KU40

I didn't mean to make it sound like I thought they were useless. I know they are helpful in many situations, and just because I don't use mine doesn't mean others shouldn't. To go along with the slopes you mentioned, I'm pretty sure I've seen a 36 db/octave slope on an amp somewhere........ I have never been to a bassrace. I really only competed a little bit for about two years, and that was 3+ years ago. I think that was before the bass race idea caught on. When they kept raising the price of admission I just decided it wasn't worth it, and I haven't been to a competition since. Nor have I kept up on all of the rules of the various organizations. I try to stay out of competition discussions because of this, and unfortunately the ones I do get into (like this one) make me revert back to the rules I knew way back when. I'm still curious as to what evidence 07merc has for the diagnosis of unloading causing damage. I'm not saying it wasn't the cause, I just want to make sure that it did happen so he's not wasting money on recones if that's not really the case. I just say this because a couple years ago when my sub amp was starting to go it just began by putting out less power so my sub didn't hit as hard. If he would like to test this, hook up another woofer to it and see if the fading of sound happens again. And likewise, see if you can hook up your sub to somebody else's amp to see if the fading sound happens. These two tests can determine if it's the sub or amp. You may also want to check the voice coils with a DMM to see if their resistance has changed, which would lead you to a woofer problem as well.

I've never been exposed to comps that play music. If I was, I'd make sure and play a song that stayed above tuning. Also, I didn't specify a rolloff rate or Q in my argument, so your saying there are amps with a steeper slope or more narrow Q than what I was talking about can't apply. Sure, I'm being nitpicky. You mentioned "It comes down to knowing your system." Well, I agree. I know my system well enough to know what level I can play a song at that has really low notes (perhaps lower than my tuning frequency). It comes down to common sense, IMO. If you are listening to music that constantly has notes being played below your tuning frequency, you made a poor decision on box design. I've heard from competitors and others who agree with me and say subsonic filters aren't necessary. One held a number of state records in West Virginia, might still. So I guess we're even. Also, has it actually been confirmed that unloading and overexcursion caused his problems? I know you suggested it and he said it was the reason, but he didn't say how he knows. Not to mention that his tuning frequency is 27 hz, which is pretty low, and not much music goes below that. But if he tore apart the subs and found evidence of it, then I concede.

no worries. I just get tired of people saying "Man, I put a 2,000 watt amp on this 500 watt RMS sub and it took it! This sub is so underrated!" Well, the truth is, unless you metered the actual output on the amp you would have no idea if you're actually putting out 2000 or even 500 watts to the sub. A specific coil and motor design can only take a certain amount of power. Sure manufacturers may be a bit conservative with their power ratings, but it's to decrease the number of blown speakers they get back. Not to mention that power handling is not only thermally limited, but mechanically as well (which this forum has been discussing quite a bit lately, including you on that other thread) and that most of the time with music you aren't seeing even close to RMS power from the amp. So, hence my comment about just putting an amp on the sub and playing it to it's full potential in the enclosure within all limits. ha. To the OP, why not just sell the alpine amp and get one that is optimized for 2 ohms? That would be so much easier to set up and implement, not to mention the space saving from having one amp over 2.

I know what a subsonic is and does. My comment about not helping at a comp wasn't in terms of it would increase your score, it's that it would be pointless (and perhaps even detrimental) to have on during a comp. If have a box tuned at 40 hz and you're playing a 40 hz note at your comp and have your subsonic set at 25, what good is the subsonic doing? none. It's not attenuating any frequencies that might be harmful to the sub, because you're playing a 40 hz note. If you play a 40 hz tone and have your subsonic set at 38 (just below tuning), guess what the subsonic is doing? lowering your score. The subsonic isn't the point at which the frequency response starts to roll off, it's the -3db point. So your 40 hz note would be getting attenuated probably at least 2 db's by the subsonic filter. You can argue your point all day if you want, but I have never used a subsonic and have never blown up a sub due to mechanical limits being reached from unloading. Go ahead and use it if you want, I wouldn't stop you at all.

that's from the power wire touching the terminal. You should always put the wires into the amp before inserting the fuse under the hood. does it work now?

eek, please don't use electrical tape to splice wires together. If you really want to use both sets of outputs on the mono amp for some reason, run them all the way to the box and just shove both wires into the terminal cup or sub's voice coil terminal.

Come again ???? what's wrong with what I said? If you understand english you'll realize all I said was to play it as loud as possible with whatever amp you have without the speaker blowing, thus getting the most out of it. What part of that is bad?

also, a subsonic won't help during a comp at all. You should be playing a note above tuning frequency.

I guess I just know when the note is being played below tuning and turn it down to where it won't rip itself apart.

that sure didn't take long

oh, I skimmed over the two part. my bad. as for no subsonic, no biggie. Mine doesn't have one and I've been using it for........3 years with no problems. I would check the amp. play a sine wave and hook up a dmm to see the voltage coming out of it. Chances are if the subs sound like they're fading when the bass hits, it's the amplifier lowering the amount of power it's putting out. subs only play what's given to them.

gobbly-gook. It will come and go just like January 1st, 2000. I knew nothing would happen then, and I know nothing will happen in 2012. or 2126.

Have you tried calling or emailing the company directly? Message boards aren't really the place to do business like this.

is that amp stable to 2 ohms by itself? Nearly all monoblocks are stable at a load under 4 ohms.

Yeah there are two different reasons for adding mat. One I suppose is mass loading to get rid of the tin-can sound (or adding something that will either reflect or absorb the sound, as in the case of foam). Another is to cover up holes in the door to effectively separate the front and rear waves to create an IB setup in the door.

Switching the terminals at the amp does nothing for checking polarity if a voice coil is wired wrong in a DVC woofer. You have to change them on the sub. And just because they look right with the markings doesn't mean they aren't switched once the leads get into the voice coil.

http://www.the12volt.com There was another site that was even better IMO, but I can't remember it right now.

I'd be interested to try the new Mag. The Icon has been a solid SQ performer as well (from what I hear). I believe a sub is a valuable asset to most if not all music types. More than likely once you add a subwoofer you'll hear notes played that you've never known were in the song. tuning a sub can either come in the form of the enclosure or signal processing. With a sealed box the most tuning you can do is change the size of the box. But then with processing you can set crossovers and adjust EQ settings to change the sound.

there is no way a sub should need a recone after just a few weeks. It should take years for the soft parts to become weak enough to maybe notice. Do they make any other noise (mechanical)? I'd be so afraid for that sub in an 8 cubic foot box with 1400 watts of power on it. The mechanical limits have been reached a number of times I'm sure.

check your power wire under the hood. Then on the amps.

Try reversing polarity on each voice coil one at a time. Sometimes manufacturers accidentally label them wrong.

You talking software like autocad? Or some piece of equipment?

people say those things for hype. Truth is, put an amp on it, play it as loud as possible without it blowing up or sounding bad, and just go with it.

It wouldn't be if there weren't stupid posts. If I had full run of the forum, the rules would be different but first off not using grammar would get you warned the first time and banned the second. It is just rude to come into someones house and not spend the time to actually try to ask the question you want. I'd also require that each post started with a phrase like "I searched for xxxx, and xxx, and xxx but couldn't find an answer...." I'd also have a pretty much zero tolerance policy. Perhaps you don't realize how many threads some of us have to read. It is really deflating when crap like this happens and makes those of us who put in a lot of time waste time which sucks. I read this thread right after he posted it. I was going to reply until I actually read the post. So I agree. I pass up on replying just because the poster sounds so unintelligent that it's not worth my time because more than likely I'll have to post 4 more times explaining what I posted the first time.

budget? Size? Silk or metal tweets? Do you like more midbass or better midrange? Are these just going to be IB in the door?