Sub won’t work
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=41511
Printed Date: July 21, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Topic: Sub won’t work
Posted By: blackshuck
Subject: Sub won’t work
Date Posted: October 23, 2004 at 7:34 PM
Ok, I've been progressively buying a system for my car, and I finally got an amp yesterday (Phoenix gold Octane R 2 ohm) my sub is an 8 ohm rockford.....and I have power to the amp, the remote turn on wire works fine, RCAs from my deck's subwoofer output (alpine CDA-9827) to the amp's input, and wire from the amp to the sub....what the hell could I be missing?
Replies:
Posted By: blackshuck
Date Posted: October 23, 2004 at 7:37 PM
oh, another thing, my amp's input seems to be marked L and R.....what the hell is that in relation to + and -?
Posted By: supradude
Date Posted: October 23, 2004 at 8:06 PM
you can check the sub with a battery (AA, C, D, 9 volt). just take the + and hold it on the + of the battery and the - to the battery -. the sub should move outward when the connection is made. (unhook the sub from the amp first.)
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'85 Toy
Posted By: blackshuck
Date Posted: October 23, 2004 at 8:17 PM
it's brand new....should be fine....
Posted By: supradude
Date Posted: October 23, 2004 at 8:28 PM
i have bought subs that were brand new and the wire would be loose where it connects inside the cone before. that is the quickest and easiest way to check it. then, if it is working, you can look elsewhere.
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'85 Toy
Posted By: Rushman
Date Posted: October 23, 2004 at 8:57 PM
Is there maybe somthing in the menu on the Alpine Deck you need to turn on or activate the sub output? Maybe the sub level output is all the way down? Just checkin........
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99 F-one fitty
Pioneer Premier H/U
Alpine EQ
Kicker 1200 amp
4 Kicker comp 10s
6 kicker SS65.2 components
Posted By: Rushman
Date Posted: October 23, 2004 at 9:03 PM
oh by the way , the input marked L and R is for LEFT and RIGHT. If your only running one sub , there will be instructions on how to "Bridge" or combine the left and right channels on the amp. Read the instructions and be very carefull hooking up the amp.
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99 F-one fitty
Pioneer Premier H/U
Alpine EQ
Kicker 1200 amp
4 Kicker comp 10s
6 kicker SS65.2 components
Posted By: Rushman
Date Posted: October 23, 2004 at 9:08 PM
ok , sorry one more intrusion.......I just looked and the amp is a mono block amp. I should have looked first. (my bad) Anyway , the amp still has Stereo Left and Right inputs but automaticly does the bridging internaly for you. Sorry for the confusion.
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99 F-one fitty
Pioneer Premier H/U
Alpine EQ
Kicker 1200 amp
4 Kicker comp 10s
6 kicker SS65.2 components
Posted By: bumpingjeep
Date Posted: October 23, 2004 at 9:39 PM
check to make sure that your sub pre-out is turned on...it is my experience that any alpine that comes with three pre-outs comes with the sub pre-out turned off...to turn it on hold your set up button down for 3 seconds...use the track forward button to get to the sub option...then hit the band button to turn it on...if this is not the issue then what kind of rf sub you got...only reason why i ask is it could also be a lack of power issue...your amp is rated at a mere 75w x 2ch at 4ohms...at 8 it would be even less...in addition to that...even though alpines come with a 4v pre-out...you only actually get 4v when your sub level is turned up to +15...hope something helps...
Posted By: blackshuck
Date Posted: October 24, 2004 at 5:10 PM
the sub's on on the deck, I'll check the sub with a battery....thanks a lot for the help everyone, I'll see how it goes.
Posted By: blackshuck
Date Posted: October 24, 2004 at 8:10 PM
the sub's fine....so now the only 2 plausible things.....RCAs, or amp to sub wires...I'm gonna act as if I know nothing....there are 4 RCA jacks in my amp.... Input Auxillary output L O O R O O now is that auxillary output referring to something else? Where do I hook up my RCAs to? Now question 2...the output for the subs, 2 ohm amp, 8 ohm sub, there is 2 positives and 2 negatives......do I just pick one set and hook it up or should I connect them in parallel?
Posted By: Rushman
Date Posted: October 24, 2004 at 10:01 PM
ok , just for now , ignore the aux. output on the amp and plug your RCAs into the input plugs. As far as the sub woofer goes , you can wire it in paralell and it should only bring you down to a 4 ohm load to the amp. That is you said your sub is an 8 ohm DVC?
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99 F-one fitty
Pioneer Premier H/U
Alpine EQ
Kicker 1200 amp
4 Kicker comp 10s
6 kicker SS65.2 components
Posted By: blackshuck
Date Posted: October 24, 2004 at 11:29 PM
Single voice coil....there's only one set of terminals on it....but what I don't get is how L and R on my amp are positive and negative.....the RCA jacks have no colour to them, so I really have no clue which is which....
Posted By: Rushman
Date Posted: October 24, 2004 at 11:45 PM
ok , its like I was telling you earlier.......you have a set of 2 RCAs from your sub output , a Left and a Right. Alot of sub systems are set up in 2 channel Left and Right stereo and alot of them are set up 1 channel mono. The amp you have allows you to use both Left and Right as inputs and the amp automaticly combines or "Bridges" the 2 channels together for you to make a single , one channel sub woofer output. Thus you only need one set of speaker outputs. A +(positive) and a -(negative) This situation is usually only seen on a amp like yours , a "mono"block amp. It can be used in other situations with different amps but thats a different topic. So just run a regular speaker wire from the single speaker terminals on the amp and hook the wire up to the speakers terminals accordingly. positive+ to positive+ and negative- to negative-.
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99 F-one fitty
Pioneer Premier H/U
Alpine EQ
Kicker 1200 amp
4 Kicker comp 10s
6 kicker SS65.2 components
Posted By: blackshuck
Date Posted: October 25, 2004 at 1:06 PM
Alright thanks a bunch, I'll give that a try once I get home.
Posted By: blackshuck
Date Posted: October 26, 2004 at 12:05 AM
I'm royally defeated here....I can't get this working....for reference, again, the amp is a phoenix gold Octane R2.0 1. I have my subs on on the deck, my RCAs hooked up to the sub output of my deck, it gives out a very low voltage signal varying while music plays (very low, like .2 millivolts type low) and the amp doesn't seem to put out much higher than that at the output where the subwoofer's connected. ARGH.
Posted By: Rushman
Date Posted: October 26, 2004 at 7:40 AM
Its beginning to sound like somthing may be wrong with the H/U. All I can think of at this point is check one more time to see if the sub output on the deck is actually on. I know I mentioned this before but it doesnt hurt. If it still doent work , you might could have the deck checked out buy a local shop or the place you bought it from. The sub output should be more the .2 millivolts. Go in thru the menu on the deck and see if the sub out is on and activated and if maybe it has its own volume level. Go thru the entire menu and make sure you didnt overlook somthing. I feel your pain and anger.........
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99 F-one fitty
Pioneer Premier H/U
Alpine EQ
Kicker 1200 amp
4 Kicker comp 10s
6 kicker SS65.2 components
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