Clipping...

[MitaG3 0]

okay I'm really confused right now. I have a feeling it's the cold messing with stuff but I'll seek some guidance anyways.

So one day I warmed my sub up good and set the input lvl on my amp so it was all good no bottoming out or clipping or anything. I even set it with the volume a bit higher than I normally listen just to be safe. So then it gets really cold so I turn the sub woofer lvl down on my H/u. I've had it down for a bit now and as I warm it up I'll gradually turn that up along with the bass control knob. The other day I'm on my way to work (~15 min drive) and listening to my music after I had already been warming it up for a bit too. When I'm nearing work i continue to turn it up some not even close to how loud I had been playing it a week before and it starts clipping like crazyyyy, so of course I turn it back down. I try and reset the gain and stuff again real quick and it's just not working right the only way I get it to stop clipping is to turn the amp wayyy down almost to the point of the gain being all the way down. Right before I'm giving up to go into work I notice my phase control was bumped about a third of the way turned for some reason so I turned it back to 0.

My initial thought was maybe the amp just didn't want to work right because of the cold. I didn't try messing with it again after that but is there any chance that the phase control is what was messing with it? I have no idea when it got moved to that. Or is there some other reason this could be happening?

I'm pretty sure my electrical isn't the problem because I listened to it for days way way louder than it was but here's some specs on it anyway.

Good battery under the hood. Kinetic 1400 in the back. Kicker 4 gauge to that battery. Stinger 0 gauge to the amp (Hifonics Brutus Bxi2610D). Stock alt. Big 3 not done but replaced all wires with 6 gauge I believe. (it is bigger than 8 but smaller than 4 so that's my guess). The ground for both the amp and the battery is under 3 ft away. Not sure what else to add like I said it was working fine before the super cold hit (-20* F for a few days).

[KU40 173]

The phase control won't do anything like that. That is a relatively benign setting. Having it turned up will not hurt the sub at all. My guess is it's the cold. How do you know the amp was clipping? What noise was the sub making?

[MitaG3 0]

The phase control won't do anything like that. That is a relatively benign setting. Having it turned up will not hurt the sub at all. My guess is it's the cold. How do you know the amp was clipping? What noise was the sub making?

Umm hard to explain but it was definitely clipping. It was jumping around uncontrollably and definitely not doing what it was supposed to be. I can't really even try and describe the noise I feel like i'd give you the wrong impression

[rmzsuzuki89 61]

The phase control won't do anything like that. That is a relatively benign setting. Having it turned up will not hurt the sub at all. My guess is it's the cold. How do you know the amp was clipping? What noise was the sub making?

Umm hard to explain but it was definitely clipping. It was jumping around uncontrollably and definitely not doing what it was supposed to be. I can't really even try and describe the noise I feel like i'd give you the wrong impression

If the sub was jumping around, it sounds almost as if the subsonic was set too low. Was it the first time listening to that particular song with the setup? Maybe there was a really low note in there...That is if it's in a ported box.

[KU40 173]

The phase control won't do anything like that. That is a relatively benign setting. Having it turned up will not hurt the sub at all. My guess is it's the cold. How do you know the amp was clipping? What noise was the sub making?

Umm hard to explain but it was definitely clipping. It was jumping around uncontrollably and definitely not doing what it was supposed to be. I can't really even try and describe the noise I feel like i'd give you the wrong impression

Jumping around uncontrollably and unpredictably is not what clipping does. Often head units mess up in the cold and send strange signals down the RCAs. To confirm, plug an ipod or something into the amp for signal.

[BKOLFO4 29]

Jumping around uncontrollably and unpredictably is not what clipping does. Often head units mess up in the cold and send strange signals down the RCAs. To confirm, plug an ipod or something into the amp for signal.

x2

Sounds like something broken, not clipping or bad settings. . .Did it do it all the time, or just when it was turned up loud?

[MitaG3 0]

Jumping around uncontrollably and unpredictably is not what clipping does. Often head units mess up in the cold and send strange signals down the RCAs. To confirm, plug an ipod or something into the amp for signal.

x2

Sounds like something broken, not clipping or bad settings. . .Did it do it all the time, or just when it was turned up loud?

Yes I have a ported box. And it only does it when it gets turned up semi-loud. But if that really isn't clipping then yeah it's gotta be the head unit I'll try the ipod thing cause I know my sub sonic is fine cause I used to listen to lowww songs and test notes and it was fine

[shizzzon 461]

listen to KU40, i've got a buddy locally who had the same issue, when he cranked it up, the sub would start moving and sound weird but then his sundown 3000d would go into protect after about 4 seconds of it doin that.

he has a Pioneer head unit and if u do too, then u may fall into this category has Pioneer's are NOTORIOUS for what i'm about to say- The preouts on many pioneer units somehow screw up and lose their ground and need to be grounded physically... There is no external professional way of doin this so if u wanna solder a wire (that's if this is the problem) from the rca's outer shield to a physical ground, then do it.

To find out if it is, take a wire, hold it to a known ground point in the car then touch the other end to the outer shell of the rca output on the head unit during high volume level.

[MitaG3 0]

listen to KU40, i've got a buddy locally who had the same issue, when he cranked it up, the sub would start moving and sound weird but then his sundown 3000d would go into protect after about 4 seconds of it doin that.

he has a Pioneer head unit and if u do too, then u may fall into this category has Pioneer's are NOTORIOUS for what i'm about to say- The preouts on many pioneer units somehow screw up and lose their ground and need to be grounded physically... There is no external professional way of doin this so if u wanna solder a wire (that's if this is the problem) from the rca's outer shield to a physical ground, then do it.

To find out if it is, take a wire, hold it to a known ground point in the car then touch the other end to the outer shell of the rca output on the head unit during high volume level.

Wow yes I do have a pioneer head unit lol and i just tried the Ipod thing but it still did it. I'll post a video on it

[MitaG3 0]

http://s167.photobucket.com/albums/u122/Mitag3/?action=view&current=SubsandBoxes013.flv Edited January 12, 2010 by MitaG3

[NDMstang65 403]

headunit or amp taking a poop...

isn't the sub...the sub only does what those things tell it to do.

[KU40 173]

If it still has the problem when using the ipod for signal (hopefully the ipod was wired straight to the amp, not through the head unit then to the amp as this will still cause the problem if the head unit is the problem), then the amp is bad. Try swapping amps to test.

[crf450r4u2nv 0]

sounds like the i pod was running to head unit.

run the rca's from the i-pod to the amp direct.

[MitaG3 0]

sounds like the i pod was running to head unit.

run the rca's from the i-pod to the amp direct.

I did run the i-pod to the amp direct.

I believe I figured out the problem though. I thought I heard my alternator whining. On my way home tonight my headlights were almost useless unless I had my brights on. And my sub would get quieter and quieter throughout songs. So i'm pretty sure my alternator is almost dead which is making my batteries almost dead. That would starve my amp and make it mess up the signal to the sub right?

[Lancer_Lot02 0]

Do you have a way of measuring your voltage?

[MitaG3 0]

Do you have a way of measuring your voltage?

Yeah I'll probably do that tomorrow. But if that is the case then that is more than likely my problem right?

[Lancer_Lot02 0]

When you check your voltages, check when the car is off First and then when it is running.

Could be a bad diode in your alternator. A bad diode will often times cause the alternator to show a lower voltage while running at idle(warmed up), than when the car is off. However when you rev your rpms, voltages almost become normal.

And in your video, was that when you hooked up your ipod direct to the amp? because it sounded like you were asking someone to turn it up from the head unit.

[MitaG3 0]

When you check your voltages, check when the car is off First and then when it is running.

Could be a bad diode in your alternator. A bad diode will often times cause the alternator to show a lower voltage while running at idle(warmed up), than when the car is off. However when you rev your rpms, voltages almost become normal.

And in your video, was that when you hooked up your ipod direct to the amp? because it sounded like you were asking someone to turn it up from the head unit.

It was direct to the amp. I was having my friend turn up the bass knob that is mounted in the front of the car