Need help... how should I wire my subs?

Bluechulappa

Hi, I'm a total newb but I really need help from people with the know how. No one in my area seems to be able to help me with my DIY project.

I have two Polk Momo 2104 10" subwoofers in a custom box I made from scratch.
These: http://www.polkaudio.com/caraudio/products/mm2104/

And I have this pioneer amp:
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pn...559003,00.html

So what is the proper way to wire these subs to this 2 channel amp? I have tried almost every way except parallel and series.

My problem is when I turn up the volume on the headunit... Sometimes the amp will just shut off for a few seconds... It shouldn't do this, I know my amp has enough power for this job! PLEASE HELP
THANKS

jakelm

Ohms are too low...running a 2ohm load on a 4 or 6 ohm stable amp..run the woofers in series

jakelm

http://www.installdr.com/TechDocs/999016.pdf

Read this

Bluechulappa

Thank you so much... I will try this when it warms up a bit! It's the only thing I havent tried.

One more question, do I use one channel on my amp or in bridged mode?(the postive from the first channel to the neg. on the second channel?)

jakelm

Bridge the amp and wire the subs in series. The amp should show you how to wire in bridge mode. Thats how I turn a 2 channel stereo amp into a sub amp.

Bluechulappa

Okay I did that and it works better... But I'm still having a problem with my amp not being able to power the subs when bridged. The subs will make a twitch sound and thats it... It sounds like there is power but it's not taking it? Maybe a bad power wire or ground? My ground wire is very short

jakelm

Where the +/- connections are on the amp. read on top or bottom. There should be some sort of diagram how to wire them up. Ussually positive right to negative left or vise versa.

jakelm

What Pioneer amp do you have?...the link doesnt work.

Bluechulappa

Yea I've seen how to bridge my amp, it says bridged mode but when I bridge it, it doesnt work to great...

I have the pioneer gm-5200t amp

jakelm

Hook left positive on amp to positive on a woofer. The negative on the same woofer to the positive on the other woofer. The negative on the second woofer to the right negative on the amp. Set the amp in bridge mode. Crossover @ 80hz. Try that..If that doesnt work, I dont know. Make sure you check the fuses on the amp. Looks like there is a fuse for each channel. Make sure they are good.

Jake

Bluechulappa

How do I set the crossover at 80hz? Fuses all good

jakelm

I ment the bass boost. And also check your RCA jacks. And gain looks like it should be 3/4 of the way up if not all the way. Other than that..I dont know.

jakelm

OK..I just read alittle more on your amp...Seems you can run it in 2ohm mode. So that means you can run the speakers in parallel. pos to pos ..neg to neg. Make sure the low pass filter (LF) is on...gain is up....in bridge mode....RCA jacks are working...and if you have a head (cd player) unit with sub control..that is up too....

jakelm

Never mind...4ohm is minimal ohm when in bridged mode. And then theres this BFC switch..you might want to try adjusting that.

Bluechulappa

Okay will play around... I have it wired in series to one channel right now but it's not load at all. Gain and bass boost all the way up, even on the HU. It sounds like 1 sub but both are kicking... its just not a deep rumble

Thanks for your ongoing help, I'll keep trying things

jakelm

Nooo...There is no need to wire it in series to one channel. As a matter of fact your better off, if your going to do that, you might as well take it out of bridge mode and hook the subs to each a channel. If you want to wire it in series then bridge it out and wire it accordingly. Left pos and right neg. Right now in series on one channel, your 8ohms, which is little power, putting the subs on each a channel will give you 4ohms for each channel , which would be better.

Bluechulappa

I tried wiring the pos and neg from a sub to the pos and neg on the amp on one channel. Then adding anther sub and doing the exact thing with the second sub but to the other channel(channel 2) But I have the problem with the amp shutting off when the volume is turn up over 40, it goes to 62 on the HU. So should I just try the parallel wiring? I have the manual from polk on how to do it but it hasn't been much help fixing my problem.

Bluechulappa

Could my problem be that my stock HU doesnt have RCA jacks... I had to use a converter box. It looks like a piece of crap...

MacLeod

The problem youre having is because that amp is not the right amp for your subs.

If you want to run one by itself, its perfect but for 2 its not.

The reason its not working well in series/bridged mode is that its running at an 8 ohm load which is about 160 per sub which aint much. Running it parallel/series and youre at a 2 ohm mono load which, as mentioned, is too low for that amp and so its cutting off.

You have 3 options.
1) Run only one of the subs off the amp and sell the other on Ebay
2) Buy a dedicated, Class D mono subwoofer amp
3) Buy a 2nd Pioneer 5200T and run each sub off each amp.

Another thing, turn the gain DOWN. 3/4 of the way up is too much.

Bluechulappa

Thanks... I think your right. I might just sell my amp to my friend and get a different one? I don't really want two amps...

So the class D would be ideal but it's way out of my price range! Can I just shop around for a monoblock amp? What do I need to look for?

exalted512

hold up.

Youre telling him to bridge it to 8 ohms? Thats putting 80w to each sub.

What you need to do is run each sub off of each channel. Just like you would two regular full range speakers.

Now that wont give you optimum power like getting a second amp and bridging one to each speaker will, but it will almost double the power of running it 8 ohm bridged.

What radio do you have?
-Cody

MacLeod

Profile. Not the biggest, best or fanciest but just about impossible to beat for the money.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-r4CmsNz7Bdv/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=120&I=489AP1000M

Bluechulappa

exalted512 wrote:

hold up.

Youre telling him to bridge it to 8 ohms? Thats putting 80w to each sub.

What you need to do is run each sub off of each channel. Just like you would two regular full range speakers.

Now that wont give you optimum power like getting a second amp and bridging one to each speaker will, but it will almost double the power of running it 8 ohm bridged.

What radio do you have?
-Cody

Yea, I dunno why that wouldnt work but I've tried it. And it's very very weak! Right now until I find something to replace the amp or get other info I have both subs running on a single channel(not bridged) all the +'s are to the + on the amp and vice versa for the negative's -. It sounds good but cuts off now and then.

So my subs have a max of 600w and 300w recomended. So I need to find a mono amp that runs about 300w or more at 4ohms? 300w X1 4ohms

MacLeod

Youre also running the risk of permenantly damaging that amp by running it til it goes into protection constantly.

Youll need a Class D amp that makes 500-600x1 at 2 ohms. The one I linked you to is 500x1 at 2 ohms. Not the most power you can get but for $160 you aint gonna beat it.

Bluechulappa

Why does my amp power this system fine?

http://www.dualav.com/carsubs/xobp12d.html

Thats my friends new system and he might buy my amp if I end up selling it. So what is different here?

MacLeod

Impedance: 4 Ohms

Thats the difference.

Those are probably 2 8 ohm subs. Wire them in parallel and youve got a 4 ohm load which is what your amp can handle.

Bluechulappa

MacLeod wrote:

Profile. Not the biggest, best or fanciest but just about impossible to beat for the money.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-r4CmsNz7Bdv/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=120&I=489AP1000M

So just to verify? If I was to get that amp, if I ran one on my subs off of it, it would be 310w cause the subwoofer is 4ohm?

But since I have two 4ohm subwoofers, I wire them in parallel to ths single channel and they will get 500w? And if so is that to much for my subs?

Bluechulappa

And whats the max power of my subs? Like do I need one of these 1200w class D amps for the best power and performance? SInce my subs are 600w max each does that mean my system is 1200w max?

jakelm

You dont have RCA jacks in the back of your HU?? If you have a converter, check the gain on the converter, it might be too low. If you dont have a converter (high out to RCA) buy one and turn the gain all the way up.


That amp should not have a problem with those subs...something is either wrong with the amp or, you have it wired wrong or by not having RCA jacks out of the HU, there is something wrong there....But I doubt seriously that there is something wrong with the amp.

Jake

jakelm

MacLeod wrote:

Impedance: 4 Ohms

Thats the difference.

Those are probably 2 8 ohm subs. Wire them in parallel and youve got a 4 ohm load which is what your amp can handle.

Those subs are 4ohm.....putting them on each a channel should be fine,...I'll put money on the wireing being wrong.

Bluechulappa

Something must be wrong with the second channel on the amp. Even when I wire positive to negative from sub to channel. One sub on each channel it is very bad... I'm going amp shoping today!