I have my amp hooked up, And I recently got a cheap woofer with a prefab box, Just for now...

It's a sealed box so I didn't expect it to hit hard, But it seems I need to crank the gain on the amp half way and turn up the sub volume to max on the deck to get a decent amount of thump. I mostly think it's because of the shitty box, It's sealed and maybe it's different of I have the remote plugged in.

Should I just turn up the gain all the way on the amp and adjust it with the ***? The amp will put out 300watts rms x 1 on that 12" in a sealed box.

I plan to get a properly made sealed enclosure, Probably a bigger one. It was cheap so I just bought it for now! I know sealed is better and does sound better, But I am also thinking about trunk space.

 

you might be expecting to much from a cheap sub that's running off 300 rms and in a box(your words).......if it sounds alright...turn the amps gain to 3/4 and then adjust with the ****.

 

Im going to have a box built for it.

Pretty sure the box is too small for it, I'll take it out of the box this weekend and check to see what model it is and find the specs for it.

I'd like a large sealed enclosure, I've read that will give me lower freq response.

 

there is nothing wrong with a sealed box at all.

it sounds like you are just expecting too much.
it also sounds like you are treating the gain as a volume ****. don't just turn up the gain hoping to get more and more volume out of it. it is simply to match the sensitivity of the amp with the preouts on your headunit.

you have strong preouts, so gain should not be needed that high.

turning up the gain will just mean you are reaching max power of your sub amp at a lower volume on the deck. whether you reach it at 25/50 or 50/50 on your headunit, its not getting any louder.


should you crank the gain all the way and use the ****? no. you are going to cause severe clipping most likely.
and is the **** a bass boost or secondary gain control?

most likely its a bass boost, which means its just eq'ing a certain range. this will put a huge amount of strain on an amp with an already maxed out gain.


you are going to hurt your cheap and and cheap sub.

and why build a custom box for just a cheap sub?



you have a nice deck and nice components so far, read up on proper amp setup and do it right. recognize the limits of what you have and just save up for something nice.

 

what is the voice coil config of the subwoofer? since you are using your rear channel as your subwoofer out, i'd have your subwoofer level on your deck set to 0 and the gain set to roughly what you have your gain on your highs set to (just for a rough setting)

if its still sounding like poo, then something is wired incorrectly

 

Don't think it's bass boost. Bass boost is on the amp itself, The remote is a bass level control, And I think that means gain.

As for the voice coil config I didn't even check, Goddamn I never even thought about that...

It seems I have to crank it to get anything out of it. I think it was a bad idea to get this cheap thing, I should wait and get a 12" JL!

As for setting the gain for front and sub at the same level, The sub will hardly hit unless I play Electronic stuff.

It could be a 2ohm sub or dual 4ohm, Who knows...I godda check it out once I get day off.

Im going to look for a JL 12", And I'll use the one I have right now for backup.

 

I took the sub out of the box and I almost puked.

It's a Rockford Fodgate P1 12".

150watts RMS Dual 8 AWG.

That might explain it, My amp is pushing 300watts RMS x 1 at 4 ohm and it seems the sub will clip fairly easily.

I'm glad the JL I just ordered is 300watts RMS...

 

an amp will clip, not a sub. too much power will cause the sub to bottom out though.

and a rockford p1 could definitely be the culprit though.

what kind of JL did you get? w3?

 

JL Audio 10W0v2-4

JL Audio 10W0v2-4 10" W0v2 Single 4 ohm Car Subwoofer

I know the w3 would be better, But this is more in my price range right now.

Going to have a custom box built for it. Ported and to spec.