of one speakerm, it will cancel out the sound of the other. Try reversing the wires on one speaker and see if it's louder.

 

[MustangLXT]

If you reverse the polarity of one speakerm, it will cancel out the sound of the other. Try reversing the wires on one speaker and see if it's louder.

I'd love to try that, only the speakers are blown now. I blew them both yesterday. That's very unfortunate. They said 200 watts max a piece and i hooked them up to a 200 watt amp and only had it turned up halfway. I'm going to get my money back because that is bull****. Thank you anyway, once I replace them I may try that.

 

[MustangLXT]

Are they Bazooka tubes? I had a pair of 8's made by Bazooka a while back and they didn't last too long and seemed to not be able to handle quite a bit of power. I just opted for some Kicker 10's in a box.

You have a cross over in between the bass amp and the head unit? My advice would be to just be careful with those tubes and not really pound them out.

They're not tubes. I don't really trust bazooka. And now I don't trust these cheap ****s either because I blew them. Hey, what can you do? Thank you anyway.

 

[JokerWylde]

It sounds like you're using the gain knob on the amp as a volume control....Not what it's intended for. The gain is used to match the amp to the headunit. If you turn the gain up too high, all you're doing is sending a clipped signal to the speakers, which is what causes them to fail. What kind of speakers/amp where you using?

 

[WhiteDevil69]

Too much power isn't necessarily your problem. If you under power a sub, you are just as likely to have a problem..
Pay attention to the RMS rating for hte power to the speakers, try to match that number as closely as possible.

 

[xspwr stang]

I have owned four bazooka bass tubes and they have all sounded awsome. You need to balance you Hz going into ea. tube, they can't handle that many Hz, but they can really handle some bass if you have the right amp. I had a Pioneer amp that was only 75x2 RMS; 150x1 RMS. You can connect them in series or parallel mode depending on how many Olms your amp is. If its a 4olms amp when you connect them in series you are bring your amp down to 2olms(more power) but still not enough to blow bazookas w/the right amp. You don't need a huge amp for bazookas, mine was only $99, and trust me if you balance your amp and tubes the right way, they will sound great!

 

[JokerWylde]

I have owned four bazooka bass tubes and they have all sounded awsome. You need to balance you Hz going into ea. tube, they can't handle that many Hz, but they can really handle some bass if you have the right amp. I had a Pioneer amp that was only 75x2 RMS; 150x1 RMS. You can connect them in series or parallel mode depending on how many Olms your amp is. If its a 4olms amp when you connect them in series you are bring your amp down to 2olms(more power) but still not enough to blow bazookas w/the right amp. You don't need a huge amp for bazookas, mine was only $99, and trust me if you balance your amp and tubes the right way, they will sound great!

Ohms, not "Olms".

What are you trying to tell him with "balance your Hz going into each tube"? Granted, it's generally not a great idea to run an 8" sub down to 20 Hz, but I don't see how that has anything to do with what you're saying about the power and resistance of the amp.


Like WhiteDevil said, running more power than the sub is rated for isn't necessarily going to blow it, nor will running less power. All the speaker wants is a clean signal, with no distortion. Set the gain on the amp properly, and you won't have a problem.

 

[Kerpal]

What kind of subs and amp are you running? How did you wire them up each time (stereo or briged)?

It's easy to blow any sub if you don't set the gain right, but maybe you're just expecting more out of the system than it can produce....

 

[1985MustangGt]

Also... Max watts on car audio equipment means nothing. Always look at the RMS. I have 2 10" JLw6s and 2 12" jlw7s in the back of my 85 hatch and they pound. The 12s in a ported box hit real low and the 10s in a sealed box give me the punch im wanting.

Max watts on them is like 800 or something like that, but if you feed it 800 watts it is just going to pop them. I feed the 10s 350 watts a peice and the 12s 400 watts each. They meter at 137 dbs with the windows up.

Gain Setting tutorial ...
http://www.jlaudio.com/tutorials/In...ensitivity.html

Giving a sub a little more than its rated RMS power is best. It lets the sub operate at its max potential (<--sp?) with minimal distortion or clipping. It will send it a good clean signal.