OK so I had a Profile California 1000w amp (500rms at 2ohms) and the amp was over heating on my JL 10w6. I might have messed the amp up because I was pushing it too hard. When I had that amp and it was working, it hit HARD.

I decided to try out a new amp, so I picked up an Alpine PDX 1.600 mono amp. 600rms at 2 or 4 ohms. This should be matched to the sub perfectly. The test sheet that came in the box said actual power was 701 watts. What I don't understand is, even with the gain on 75 or 80% it only hits HALF as hard as my other amp! I've messed with the settings as much as I can, and nothing seems to help. If I turn the gain up any more the sub hits once or twice then cuts off. Amp isn't hot, and the light on the front is steady blue (should mean no problems). Am I missing something here???

 

Where are you getting your input for the amp? Is it tapped off stock wiring or do you have an aftermarket headunit? Bose or non-bose?

 

I have it tapped from the stock wiring, Bose unit. The only thing I changed was the amp, and I checked every connection I could find, everything seems fine.

 

Im guessing you tapped at the blue harness that goes into the bose amp at the driver side of the trunk? Did you use a converter or did you do the rca conversion yourself? Myself, I took a cheap pair of rcas, cut them, and paired them with speaker wire. This way I get the low level output from the stock headunit and go into the amp. I faded my radio to Front, F2. and then adjusted gain from there, no problems.

 

I'm using a LOC before the wires go into the stock amp...

 

Whats the gain select switch set at on the amp?

 

Also, just making sure, inside the box the sub is jumped VC1+ to VC2- and VC2+ to VC1- right? If the sub is cutting out like that it sounds like youre having a current issue..

 

Alright I took the PDX back and got an Alpine MRP M500. This one seems to work a lot better, why? I have no idea.

Something I didn't realize though... the 10w6 I have, with dual 4ohm voice coils, I thought it was wired for 2 ohms from the factory? But then I've been reading and I'm not sure that's the case. Now, I can change the wiring on the sub to bring it down to 1ohm right? But I'd have to have a 1ohm stable amp or else it'll just shut off pretty quick correct?

 

Bueller?

 

If you have a dual 4 you will either have a final load of 2 or 8ohms and most amps easily handle 2ohms. Take a look at the JL site for wiring in parallel.

 

odds are it wired to 2 ohms from the factory...that is if you bought it as a JL powerwedge or the like.

If you bought it from a shop and they put the sub in a box they had ,it may be wire to 8 ohm. Check to be sure

Also, the Alpine is probably putting out cleaner wattage and not just distorted, bass boosed wattage.

 

I didn't change the wiring on the sub, and I installed everything myself.

This is how it's wired from the factory:



The positive on one side is connected to the positive on the other side, etc.

The 2nd Alpine amp I put in (MRP M500, 500 RMS at 2ohms) seems to work pretty well, but I still think the sub has a little bit left in it

 

yeah thats wired to 2 ohm

 

Mine did the same thing with my PDX-5. Took the LOC out and it pounds hard now. I think the LOC was attenuating the inputs to the amp to much.

 

Yup, we went over this before. LOC's are meant to be used with high level input, our Bose H/U puts out RCA level signal through speaker wire.. so the best way is to make your own or get the converted ones from JL.