sub wiring

[Kickstarts-suck]

Well i got my amp and sub and installed them today everything went fine until I came to the sub..

Kicker CVR12 4 ohm
Kicker 400.1 mono amp


I dont know how to wire it. :ermm:

I looked in the directions and I see Series and Parallel wiring

Parallel says
Dual 2 voice coils = 1 load
Dual 4 Voice coils = 2 load


Series says
Dual 2 voice coils = 4 load
Dual 4 Voice coils = 8 load

Also how do i "break in my amp/sub?

Is this picture what i need to do?

[Chin_Chilla]

What's the specs on that amp? As in how many watts at what ohms? Should say on your manual. ALso whats the specs on the sub? How much watts rms does it need?

[mineralgrey01gt]

sub specs should be 400watts RMS, 800watts Peak. That pic is right. Thats how you wire them together

[Kickstarts-suck]

the amp is 400 watt and the sub is 800 / 400 RMS.

[Kickstarts-suck]

Originally posted by mineralgrey01gt
sub specs should be 400watts RMS, 800watts Peak. That pic is right. Thats how you wire them together

ahh Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I wanted to get it all finished SOOO bad but I waited to make sure so I didnt F something up. :)

[F-16Guy]

That depends, I guess. Do you have a dual voice coil sub? If you do, it will have two separate positive terminals and two separate negative terminals. If not, it's single voice coil and you can just wire it to the amp normally (+ to + and - to -). If it is DVC, you need to know how many ohms each voice coil is. It should say it in the specs. If its dual 4 ohm voice coils and you connect the two positive terminals together and the two negative terminals together and run those to the positive and negative on the amp, the amp will see a 2 ohm load. If the amp instructions say that the ohm load should be a minimum of 4 ohms (which a lot do these days), then you will have to wire the sub in series. To do this, you connect the positive of the amp to the positive of one voice coil terminal. Then, you run a jumper wire from the negative of that voice coil to the positive of the other. Finally, you connect the remaining negative terminal to the negative on the amp. That will present an 8 ohm load to the amp and it should run it with no problems. With a DVC sub, its best to get two 8 ohm coils or two 2 ohm coils so you can wire it to achieve 4 ohms, that way it's compatible with more amps.

[F-16Guy]

Originally posted by mineralgrey01gt
...That pic is right. Thats how you wire them together
ONLY if the amp is 2 ohm stable. If not, you will either overheat your amp, or possibly blow it up. Read the amp instructions and see what the minimum impedance is for the sub.

[Kickstarts-suck]

yea its a dual voice coil

has 2 +s and 2 -s

[Chin_Chilla]

Originally posted by F-16Guy
ONLY if the amp is 2 ohm stable. If not, you will either overheat your amp, or possibly blow it up. Read the amp instructions and see what the minimum impedance is for the sub. X2 - Be carefull to wire it correctly. It is so easy to mess up sensitive audio equipment.

[F-16Guy]

How many ohms is each voice coil? 4 ohms each?

[Kickstarts-suck]

here is the one I bought

http://www.audiosavings.com/product_details.aspx?item_guid=0bdea4a9-510d-40d0-a630-5841fac2b7c9&category_guid=b65c1e6a-948e-432a-a804-7c13753066f9

VR series dual voice coil 4 ohm car subwoofer

[F-16Guy]

If the voice coils are 4 ohms each and the amp is 2 ohm stable, then just follow the wiring diagram you posted.

[Kickstarts-suck]

Originally posted by F-16Guy
If the voice coils are 4 ohms each and the amp is 2 ohm stable, then just follow the wiring diagram you posted.

ok thank you for making sure :)

ill make sure to post a video when done :D


What about breaking it in? Do I need to do anything special??

[F-16Guy]

Originally posted by Kickstarts-suck
here is the one I bought

http://www.audiosavings.com/product_details.aspx?item_guid=0bdea4a9-510d-40d0-a630-5841fac2b7c9&category_guid=b65c1e6a-948e-432a-a804-7c13753066f9

VR series dual voice coil 4 ohm car subwoofer
You should be good then. Just verify that your amp will handle a 2 ohm load, and wire it up.

[Chin_Chilla]

Originally posted by F-16Guy
and if the amp is 2 ohm stable ^^^Make sure its 2 ohm stable^^^

[F-16Guy]

To break it in, just go easy on it for the first couple hours. Don't pound base as hard as you can right off the bat. You should be spending the first hour or so setting up your crossover and stuff like that anyway.

[Kickstarts-suck]

Originally posted by F-16Guy
To break it in, just go easy on it for the first couple hours. Don't pound base as hard as you can right off the bat. You should be spending the first hour or so setting up your crossover and stuff like that anyway.

ok thanks :blah:

[Kickstarts-suck]

ok got everything in and Finally got the "sub mode" ON and no BOOM :ermm:

Should there be a light on if the amp is getting power?

IDK what to do now :(

[Kickstarts-suck]

I don't think the amp is getting power or its not turning on. Is there a secret "power button" to turn on the amp?

here are some pics of everything wired up

http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/3917/dsc01224hp6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/4117/dsc01225ow9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/3852/dsc01221oe2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/6152/dsc01222rm2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


Nothing ever works for me on the 1st try :ermm:

[72 chevelle ss]

You don't have your remote wire hooked up. It is the blue wire in the back of your HeadUnit. Wire it to the terminal inbetween your power and ground cables.

[Kickstarts-suck]

Originally posted by 72 chevelle ss
You don't have your remote wire hooked up. It is the blue wire in the back of your HeadUnit. Wire it to the terminal inbetween your power and ground cables.

ahhh ha!

I saw a loose blue wire in the back of the head unit and was wondering what it was for..

ill go try that now.

[Kickstarts-suck]

Well I hooked up the blue wire and still not getting anything.


I don't think the amp is turning on. My troubleshooting book says there are 2 LEDs on the amp and they arnt turning on.


:ermm:

[bwamos]

Did you hook the blue wire to the remote/power antenna wire on your radio?

Also it is possible that you aren't getting a good ground on that ground connection. It' looks pretty oxidized unless you did some cleanup under the bolt and scrape away some of that paint.

[Kickstarts-suck]

Originally posted by bwamos
Did you hook the blue wire to the remote/power antenna wire on your radio?

Also it is possible that you aren't getting a good ground on that ground connection. It' looks pretty oxidized unless you did some cleanup under the bolt ans scrape away some of that paint.

I hooked the blue wire into the blue wire on the back of the head unit. I guess ill ground it somewhere else and see if that works.

[ZeroLogic]

Chech your ground and connections. Also check your fuses. Check that remote wire as well. Thats where I made a mistake with my subs.

[Kickstarts-suck]

Originally posted by ZeroLogic
Chech your ground and connections. Also check your fuses. Check that remote wire as well. Thats where I made a mistake with my subs.

I took the remote wire off and that did nothing. So now im going to ground it somewhere else.

Hopefully that works.

[Kickstarts-suck]

ok I regrounded it and it still didnt work so I put it on the radio for a sec and the lights came on the amp and it works!!!!

just wont work on CD mode

Anyone know whats up with that??

[wykyd450R]

On the back of the deck, is there a blue wire, and a blue wire with a white stripe? I dunno if Alpine since changed anything since I used their decks, so I am thinking maybe they could have changed how their power antenna wire operates. Maybe you have it hooked to the wrong blue wire. Perhaps they did change the antenna wire, to operate only when the deck is in radio mode ( making the other blue wire a constant output for an amp)...Maybe, just maybe thats why it was working on the radio. Instead of the deck popping up a motorized antenna, it kicks your amp on when in radio mode?? Swap blue wires in the back, and try it. As I said, they never use to be like this, but maybe they recently did?? Worth a shot.


Hope this makes sense. :p

[bwamos]

Originally posted by wykyd450R
On the back of the deck, is there a blue wire, and a blue wire with a white stripe? I dunno if Alpine since changed anything since I used their decks, so I am thinking maybe they could have changed how their power antenna wire operates. Maybe you have it hooked to the wrong blue wire. Perhaps they did change the antenna wire, to operate only when the deck is in radio mode ( making the other blue wire a constant output for an amp)...Maybe, just maybe thats why it was working on the radio. Instead of the deck popping up a motorized antenna, it kicks your amp on when in radio mode?? Swap blue wires in the back, and try it. As I said, they never use to be like this, but maybe they recently did?? Worth a shot.


Hope this makes sense. :p

Makes sense to me.

[Kickstarts-suck]

Originally posted by wykyd450R
On the back of the deck, is there a blue wire, and a blue wire with a white stripe? I dunno if Alpine since changed anything since I used their decks, so I am thinking maybe they could have changed how their power antenna wire operates. Maybe you have it hooked to the wrong blue wire. Perhaps they did change the antenna wire, to operate only when the deck is in radio mode ( making the other blue wire a constant output for an amp)...Maybe, just maybe thats why it was working on the radio. Instead of the deck popping up a motorized antenna, it kicks your amp on when in radio mode?? Swap blue wires in the back, and try it. As I said, they never use to be like this, but maybe they recently did?? Worth a shot.


Hope this makes sense. :p

ok ill try that. My alpine is pretty old so i would think your right.

[wykyd450R]

Originally posted by Kickstarts-suck
ok ill try that. My alpine is pretty old so i would think your right.

If its an older deck, that may not be the issue. None of my older ones done that.

[Kickstarts-suck]

Originally posted by wykyd450R
If its an older deck, that may not be the issue. None of my older ones done that.

o ok. Yea its pretty old. The model and stuff is in my Sig. I looked for a date on it but It was scratched up to bad to see it.

My dogs got out and i just got them back so i haven't messed with the stereo yet but so far with the ghey radio songs it sounds really good and I like it so far

[Kickstarts-suck]

Ok I found the other blue wire and wired the remote wire to it and it works great now!


Thanks for everyones help! :macho

[trx400exxracer]

time for a video I am getting this same sub

[Kickstarts-suck]

Originally posted by trx400exxracer
time for a video I am getting this same sub

I took a few videos but my camera didn't pick up any of the bass. Ive used this camera to record a video of the sub in my room and it worked fine.

But it sounds great :macho