2fat - funny you should say that, I did the calcs and you're correct, it should even work with the 8 gage, the strange part is I did it for both #4 and #8, kinda like you're saying here. We did not talk, did we...
To answer your question, more often than not the equipment is ok, it's just bad install, like too small power wires, hence large voltage drop. And since the bass takes the most juice, if it's not there you'll get distorsion. So the voltmeter test is the simplest way to tell, and rule that part out. But it never happened in this case, he just would not tell...

 

I understand what you mean, but either he is not having voltage issues or he doesn't know what his bass should sound like. Your right we haven't really gotten any details, but that's usually the case. What I got from him is that all the bass sounds good except for the double pedal bass. So this means not only a higher bass range but also a very fast pace. A driver in a ported box usually can't keep up with that pace and sounds sloppy. He is also comparing it to a stock woofer in another car, which these aren't very loud but can be very accurate in the higher notes. I really think it's the box, driver and power combination. Even if he has a shoddy install, when he fixes it the ported box is still not going to perform well with double bass. So it won't hurt to check the voltages and make sure you've got a good clean ground if you didn't install it yourself.

EDIT: A driver is just a sub or speaker, referring really to the driver mechanism and not so much the cone or surround. I'm just used to hearing and using it as a general term.

 

ok. well we did use 4 gauge wire from the battery to the amp. and another thing that i've noticed more with a cd my friend made me is that some songs have really strong bass, some have alright bass, and then some you can barely notice. my friend installed a killswitch and i flip it on and off on those songs and there is no difference. so i dont know what im not geting much from those songs. where again it works better in my moms car with her woofer.

 

A ported box will do that, some songs won't produce much bass at all. But you could also have your crossover set too low. What frequency do you have it crossed at on the amp?

 

umm dont know. lol. not really sure what the crossover is. im still new to all this lol. theres a gain control on the amp, but i dont remember seeing a crossover.

 

If your using it for a sub I'm sure it has a crossover, unless you've been running your sub at full range... It may be labeled as an X-Over on the amp, and there should be a switch that says full, low pass (LP), and high pass (HP). Then there is a **** with a range of frequencies. You want to have it set roughly between 60hz-80hz, but that really depends on the sub, box, and personal tastes.

 

I'll check it out, I must have dismantled it while I was in there goofing off..

Try it later...Angelo

 

i did the exact same thing with mine when i got it and i know what your talking bout i listen to the same crap and yes i couldnt ever get mine to sound good with the converter. so i said screw and went and got me a kenwood excelon. it makes a huge difference

 

alright sweet. thanks

 

Getting rid of the LOC will clean up your signal, but it still won't make a ported box reproduce double pedals like you want it too.