I have two 4oHm 12" L7's powered by a Kicker KX1200.1 monoblock wired at 1oHm (about 1200 watts)
Could the smell be caused by a small leak coming from the seal around the speaker. Even still I dont think the sub coils should get hot as im only running them at about 600 watts each which is under RMS.
The gain on the amp is about 1/2 way up and the bass boost is at about 1/4.
Also, is it better to turn up the sub from the CD player or the gain on the Amp.
Thanks in advance!
-Nate (ZeeTwankyFo)
whoa does that sound like the gains are set too high to anyone else? ...
And dont treat the gain on the amp like volume, use it to match ur bass level with the speakers...if you crank it up for more bass, you'll get one unbalanced system and plus u might cook ur coils if you go overboard..if you're not already
wysiwyg wrote:i would say they bang, they don't really pound so much. but if
you want to bump, then they will bump and hit real hard and a lot good. 
LOL
how many volt's does your head unit put out?
the gain on your amp it used so you can match the volt's comin out of your deck. if it's turned up to high it will start to clip and your fry your voice coils.
yup^
A frying voice coils smells.
My Deck has 2V output, which is pretty weak since its one of their highest models. Can you explain to me how to match my amp gain with my head unit volt output? I just dont want to fry my brand new L7's. Thanks guys.
-Nate (ZeeTwankyFo)
first off are the subs dual 4ohm or single 4ohm, and how are they wired, you said that you are running at a 1 ohmm load, how new are your subs, if brand new i suggest that you dont even have the amp turned half way right now, run it at 1/8 or 1/4, dont use the sub w. control on the head unit leave it at zero for now let your subs break in, thats a lot of power you are pushing on brand new subs (if they are new)
This info has been posted before, and works well.
So many people have their amp gains set wrong, and to be honest setting them by ear is quite a crapshoot. Doing it properly with a multimeter is actually quite simple.
Here's how you do it:
Set head unit volume to 3/4 of maximum. Turn off all eqs/presets in the head unit.
DISCONNECT SPEAKERS
P = Power in watts
I = Current in amperes
R = Resistance in ohms (effectively the nominal impedance)
V = Potential in volts (Voltage)
Knowns:
Resistance (nominal impedance of your speakers)
Power (desired wattage)
Unknowns:
Voltage (we'll measure this)
Current
Formulas:
P = I*V (formula for power)
V = I*R (Ohm's law)
So after a little substitution to get Voltage in terms of simply power and resistance we get
V = square_root(P*R)
So, for example, say you have a 4 ohm load presented to a 150 watt amp.
V = square_root(150*4) = 24.5 volts
This means you should increase the gain until you read 24.5 volts AC on the speaker outputs of your amplifier.
As a source, use a sine wave recorded at 0db at a frequency within the range you intend to amplify. You can generate tones in cool edit or use a program such as NCH tone generator. (credit for NCH to imtfox, IIRC)
Additionally, you could use a scope to actually check if the signal is clipping, but I'm not going to get into that here as I doubt very few people have access to that type of equipment.
CAV2NV420 wrote:first off are the subs dual 4ohm or single 4ohm, and how are they wired, you said that you are running at a 1 ohmm load, how new are your subs, if brand new i suggest that you dont even have the amp turned half way right now, run it at 1/8 or 1/4, dont use the sub w. control on the head unit leave it at zero for now let your subs break in, thats a lot of power you are pushing on brand new subs (if they are new)
They are not brand new, Ive had them for about 2 months and I have broken them in. I had the gain lower than 1/8 to start with and slowly turned it up a little. I broke them in for about 10 hours on 1/4.
I am going to IM Lanman31337 on aim cuz his post makes no sense to me, lol. Im not very good at math I guess. Hopefully I can get this figured out with his help. So I guess my question is...once I get my gain set, whats the best way to adjust the subs? Would it be the Sub control on the head unit or the bass boost on the amp?
-Nate (ZeeTwankyFo)
LANman helped me over the phone today for about 30 minutes. Just wanted to thank him and let everyone know he is a credible source. I am AMAZED at how much better my subs sound! Not only are they cleaner, but they no longer smell like they are overheating! I was definitely stoked after hearing the difference when I got it all hooked back up! Thanks a TON Lanman!
-Nate (ZeeTwankyFo)
hey lanman what did you tell him cause my buddy is running the same set up ie. subs and amp, but running the subs at a 4ohm load
^Basically, this:
Volts = square_root(1200*4) = 69.3
1200 being the output of the amp
4 being the ohm resistance.
This means you should unhook the speakers from the amp nd increase the gain until you read 24.5 volts AC on the speaker outputs of your amplifier when your head unit's volume is about 3/4 of the way up. Its a lot easier to adjust the gain if you have a sound file of a sine wav on a CD that is in the frequency range that you normally play.
But Lanman is VERY helpful and Im sure if he isnt busy hed be glad to help u if you cant figure it out! Good luck!
-Nate (ZeeTwankyFo)
^ I think you mean increase it till it shows 69.3 volts.
RE Audio
No, his would be the square root of (300*4), since the amp is 300@4 ohm. Zeetwankyfo's was the square root of (1200*1) since he's running it at 1 ohm, or around 36 volts.
Oh, my bad, I forgot the amp was 300 @ 4oHm. Here is what I meant to say:
This means you should unhook the speakers from the amp and increase the gain until you read
34.6 volts AC on the speaker outputs of your amplifier when your head unit's volume is about 3/4 of the way up.
....since 34.6 is the square root of 300*4
I believe this is correct since the KC1200.1 amp is 300 watts at 4 ohms.
-Nate (ZeeTwankyFo)
Yup yup, that is correct.
bored so im gonna just put this out. the smell is probly a blown voice coil, but if you have a ported box with materials such as smelly MDF and fibreglass, or some weird polyfill that is burning when it touches the hot subs.
as for
"I dont think the sub coils should get hot as im only running them at about 600 watts each which is under RMS."
subs will always get hot, a speaker is about 2% efficient. that means that 2% of its kinetic energy is being transmitted into sound, the other 98% turns into wasted heat. so if you have a really cold room, set up a class A amp(25% efficient) and an inverted sub (2% effecient) and you will make lots of heat. wow... i am bored... K BYE!
I understand all what your saying and been meaning to set mine properly for a while now, but how do I go about getting a recording of a sine frequency recorded at 0db and one have one on they're comp that they can send me so I can burn on a cd.
Hit me up on aim - got just the thing you need brother - lanman31337
Good call on that, i totally forgot that they had some test tones.
awesome now I can actually do it right
