Rockford HX2 Correct Wiring?

Hey guys, I have a question as to how to hook up my amp to my speaker. After looking at alot of the different ways that these things can be hooked up I'm beginning to wonder if the guys who did the install knew what they were doing. My first experience with them when I went in to have it checked out after the install was one of them unhooking things and saying "Why did that dumb --- do that?!" So I began to question if either one of them knew what they were doing.

So to my question. I have a Rockford Dual coil 4 ohm HX2 15". 1200w max power, model RFD1215. This is in a 3Ft2 ported box. 4" port. (Should this box be ported? And with that big of a port?)

My amp is a Rockford Power 1000DB, 500x1 4 ohm RMS / 1000x1 2 ohm RMS. The first guy had it hooked up with a wire between each negative and a wire between each positive with each running to their respective + or - on the amp. The second guy just took 2 wires, one going to both negatives and to a outside mounting clip connector, and the same with the positives. (Make sense?)

Is this going to be the best way to connect this sub to this amp? I did notice some distortion while it was hitting pretty hard but wasn't sure what to think. Also they had the sub positioned facing toward the cab which if I'm not mistaken with a single 15" like that would sound better facing towards the back of the trunk just because of the physics of sound. Don't you usually want the bass to refract from the longest distance from the driver as possible to get the low tones. Right? I'm not an installer so I could be totally wrong but I just wanted more of a second opinion from you guys. Help is appreciated. Thanks guys.

Tom

Just set the gain of the amp down to the point where it is outputting 34 volts at your HU max clean volume (about 3/4 of the way).  That will give you 600 watts into a 2 ohm load.  Measure at the amp speaker terminals that the sub connects to, with the sub disconnected.  If the amp gain won't go down that far (although it should), then the amp will be overpowering the sub.

Use a good test tone at about 50 Hz to set the gain.  A digital multimeter will read the voltage.  But hey, the guys at the shop probably already did this.

So it's actually sending 1000w to each voice coil? That would make sense as to the distortion. And I don't think these guys were that through on the install. They suggested the amp for the sub. I was kind of a sucker cause I didn't know anything about all of it at the time. I'll post some pics when I'm done so you guys can see. I know it's not that special but I take pride in my work.  Thanks again guys for the suggestions. I appreciate it!

Tom

No, not to each voice coil.  The amp power is made, and it goes to whatever you have hooked to it.  It's the final ohm load on the amp that causes the amp to send current...in this case a load of two ohms.  That power is split between whatever number of subs/coils are connected.

It's okay to use that amp...just take the time to set the gain so that it doesn't send more than your sub's rated RMS.  Refer to http://www.jlaudio.com/tutorials/index.html

And, try the different positioning of the box as mentioned above.  Verify box and port specs by going to the Rockford website and finding your sub.  With the available power you have here, this might be a situation where a sealed type of enclosure would do better for sound quality...although it would mean starting over with the box.  You'll also need a lot of sound damping on the car's metal, esp. in the area where the sub is located, before you get any sound that could be described as clean.