Car Audio Question

Hey guys looking for some thoughts... I hooked up my subs to my already installed after market system. Running a RF T1000bd to 2-12” morel ultimo titanium subs in a box I purchased from James at tech 12. Sounds great but the issue is I can’t turn my gain up even a tad it starts to clip. When it’s all the way down it’s fine but I’d like to turn it up at least a little but it seems odd I can’t turn it up the slightest amount. Any thoughts? SQ is awesome but I NEED more bass. Im running it at 1ohm as the amp is stable at that load.

 

Measure the actual load at the amp and see if 1ohm is accurate. Look at settings elsewhere (HU, dsp, other). Also, where is the gain at when it clips? Usually an amp clipping is poor input signal, poor power supply, you're just cranking the shit out of it until she clips out, or if you have too much tone controls boosting db in the bass range (amp has 45hz boost) that can also attribute to clipping out. Did you had a choice when you bought the subs to get 2 or 4ohm drivers? Why not get the 4 and run it safely at 2ohm (2 4ohm = 2ohm load) The amp is regulated for relative impedance so output is the same @ 1,2,or 4 ohm loads. The subs are probably 1.7 ohm vcs and that would yield ~ .85 ohms at the amp and causing the clip.

 

The gain is all the way down at zero. If I even turn it a tad it clips. I think Im going to send these back and trade them for the 4 ohm subs and wire it to 2 ohms you’re probably right about that.

 

Do you have your eq set to flat?
Do you have a sub volume option on your head unit? If so, what level is it set at?
Is Bass boost on the amp/phone/head unit/ect.. enabled?
Do you have a line output converter or any other devices connected in the signal chain between the head unit and amplifier?
Is your box vented or sealed?

The eq will boost the signal going to your amp when theres an increase in a frequency. So maybe one of the lower freq. levels is set to high or a preset has a really high increase on one of the lower frequencies.

Same thing with the sub volume as the above. What ever the sub volume level was at when the gain adjusted is the max the sub volume should be set at.

Bass boost is one of the biggest culprits when it comes to clipping an amp. If bass boost is going to be used then it has to be enabled while the amp gains are set and never increased any higher. IMO, it isn't needed when using a sealed or vented enclosure. Its useful, even required sometimes, when the enclosure is a 1/4 wave transmission line box when the tuning is based of the fs of the sub, but thats about the only time you really need bass boost. It is just easier and safer to just increase the gain if need instead.

Vented/ported boxes will distort when there is no subsonic filter enabled, or the subsonic filter is set to low for the tuning frequency of the port.