Mono vs. Stereo setup for Subs

[PM_OTT_MP3]

I'm not very familiar with audio setups, so any help on this would be appreciated. I recently installed a SoundStorm 4ch 660 Watt Amp, hooked up to 2 Dual Voice Coil, 500 Watt, 12" Clarion Subs.

Question: The guys at the shop installed it Stereo instead of Mono. Does this affect the sound? The Bass doesn't seem to have as much kick as it should, and I was thinking that it may be because it was setup to stereo. Any thoughts, comments, SOLUTIONS would be very appreciated.

 

[1sty]

depends on the amp
what model is it?

 

[alec172]

Seems to me that your amp is not strong enought to drive 2x500 watts double coils speakers. You said that there is no enough bass, try installing a crossover for the subs. A crossover will limit the frequency range that you send to a specific speaker (you can adjust that range yourself with this unit). 4ch amps normally aren't used to drive subs. 2 ch bass amps are much cheaper and if it's bass you need, they will give it to y'a! I do no know Soundstorm products but I would suggest donwloading the vendors's specs and recommendations on how to plug their equipment for best results.
Good luck with your project.. give me news.

 

[PM_OTT_MP3]

You're right Alec172, when they first set it up, it was bridged and the bass was awesome!!! Only problem is that my fuse busted after approx. 20min of play. I went back, replaced the fuse, and again after about the same length of time, the fuse busted. So now it's setup 2 Ohm to 1 sub. The bass isn't nearly as deep and clear, which really sucks after hearing what it could put out before this :'( . If I were to do something to get better performance out my subs, should I go with the crossovers, or the 2 ch mono Sub amp? Could anyone recommend a good cost effective way of doing this?

 

[alec172]

The cheapest is of corse the crossover. If the fuse kept blowing, it may have been because of bad wiring and/or config. Depending on the setup, your amp will draw more power. What is your amp model #?

 

[PM_OTT_MP3]

The amp model is: SOUNDSTORM S664 - 660w 4CH HIGH POWER AMPLIFIER ($159.95 ). At this point, I'm thinking of selling it, and getting a 2ch Mono Sub... Just don't know enough about them yet, to make a decision on what product, what specs would compliment my subs best. Any suggestions are more than welcome...

 

[1sty]

Typicaly mono refers to 1 audio channel and stereo to two, a left and a right. Now alot of music is recorded with low frequencies in mono so there is no possibility for stereo. As far as the fuse problem. use a bigger fuse. If the fuse pops, you don't touch anything then replace it and it doesn't pop, then the wiring is probably ok. typicly a 4 channel will only do a 4 ohm load to a bridged channel. I have never seen one be able to handle a lower load. Doesn't mean they don't exist just mean I don't know of them. Well not totaly true JLs 300/4 4 can handle 3 ohms but not 2 or 1.

 

[slug420]

1st MP3 in NH..........you seem to be a car stereo whiz.

What do you think of infinity perfect subs? I have never heard them myself but the specs on them are impressive and they seem to get great reviews everywhere I have looked.

 

[1sty]

1st MP3 in NH..........you seem to be a car stereo whiz.

What do you think of infinity perfect subs? I have never heard them myself but the specs on them are impressive and they seem to get great reviews everywhere I have looked.

I also have never heard them but most people that have them seem to love them.

Also as far as MObile electronics magazine or any of the others they always give everything a good review. There are some inside industry magazines, I will try to find if they have talked about the perfect. They are typicaly alot more honest

 

[PM_OTT_MP3]

Well, I looked into getting a more powerful amp, but right now I can't justify the expense. So... stupid question time :bs:

Since the amp couldn't handle both the 500W subs, what if I were to use just one of them in the meantime? Wouldn't the sound be better if were just feeding one of them with the amp, instead of having 2 of them running half-ass?? I'm out of ideas right now... Audio gurus, I'd really appreciate your help now

 

[PM_OTT_MP3]

OOPS... wasn't suppose to use the BS guy. Meant to use(scratch)

 

[1sty]

Ok, first I haven't been able to find that amp model number at all on soundstreams site, how old is it? Also you still haven't metionded what the impedance is of your subs. You mentioned they were dvd but I need the modle number and each vioce coils impedance.

 

[PM_OTT_MP3]

Here's the subs' information:

CLARION - SRW3081-500W

12" DUAL VOICE COIL SUBWOOFER

Polypropylene Woofer Cone w/Titanium Deposition Coating
Dual 4 Ohm Voice Coil
Stamped Steel Frame
Heat Resistant Voice Coil
Kapton Bobbin
Rear-Vented Pole Piece
Rubber Surround
Inverted Dust Cap
Large Strontium Ferrite Magnet
500 Watt Maximum Music Power

As for the amp, it is an older model (I think 1997 - 98).

 

[1sty]

So if you do 2 channels bridged per coil you could run just one sub but if those channels are matched all but perfect it will soud like ass. Do you have rms values for the subs peak power mean absolutly nothing.

 

[PM_OTT_MP3]

Here's the Thiele/Small Parameters:

Outside Dia 12 1/4" (311.2mm)
Mounting Hole 11" (279.4mm)
Mounting Depth 5 11/16" (144.5mm)
Sensitivity@1W/1m 83.9/86.9dB
Max. Peak Music 500W
Continuous Power 250W
Nominal Impedance 4/8 Ohms
Re DC Imp ( 10%) 3.30/6.40 Ohms
Le 1.12/4.52mH
V.C. Diameter 2.0" (50.8mm)
V.C. Length 0.945" (24.0mm)
Air Gap 0.314" (8.0mm)
Piston Diameter 10.37" (0.2635m)
Sd 84.5 in2 (0.0545m2)
Vas 2.11ft.3(59.8liters)
Fs 37.1Hz
Qts 1.53/0.85
Qes 1.81/0.94
Qms 10.13
Mms 129.2g
Mmd 122.0g
Rms 2.97kg/s
BI 7.1/14.3 Tm
Speaker Displacement 190in.3(R)/140in.3(F)
Xmax 0.36" (9.2mm)
Magnet Weight 33 oz.


Thanks for your input 1st MP3 in NH, greatly appreciated.

 

[alec172]

FYI
Peak power normally means the max pwr that your speaker can handle 10% of the time. RMS is constant pwr.

 

[cjstringer]

use a bigger fuse.

Uhh, are you sure about that? Make sure you never use a fuse larger than the one on the amp. That can be bad. I would look into wiring issues if the fuses keep popping. Putting in bigger fuses is just setting yourself up for trouble. Also, make sure the wire guage you are using is adequate for the job. If you are trying to run that much power, I would recommend at least a 6 guage wire. As this is hard to find, you can more readily get 4 guage. It will handle the current load you are needing. Then you can run it to where the amp is without a problem. Depending on what amp you end up running, 4 guage can handle up to a 125 amp fuse. If you have 8 guage currently, the max it can handle safely is 50. And if you have 12 guage, max is 30amps.

As for the amp, I wouldn't try to run 2 500w subs off a 4 channel amp with only 660w. The best bet is to get a 2 channel amp that is rated at least to match the power of the subs and maybe more and back it off.

Just some ideas. I've never run into fuse problems when the wiring has been done correctly.

If you would like to learn more about electronics in general and have a good basis to start your searches from, try this site. It has a lot of really good information. The topics are on the right side, or you can read through each page. Very good information.

Hope my thoughts helped.

 

[1sty]

Depends. On the amp itself you should never use a higher amp fuse. Keep the size that came with the amp. Now on the power wire it realy doesn't matter. That fuse is to protect the wire not the amp. If theres a short the fuse will blow. It depends on his amp and the fuse he has inline. If the am has 2 25 amp fuses then you could use a 50 inline but I would go higher. the fuses on an amp protect the speaker wires in the event of a short to stop the amp from blowing up. Since basic IASCA rules for power wire Gauging take into account that no amp is more then 50% efficient then if that amp needs to protect 50 amps worth of power on the speaker wires then it must draw 100 amps from the car to produce that 50 for the speakers. Usualy if you add the fuses on the amp and add 25% you'll be fine. So in his case if it was 2 25 amp fuses, I have no clue if it does, then a 70 or 80 amp would be fine on the power wire.

 

[cjstringer]

Thanks 1st. Also, do you recommend fusing at the head of the input to the amp? I have heard comments both for and against it in the past. (like a fused terminal block) Currently I am not running a pre-input fuse to my amp.
Just another thought that may be appropriate to this discussion.
Thanks again.

 

[1sty]

The only needed fuse for a power wire is within 18" of the battery terminal before passing through the fire wall. Fused ditrobution blocks are cool for keeping wires neat and they give good conductivity for multi amp system but they are large unneeded and viewed to be jewelry by many installers. Basicly its just an accessory sale that has a bajesus of mark up to make a store money.