a proper enclosure with a good clean sine signal will prevent damage. when you throw 4KW out of a 1.5KW amp its not able to control the sub and the sub does not move in a liner fashion. the sub will move out part way along the sine wave (plus a bit more from sheer mass and newtons laws and such) but it will stop before it reaches the peak or bottom of the note and thus you are sending power into the sub but its not moving out any further. this leads to producing heat with out producing any cooling. the subs movement in and out (sucking air into its pole and compressing it out) is its cooling.

^^  Sort of, due to self dampening, the cone never "rests" and heats up anything quicker with the different signal.  I doesn't matter if it is clean or not.  It is simply too damn much power for the driver to deal with on a thermal level.

Just turn it down or get a 2nd driver if you need it that loud...

a proper enclosure with a good clean sine signal will prevent damage. when you throw 4KW out of a 1.5KW amp its not able to control the sub and the sub does not move in a liner fashion. the sub will move out part way along the sine wave (plus a bit more from sheer mass and newtons laws and such) but it will stop before it reaches the peak or bottom of the note and thus you are sending power into the sub but its not moving out any further. this leads to producing heat with out producing any cooling. the subs movement in and out (sucking air into its pole and compressing it out) is its cooling.

That's another thing... "Proper enclosure" the sub is in a 4 cu ft box tuned @ 34hz and in my vehicle i only have about a 32-55hz response anything under or above that is basically nothing. I wonder if it isn't a very "proper enclosure" as you say. I mean i love the darn sub, but it just doesn't play well in the box.

Just turn it down or get a 2nd driver if you need it that loud...

I have a grand am lol that single 15 basically takes up my whole trunk. I think i'll just turn down the subwoofer level on the head unit

Box is probably OK.  Where is your Sub Sonic Filter set at?

Box is probably OK.  Where is your Sub Sonic Filter set at?

Roughly 20

what are you running, 1 ohm or 2 ohm to the amp? im assuming 2 ohm? in either case AT MOST that amp is going to give you 2KW of power and even then i doubt it will be clean. there is not a snow balls chance that a hifonics amp is going to pump out 20% above rated power.

i do not think you are putting to much power into it. i think you are trying to get to much power out of your amp.

you also want your subsonic to be a couple hz below your tuning frequency. 20hz sub sonic is WAY to low, FI recommends </= 28hz.

Edited February 24, 201411 yr by ncc74656

what are you running, 1 ohm or 2 ohm to the amp? im assuming 2 ohm? in either case AT MOST that amp is going to give you 2KW of power and even then i doubt it will be clean. there is not a snow balls chance that a hifonics amp is going to pump out 20% above rated power.i do not think you are putting to much power into it. i think you are trying to get to much power out of your amp.you also want your subsonic to be a couple hz below your tuning frequency. 20hz sub sonic is WAY to low, FI recommends </= 28hz.

Nope running @ 1ohm. Sub is a dual 2. And okay i'll change that. And idk about trying to get "to much" out of the amp, I'm just running it @ 1ohm and have all the gains set right,(besides the sub sonic) which i will change.

Yes, that is too low for your SSF, since the driver is in your trunk you may have not heard the damage you have been doing...

 

Also, you getting the smell into your from the trunk, yikes!

Regardless of how, you are pumping too much into the sub...

BTW, your gain settings have nothing to with how much power you can potentially give the sub...

a few hz below your tuning frequency the sub "unloads". think about the port and the box, its there to create back pressure and you feel that in the SPL (sound pressure level). when you drop below the tuning frequency the box is no longer providing resistance to the air the sub is pushing and it looses that mechanical force. when this happens it takes very little power to hit or exceed Xmax on the sub.

think of how hard it is to lift a 100Lbs weight, gravity is your mechanical resistance (as the box is to the sub above tuning frequency). now say you go up to that weight and pick it up but someone hollowed it out so now it weighs 5 Lbs. (im sure you have experienced this at some point) now you pick it up and damn near fall over as your arm flys up into the air as you were expecting MUCH more resistance. this is what happens to the sub and just like you pull your shoulder mussel the sub can bottom out or break its soft parts.

Yes, that is too low for your SSF, since the driver is in your trunk you may have not heard the damage you have been doing...

 

Also, you getting the smell into your from the trunk, yikes!

Well the port if firing into the cab, in which on the side the port is, the back seats fold down (port side is firing into the cab through the folded down seat) therefore it's not hard to smell anything if it is getting stinky

I guess i just feel like a noob with everything in car audio. Like when i start to get one thing right, another one is wrong... Idk how to determine how much actually power is going to the sub and how it's going to react thermally. It just seems like an endless amount of things to learn between the acoustics and car electrical...

The real easy part to get is that all you need to do is turn it down a bit...  That's it.  (and get your SSF set right)...

 

Yes, that is too low for your SSF, since the driver is in your trunk you may have not heard the damage you have been doing...

 

Also, you getting the smell into your from the trunk, yikes!

Well the port if firing into the cab, in which on the side the port is, the back seats fold down (port side is firing into the cab through the folded down seat) therefore it's not hard to smell anything if it is getting stinky

 

 

have your tried different orientations with the box? is this a walled off install?

 

walled off meaning the sub and port are both firing through the ski pass while sealing off the trunk from the cabin of the car. if its not walled off like that i would try port firing towards the trunk. this is typically louder but not in every case. trying it out is the only way to tell. 

if you already have all the parts then just use what you have. when you are playing music you will hear an audible change in the sound when its distorting. having said this if you are useto hearing distorted music you may not realize what you are hearing. dont set your settings to explode, dont have bass boost on, dont turn your deck up to +11 bass, dont turn your gain knob all the way up, ect. the gain wont make the amp put out any more power but it will make it put out more power sooner in relation to your decks volume knob. once you start turning your volume knob up after your amp is sending max power thats when you start clipping things.

in either case if the amp is sending a non distorted signal it is not capable of giving "to much power" to that sub.

if you are using less than rated power on the sub you can place it in a larger box to reduce the load and increase SPL from it with less power.

I guess i just feel like a noob with everything in car audio. Like when i start to get one thing right, another one is wrong... Idk how to determine how much actually power is going to the sub and how it's going to react thermally. It just seems like an endless amount of things to learn between the acoustics and car electrical...

 

if you dont hear distortion, dont hear the coil bouncing off the backplate, and dont smell the glue (which is holding the coil together) melting, you're fine. 

Yes, that is too low for your SSF, since the driver is in your trunk you may have not heard the damage you have been doing...

 

Also, you getting the smell into your from the trunk, yikes!

Well the port if firing into the cab, in which on the side the port is, the back seats fold down (port side is firing into the cab through the folded down seat) therefore it's not hard to smell anything if it is getting stinky

 

have your tried different orientations with the box? is this a walled off install?

 

walled off meaning the sub and port are both firing through the ski pass while sealing off the trunk from the cabin of the car. if its not walled off like that i would try port firing towards the trunk. this is typically louder but not in every case. trying it out is the only way to tell.

This is not a walled off build. It's a 4 cu box in the trunk and sadly to say... There isn't another way to reposition the box....

can't flip it 180? 

I guess i just feel like a noob with everything in car audio. Like when i start to get one thing right, another one is wrong... Idk how to determine how much actually power is going to the sub and how it's going to react thermally. It just seems like an endless amount of things to learn between the acoustics and car electrical...

 

if you dont hear distortion, dont hear the coil bouncing off the backplate, and dont smell the glue (which is holding the coil together) melting, you're fine.

All of this ^ is all thumbs up except for the "smell" which occurs after long periods of typically low hz tones played in songs

 

 

I guess i just feel like a noob with everything in car audio. Like when i start to get one thing right, another one is wrong... Idk how to determine how much actually power is going to the sub and how it's going to react thermally. It just seems like an endless amount of things to learn between the acoustics and car electrical...

 

if you dont hear distortion, dont hear the coil bouncing off the backplate, and dont smell the glue (which is holding the coil together) melting, you're fine.

All of this ^ is all thumbs up except for the "smell" which occurs after long periods of typically low hz tones played in songs

 

ya thats the glue melting away. coils might go slinky on you soon, save some cash for a recone. 

can't flip it 180?

I did once..... Almost tore off my trunk lid.. Not literally but you know... And the resonse was worse

I guess i just feel like a noob with everything in car audio. Like when i start to get one thing right, another one is wrong... Idk how to determine how much actually power is going to the sub and how it's going to react thermally. It just seems like an endless amount of things to learn between the acoustics and car electrical...

 

if you dont hear distortion, dont hear the coil bouncing off the backplate, and dont smell the glue (which is holding the coil together) melting, you're fine.

All of this ^ is all thumbs up except for the "smell" which occurs after long periods of typically low hz tones played in songs

ya thats the glue melting away. coils might go slinky on you soon, save some cash for a recone.

Dang...