Posted July 28, 200520 yr should be hooking up my rl-ps and having a listen tomorrow after work. i played them with no box when i first got them just to make sure they worked and all since one of the boxes came kind of bashed up. started turning up my nine.1, and they just werent moving much so i ended up turning it up all the way. i realize itll be different in a box, but just want to know whats what before i starting breaking stuff. i have a +18 bass boost on the amp, and i can turn the sub from -10 to +10 on my top of the line kenwood excelon x979 deck. i believe they are either 4.5 or 5 volt preamp outs. i think im going to want a bit more than the amp up all the way. i'll be better off turning the deck up to maybe +4 or 5 than messing with the bass boost on the amp right? i THINK my deck doesnt clip even all the way up, i've had it to 33 of 35 to my kenwood 35x4 to my alpine 4x6's and they sounded great. i'd definitely notice clipping through those if the deck was doing it right? thanks yall, cant wait to hear these things beat down Shaun
July 28, 200520 yr Author i have read it, dont have it memorized or anything, going to read it again tomorrow. pretty sure it said no amp bass boost and not to use bass boost on the deck, but i remember seeing somewhere else that with very high end decks you can turn them up all the way and use the boost without distorition or clipping. should i post over at kenwoods forums or something and ask them about it?
July 28, 200520 yr as the tutorial says, turn ur headunit's sub control all the way up, leave the amp's bass boost OFF and proceed to set ur gains. this gives u the option of turning the headunit's sub control down if there is too much going on without having to mess with the amp. kinda like a better bass knob.can't wait to hear what u think of the rl-p's!wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
July 28, 200520 yr Admin bass boost only adds distortion, something you don't want to do with a sweet sub like the RL-p
July 29, 200520 yr Author even with a badass deck like mine? having 5 volt preamp outs, i kind of wonder if you dont have to give it +10 to get all its got, i wouldnt see a 600 dollar deck (if you let crutchfield rape you anyway, scored mine brand new for 330 off ebay ) distorting bad no matter what you do to it. but this is my first serious system in about 4 years so what do i know
July 29, 200520 yr To tell ya the truth, maybe only 5 decks ever made do not clip (well, probably more, but you get what I am getting at). Most of them cost much more than $600.Overemphasing a group of frequencies is audio homicide as well.
July 29, 200520 yr Author i posted it under another post, asking if the acceleration might rip the screws out of the wood if i had the woofers inverted. WITHOUT SYSTEM it runs 12.6 on street tires, on the motor only. best time was 11.3 on spray and slicks. its also my daily driver lol. im thinking it will run 12.8ish on street tires and motor with the extra 110 lbs or so with the system in. probably get better traction off the line though with all that at the very back of my car might look a little goofy though, sitting lower in the back gonna have to try and find somewhere that will sell me a 2-2.5 inch drop in the front and 1-1.5 in the back to get it to look right
August 5, 200520 yr This is an interesting topic. My hu says that it puts out 5v on the preamp outs but according to my amp I have them setup for an hu that puts out around 2 volts. I have no distortion in my mids and highs and no clipping in my subs. I will say that I currently have the sub level at the deck set to 0 and it's settings range from (-6 to +6). I had to do a similar thing to the last deck I had that stated it put out 5.5v on the preamp outs. I've had my current subs and mids and highs for around 3-4 years and have yet to blow a speaker, but maybe this is because I'm sensitive to how the speakers sound on a particular song. If a song makes the speakers sound like they are distorting I'll adjust accordingly at the deck. Maybe my problem is the amps I have (planet audio) understate the voltage so that it is impossible to cause clipping if you are following the voltage numbers on the amp. For example if your deck says it puts out 5v and you set the amp to 5v, the 5 volt setting on the amp can really be used for a deck that is putting out 6.5v but they do this so that you can't cause clipping if you go by what the amp says (if that makes any sense to you).
August 5, 200520 yr Some of what you wrote, I don't follow... understate the voltage? Ratings are in watts. What deck are you using anyways?The only real way to tell you aren't getting any clipping at all is to use an o-scope. Second best method, is to get the amp benched, and use the DMM method. Third, is just to use the DMM Method with the amplifier ratings.
August 5, 200520 yr Some of what you wrote, I don't follow... understate the voltage? Ratings are in watts. What deck are you using anyways?The only real way to tell you aren't getting any clipping at all is to use an o-scope. Second best method, is to get the amp benched, and use the DMM method. Third, is just to use the DMM Method with the amplifier ratings.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Don't have the money for an o-scope. How many shops actually have an o-scope? How much do you think they'd charge to dial in your amps?
August 6, 200520 yr Some of what you wrote, I don't follow... understate the voltage? Ratings are in watts. What deck are you using anyways?The only real way to tell you aren't getting any clipping at all is to use an o-scope. Second best method, is to get the amp benched, and use the DMM method. Third, is just to use the DMM Method with the amplifier ratings.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Don't have the money for an o-scope. How many shops actually have an o-scope? How much do you think they'd charge to dial in your amps?<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Is this pondering out loud? I have no idea how many shops have an o-scope, I am pretty sure none around me do.
August 6, 200520 yr bass boost only adds distortion, something you don't want to do with a sweet sub like the RL-p<{POST_SNAPBACK}>its true. just finished tuning my amp. 740wrms i turn it all the way up, but in order to get the rl-p 15 fully moving i need to turn on bass boost. it does distort the signal but the rl-p is moving good. so if i turn down the gain a bit to compensate it sounds ok, but it does affect my SQ which i dont like. may have to actually buy a quality amp now lol
August 7, 200520 yr Author after listening to them for a couple days, with the amp gain at +2 db, and the deck at +5 out of 10, i think they sound pretty clean. the subs are starting to get broken in more, jumping my vision a little more now. at first it was barely noticable, and i dont think they're broken in all the way yet, seen maybe 3 or 4 hours of loud play. im still a little disappointed with them up high but they hit low bass hard. screws are falling out of my car, having to threadlock everything. any way to bench an amp with a dmm? if not, can most shops do this for me?
August 7, 200520 yr WELLLLLLLLLLL...............There is a way, but its not going to be super accurate beacuse it wont measure if the amp is clippinghttp://www.conceptconcept.com/download/measurwatts.pdfHowever, some amps wont let you clip them so in my case it was pretty close to actual rms
August 7, 200520 yr You can only measure true power with a load that will no change impedance as it warms up, and as the frequency changes, etc.
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