Very little sound from sub?

[abound]

I have connected all wires fine to my sub and amp. The connection to the sub is bridged and when i turn the ignition on, the power light comes on the amp, everything seems fine. But there is very very little noise coming from the sub which you can only notice by putting your hand on it. Any idea whats up? Could it be a broken amp?

Thanks

 

[Jungle_Jim]

check the settings on the amp, you may need to fiddle with the gain etc also check the headunit settings

 

[powey]

Is it the earth and power wire that needs to be kept apart?

Sounds like an interference (sp?) problem

 

[WillyB]

there shouldnt be any interfearance with the live and ground wires...

what it prob is, is either the settings on the amp, gain etc or the settings on the headunit, give that a bash and see what happens mate!

 

[ICEHOUSE]

try changing the rca lead it's sounds like a signal problem which colud be rca, headunit or amp, but i reckon the rca lead probably has a break in it

 

[powey]

which wires cant be run together?

 

[Jungle_Jim]

power cable down one side of the car (left is easiest as the gromet is in the passenger footwell) and the remote lead and rca cables down the driverside

 

[powey]

thanks jim, Im guessing this is where the problem lies

 

[abound]

Thanks a lot everyone, I have messed about with the gain on the amp and there doesnt seem to be any settings in the headunit. I also got a mate to plug in his rca leads to see if it was them but still getting the same problem. The only thing I could maybe think it is, is maybe what powey said about interference or the fact that my power lead isnt as of yet screwed into the battery it is only being held on but it the power light only comes on when it is held in well which it is.

Yeh that could be the problem, there wasnt a hole in the right side of where the head unit is so i ran all the cables down the same way, could that perhaps be the problem?

 

[powey]

yes interference sounds like a small munchkin in the woofer having an epileptic fit

 

[abound]

I'll try changing them about then, thanks for all the help

 

[JoedotwasT5phy]

yes interference sounds like a small munchkin in the woofer having an epileptic fit

Lol - top description! If it was interference the cone would move with no sound.

Turn the power on and off on the sub, if the cone starts moving when the power gets to it (you may get an initial "pop" but that should be it) then its interference. Have you earthed it properly?

 

[abound]

Yeh well the circle bit on the the end of the ground cable wouldnt fit round the bolt in the isofix bar so I put it under the bar and screwed it down. But the protection light came on if the ground connection wasnt good enough.

 

[abound]

I wired the remote cable and the rca cable down the other side of the car and Im getting a bit more of a sound but its very little and it sounds a bit farty even tho it is with the levels on the amp up high. Does this mean its a dodgey amp then?

 

[AK]

is the amp powerful enough for the sub? If it is it could be a dodgey earth connection, get some paint scratched away somewhere and get it screwed in somewhere, seatbelt buckle etc.

 

[Jungle_Jim]

what sub is it mate, is it a new one that you havent used before. as i got a dead sub when i got my last one and had to send it back, it was quiet and sounded flabby

 

[Compulsion]

is the amp powerful enough for the sub? If it is it could be a dodgey earth connection, get some paint scratched away somewhere and get it screwed in somewhere, seatbelt buckle etc.

Thats what i was thinking if everything is connected correctly the amp probably is not good enough for the sub, if it is powerful enough ignore that. (but im guessing that could be the only thing you turning the head unit up enough? hehe) Good luck with it mate.

 

[abound]

Thanks again for all the replies, well the amp is 500W and the sub is 500W RMS and I bought everything new as a package together so I would of thought if would all be compatable. The sub definately works cos I tried it on my house CD player and it works fine. Its really starting to annoy me man, especially after failing ma test for the 2nd time today haha

 

[AK]

gutted about the test mate!!

not sure what else it could be then.. maybe ur amps knackered? if your confident you've got it all wired up..

what amp & sub is it?

 

[abound]

Probably not the best of makes lol but I'm tight for money. Its an Audiobahn sub and a Juice amp

 

[Compulsion]

To be honest mate ive got 2 800 watt audiobahn 12 inch subs running on a 2400 watt juice 2 chan amplifer and they pound like you wouldnt believe im sure you must have a dead amp fella or something wrong with the sub because mine make my mirrors move out of place lol

 

[wallop]

Read through this thread & TBH I'm a tad confused....

Just to clarify for me please;

1, Sub emitting low level noise ALL the time....
2, Sub is playing fine on music....Or isn't it ????
3, All wiring has been double checked....
4, System is all good bar background noise when amp is idling....

 

[MT AUDIO]

does your unit have a dedicated sub pre-out

 

[abound]

Once again thanks for the replies. Yeh the sub is just emitting very little sound which I can only really notice by putting my ear really close to it or by putting my hand on it. The sub itself works fine as I have tried it on my house CD player. Yeh the wiring is double checked and the system seems fine, everything is connected properly and only the power light comes on but I'm getting near enough no sound from the sub. There was nothing in the guide about settings for a sub and I messed about with the headunit and still couldnt see any settings.

 

[Russy B]

reconnect everything, find a different earth or get it better connected. i would screw the power cable down on the battery as you might see sparks fly!!!

What settings do u have on your amp, what is the exact model of the sub n amp???

Have you checked the connections from the sub to the sub box inside??

 

[abound]

Ok i'll try that tomorrow thanks. I dont actually know the settings on the amp, I just turned different levels up and down to see if I could get any sound. It is a Juice JA490 amp and a Audiobahn AW1251T sub. Yeh the connections are ok and the sub definately works fine.

 

[Russy B]

is the high/low/full range pass filters switched on???

Strange this one.

How are wiring it on your home stereo and what are you using to wire it (make of cables)

Definetly something to do with the amp i think

 

[abound]

Yeh its in the low mode I think but I tried it in all modes. The back of my home stereo has like two holes for wires if you get me lol and I just used the speaker cable from the Juice wiring kit i got with the package (the same cables that are fitted from the amp to the sub). Another thing I thought it might be is I could be using the wrong type of wires? I dont have a clue about the wire types but the amp is 500W, the sub is 400W RMS and it is a 10G wiring kit. I just presumed the wires would be fine as they came in the package with the sub and amp.

 

[MarcoB]

What is the input volume like on the amp? Have you got the right channel selected?

I made the mistake of having the volume on zero and having it on the wrong channel haha

 

[abound]

There isnt like set values or anything on mine its just like a screw you turn for volume but yeh I tried turning it up and it made it a tiny bit louder but it was still really quiet. By the right channel do you mean like high/low/flat? Yeh its on low but I've tried all channels. Thanks for the reply again.

 

[Compulsion]

You could always try screwing that power cable down you've practically set it up same as me and you got the same sub as me mate so quite baffled on it to be honest lol i do think its a dodgy amp my amp did have 2 fuses like in the side of it you havent accidently blown one of them? and also you power wire kit you took the fuse out before connecting to the battery? maybe something is blown try replacing see if thats the case if not then i dont know at all fella

 

[abound]

Na I'm pretty sure the fuse is fine, I dont know what you mean about taking the fuse out before connecting to the battery? I thought about changing the fuse but I couldnt actually get it out lol. Cheers for the reply.

 

[Compulsion]

http://www.crutchfield.com/ISEO-rgbtcspd/learn/learningcenter/car/amplifiers_movie.html

If you done it like that im pretty sure you may have blown something from not taking that fuse out i could be wrong but give it a rank m8 and in my juice amp its got 2 fuses in the side of it may be worth checking that out.

 

[abound]

Uh right I get you now mate, I just connected the power wire to the fuse then connected that to the battery, is that wrong?

 

[Compulsion]

I think so yeah i say i think becuase im not exactly mr know it all with wiring and that but i done it on (took fuse out was paranoid lol about messing something up) mine i just think its a bit strange if your amp is fine something must of gone wrong along the way i have the same subs as you fella and as i said before my windows and that shake when i crank it up full you should be getting a good sound from 1 just try replacing it wont do any harm i got another fuse in my wiring kit maybe you got one in there if not they should be cheap worth checking out.

 

[Jungle_Jim]

just a thought you are using the amp bridged are you sure you have got that part setup, also on the amp try setting everything in the middle to start with then dial it in from there.

 

[abound]

Okay I'll try all this tomorrow, thanks a lot for all the help!

 

[Jungle_Jim]

also have you checked you have put the RCA cables in the right place on the headunit as some have multiple rca style inputs for aux leads and cd changers etc.

as for the fuse i dont think it would be that as i dont think you would get any sound out of it if it had blown as when a fuse blows it breaks the circuit

 

[Compulsion]

Hmmm guess so mate but imo still worth a little check and take onboard what you said its not gonna do any harm good luck with it mate hope it works out.

 

[Russy B]

The RCA/Phono cables go to the amp/aux outputs on the stereo and the inputs on the Amp

The remote wire (a thin one, which tells the amp to turn on) is connected to the wire that is NOT go into the ISO connectors, then goes into the remote connector on the amp

The Power cable goes from your car battery to your power connector on your amp (might be labelled +12v on amp)

The Earth cable (alwys black) gets screwed to something in your boot (bolts holding in your back seats the best bet) and then to the ground (GND) of your amp.

Thought i'd write this so that you can check if your missing something (remote switch on cable maybe???)