ok here is my system: the head unit is a pioneer premier 750. the low/mid/high is all set to 0. bass is set at 0. sub control is set at 50 hz. and the level is + 6. my amp is a pg tantrum 1200.1 i'm using to push 2 12's in a 3.8 ft^3 box after sub and port displacement tuned to 30 hz. the bass on the amp is set to 0. x-over is down around 50 hz. i can only turn the gain up about 1/5 up and i hear terrible distortion. if i keep the gain all the way down and turn up the headunit a littl i get terrible distortion. i have my rca cable run on the opposite side of the power wire. these subs don't get loud at all before they distort. my 6.5's get louder than these without distorting. i think it might be my amp. my just got fried i think because now there is no output from the amp but it lights up and doesn't go into protection. i also saw sparks coming from the speaker outputs so i need to get it serviced so my question is would the amp have caused all the distortion because it was bad? i used to have to ed b2's in the same box same amp that sound 20 times better. the b's were in a different car and i transfered the system to the new car and just hooked up the ne magnums and i was very suprised at how awful they sounded not how good. i'm not bashing stereointegrity because i know these subs should sound a lot better and i just want help to get them sounding better.

I would say your problem lies somewhere either in your amp or your wiring. I would inspect the sub to make sure there is no damage to them. And if you saw sparks then that is a good indication that there is something wrong. Did the sparks just appear by themself? you didn't touch any screw driver or anything in the wrong spot did you? I am not to sure what else it could be that would cause all the distortion unless your headunit is sending a horrible signal to THE amp.

i was turning down the gain because they were distorting really bad and then the outputs sparked and then there was nothing. i guess i'll have to get my amp fixed and go from there. i'm wondering to if my rca's are plugged into the rear output instead of the subwoofer out put but then wouldn't that effect my comps because they sound great with no distortion. i just thought i'm gonna check and see if the amp was on highpass because that could cause a lot of distortion couldn't it?

Are they wired out of phase?

Are they wired out of phase?

good thinking i think that is my problem. i did the battery test and i took a AA battery and hooked the + wire to the + end on the battery and - to - and the one sub poped out while the other one went inwards. so does this mean the sub that went in is out of phase?

Yep. That would explain the complete lack of bass - literally. Wire them up so that they both move outward at the same time. Doing that = instant bass.

Turn down that MASSIVE +6 gain in the 50hz area...should help out quite a bit with your "sounding bad" problem.

Turn down that MASSIVE +6 gain in the 50hz area...should help out quite a bit with your "sounding bad" problem.

i always heard it was ok to crank the sub level up on the headunit because it didn't cause clipping or distortion. anyways i checked and the fuse blew on my amp so that's probably why it doesn't work so i'm gonna switch my + and - and see what happens.

Have you switched the polarity on the one 15 yet? If so, did that fix the problem?

my amp don't work anymore i just sent it back to phoenix gold. would 160 wrms be enough to push it to see if it helped any? i got a us acoustics 4065 i can bridge to put 160 wrms to it.