Need help please

I bought a 4 channel california amp (245W I believe...) powering a 12 inch Thump sub and got it hooked up on an 8 gauge wiring kit. It thumps ok but it is drawing way too much power from my car. The reciever blinks badly to the bass and the speakers distort heavily. Rap and techno distort only slightly but rock is almost unlistenable. My amp has got a gain, low pass, high pass and bass boost so I was wondering whats the best way to configure my amp so it thumps hard but doesnt draw much power. The previous owner of the car had a bigger system that didn't distort at all so I know it's possible. I have looked all over the net for sollutions so if you could possibly help, I would GREATLY apprectaie it.

I bought a 4 channel california amp (245W I believe...) powering a 12 inch Thump sub and got it hooked up on an 8 gauge wiring kit. It thumps ok but it is drawing way too much power from my car. The reciever blinks badly to the bass and the speakers distort heavily. Rap and techno distort only slightly but rock is almost unlistenable. My amp has got a gain, low pass, high pass and bass boost so I was wondering whats the best way to configure my amp so it thumps hard but doesnt draw much power. The previous owner of the car had a bigger system that didn't distort at all so I know it's possible. I have looked all over the net for sollutions so if you could possibly help, I would GREATLY apprectaie it.

:disappoin :newbie:
12inch "thump" sub... well your "thump" sounds like a horrible woofer. so that is a good place to start. Basicly you buy cheap crap you get crappy sound. if your amp is actually putting out 245w into w/e load this woofer is giving and lets say (just grabbing figures out of the air) it rated to 300w RMS. it probably starts bottoming out around 150-200w. this will cause distortion and sometimes a poping sound.
Next thing is probably your amplifier. if i know most peolpe that ask to even consider using a bass boost you probably have it cranked all the way up and have the gain sallmed all the way over. if you amp actualy puts out 245w of clean signal you are doing this causes power to double but current draw will make your altinator go south. on top of the fact it makes the signal clip heavily wich causes great distortion. your next problem is probably your head unit. if it has bass boost on it you probably have it turned all the way up and have your head unit sitting on full power all the time. this will drive your mids and highs into clipping heavily.
my reccomendation: act as if the bass boost wasnt even there. use the low pass cross over to get rid of high frequincies going to your woofer (higher frequincies make it sound like the music is coming from behind cardboard). learn to set your gain properly. you dont need an ociliscope but if you could get ahold of one for free i would. but if you cant follow these directions
-find a series of sign waves. there are sign wave generating programs for free and free trial all over the net. get one and burn yourself a few things. sweep from 30-120Hz, and 10Hz increments from 30-120Hz (or where ever your low pass cross over starts cutting frequincy)
-if yo ucan listen to it on a properly tuned system so yo ucan see what they are sapposed to sound like with 0 distortion.
-pop the CD in your car and turn the amp gain all the way down, turn your head unit about 1/4-1/2 the way up. start slowly listen to the sweep on repeat. slowly turn the gain up untill you hear a change in hte sound (distortion). then turn it down about 1/8 of a turn. then slowly turn it up untill your hear distortion again then turn it down to just at the point where lottle of no distortion can be heard.
-now listen to eh 10Hz increments. if there is any distortion on any major frequincy range that you are concerned about go burn your self some notes. all 8 in each octave are
20-40Hz octave
2.5Hz jumps between each notes

40-80Hz octave
5Hz jumps betweenn notes

80-160Hz octave
10Hz jumps between each notes

if any note is distorted you have 2 options. set the gain quieter to get rid of distortion, or just live with it. if there is distortion on a frequincy that isnt a note it is very rare for a sound track to play it, and flats are distorted 95% of the time anyway so it doesnt matter...lol

PS
i forgot to tell you hot to learn where your HU starts distorting. after setting the amp gain turn your HU up untill you hear distortion. turn the amp gain down a tad and if the distortion begins to go away, continue turning it down untill you no longer hear distortion. then continue doing this untill it sounds distorted even with the amp gain almost all the wya down then turn your HU back to where you will normally want to listen to it while driving and reset your gain as above to get rid of distortion.

I bought a 4 channel california amp (245W I believe...) powering a 12 inch Thump sub and got it hooked up on an 8 gauge wiring kit. It thumps ok but it is drawing way too much power from my car. The reciever blinks badly to the bass and the speakers distort heavily. Rap and techno distort only slightly but rock is almost unlistenable. My amp has got a gain, low pass, high pass and bass boost so I was wondering whats the best way to configure my amp so it thumps hard but doesnt draw much power. The previous owner of the car had a bigger system that didn't distort at all so I know it's possible. I have looked all over the net for sollutions so if you could possibly help, I would GREATLY apprectaie it.

cbfryman wtf are u talkin about? ur not even answering his question you're just getting him deeper into this hole he dug for himself.. (by buying cheap stuff that is lol)

anyways what head unit do u have? and are u powering the speakers with another amp? if not.. then when u turn up the volume (usually past 80% or so) the speakers are supposed to distort (if u dont have a high pass filter set thru them)

and your sub.. "thump sub" huh? well also im guessing its some kinda cheap sub from the name.. but what is it? dual 2 ohm? dual 4 ohm? or just 4 ohm? and how much power does your amp put out? for example..
50 x 4 @ 4 ohm?
70 x 4 @ 2 ohm?
i dont even know how you're powering the sub with a 4 channel amp.. did you just use 2 of the channels? or did u just plug everything into the sub? lol this is hilarious.. u might be destroying the sub as we speak

also this might help
http://forum.sounddomain.com/forum/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=030419

first off I would just like to say thankyou both for posting. Anyways I don't know much about the subs i bought them second hand I do know they're shit though. My speakers aren't being powered by an amp I should probably start thinking of doing that. The thing is when my engine is off, the sound is great no distort even at high levels but when im driving, the speakers distort heavily even at moderate levels and the sub gets a little less oomph in the bass. I'm guessing the amp is sucking all the power out of my car. I'm sorry if my question is unclear but what I was wondering was how I can get the most out of my amp by giving it lower power so the speakers don't distort so bad while still retaining good bass. Thankyou all for even reading my post I aprreciate you having to deal with my ignorance :)

just one thing do you have your rca lines and power lines running along opposite sides of the car?

just one thing do you have your rca lines and power lines running along opposite sides of the car?

Are the RCA's the two cords that go from the reciever to the amp that feeds the music into the amp? please excuse my ignorance.

yes

yes

I run my power down the right of my car and the RCA's through the middle they don't touch at any point and I don't see even if they did how it would effect anything. maybe you can point out something I missed?

The current running through the power wire can create a small magnetic field around the cable, which can induce some low-voltage electromagnetic noise in the rcas if the rcas aren't shielded well and they're run right next to the power. Since yours are separate that's not the problem though, and what you described isn't what EM interference would sound like anyway.

It honestly sounds like your gain is cranked way up, driving your amp into clipping. Clipping will make it sound like utter crap, not to mention he efficiency of the amp goes down the crapper (it draws WAY more power from the electrical system than it should for the amount of power that's actually making it to your speakers).

:smile: i was just trying to help him set gains so he doesnt drive his amp into distortion. you say its only distorted while the car is running? your electrical system may be making your amp get all its power from the altinator. if things dont fade when the car is off you have a great battery and a crappy altinator. check the magic 3. Altinator (+) to Battery (+) , altinator to ground and battery to ground. i think thats the correct 3. this will help your electical system efficiency greatly. also, check amplifier to ground. if you check the magic 3 and set your gains properly and are still having this problem check all other assesory connections to make sure they arent introduceing noise. if noise is still present then try buying a noise gate. if you are still having problems it is one or more of the following
-crappy head unit
-crappy amplifier
-crappy woofers
-crappy/improper install

please correct me on the 3 if i am wrong (not that i have to ask, just making it clear that im not sure so i dont get flamed for no reason)

the magic 3 are battery ground, alt + to batt +, and engine ground

of course engine ground and alternator ground are essentially the same thing, since the alternator is bolted straight to the engine, it's just easier to do the engine ground because there's already an engine ground cable, you just have to put another one in parallel with it.

goch ya ;)

if you are still having problems it is one or more of the following
-crappy head unit
-crappy amplifier
-crappy woofers
-crappy/improper install

please correct me on the 3 if i am wrong (not that i have to ask, just making it clear that im not sure so i dont get flamed for no reason)

lol hilarious