Hey Jon, I finally got the box built for my ID Max 12 d4 and I have the sub wired in series for a 8ohm load. I wasn't able to put the box in the hatch area yet as I am waiting to have an amp rack built this coming weekend, so the box is currently in my back seat. Anyway, I decided I would go ahead and hook it up to the amp just to see how it sounded and to try and break it in a little bit. I used the same wire that is going to my old sub box and just ran it between the rear seats to the new box and when I turned the system on I was really surprised. The ID sub sounds severely muted, I have to turn the volume way up to get any significant amount of sound from it and even then the output is very lackluster. I watched the guy wire my sub in a series so I know that is correct and the speaker wire from the amp is the same one I've been using and was hooked up properly, so I don't know what else could be wrong. It doesn't really sound like the sub is blown or anything, more like it is being way underpowered. The amp I'm using is the Phoenix Gold Xenon X200.4 which has the feature of providing maximum power regardless of the load that is being driven (just like the JL slash series that you have), so I didn't think the 8ohm setup was the problem since I should be getting the same amount of power as a 2ohm setup. If you remember, I had even talked with the PG rep about what load to run and he said 8ohms, which was confirmed by you when we talked before as well. The Kappa Perfect I'm using now is wired in parallel for 2ohms and it sounds pretty damn good, but I have never tried it at 8ohms so I don't know if it would sound the same way. Well, I won't get a chance to rewire the ID to parallel (and see if that changes the performance) until this weekend and I just wanted to get some input from you or anyone else about what to consider when I troubleshoot this weekend. Have you had any experience with the Xenon series amps and whether or not they do actually deliver max power regardless of the impedance of the driver? I appreciate your help buddy. Thanks again.
The X200.4 Being a 4 channel amp, how did he wire it? You should have both channel pairs bridged, which would present a 4 ohm load to each bridged channel pair. That being the case, you should also make sure that all 4 channels are getting an input from the RCAs.Anyway, check your head unit, make sure no RCAs were unplugged, sub level turned down, gain controls bumped, balance/fader set wrong (if applicable), crossovers set incorrectly, and so forth. Double check all connections at the amp and subwoofer, just in case, and make sure the sub's voice coils weren't wired out of phase, because that could definately lower the output.
Hey Jon, the amp's rear channels are bridged to the sub (the front channels power my comps) which means using the L+ and R- terminals. Nothing else has been tampered with. I literally just disconnected the speaker wire from my old box and hooked it up to the new box with the ID Max (about 10 seconds worth of time), so nothing else has changed. As far as the sub's voice coils being wired out of phase, what exactly do I need to check? The sub is wired in series with one positive terminal on the sub wired to the amp positive, then the negative terminal on the same voice coil wired to the positive on the other voice coil, and then the negative of that voice coil wired to the negative terminal on the amp. Is that correct? Do you think maybe my amp will only provide maximum power to any load between 1-4 ohms, but then actually lose power at loads higher than that (ie. 8ohms)? I appreciate the help man. Thanks
Gotcha. With the voice coils, you'd check and see that it is wired correctly, what you've described above ( amp pos to pos, then vc1 negative to vc2 positive, and vc2 negative to amp). Even if it shows it correctly, at times factories make mistakes and the voice coils could be labeled incorrectly (it happens). You can swap around one coil and see if it helps (you won't hurt anything at all by trying). If not that, then wire for 2 ohms and see if results improve. The amp may be having difficulty sensing the load. And even though you saw the coils wired correctly and so forth, it's not impossible that a wire got stripped in the process, possibly causing a minor short and protection from the amp to come on. Just little things that add up to making big results, you have to check every little aspect.
Okay, thanks Jon, I'll give it a look this weekend and let you know what I come up with. If I have to run the sub at 2ohms do you think I'll notice a difference in sound quality compared to running at 8ohms? I bought the ID Max because of its SQ ability and I just want to get the most out of it as possible (SQ and SPL). Thanks.