Car Stereos: car subwoofer and amp, sony xplode cd player, amp output

Question
QUESTION: Hi there I recently installed a kicker 150 rms subwoofer. the amp in the trunk is a Dual 460 watt why would the music sound crappy for one, I also have a Sony Xplode cd player radio what a combination.  before the kicker I had a sony Xplode 150 rms subwoofer 450 watts which lasted 16 yrs just died a month ago the music sounded nice now the amp is the same for both prior and now so what could be the problem?on the radio itself there is a selection for sub which goes up to 10 I have to have that maxed out to 10 in order to hear it is working (the sub) before with the sony sub I could hear it at 3 the X plodes must have an additional bass boost built into their subs right? please answer thanks

ANSWER: Hi Heidi,

Unfortunately, there's a whole bunch of things that could be your issue.

You could have broken hardware.
You might have missed something or have a loose connection in the install.

Never turn bass boost on, much less turned up.  If it's not working without it, something else is up.

There's no real bullet answer I can give you.  Start from the beginning.  Check the voltage from the power lead off the battery to ground.  Make sure it's clean.

Make sure the RCAs in the back of the deck are snug, as well as in the back of the amp.

Make sure you didn't hook the speaker wires up backwards.

Test the amp output with other speakers, to make sure it's outputting sound.. etc.

Basically, just work your way through the components, and find out what went wrong.

Justin

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi there I was wondering how do you set the gain on a amp? I also have a bass boost on the amp the kicker that I had simply had too much thumping I can't stand the sound I like music that is balanced and I was wondering on the sony explode deck I have a low setting medium setting and high setting I can't seem to set these properly so everything sounds good and one more thing I can't turn up the radio voulume past 23 or the front speakers will sound bad why is this I have never had this happen before.

Answer
Hi Heidi,

The gain is usually a little knob you need a small screwdriver to turn on the side or top of the amplifier.  It sets the output level of the amplifier going to the speakers.

The reason your speakers sound bad beyond 23 is because either the gain on an amp is too high or because the sound going to the speakers isn't clean at that point.  You've either overcome the amplifier or the deck's output capacity, and so it's clipping.

Justin