New stereo and sub does not seem to hit very hard any recommendations?

[212s]

Tried that also. I may contact jl and see there suggestion. The mx500 and speakers way over powers this sub and amp setup and I was lead to believe they were a matched set.

Don't forget the MX500 is able to push about 150w to the mains when speakers are in parallel (2 ohms). I'm doing that with mine but keeping the volume down as the Polks can only handle 60w while your 650 speakers can probably pump well above that and might be drowning the sub?

 

[Chucksx190]

Don't forget the MX500 is able to push about 150w to the mains when speakers are in parallel (2 ohms). I'm doing that with mine but keeping the volume down as the Polks can only handle 60w while your 650 speakers can probably pump well above that and might be drowning the sub?

I'm running 4 ohm JL m3 speaker on each channel so it should only be 70w per channel with my setup.

 

[212s]

I'm running 4 ohm JL m3 speaker on each channel so it should only be 70w per channel with my setup.

Sorry thought I read that you had them parallel, might have been another thread. Still the amp is very under-rated, that 70w is more like 90+w per channel. With JL I believe you can add at least 20% more to the ratings and still not hit their max. All their gear is much better than spec.

Anywho, I've run out of ideas without being there to see & hear what's going on...contact JL like you said and see what they say. And please come back and let us know the results. I'm very curious to know what's going on there.

 

[Chucksx190]

Sorry thought I read that you had them parallel, might have been another thread. Still the amp is very under-rated, that 70w is more like 90+w per channel. With JL I believe you can add at least 20% more to the ratings and still not hit their max. All their gear is much better than spec.

Anywho, I've run out of ideas without being there to see & hear what's going on...contact JL like you said and see what they say. And please come back and let us know the results. I'm very curious to know what's going on there.

I appreciate all your help. I will contact JL and let you know the outcome. I did find if I turn the input sensitivity past the recommended voltage at 3/4 volume the sub sounds pretty good. I just don't want to damage the speaker by doing this.

 

[TimW451]

From the POV of someone less knowledgable, I was going to ask about what appears that the voltage was set at full sub power and not 3/4, sounds like you’ve at least tried that, if not have always been doing that. What about once you have the sensitivity set right you then use the bass boost to increase the sound to where you want?

JL’s instructions seem perfect for a noob like me, I’ll be disappointed if they are flawed.

 

[212s]

I appreciate all your help. I will contact JL and let you know the outcome. I did find if I turn the input sensitivity past the recommended voltage at 3/4 volume the sub sounds pretty good. I just don't want to damage the speaker by doing this.

You won't damage the speaker unless you overdrive it with too much power, or the amp starts clipping and damages the voicecoil. I'm guessing JL will recommend you adjust the sensitivity as needed.

 

[Chucksx190]

Not sure what happned. I played with it and adjusted everything and could not get it to sound great. Took the boat out yesterday. We have 1.5 miles from our canal before we get to open water. I do not turn the stereo on until we get to open water for respect for my neighbors. Got to open water and turned the stereo on and for some reason the bass was hitting hard. It played great the whole time we were out. Brought the boaat back to my lift and tried it again and it still sounded great. I checked all the wiring to see if anything was loose and all tight and still shrink wrapped. only thing that changed was i had never started the boat only ran it off the charger on the battery that only got to 12.8v. When the boat is running it gets to 14.1v.

 

[212s]

That doesn't make sense, these amps have regulated and filtered circuits that are designed to run on battery power, and 12.8v is a fully charged resting battery. If the battery was only reading 12.8v while on charge, then the voltage could have been low and the amp was struggling. Make sure your charger is set properly or functioning correctly. You should see 14.2-14.4v when the battery is at capacity on the charger. See how it works when not on a charger. You should be able to enjoy your tunes properly while floating.