Help with set-up
 

I'm fairly new to this so be gentle haha..

I have an alpine deck, not exactly sure what model I bought it a few years ago. Phoenix Gold rsd1200 amp, and a 12" alpine type-R sub.. I blew the first sub up, but figured I didn't want this one going down the same route...

1. The wire running from the amp to the box is 8awg but the wire running from the box to the sub was 16awg I changed that to 8awg.. could that have been part of the problem?

2. How important is the R/L for the rca cables... and is there any way to check which is which without taking my deck out?

3. The settings on the amp are frequency sensitivity sub-sonic and boost, could I get a brief explanation of each.. as well as an easy way to set it correctly?

4. Does the amp have enough power to run the sub?

5. Any other reasons it could have blown would be greatly appreciated... It sounded fine up until the point where it just stopped... It never seemed to bottom out at all, and as far as I know didn't clip or distort.. But once again would be nice to know an easy way to tell if it is clipping..

What is the voice coil configuration of the subs being used?

Dual voice coil 4 ohm wired to two

so its a single woofer setup?

if so, your giving the woofer 1000rms when it is rated for 500rms

Yeah its single... so should I wire it to 4 ohm? it just doesn't sound like its hitting much at all

Your problem here is simple. What you want the sub cannot deliver. You are totally abusing the sub at the same time. It is doing what it can as long as it can until the abuse catches up and poof, time for a new sub. You have waaaaaaaaay more power than the sub is rated for, this is the root cause of the problem. Find a sub that can handle the power like a DD3512 or go with a pair of subs to share the power that your amp produces. Chances are very good that a new box is going to be in order as well.

you can either wire the sub to 8 ohms or 2 ohms if its a dual 4 ohm woofer.

if your keeping it at 2 ohms, make sure you have your bassboost knob turned all the way down, theres no need for it.

Alright thank you