QuestionQUESTION: I have 2 audiobahn immortal 10" subs (3000 max/ 1500 rms EACH) with a volfenhag amp (800 watts rms) on each sub. Its no suprise that my lights are dimming. I'm going to get a 2 farad capacitor .. maybe in a month or 2 .. I'm a college student so theres not much money here, LoL .. But until then, my system keeps running through 100 amp fuses in a matter of seconds if I even attempt to turn my amps up half way along with my music. is there anything pass a 120 amp fuse that I can use without it blowing so quickly? Any suggestions on what I should about this power issue? I'm also going to get a red or yellow top battery for my trunk .. Thanks :)
ANSWER: Having set up major concerts with tens of thousand of watts on 4 way line arrays, subs and distributed audio as well as major recording studios, I find it hard to fathom the spl that could really be achieved by effectively putting headphones on (car audio) with 800 to 3,000 watts of clean power. Also swallowing the ratings or need for this kind of power in that kind of environment. Without a truly high damping factor, sheer power will not produce accurate sound aside from the fact that it takes 28 feet to actually reproduce a waveform lower than 40hz. Having said that I can only ask you if you had your ears checked lately to see how you've compromised your hearing by listening to anything over 120db for more that 15 minutes, not to mention that 130db can inflict damage in far less time? As far as the fuse going, if anything you should be grateful, it probably saved you from going deaf altogther. It's too bad that in school they don't teach kids to treasure Gods gift's, hearing being one of them. Your only young once. When you get older you'll wish you didn't abuse your hearing. My advise to you is to spend your money (when you have it) on high damping factor, performance audio for the home (not just amplifiers but source equipment, pre-amp, speakers and cables). Then create an acoustically friendly envirnoment. You won't need to play at ear shattering levels because it will sound incredible. Check out Red Rose Music.
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QUESTION: LoL, thanks for advice. I do understand this having so much power is ultimately in vain. But like you said, you're only young once. I dont see myself having any of this after I finish my Masters or PHD program .. I'll have a Lexus by then. I hear the stock sound in those are pretty good :) LoL. A high damping factor? Im completely lost. I also went to the Red Rose Music site and the prices on those things should be censored!! Especially to the college students naked eye. Speaking of God's gift's, I wish he took my vision away for that split second I saw those prices. Is there an alternate, MORE AFFORDABLE way or ways I can go about quenching this power thirst for my system is experiencing? I'm not quiet as established as some people when it comes to funds .... Sir
ANSWER: Truthfully car audio is not my expertise. If your looking for affordable sound in your living quarters I can research it and send you links to deals on great, not expensive audiophile stuff (not performance like Red Rose). Tell me a bit about what kind of music you like to listen to and what media you use (example CD, MP3, lossless compression, cassettes, etc)
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QUESTION: I use mp3's and CD's. I usually listen to R&B .. I use rap or hip if I'm gonna do comparison in sound with my friends or at the audio show they hold at my school because of the bass used in the music but I dont listen to it on a regular basis. I just wanna be able to power my system so it doesnt chip out or destroy the fuses so quickly. Thats all. I'll get rid of it in due time so Im not trying to spend much more on it. Are there stronger fuses available? Will a 2 farad capicot help? Better wiring? I use 4 gauge wiring for the power. I understand that this isnt your area of expertise, but some confirmation or direction would help. Thanks
AnswerCD's are good. MP3's at best are inferior sound files and can add distortion to the signal. Real audio tests are not done with synthesised music. Hip Hop and a good deal of current R&B uses digital drum machines and synthesized bass made from a keyboard designed to produce un-natural sub harmonic bass frequencies. A real test is to listen to anything that uses all real instruments. Speakers designed for digital sound are not high quality speakers because their voice coils must be wound with thicker wire so that they can take more energy at lower frequencies. Of course very expensive speakers have fewer problems if any with sub harmonics.
Now back to your fuse problem. As a test try playing CD's with real instruments and see if the fuses blow. If not, what is happening is this; as the frequencies go below 40hz the impedance goes down below the rating of the amplifier. Cheap amplifiers do not have the ability to stabilize at low frequencies and overheat so to protect themselves they use the crowbar approach (blow a fuse). If it was a high current amplifier really made for sub bass it wouldn't care what the load is and just keep kicking out sound until it blows the speaker which can be seen as a fuse on the output of an amplifier.
So the simple answer to your question is that it's not smart enough audio to do anything other than playing at a lower level, different music or get another subwoofer and connect it in series with the one you have to raise the impedance. It will lower the output but probably stop the amplifier from blowing a fuse.
