Bad Amp?

Sorry for the double post, I posted this originally in the Audio... board but it looks like it is a better fit here.

I've been reading some posts here on audio setups and I've been having a problem hearing my Deafcon V's at rope length. Hopeing I can get some helpful hints from any of you that might be able to help. Here is my setup, Cobalt 226, 800 CCA battery, 65 amp altenator, Kicker SX600.2 600 Watt RMS amp, Sony CDX-F7715X receiver, and Skylon Deafcon Vs. Running 2 Gauge for power and ground and 11 guage to the speakers. My amp settings are: gain range 2:1 (Kicker recommended this even though the receiver is supposed to provide 4 volts RCA output), gain 8, Lo-Pass Slope Off, Lo-Pass Freq 20325 HZ, Hi-Pass slope 12DB, Hi-Pass Freq 100HZ. Most of these settings came as a recommendation from Kicker Tech. I previously had a pair of Wake Audio Speakers but one side kept blowing so I went with Skylon. I've tested the amp to speaker voltage with a multi-meter and I'm only getting about 3 volts to the speakers. They are kinda loud but not enough to hear on the rope. I'm only about 50 feet back because that's the best wake behind my boat and Skylon is telling me I should be able to hear them great back there. I'm at the point where I'm thinking I've got an Amp problem but don't know enough about this stuff to be sure.

Any help???

Thnks

chekc th eeasy stuff first.....what voltage are you seeing at the amp? are the radio controls set right(fader, balance)? try that first.....then move back to the gains.

Michael:

Unless you have a very specialized meter, measuring the voltage at the speakers will not tell you much. The only way you could make sense of that is if you were applying a steady, pure tone and had a volt meter that could respond to that frequency.

If you have blown speakers out then that alone is a pretty good indication that you are getting a significant amount of power up to the speakers. If you want it louder, you will need more speaker.

There is one real simple possibility that you should check out: make sure that both speakers are working in phase. That is, make sure that both speakers are hooked positive to positive and negative to negative. If you managed to have one speaker reversed then you can actually have noise cancelation taking place.

If you are not sure of the wiring there is a simple way to test. You will need to be able to see the speaker cone, so if there is a cover/screen that prevents you from seeing the speaker then you will need to take it off.

Take a flashlight battery (1.5 volts) and touch it across the wires to the speaker. Do this down at the amp (disconnect them from the amp first). Touch the positive of the battery to the wire you believe is positive to the speaker, and the negative of the battery to the other wire. Watch the speaker cone and see which way it moves (in or out).

I forget which way it is supposed to move, but I am guessing in. What really matters, however, is that all the speakers move the same way. So test one speaker, see which way it moves, then test the other and verify that it moves the same way. If one moves in and the other moves out, swap the wires to one of the speakers! (or better yet, run the test on a speaker you know which terminal is the positive and thus figure out which speaker was wrong).

If that isn't your problem then I would expect that you need more speaker: either bigger ones or more of them.

Rod,

Michael has the Deafcon V's (ProAudio) The speakers are probably not the problem...they should scream, even with less power.

If you think it is the amp, emove the old one go to an electronics store who accepts returns...buy a new amp hook it up and see what happens, then return it.

what I have read is that the defcons V take a huge amount of power a kicker 600x2 is not gonna be enough.

I run the Deafcon V's with a Fosgate 1000/2. They do scream. I have no problem hearing them at 75'. I do have a problem with the amp heating up and shuting off. I think Nate nailed it...they take a lot of power!

If the amp is the problem then i would look in the zapco amp lines the have really good amps with a lot of power

Thanks for the replies, I have checked the phase, I do have a tone CD and checked the voltage that way. I've read on other posts that the Kicker might not be enough power, but that is the Amp that Skylon recommends for these speakers. One other bit of info I left out of my original post is the length of the run between the battery and the amp. I'm running both power and ground about 22 feet each due to the configuration of my boat. I am running 2 gauge wire both sides and thought that should handle it. It now looks like I'll be getting another Kicker Amp as soon as I return this one to Skylon (Monday). If that doesn't work, I don't know what I'm gonna do. Guess I could try to return it and get the Fosgate, but for a 22 foot run on a 1000W Amp I'm sure I'd need 0 gauge. I still don't get why people say the Kicker 600 watt is not enough when the V's are supposedly rated at 250Watts. Oh well....
Thx

Just try turning the gain up and listen for distortion. I have an 800 watt amp running tower speakers rated at only 400 watts and im hearing they should be ok as long as i have my crossover knocking out the lows so take it for what its worth.