Need Help!!!

1961 Views 26 Replies 5 Participants Last post by louballs, May 4, 2005

louballs

Discussion Starter · May 4, 2005

Hey guys,
I bought one of those impedance adaptors to hook up my system to my stock stereo. I've followed everyone's directions and i'm getting sound from my subs, but the sound is like crap. A lot of distortion, I either get really low bass or higher bass. I can't seem to get it right even after tweaking with the knobs in the impedance adaptor. Has anyone else had this problem? Can anyone else help?? its very irritating...

1 - 20 of 27 Posts

JPK

· #2 · May 4, 2005

Impedence adapter???

Are the ohms on your amp and sub mismatched?

The only adapter I needed was an RCA adapter to be able to tap a wire on my rear speakers and have it able to use RCA plugs to send the signal to the amp.

louballs

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 4, 2005

an impedance adapter is the same as the adapter you used to get the RCA outputs from the back speakers....the ohms are not mismatched either...ive used this system in my old car and it worked great...now it sounds very shitty.......

Sp00ner

· #4 · May 4, 2005

Assuming that it's the low level adapter, I've never heard it called an impedance adapter before though, it should be just like your used to. I have seen impedence adapters for wiring 4 ohm to 8 ohm and such, but that was mainly for home audio, if I remember correctly...

JPK

· #5 · May 4, 2005

Yeah, the RCA adapter doesn't do anything related to Impedence, I don't think.

Does your amp have a built in crossover? If not, it's possible that it's recieving hi, lo and mid frequencies instead of just the lo.

SaturnI0Nredline

· #6 · May 4, 2005

You need a High level input to low level output. You don't need to change the impendence.

louballs

Discussion Starter · #7 · May 4, 2005

crap...maybe i purchased to wrong thing???? someone in the other forum said i need to buy an impedance adaptor...it says on the boxhi/low impedance apator. The back on the box has directions for hooking up the unit to an amp from a head unit. Can one of you guys post a link to the right part so i can compare to see if its the right thing??

zfactor

· #8 · May 4, 2005

hey you just need as said above a high to low level adapter. almost all stores carry these, even some radio shacks. just take the green and the green/black, and purple and purple/black (they might also be white white/black, and grey grey/black) color wires and tap these into the rear speaker leads. i normally strip back the insulation and wrap the new wire around and solder it to the existing wire. heat shrink over. wire taps usually end up loose after a while.
i own a car audio shop here in fl, do this all the time, have done numerous ion, and ion rl's. works great.
buy the way dont get raped for this adapter they only cost me about 3-5 dollars depending on brand, some places charge over 20-25 dollars for them. just for your info.

zfactor

· #9 · May 4, 2005

http://peripheralelectronics.com/2002/loc.asp

go down the page to the p50 or the p50a.
these are the ones i use here at the shop they work great. very little distortion from these. some of the junk name brands give you lots of noise.

louballs

Discussion Starter · #10 · May 4, 2005

well if thats what i need then i definitely purchased the correct thing....i have it hooked up to an 800 watt amp that is hooked up to two subwoofers....how should i adjust the little screws inside the adaptor in conjuction with the level on the amplifier...everything just seems very distorted....is it possible that my speakers blew for some reason?? they were working just fine, i wouldnt know what a blown speaker even sounds like...i hate to pay some idiot install these....looks like im the idiot here

zfactor

· #11 · May 4, 2005

ok first what kind are they the speakers??
what impedance are they?
dual voice coil or single?
what kind of amp and what model?
sonds like the polarity may be reversed
usually you dont have to mess with the screws inside very much if you got a good one there usually set pretty good.
also do you have the ground wire (black) on the the convertor hooked up if there is one
thanks ill help you here

zfactor

· #12 · May 4, 2005

also what kind of box are they in?
ported or sealed or bandpass

JPK

· #13 · May 4, 2005

I was wondering about the box too. I know that some subs are NOT recommended for bandpass boxes. However, he said he had the same equipment in another car with no problems.

zfactor

· #14 · May 4, 2005 (Edited)

sounds like they are out of phase to me but well soon see, im a master mecp installer this should be cake

he may have the pos + neg crossed at the amp or on the back of the box
if it is a bandpass this will do it everytime. or if they are in a single chamber
they will be fighting each other in the box

by the way bandpass boxes are junk they suck ass!!!!! just had to add that sorry. i talk everyone out of these everytime!!!! once they hear my single 10" image sub hitting 157db with 400 watts they shit a brick

louballs

Discussion Starter · #15 · May 4, 2005

ok they are phoenix gold 10inch subs with a dual voice coil in a bandpass box. i'm not sure what ohms they are since i bought them so long ago, i have them hooked up to a cadence amplifier that is 800 watts. im almost positive that everything is hooked up correctly....the positives and negatives from the amp to the speakers are correct....its mind boggling.....everything sound fine in my old car. and there is no ground wire on the converter....

zfactor

· #16 · May 4, 2005

what cadence amp? is it a mono one or a stereo one

zfactor

· #17 · May 4, 2005

ok check a couple things for me
unhook one of the subs at the back of the box.
how does it sound? much louder? still distorted??

if it sounds much louder we found the problem.

double check the way you have the convertor wired. remember the white is the + wire, the white / black is negative, same grey is + , grey / black is negative. if these are hooked up wrong this will happen lets start here first

louballs

Discussion Starter · #18 · May 4, 2005

its the ultradrive z1200, i believe its stereo

zfactor

· #19 · May 4, 2005

check what i said to check then well go from there

zfactor

· #20 · May 4, 2005 (Edited)

do you have the amp in stereo or are you running it bridged??
sorry so many questions but need them to figure this out without having the car here
did you know which wires at the speakers were positive and negative or did you just hook them up to one or the other?? this makes a huge difference
heres a tip..... if you are ever not sure which wire is positive on a speaker....
get a 9v battery strip back the wires going to the speakers tap them on the terminals of the battery. you will now see the speaker either go up or go down. if the speakers goes up youve won a prize , no really you are just correct they are the right way. now look at the battery see which wire is touching pos and which one is on the neg and bingo you know which wire is pos and neg, if the speaker goes downward, simple reverse them now they are right and check them and again bingo now you know
(and knowings half the battle.....

)
DO NOT WORRY THIS WILL NOT HURT ANYTHING IF SOME JERK SAYS OMG DONT DO THAT THEY KNOW NOTHING ABOUT CAR AUDIO. I HAVE 17 YEARS IN THE BUSINESS OWN TWO STORES AND I AM A MASTER MECP INSTALLER.
JUST A NOTE CAUSE THIS HAS HAPPENED ON OTHER FORUMS. TELL THEM TO JACK OFF

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