what's going on?

[Deadhead]

Ok, every time i hook up my amp in my car, it blows the fuses. All of them except for the one about a foot from the battery.

I'm using 4 gauge wire and i've got an 80 amp fuse a foot from the battery. It's hooked into a Bazooka EL1500 amp.

any ideas?

Also, when i hooked it up last, i wasn't getting any power through the 80 amp fuse for some reason... the fuse looks just fine, but still no power through it. when i plug it in, i use a wire that goes from the remote on the amp to the 12v power so that it will turn on, but to no adue. no light saying it's on.

So what i did is hook it up without the 80 amp fuse and as soon as i did, it blew the 4 fuses on the amp.

:uh: :uh: :uh:

[87DXHatch]

Sounds like your amp is having some problems. I know that series of Bazooka amps used to be up on eBay all the time having been "repaired" so they may have had some problems.

It doesn't sound like it's your install, but I'm not picturing 100% of what you wrote.

[Deadhead]

alright, so if it is my amp and i need a new one, what should i get with my Infinity 1030 subs?( i have 2)

[87DXHatch]

What's the coil configuration on them, and how many ohms is each coil? What is the rated nominal (RMS) wattage they can take? What's your budget?

[Vanilla Sky]

i believe it's 300 watts

[Deadhead]

i believe it's 300 watts

the subs? uh.. no, they are 1000w each.

# Power Handling, RMS: 250 Watts
# Power Handling, Peak: 1000 Watts
# Sensitivity: 90dB
# Frequency Response (±3dB): 25Hz - 250Hz
# Mounting Depth: 5-3/4"
# Impedance: 4 Ohms

i'm looking for an amp under $200

[87DXHatch]

the subs? uh.. no, they are 1000w each.

# Power Handling, RMS: 250 Watts
# Power Handling, Peak: 1000 Watts
# Sensitivity: 90dB
# Frequency Response (±3dB): 25Hz - 250Hz
# Mounting Depth: 5-3/4"
# Impedance: 4 Ohms

i'm looking for an amp under $200

Vanilla overestimated them. The RMS rating is the only rating that has any real meaning. You could probably put 2000 watts to them for a split second, but, again, the peak rating doesn't mean anything.

On to amps...

On the cheap: http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-05-VISONIK-V217SX-800w-2-CHANNEL-CAR-AMP-AMPLIFIERS_W0QQitemZ5793383186QQcategoryZ18796QQrd Z1QQcmdZViewItem
or
You'd want to bridge this down to 2 channels and run each sub off a bridged channel. (http://cgi.ebay.com/v4218-VISONIK-1000-Watt-4-Channel-Amplifier-with-Remote_W0QQitemZ5792091139QQcategoryZ18796QQrdZ1QQ cmdZViewItem)
or, something a little bit nicer...
http://cgi.ebay.com/POWER-ACOUSTIK-OV2-1600-2-1-CHANNEL-AMP-AMPLIFIER-1600W_W0QQitemZ5793562613QQcategoryZ18796QQrdZ1QQc mdZViewItem
or, something pretty damn nice...
http://cgi.ebay.com/US-Acoustics-High-Performance-Power-Amp-USX4085-NEW_W0QQitemZ5792975647QQcategoryZ4950QQssPageName ZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Those are a few that would work pretty well with your subs.

[Deadhead]

Hey thanks for the help, i didn't know what "rms" meant so i just went with what i saw on the box, which was 1000w in big letters. lol

[87DXHatch]

"RMS" means "Root Mean Square." It's the more important of the power ratings. However, it's (usually) only the THERMAL (meaning the amount of heat) rating of the subs. Depending on your box, you may be able to bring your subs to their MECHANICAL limits sooner than the rated amount of power, which would allow you to destroy them.

Usually, though, you don't need to worry about it. Just a heads up.


i just went with what i saw on the box, which was 1000w in big letters. lol

That's how they GETCHA! It's all about marketing.

If you have any other questions feel free to post or PM me.

[Deadhead]

actually, the subs and amp were already in the car when i bought it, so it was just an added bonus.

The box is sealed and has both 10's in it. So i don't know if that's the kind of box that will allow them to "bring your subs to their MECHANICAL limits sooner that the rated amount of power."

Do you think i should go with a ported box?

[Vanilla Sky]

depends on a few things. how well is the current enclosure built? is it of the proper size? can you build a new one or will you afford to have a custom enclosure built? generally speaking, prebuilt boxes aren't a good option because they don't provide the right conditions for your driver (trying to use layman's terms here).

as for a ported enclosure, well, subs can be more "tempramental" in them. what i mean by this is that unless you really know what you're doing and tune the enclosure improperly or have it sized wrong, you can have a "boomy" or "muddy" sounding system with peaks and valleys in the response. have one built for you to the proper specs or build one yourself to the proper specs. you can contact me if you want enclosure specs.

also don't always just go with what the manufacturer says. i helped a member here with an enclosure and the manufacturer recommended an enclosre that was too small for the driver, and would cause an undesirable gain and a natuaral rolloff that came about 10hz too soon. with a properly sized enclosure, a flat response would have been achieved, along with better low-end response.

[Deadhead]

I don't think i could afford to go with a custom box, but i think mine is fine anyway, when it was working, i got some awesome sound out of it... i've never heard better quality.

Also, i tried to hook up my amp again today, and it didn't blow the fuses, but i did get a red light instead of a green one on the power LED.... What does that mean?

[87DXHatch]

I don't think i could afford to go with a custom box, but i think mine is fine anyway, when it was working, i got some awesome sound out of it... i've never heard better quality.

Also, i tried to hook up my amp again today, and it didn't blow the fuses, but i did get a red light instead of a green one on the power LED.... What does that mean?
Red LED = Amp is in "Protect" mode, which essentially means it's screwed up beyond simple repair. If I had gone further in my EE degree, I could probably tell you what could be wrong with it, but I didn't, and thus I can't.

Dude, a custom box = $20 for 4' X 8' sheet of MDF, $3 for nails, $3 for wood glue, $3 for liquid nails/silicone, and then borrow a circular saw, drill, and router/jigsaw. That's it. I helped my housemate build a sweet ported box for his Sorny Esploids over the last couple days. You can usually build a decent box within one to two days and ~6-12 hours of work. They aren't very expensive, but I can't remember why we're discussing them.