rizzo30

I have four 12 inch FI Qs in my car right now that I have had for 3 years. I have my two Rockford 2500-1bdcp amps set correctly. They sound great great and they are still in perfect shape. They have integrated leads but do not start on fire because I do not push my subs too hard. Its really a shame when someone like you can not even figure out how to configure an amp correctly, and then tries to blame the manufacture for the problem. Instead of trying to argue with people on the forums that have tried to give you advice, you need to actually take that advice so you can set your gains correctly.

It was by over driving the sub. He said that he used a -6db test tone with a scope to set his gains which means that he just applied too much power to the sub and it smoked.

Your information is incorrect.No, your information is incorrect. He gave the sub too much power and we all know that. For that reason its a customer abuse issue, not warranty.We all know why he blew it up but your explanation is still incorrect. If you would go through the topic, from the link you posted, you would see that one person had it correct when he said "I frequently load music files in adobe audition which monitors db levels of the signal. MOST songs I have looked at reach 0db at some point, and some exceed that (clip) frequently, although the average dB level of the entire song is often -10db or less." It doesn't really matter where the "average" is at. This is calculated per the sub's RMS power. Sub is rated at 3000 watts RMS and he pushed it past that. I'm going to agree to disagree with you.

Your information is incorrect.No, your information is incorrect. He gave the sub too much power and we all know that. For that reason its a customer abuse issue, not warranty.

Here is some info for you guys. Notice where he says that a -6 db tone will cause a 1000 watt amp to put out 4000 watts. http://www.caraudio.com/forums/amplifiers/476748-what-difference-between-0db-3db-6db-etc-test-tones-2.html#post7116863 "lol a 0db test tone means it's recorded at reference level, 0 decibels below the peak level capable of being recorded onto a cd. a -6 tone is 6db's quieter than that. If a tone at 0db's puts out 1000 watts from the amp, a -6 tone will put out 4000. So yes, a 0db tone is louder than a -6, so gains will be lower with a 0db for the same output. If you set gains with a 0db tone, your gains will be very low and you wont' see much power out of the amp on any tone other than a 0db peak on a recording. setting at -3 or -6 means you'll get close to RMS power at the normal parts of the song. SPL guys set gains with tones because they are pushing things to the absolute limits and will be burping with that exact tone. Granted I come from more of a SQ oriented mindset, where people know how to properly use their equipment and dont' tend to overdrive things constantly. If your that scared, use a 0db tone, just dont' wonder why that that tone got loud but as soon as you pop in a cd, everything is quiet. Techically anythign other than a 0db tone will probably clip part of the time, but that also guarantees you'l never see alot of the power from the amp either. If you don't trust your ears and find 0db is really quiet try a -3."

I already have tested it. If you want to agree or not, 6db equals 4x. This is not a warranty issue. This is abuse. He turned his gain up too high. Its as simple as that. If he would have had it turned down lower such as by using a -3 or -4 db tone such as I already mentioned, then the sub would not have blown. However, he gave it too much power by turning the gain up a bit more so therefor it blew. It doesn't really matter if you want to agree or not. The sub blew from getting more power than what it was made to handle. Scott said that it was damaged from abuse and he is right. So therefor like Scott said, this is not a warranty issue but its a customer abuse issue. The sub just needs to be reconed which actually is not all that difficult, and then from there on the user just needs to set the gains at the proper setting so that this does not happen again.

I looked at your very first post and you mentioned that you had set your gains with a scope and had no clipping. By setting your amp with a -6 db tone, you are asking your amp to produce 4x its output. By doing that, that actually does mean that you are clipping during the peaks unfortunately. I hate to say this, but you have actually over powered your sub. Your sub sould be powered with 7500 watts RMS so that way you can properly reach your peaks wthout the amps going into clipping. By using a -6 db tone, you have accually tried to give your sub 12,000 watts RMS at its highest peak while it should be powered with only 7500 watts RMS at its highest peak. What I mean is is that by setting that 3000 watt amp at -6, you tried to output 12,000 watts RMS which is too much power. You should have actually had the amp set closer to - 3 or -4 db and then the amp would have been properly set for how the sub is rated. At -3 db we should get double the output which is roughly 6000 watts RMS at its highest peak which is pretty close to the target of 7500 watts RMS. Hope this makes sense. The gain was just turned a tad too high and thats why the sub blew.By the way, to find the max power of your sub during its peak, you want to take its RMS power which is 3000 watts and multiply that by 2.5 which is roughly how much higher a peak is compared to the non peak. By taking 3000 x 2.5 is how I got 7500 which should be the max power applied to the sub in order to fully power it. Why do you think that using a -6db tone is asking the amp to produce 4x its power? I don't "think" that its causing the amp to put out 4x of its power, but I know for a fact that it does because 6db equals 4x. If you set a 1000 watt RMS amp at -6 db, it will try to put out 4000 watts RMS at its highest peak. Its not what I think, thats just how amps work. If you set a 1000 watt amp at -3 db it will try to put out 2000 watts. For every 3 db of increase power doubles. You start at 3000, and it goes to 6000 at 3db. At 6 db we double once again which brings 6000 to 12,000. Just how it works my friend.

I looked at your very first post and you mentioned that you had set your gains with a scope and had no clipping. By setting your amp with a -6 db tone, you are asking your amp to produce 4x its output. By doing that, that actually does mean that you are clipping during the peaks unfortunately. I hate to say this, but you have actually over powered your sub. Your sub sould be powered with 7500 watts RMS so that way you can properly reach your peaks wthout the amps going into clipping. By using a -6 db tone, you have accually tried to give your sub 12,000 watts RMS at its highest peak while it should be powered with only 7500 watts RMS at its highest peak. What I mean is is that by setting that 3000 watt amp at -6, you tried to output 12,000 watts RMS which is too much power. You should have actually had the amp set closer to - 3 or -4 db and then the amp would have been properly set for how the sub is rated. At -3 db we should get double the output which is roughly 6000 watts RMS at its highest peak which is pretty close to the target of 7500 watts RMS. Hope this makes sense. The gain was just turned a tad too high and thats why the sub blew. By the way, to find the max power of your sub during its peak, you want to take its RMS power which is 3000 watts and multiply that by 2.5 which is roughly how much higher a peak is compared to the non peak. By taking 3000 x 2.5 is how I got 7500 which should be the max power applied to the sub in order to fully power it.

You mentioned that you used a scope to set your gains. What type of test done did you use? Meaning what frequency and what db level was it? In example, I use a tone -6 db 40 HZ tone to set the gains on my T2500-1bdcp amps which are connected to my FI Qs. I'm just curious about that since I had some FI Qs start on fire myself once. A friend of mine also had some RE Audio XXXs start on fire one time. We started to think that it was just an FI/RE thing, but them I bought an oscilloscope and it told me otherwise If you use too loud of a tone, it can either push the amp too far into clipping, or just simply over power the sub. Usually its much easier to send the amp into clipping with an amplifier thats just too small than it is to just smoke a sub with too much power. Let us know the loudness of that tone and it could possibly explain what was going on.

Huh? You couldn't be any more wrong. Setting your gains with an oscilloscope is the only way to set your gains. Unless you want to push your amps into clipping, then by all means go ahead and turn that volume knob all the way up. But for those of us that want to set our gains correctly, an oscilloscope is the only way to do it correctly. Remember, you are matching the amp to your headunit. Once again, you are also wrong about distortion. Distortion will not be audible until your amp is putting out double of what it is capable of. That is also another reason why you would use an oscilloscope. The human ear is not enough to go off of to tell if the amp is clipping or not. This is not misinformation. This is the only way to set your gains so that you do not risk damaging your subs while getting the most out of your amps.

Did you use a scope to set your gains? If you used a scope to set your gains which I hope you did, you would want to go no louder than an offset of -6 db. Not true at all. I guess you must have figured out the orginal posters problem as you are sure quick to comment on a question that wasn't directed at you. So because you didn't direct your question at me I should let you spew misinformation? Sorry that I made you have a temper tantrum by telling you that you were wrong. I gave him misinformation? Because I told him that he could be clipping? Or the fact that he is setting his gains blindly if not using a scope? Yeah, I guess thats misinformation.

Did you use a scope to set your gains? If you used a scope to set your gains which I hope you did, you would want to go no louder than an offset of -6 db. Not true at all. I guess you must have figured out the orginal posters problem as you are sure quick to comment on a question that wasn't directed at you.

Did you use a scope to set your gains? I am running four 12" FI Qs myself and I also happen to be using two 2500-1bdcp amps on my four subs. If you used a scope to set your gains which I hope you did, you would want to go no louder than an offset of -6 db. Even that is pushing it a little far, but is safe. Otherwise if you set your gains by hand instead, then chances have it that the amp is just going into clipping. I know that it sucks, but adding two more of those amps in the future will only make it easier on the existing two. I'm in the same boat myself. Otherwise turning the gain down a tad will solve your problem provided that you are happy with the spl.

Are you guys changing the number of spiders that comes on the Q? When I purchased my Q it came with 4 spiders. Also the recones used to come with 4 spiders by default. I am curious if you guys are moving those numbers of spiders down to 3. I am curious because I ordered three 15 inch recone kits and I am used to them having the four spiders.

I am thinking about putting an FI Q 15 in a 2 cubic foot sealed box. I think that this size is on the bottom as far as recommended. Does anyone know how well the FI Q performs when it comes to small boxes like this?