Installed amp+sub; sub has lower bass than stock speakers.

[dragosp90]

Hey, so last week i bought an aftermarket deck (pioneer DEH-2000MP), a 5.1 channel amp ( Tis Audio T510PK) and 2 12' MTX Magnum subs. I got a 2004 Mazda 3 Sedan with the stock sound system. I replaced the stock head unit with the Pioneer and everything went well.

A few days later i bought a 500W 4-gauge Monster Amp wiring kit from Future Shop. I ran the power line on the left side of the car and on the right side, i ran the Remote On Cable and RCA cables. For the grounding cable, i hooked it up to the seatbelt bolt under the back seat.

I made sure everything was connected to the Pioneer deck and started working in trunk. I hooked the wires to the amp (power wire, ground, remote on) and went to turn the car on. The amp had its power light on and the protection light was off so i guess all the power/grounding connections were good. Then i hooked the RCA cables to the amp and hooked up the sub with speaker wires that i got from my Sony Home Theater system.

I turned the car on, went to see if everything was ok, it was, no protection light on. I started to play some music with the sub gain on low and the sub wasnt providing any bass. Instead the car speakers were fully blasting bass but the sub wasnt. I then went and turned the sub gain to max and there was alittle bass coming out of the sub, but not much. My speakers were providing more bass than the sub was on full sub gain form the amp.

I tried setting the LOUD function on the head unit but it didnt improve the bass in the sub, instead it increased the sub level in the stock speakers.

I looked all over the forums and couldnt find anything like this. I have no idea what could be the problem. I checked all connections, the amp has a good connection, no protection light coming on at all.

I checked one of my friends sound system, and his sub provides all the bass in the car. His stock speakers dont provide any bass, just vocals or w.e.

I really want to find out what the problem is, but i absolutely have no idea.

[Noisy Crow]

I would really help if you post a sketch or diagram showing how you connected everything up.

[eguiyab]

Check that you connected your RCA's to the right output. Check that they are connected to the Sub output and not the Front or Rear. Aside from that, i'd also check on both your deck and amp that the gains and cut offs are set properly.

[cwp_sedan]

Your deck only has rear pre-outs, which are not specifically sub pre-outs. Make sure your amp has it's crossover set to LP (low pass). Also you don't have any extra sub control at your deck so once you have it set, that's it. You can play with it a little by using the bass + but that will affect all of your speakers.

All I can say is to check your amp settings as That is probably the issue. Also how are your subs wired up to the amp?

[dragosp90]

I hooked up the RCA wires to the output on the deck and sub input on the amp. For the sub, i wired it with speaker wires to the sub output on the amp. Im not powering the speakers with the amp, just the sub.

I have the sub gain on max right now, and i can barely feel the bass from the subs. Even the speakers are putting way more bass and their not even hooked up with the amp.

What should i do? Im thinking if there is no way of getting more bass out of the subs then i will sell the amp and sub, get my money back and look for a better package (amp and sub).

[bhrm]

sounds like loose connection or the amp is not set correction.

I used to have a sub in my old car through a basic head unit and it worked fine. sure I didn't have amp control from the head unit, only from the amp. As long as there's RCA outs it should be fine. Maybe check with the RCA outputs actually put out something? plug it in to a recorder of some sort?

try it with a different amp?

I have a spare amp lying around.

[VetalM3]

Did I get it right ? 350 RMS for 5 channels, so its about 150 RMS for 2 12' Subs !?!?! I'm surprised they play at all.

[seelsy]

ya seems like you may not have enough coming from your amp to run your sub properly, check to make sure its all wired properly, and since your running all your speakers and your sub off the amp you may need to run the speakers off the deck on its own and bridge the amp and run the sub on its own. also check your remote input line to the deck from the amp, may be loose there.

[jaimie08mazda3]

okay so my thought is that #1 your using a 5 channel amp which for 2 12"s depending may not be the best idea because usually they use these for speakers instead of subwoofers. Most times you would want to use either a monoblock or a 2 channel. However with that being said you can use it. Check every single connection on the sub. There is a high chance that the wires are wrong therefore making the sub not work at all or very little. I noticed this when my two clarions, one was working perfectly however the other one was not working at all. I wondered why and i figured it out. My sub box has a dual output *i had to switch it up because i had to put it into a new box* and only one was running. The problem was the connection from the sub itself to the box was the wire was going negative to positive positive to negative. Then you have to make sure that the subs going to the amp are right +to+ and -to-. RCA's need to be right as well. Check every wiring and that could be the reason for your problem. Also check the amp level setting as well as that could cause a problem. Hope this helps.

[notoriousb]

Is the sub also trying to play highs?

If so, then you obviously have a crossover set to High Pass, and you need to set it to Low Pass...

The setting is either on your deck, or on your amp -- If you don't have either, you shouldn't be powering your sub with that amp. Get a new one that has the crossover. Or get a passive crossover at least!

Also, even 100Wrms going to 2 12" subs will still provide sufficient bass where you can hear it (not that loud, but still BASS).

[-RJ3-]

One thing I learned... Dont activate loud if your bass is up in the plusses.

I remember Dark3 saying something like that when he saw my setup..

[Mty Mous]

BEFORE you go any further, PLEASE turn the gain down to atleast 50% or even 33% ... cause 100% would really be distorted once you sort things out. Besides, once you figure things out, you can always turn it up to your liking. So make sure to turn the gain down FIRST ... then try checking your RCA connections.


Please clarify ... is your amp a 5 channel amp? The only thing currently being powered by your amp is your sub right?

If so, are you running the subs off a dedicated channel? Say maybe the 5th channel or 3rd and 4th channels bridged together?

Make sure the RCA that's plugged in on the inputs of the AMP matches the channels you're using to power the subs.
Next, if your amp has 4 channels of RCA inputs, and you're powering your sub from the 5th channel, look and make sure there's no switch on the amp that lets the 5th channel use the input signal from other channels, if so, make sure that switch is set to work with the 5th channel.

Another good rule of thumb, read through the amp's owners manual, especially the part about wiring it up correctly so you can confirm you didn't miss anything.

[Mty Mous]

Is the sub also trying to play highs?

If so, then you obviously have a crossover set to High Pass, and you need to set it to Low Pass...

Also, even 100Wrms going to 2 12" subs will still provide sufficient bass where you can hear it (not that loud, but still BASS).

notoriousb has a very good point.
You mentioned the bass coming out of the sub while the amp is at full gain is very faint, but you didn't specify if you hear any midrange freq outta the sub.

But I'm thinking more along the lines of the faint bass at full gain and probably 80% volume at the deck is the result of signal bleeding off from other channels on the amp. So I'm leaning towards the RCA being plugged in on the wrong channels vs what's powering the sub.

[rnosal]

My T510PK started "behaving" badly. Sometimes the protection got activated. I did found one resistor leg touching neighboring track. Fixed. Now works.
In meantime I created some diagrams. Power Supply part and protection circuits. Someone may find it useful.
www.4shared.com/dir/SMXwKYqO/My_4shared_Sync.html