bass cutting out

Pauls dropped 8

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in the last 2 days ive noticed my bass coming and going. i thought i might be putting the amp into protection mode but i havent been playing anything any louder than usual and the bass usually comes back within a minute or so. it'll be fine one minute then it'll disappear, then come back again. sometimes it'll come back if i raise the sub level on my eq. some people on another forum have suggested it might be a loose ground wire. im going into the shop tomorrow to have it looked at. anyone have any clues?
 
RE: bass cutting out

I'd bet the ranch on wiring. I had the same problem last year. The wires in my in-line fuse next to the battery were a bit loose. Tightened it up, never had a problem since.
 
RE: bass cutting out

bye bye solobaric. one word...fried. sub was putting my amp into protection mode and wouldve fried the amp as well if i didnt unhook it.

while i was at the shop, i did manage to catch a new bimmer slammed on some 19" HRE's with 2 13W7's each seeing 1000 watts litteraly blow the grilles off of the speakers(all of them!). Impressive to say the least. wish i could afford one. I may have to toss my old PPI flat piston 12s into my trunk until i can grab some cash to either pay for a 12W7 or an IDMAX. Id really like to audition some of PPI's new subs but i have yet to find a shop thats got them in stock. they look beautiful and can handle some serious power. i wonder if they can back up their looks.

quick question. i was asking the dude if i would be able to hook up a W7 to my ppi amp that makes 800 watts at 4 ohms mono or 2 ohms stereo. he told me that since the W7 has 3 ohm VCs that i could hook it up at 3 ohms to the amp and send it about 1000 watts "safely". wouldnt this send the amp into protection mode? i was told keeping the gains down and adding a fan would help. any opinions?
 
RE: bass cutting out

#####? How did 800 watts fry a solo? I've seen them handle 1500 watts without sweating. Subs don't send amps into protect mode spontaniosly either. If it was wired correctly the whole time, and you didn't abuse the volume button a riduculous amount (read the gains are set right), There's no way that sub could have fried. Also you're amp would not have fried, that's what protect mode is for. It would have just stayed in that mode. Have you changed anything recently? Something just doens't jive with the situation. I wonder if it's your amp that is FUBAR.


Stick with an IDMAX. W7's a WAY overpriced, are notorious for not being able to handle a ton of wattage, and the 3 ohm VC's absolutly suck. There's just no easy way of wiring them. THe Brahma's have a loud annoying tinsel slap and high volumes also. Use the money you save on the IDMAX over the W7 to get you a better amp. Just get the IDMAX V.3.
 
RE: bass cutting out

i dont know what couldve caused the sub to die. id say that maybe it was because i got b-stock from an online retailer, but since i accidentaly ordered the D4 and exchanged it at a local shop for the D2, i cant say that. maybe i got that shops garbage since i had to send the sub i got from them back cuz that one was dead in exchange for another D2. who knows. the sub was hooked up and there were immediate problems with it. what, i dont know. all the installers at the shop immediatley said it was dead. i had the amp hooked up to see if it was still operational and it was perfectly fine.

after hearing what i heard from the dual W7s, i really want one but their insane prices, even on ebay, will probably send me in the Image Dynamics direction. we'll see. for now, im most likely gonna toss my old subs in the trunk. anyone know how i can wire 2 DVC 8ohm subs to get max power from an amp that reaches max power at 4 ohms mono or 2 ohms stereo? also, since these subs are 300 rms, if i am able to split the full 800 between the 2 of them, should i worry about blowing these too?
 
RE: bass cutting out

Looks like your out of luck with the old subs. Best you can do is wire each in parralel and give each one 200 watts.


You may also want to look at the XXX's. I've not had a chance to hear one in person yet, but I have heard rave reviews of this SQL sub, comparing quite favorably with the Brahma or IDMAX. I don't know prices on them off the top of my head though, ID may be cheaper.


I have talked to a few people who have told me the W7's get nasty with more than 1500 watts, which should be way under it;s thermal limit. You practically have to have a super clean amp to give them tons of power, cause they are real sensitve to distortion. If it were christmas, I would wish that JL would switch to a 2 or 4 ohm impedence. There are only a couple amps out there (most made by JL suprise) that can do max power at 1.5 or 3 ohms. Wiring for W7's is just a plain nightmare.
 
RE: bass cutting out

im not even considering the brahma with all the tinsel slap and the weak point (either the cone or surround that tears easily) and the XXX im not sure about either since the price is probably pretty high and i havent known enough people that've owned one. i am however considering 1 or 2 Elemental Design e10a'a or the 12 inch versions since theyve been rated pretty high according to their owners and theyre very cheap when u buy direct from the factory (more than 1/2 off). im still considering an IDMAX and either porting it directly into the cabin or just mounting it on that rear deck.

about that, if i were to mount it on the rear deck, would sunlight be an issue?

edit: i was reading that if i wire the subs in parallel to get a 4ohm load then bridge the amp, the amp will see half the ohm load so id be delivering a 2ohm mono load to the subs. does this sound right or is my reading off. if it is the case, would this be a bit much for these subs?
 
RE: bass cutting out

Ray your missing my point. I know what JL rates their subs for, and I know what they mean. But when I look to get a sub, I want to know what it's limits are. Take the Brahma for example. It's "rated" at 1600 watts. However, people give it 3000 watts as a daily driver set-up, and it still has tremendous sound quality. That's nearly twice the "RMS Rating" adire gives it. However give the W7 twice it's "RMS rating" and it doens't sound good at all. Remember, RMS ratings really don't mean anything in the real world. How much power a sub can handle is largly based on many other factors, such as box size, and how well is dissipates heat. The W7 just can't keep up like a $700 sub should be able to.

And the people I mentioned who told me they don't trust the W7's are not people who buy the junk amps from best buy and set their gains to max and wonder why it sounds aweful. I'm talking about people who compete in IASCA and other comps who actually know what they are doing.

I am not trying to say that the W7 is a bad sub. I know that some people will swear by it till the end, and that by saying the Brahma or IDMAX is better I am stepping on some toes. I'm just saying that if I were to buy a top of the line SQL sub, I would want to make sure it can live it to the hype. I mean no disresepct to JL or those who use them.




Paul, I just talked to a guy yesterday about putting the IDMAX on a shelf like you mentioned. He does it, and he is one of two that he knows of (that competes on a regualar basis) that have IDMAX's in an infinate baffle set-up. He says he has not heard a sub that sounded better in IB that the IDMAX. However, sunlight is a big issue. You don't want to rot the cones!

Remember 2 ohm mono is 1 ohm stereo, and your amp can't handle that. Your amp was having a hard enough time handling the 4 ohm mono with the L7 (hence going into protect all the time)
 
RE: bass cutting out

This topic isn't worth getting this hyped up about. It's obvious you are a diehard JL fan, and I don't want to make you upset that the W7 is not the God of subs some think it is. Get into the lanes and listen for yourself, that's all I can tell you.


BTW Paul (if you are still bothering with this post, lol), the XXX uses the same motor as the Brahma for the sweet SQ, but uses woven leads so no slap. The site is www.respl.com, and I think they go for around $350-400 for 12's, but don't quote me on that.
 
RE: bass cutting out

i found a guy who's selling his dd 3515's and said he'd sell me one if i wanted it. new for $200 shipped or used for 185. anyone heard any of these Digital design subs? ive never had a 15 before but i figure 1 15 is better than 1 12. or not. the whole reason i wanted to go with the max is because of how loud, clean, and precise it plays as opposed to my L7. its also a very efficient sub so if i decide to leave my 2200 to my subs instead of moving it to my midbass, the max would use the power well.

I checked prices on the XXX and its out of my price range and there arent too many places that ive found that sell them used. my only options are the max or if i want to go cheaper depending on the feedback i get, the DD 15, or even an Elemental Designs A series sub but the wait is a couple months on those. The new PPI's are on my list too but thats another wait.

as far as this W7 debate goes, i find it to be an incredible sub. one that most other high end subs should be compared to. ive read about folks going waaaaaaaaay past what JL recommends and they still manage to sound clean and LOUD. its all in the install. the price is my only beef with the JL's.
 
RE: bass cutting out

i havent heard much of the TDX's. u say theyre clean but can they really pound when needed to? im looking for a mixture of both for a decent price.
 
RE: bass cutting out

yeah, i was originally gonna go with 3 W3's (pre v2) but ended up changing my mind about 100 times before i settled on the kicker.
 
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