2022 AR195 Audio Upgrade questions/opinions

[Hoyt]

Yep you have that correct. Don't set voltage to amp though set it to speaker. The amp could be good for 200 watts, but the speaker only 100 (example number BTW). This way your maximizing your speakers possibilities. However, once it's set you'll also want to play regular music and double check numbers. The 80hz frequency is consistent. Normal music has peaks

 

[Hoyt]

Also your subsonic is just for the really really lows. You could set that around 30ish hz, but you'll be limited to enclosure tuning at that point

 

[chrisinrockytop]

Yep you have that correct. Don't set voltage to amp though set it to speaker. The amp could be good for 200 watts, but the speaker only 100 (example number BTW). This way your maximizing your speakers possibilities. However, once it's set you'll also want to play regular music and double check numbers. The 80hz frequency is consistent. Normal music has peaks

Yea, I’ve got my speakers calculated to 25.29 (160rms @4 ohms) and then subwoofer I have calculated to 44.7 (1000rms @2ohms), that seem right?

 

[chrisinrockytop]

Also your subsonic is just for the really really lows. You could set that around 30ish hz, but you'll be limited to enclosure tuning at that point

It ranges from off-50, I would guess I either want it all the way to 50, or just off and only use LPF, right?

 

[Hoyt]

Yea, I’ve got my speakers calculated to 25.29 (160rms @4 ohms) and then subwoofer I have calculated to 44.7 (1000rms @2ohms), that seem right?

Damn what speakers you running in that thing. Seems high to me, but depends on speakers ratings. Wetsounds revo6s are 100watt rms, and their 12" sub is 500rms. That's what I have. Maybe I need to upgrade

 

[Hoyt]

It ranges from off-50, I would guess I either want it all the way to 50, or just off and only use LPF, right?

Yeah you won't be hitting subsonic anyway

 

[Hoyt]

Went back and looked. Skar speakers. So they are 160 watts rms per pair @4 ohms. That's only 80 watts each.

 

[chrisinrockytop]

Damn what speakers you running in that thing. Seems high to me, but depends on speakers ratings. Wetsounds revo6s are 100watt rms, and their 12" sub is 500rms. That's what I have. Maybe I need to upgrade

Overlooked that the listed specs are for pair, not single…subwoofer should be accurate though.

 

[chrisinrockytop]

Went back and looked. Skar speakers. So they are 160 watts rms per pair @4 ohms. That's only 80 watts each.

Yea just realized that, that’s why I double/triple check things lol.

 

[Hoyt]

Yea just realized that, that’s why I double/triple check things lol.

Definitely double check, and you'll be good to go

 

[chrisinrockytop]

@Hoyt @redthumper9 went to do the tuning last night and none of my amps are putting out even close to the voltage they should be. Thought maybe my meter was bad so I borrowed a neighbors and was getting the same reading…1 amp would hit about 10 volts, other about 6, and the last about 4…and that was with gains all the way up. Anything dumb/simple I may have done, or possibly a battery switch issue? TIA

 

[I_squared_r]

@Hoyt @redthumper9 went to do the tuning last night and none of my amps are putting out even close to the voltage they should be. Thought maybe my meter was bad so I borrowed a neighbors and was getting the same reading…1 amp would hit about 10 volts, other about 6, and the last about 4…and that was with gains all the way up. Anything dumb/simple I may have done, or possibly a battery switch issue? TIA

I haven't read through the entire thread. But my experience was that my cheap amp didn't have nearly enough power to drive my speakers. With the gain all the way up and volume all the way up, it couldn't get anywhere close to the power output required for a good sounding system. I ended up replacing it with a JL M700 and now I have to be very careful with the gain. I smoked a 8" kicker speaker by turning the wrong combination of knobs. Then I went with the process of setting gain with a multimeter and everything is really good now.

 

[chrisinrockytop]

I haven't read through the entire thread. But my experience was that my cheap amp didn't have nearly enough power to drive my speakers. With the gain all the way up and volume all the way up, it couldn't get anywhere close to the power output required for a good sounding system. I ended up replacing it with a JL M700 and now I have to be very careful with the gain. I smoked a 8" kicker speaker by turning the wrong combination of knobs. Then I went with the process of setting gain with a multimeter and everything is really good now.

I had that thought/wonder, but at half gain you can’t be in the boat, is deafeningly loud…so I don’t think it’s that the amps are incorrectly rated or anything like that. Plus it’s not as if all 3 amps are running the same half voltage they should be, they varied which is odd.

 

[Hoyt]

@Hoyt @redthumper9 went to do the tuning last night and none of my amps are putting out even close to the voltage they should be. Thought maybe my meter was bad so I borrowed a neighbors and was getting the same reading…1 amp would hit about 10 volts, other about 6, and the last about 4…and that was with gains all the way up. Anything dumb/simple I may have done, or possibly a battery switch issue? TIA

So I'll ask the dumb question first..... Did you have fully charged battery like 12.5-13.5volts?

Next check would be what is voltage under load at amp?

Next would be if you were using Bluetooth was your phone volume turned all the way up?

Lastly was head unit volume turned up 3/4 to full power?

 

[chrisinrockytop]

So I'll ask the dumb question first..... Did you have fully charged battery like 12.5-13.5volts?

Next check would be what is voltage under load at amp?

Next would be if you were using Bluetooth was your phone volume turned all the way up?

Lastly was head unit volume turned up 3/4 to full power?

Yea batteries were fully charged, I double checked that and 14+ volts at batteries.

Phone volume all the way up and HU up 3/4,tried a few different test tunes thinking that was possibly it, and even Aux cord, but same thing.

Didnt check the load at amp which I thought about this morning and is on my list of things to do when I get home from work.

 

[chrisinrockytop]

Check load at amp, but if all that checks out imma have to say cheap amp unfortunately. You could bridge the channels if the amp allows that. That'll give you more output. Example: My wetsounds syndx6 amp, channel 5&6 bridged puts out 40-45 amps with 14 volts. That equals out to 550ish watts rms (sub). However, my same amp channel 1 (not bridged) is set to about 8amps which gives me 110ish watts rms (wetsounds recon 6s cabin speaker).

it’s just odd that 2 of the exact same amps would be that much of a variance, I’m talking exact same models. And then for the 3rd the monoblock 1500 watt amp it would seem like there’s no way it’s just at 3-4 volts.

This may sound stupid, but I’m wondering if it’s possible that on the post of the battery switch with those 3 power wires along with some other house stuff if it’s losing power there? My 1st amp with the most volts is maybe lowest on the post, obviously if I test load at the amp this should answer that question.

You're pulling 110 watts at just 8 amps???

 

[Hoyt]

So your Skar 1000 watt amp is 4 channel 150wattsx4 @4ohms. If you run 4 speakers on one amp, and the other 4 on other amp you should have proper power to each of your Skar 6.5s.

Soooo.... 100wattsx4ohms=400 square root of 400 is 20. So to get 100watts per 6.5 speaker your looking for 20 volts on the meter. If your only getting half of that then you either have a voltage issue to amp (could need bigger power and ground wire), or the amps are just lying about real power ratings.

 

[Hoyt]

You're pulling 110 watts at just 8 amps???

I screwed up my whole math description in that post. That's why I deleted it . No my 6.5 wetsounds revos are putting 100 watts rms @4ohm which is 20 volts on meter. Sub is putting down 44 volts which is 500 watts rms. I mixed up my post and math and put amps

 

[chrisinrockytop]

So your Skar 1000 watt amp is 4 channel 150wattsx4 @4ohms. If you run 4 speakers on one amp, and the other 4 on other amp you should have proper power to each of your Skar 6.5s.

Soooo.... 100wattsx4ohms=400 square root of 400 is 20. So to get 100watts per 6.5 speaker your looking for 20 volts on the meter. If your only getting half of that then you either have a voltage issue to amp (could need bigger power and ground wire), or the amps are just lying about real power ratings.

Right, that’s what I came up with too, although I was just looking for 17.8/17.9 as that’s what the speakers needed.

I have 2 of those amps, as you said 4 cabins to one and 4 towers to the other, the 4 cabin amp was pulling the most voltage by far, 11-12, and peaked at about 15 with amp gain cranked. The tower amp peaked at about 5-6. The sub amp (theoretically most powerful) peaked at about 3, which again is why I thought it seemed odd that the power got less and less with each amp.

Not sure why but I didn’t think to test the power at amp until this morning when I got to work, that would answer a big part of this question lol.

 

[chrisinrockytop]

So did some testing and was getting same voyage at batteries as I was at the amp, so was something with the amps. Started playing around and thinking because it didn’t make sense that 2 of the exact same amps, even if company over rated the amps, would have a big difference in voltage, so decided to try something…dawned on me that the one amp getting the most voltage had lowest number of RCA splits to it, the amp putting out lowest voltage had most splits, so unplugged all the RCA splits and just ran the 2 RCA from HU straight into the amp for the sub and voltage went from like 1.3 to 18-20 immediately. So apparently losing a ton of voltage in the splits, which I thought I had read wasn’t supposed to happen, but clearly is happening.

So…only solution for that is obviously changing out the head unit from the stock 2 RCA output to something with more, I know a lot of you guys are running the Fusion set up.