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New member Username: RyanlikesrockinStuart, FL US Post Number: 1 Registered: Apr-08 | Ok so i dont know that much about car audio, and i put in some off brand subs and amp, ran four gauge wire to the amp and put in a cap for good measure. the subs are 2 1000 watt performance technique subs,the amp is a ultra linear 800 watt amp, and the cap is a 500k farad Scoshe cap (which im guessing means half a farad). any ways with this hook up i get dimming head lights and distorted bass or skipping bass. Now im upgrading everything to 2 2400/1200 watt Power acoustik Mofo Series Subs, powered by a Power acoustik 1920 watt 2 channle plasma series amp. so now the question is do i need to upgrade from 4 gauge to 2 gauge, is the amps wattage gonna power the subs?, and i am gonna need a capacitor for all this right? but how many farad? And are there any other upgrades im gonna need for the over haul im lookin to do? well thanks for takin the time to read my post and any advice offered. |
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Gold Member Username: SomedonniedudeIllinois United States Post Number: 1478 Registered: May-07 | Do not buy a capacitor. If you are wanting to run a true 1900w rms amp you will need a bigger alt. If you have not bought that PA stuff yet, I would save your money for something better quality. What kind of vehicle do you have? |
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New member Username: RyanlikesrockinStuart, FL US Post Number: 2 Registered: Apr-08 | 93 Ford Explorer...and its advertised as 1940 watt..but is that rms? or peak? but im gettin a deal on the PA stuff and for the price the quality is good for me. but about the alternator...i looked up alternators for my car on Autozone and saw a 90amp and 130amp option...which one to get...and if i dont need a cap then what r they for? |
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Gold Member Username: N2audioLawrence, Ks USA Post Number: 1540 Registered: Mar-04 | Caps pay the most dividend to those who think they look cool, because in the 11-14v range (the voltage range of your car's electrical system) they just don't do much (if anything) electrically. They are highly recommended by salespeople because the mark up is high, and the casual buyer will bite a lot of the time. You shouldn't need an alt upgrade for that amp, but if your Explorer has the 90A alt going up to the 130A wouldn't be a bad idea, and not that expensive. The TS1920-2 is rated for 880w rms at optimal impedance (4 ohms mono/2 ohms stereo), but with your dvc 2's you can't run it at optimal impedance. You'd need a pair of DVC 4's for that. You'll have to wire it up for 4 ohms stereo/8 ohms mono for 740w. It doesn't matter much though - the 140w difference is basically negligible. FWIW - PA stuff isn't the greatest, but it's just fine for someone just getting into the hobby. At the worst you'll decide in a few months you're ready to upgrade -- the PA gear should return some $$ on ebay and you can put it toward higher quality equipment. BTW - The ts1920's an ok amp, but if you can get an A2400dB, or better yet, the a3000dB definitley go that route. |
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New member Username: RyanlikesrockinStuart, FL US Post Number: 3 Registered: Apr-08 | well ive been lookin around and i saw the bamf2000/1d which has a 900 watt rms at 2 ohms(which is the impedance of the mofo-12 subs. and the subs run at 1200 watts rms...which the amp should power them sufficently rite? it says the amp has dual mono conectors so i should b able to hook up both subs and get 900 watts rms to both rite? or should i go up to the bamf4000/1d that puts out 1770 watts rms at 2 ohms impedance. and yea i kinda started thinking alternator instead of cap and went ahead and did some research and found a bosh 130 amp alt for my explorer at 150 bucks with a 83 dollar core return so i cant really complain about the price. and the only reason i think i need to upgrade the amp is because with this 800 watt amp im gettin crappy distorment in the subs, dimming head lights, and a dancing voltage meter. |
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Gold Member Username: N2audioLawrence, Ks USA Post Number: 1541 Registered: Mar-04 | "well ive been lookin around and i saw the bamf2000/1d which has a 900 watt rms at 2 ohms(which is the impedance of the mofo-12 subs. and the subs run at 1200 watts rms...which the amp should power them sufficently rite? it says the amp has dual mono conectors so i should b able to hook up both subs and get 900 watts rms to both rite?" You w}ould get 450w to each. The amp can deliver 900w into 2 ohms. Whether that 2 ohms is 2 woofers or 100 woofers, it can only produce 900w. "or should i go up to the bamf4000/1d that puts out 1770 watts rms at 2 ohms impedance. Depends on your goals. the 900w you'd get out of the 2000/1 would be a BIG improvment on the Ultra Linear, but if you really want to find out what those PA subs can do the power from the 4000/1 will get you a lot closer to that. "and yea i kinda started thinking alternator instead of cap and went ahead and did some research and found a bosh 130 amp alt for my explorer at 150 bucks with a 83 dollar core return so i cant really complain about the price. and the only reason i think i need to upgrade the amp is because with this 800 watt amp im gettin crappy distorment in the subs, dimming head lights, and a dancing voltage meter." You might check a junk yard too. As common as explorers are you might find a 130A alt w/o a ton of miles on it for ~$50. |
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Gold Member Username: Nd4spd18Northwest PA Post Number: 7433 Registered: Jul-06 | HO alternator is what you will need not a stock one. 200+ amps is ideal. www.db-starter-alternator.com www.motorcityreman.com |
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New member Username: RyanlikesrockinStuart, FL US Post Number: 4 Registered: Apr-08 | Yea i definitely want to get the bamf4000 then and i just got that 130 amp alt installed and it has made an improvement in the amount of power being delivered to the amp but im still getting bass thats shorts out or wont hit. the only other thing ive heard was what ms said about going bigger with the amperage....or a better battery...like the deep cycle yellow top optima's...but will they rele make enough difference to keep the subs powered...i mean im lacking power to a 800 watt system! and im gonna b goin to a 4000?...idk but i need to find a solution soon. |
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Gold Member Username: N2audioLawrence, Ks USA Post Number: 1549 Registered: Mar-04 | you don't have 800, and you won't have 4000. Cheap brands (like Ultra Linear) don't provide accurate power ratings on their amps. The "800w RMS" Ultra Linears on ebay have 30A fuses. That indicates they're capable of around 300w, MAYBE 400. 800 isn't even a possibility. The problems you're hearing with your amp may just be due to it reaching its limits and falling on its face. Power Acoustik produces some powerful amps, but they're also notorious for advertising more power than their amps can produce. The BAMF4000/1D, for example is rated at 2200w rms at 1 ohm but uses 120A worth of fuses. That is more in line with a 1200-1500w amp, not 2200. Add to that the fact that you won't be running that amp at 1 ohm, you'll be running it at two, where it is rated for 1700w. Realistically, it's not likely you'll be getting much more than 1000w out of it, maybe 1200. I think your 130A alt is more than enough. I'm running 1100w in a Contour with a 130A alt and it runs fine. My previous car had a 110A alt and the same system ran fine in that as well. HO alts are nice when you need them, but the 130A Ford alt is strong, and I think it will cover you and still provide room for a smaller 2nd amp to power some front speakers when you get to that point. |
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Platinum Member Username: GlasswolfWisteria, Lane USA Post Number: 12114 Registered: Dec-03 | ieally you want to find the CEA power rating, of RMS @ xx.x volts. You'll also want to know if it's burst, sustained, and bandpass or full spectrum when measured "RMS." |
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New member Username: RyanlikesrockinStuart, FL US Post Number: 5 Registered: Apr-08 | well yea i understand i'll only b getting 1700 whats since it'll b runnin at 2 ohms impedance, i was just worried that the reason i was gettin crappy distortment was because i wasn't gettin enough power to the amp. that an the voltage meter was droping and going back up..but i also found out that i needed to grind the area of the chassis where i had it grounded to, since it was grounded to a bolt in the chassis that was painted along with the surface that it was grounded to being painted. so after i grinded the paint off the chassis i get a much better connection and dont seem to have powering problems ne more. Another question that has came up is i looked at the manual for the bamf4000/1d to try and figure out what it meant about dual output connectors, since its a single channel amp. any ways i was lookin at the manual found at http://www.poweracoustik.com/pa2006/manual%20and%20catalog/4.23%20BAMF%20MANUAL. pdf on page 7, and it dose show 2 neg and 2 pos hook ups for the output to the subs but if u look on page 11, it shows that the sub is just hooked up with both neg going to the neg side and both pos going to the pos side of the sub. but im gonna have two subs (MOFO-12)and the manual dosent show that u can hook up two subs...but being it has two outputs i should b able to hook them both up right? but that would mean i would only get 750 watts to each sub? |
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Gold Member Username: N2audioLawrence, Ks USA Post Number: 1556 Registered: Mar-04 | Good news on the ground improvement. A lot of head ache's can be avoided by taking the time to get it right the first time. Many mono amps provide two (+)'s and two (-)'s. They're just there in case you're running multiple speaker leads. there are a couple different ways you can wire your dvc 2's. Either run a single lead and do the series/parallel wiring at the subs, or you can wire each sub for 4 ohms and run a seperate lead for each one to the amp. Keep in mind the amp's two speaker connections are parallel inside the amp so if you connect 4 ohms to each pair the amp sees 2 ohms. |
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New member Username: ZorinPost Number: 2 Registered: Apr-08 | Power caps have their place when instant sub freqs are a must.but most guys are not told that you require 1 farad per 300w rms of pwr, and therefore no audible difference is heard.Also with the constant drive for cheaper and cheaper product ( there are a lot of cheap caps around from grade b fcatories in China )that don't supply the stated capicitance. also pay attention to the surge voltage rating. If you need amps with power have a look at EM-PHASER ea-2400d class d its a beast ! |
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Platinum Member Username: GlasswolfWisteria, Lane USA Post Number: 12121 Registered: Dec-03 | Incorrect. a capacitor's voltage mirrors that of the circuit voltage. If the voltage rails sag, so do the voltage rails of the capacitor, making it a fallacy that capacitors do anything to stiffen voltage rails. |