alpine type r components keep blowing

Hello everyone,

I have a 1995 Honda Civic DX Four Door Sedan, recently I have gone through 3 sets of mid-range speakers(Alpine Type-R Components) in under a month. The tweeters are fine and sound great. I have two 10' MTX Thunder 7500 subwoofers inside a box made by Tweeter, I have those hooked up to a JL 500/1 amp and the components are being powered by a JL 300/4. I am using a Alpine iDA-X001 HU. The speakers are mounted in the factory speaker wells, both doors are covered with dynamat as well as my whole trunk to reduce excess vibration to the speakers. At first it was the drivers side mid-range that blew and i just assumed it was from me opening and closing the door too hard. I replaced that one twice and now both passenger and driver side are blown. I have tested them with a volt-meter and they are reading 0 ohms. From what an installer at tweeter said apparently they are supposed to read 4 ohms. 

I am only using front speakers, and they are not bridged. I am using 4 gauge wire for all my power and ground connections. The grounds for my amps are less than 2 feet away and are going through a support beam inside the trunk that I brought down to bare metal and bolted them to. I also added two ground cables to go from the battery to the frame of the vehicle. Today it was snowing all day long and brought my car into our shop and took apart the speakers to see if they got wet, they were bone dry, same with both amps.  

I installed the system myself and played around with the switches and dials on the amps until I thought it sounded right. If it helps at all, here are the settings I have both amps set to:

JL 500/1

Output mode: Amp Filter

Filter/Slope: 12dB

Filter Frequency (Hz): 65

Filter Mode: LP

Infrasonic Filter: Off

Infrasonic Filter Freq.(Hz): 22

"Q" : 0.5

Bass EQ: On

Center Frequency: 30

Boost(dB): +4

Amp LP Filter: 12dB

Filter Freq.(Hz): 55

Input Voltage: Low

Signal Sensing: Off

JL 300/4

Front Filter controls

Freq Range: x1

Filter Slope: 12dB

Filter Freq (Hz): 60

Filter Mode: HP

Front Input Section

Input Voltage: Low

Input Mode:  2ch

I would greatly appreciate any thoughts and suggestions on my predicament, from what people tell me (installer at tweeter) this is the best site to get reliable information about all that is car audio.

Thank You,

Jake

A search through this forum's archives on how to set gain:  https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/search.asp?KW=gain&SM=1&SI=TC&FM=2&OB=1&Submit=Start+Search

Here's one in the first page of hits:  https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=94529&KW=gain

Do as suggested above, and set your high pass for the components at 100 Hz.  With tweaking you may be able to go down to 80 Hz but you know the history and don't want to repeat it.  Low pass on the sub amp should be set to the same frequency (55 Hz is too low...you are compensating with the mids).  Set boosts to flat and work out your sound without them.  Infrasonic filter may not have to be used;  watch for bottoming out while playing the lowest tones that will be played through your system.

Hey, Karl.  Good to hear from you!

kfr01] wrote:

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Car w/ Stereo Sold. Now driving a 2004 BMW 330xi w/ premium sound package (harman kardon).

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Just curious, that radio in the BMW looks a lot like a Dual.  ???

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Build the box so that it performs well in the worst case scenario and, in return, it will reward you at all times.

stevdart wrote:

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Hey, Karl.  Good to hear from you!

kfr01] wrote:

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__________________________________________
Car w/ Stereo Sold. Now driving a 2004 BMW 330xi w/ premium sound package (harman kardon).

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Just curious, that radio in the BMW looks a lot like a Dual.  ???

kfr01] wrote:

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ou're likely clipping your 300/4 pretty severely.

Turn the gain down, way down. Better yet, take your car back to your installer and demand that they set your gain properly. Oh, you're the installer. Please don't take offense, but this is exactly why you should pay an installer to setup your stereo if you honestly don't know what you're doing...

Bass too loud? Turn the gain down on that amplifier too.

Also, if you frequently listen at very high volumes, you need to change your crossover. 60hz at 12db per octave simply isn't doing much to protect your components at extreme volumes. Either increase the slope or increase the filter frequency.

Just to be very clear; your primary problem is not the filter, it is your gain.

Good luck!

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Agreed. Couldn't have said it better. Also, i'd recommend having bass boost off or at 0.

thanks again everyone. I have pretty much given up on the type r components and i just upgraded to focal 165 v2 components. my biggest problem is that im impatient so i really just need to sit down and take the time to set them right.  Hopefully ill get to it this week. Once I have things set ill post the new settings for your approval. thanks for all the advice i really appreciate it.

senseijake wrote:

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thanks again everyone. I have pretty much given up on the type r components and i just upgraded to focal 165 v2 components. my biggest problem is that im impatient so i really just need to sit down and take the time to set them right. Hopefully ill get to it this week. Once I have things set ill post the new settings for your approval. thanks for all the advice i really appreciate it.

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i know its my settings. i just wanted some better speakers so when i get my settings correct the system will sound that much better. and yes i do enjoy spending money, its a curse. Are those focal components decent? the guy at tweeter said they were but what is your opinion

Ok so here are my new settings let me know if they seem ok. The system sounds great but now i need to fixed my ground because my amps are cutting out at higher volumes. im 95% sure its my ground because after looking at them i noticed that they are a bit rusty because civics dont rust everywhere right haha. anyway let me know i really value everyones opinion and next time im just going to pay a professional to do all this for me since its definately not worth the headache (literally)

JL 500/1

Filter Mode: LP

Infrasonic Filter: on

Infrasonic Filter Freq.(Hz): 30

"Q" : 0.5

Bass EQ: off

Center Frequency: 45

Boost(dB): +2

Amp LP Filter: 12dB

Filter Freq.(Hz): 75

Input Voltage: Low

Signal Sensing: Off

JL 300/4

Front Filter controls

Freq Range: x1

Filter Slope: 12dB

Filter Freq (Hz): 130

Filter Mode: HP

Front Input Section

Input Voltage: Low

Input Mode:  2ch

Like i said this seems to sound good for the variety of music i listen to, hip-hop is not to bassy, techno sounds crisp with the components but smooth on the bass, country has a good blend, 80's rock seems to lack a little on the bass end of the spectrum which is what i had tune my original set up to before which caused my components to fail. I can deal with the lack of bass on 80's music as long as my components dont blow again.

I know im a newbie when it comes to tuning so if anyone could give me insight as to what the filter slope does along with frequency range i would appreciate it. i seems like if i switch the slope to 24dB  on the 500/1 i lose all my bass from the subs, i am sure this makes sense to you but not to me. Hence the self admittance to wearing the noob patch

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Jake B

If your amps are cutting out it may be because your gain is STILL too high.  I think that has been your propblem from the beginning.  Did you set it using the JL Audio specified procedure in the installation manual?

As far as your settings, I recommend changing the sub filter frequency to 100Hz and setting the filter frequency on your components also to 100Hz.  This may help the "lacking midbass" problem you describe.  Also. is your subwoofer enclosure ported or sealed?  If sealed, turn OFF the infrasonic filter.  If ported, you need to set it to the same frequency as your port tuning frequency.