I seem to be randomly losing 40-50% bass for short periods of time...

[canibus]

Hello guys, brand new to the forums.

I'm not very pro with all the audio stuff so excuse me a bit

Here's my set up, 2008 Honda Accord LX, 2x JL Audio 12'' W6v2 subwoofers, a Kenwood KAC-X1R Amp (1 ohm stable i believe), a 1 farad capacitor, a Kenwood Deck, and the proper gauge wiring everywhere possible. My local audio shop did this, good people.

Anyways, the last few days I have noticed that my bass randomly gets softer as if it's losing like ~40% of it's power, but my interior speakers stay the same volume. There is no pattern to it, and the time between full power/power loss seems to vary as well. The volume does not matter, it's happened while turned all the way up, and also running at a very conservative volume. And in both situations, the bass still sounds good, no distortion or weird sounds.

I also noticed that the reading on my amp and cap have been fluctuating between 14.5ish and 12.5ish which I have never noticed before (14.5ish being what it's always normally read before this problem). So I brought it to the shop to have a more professional opinion, and we ended up hooking up some meter to my battery and it was also fluctuating the same 12.5 and 14.5 numbers there. they said perhaps it might be an alternator or battery issue, I personally don't think it would be the alternator, but I did buy a new battery from advanced auto parts, the yellow top one; and the problem persisted within 5 minutes of the new battery being installed. I also noticed that sometimes my amp/cap will still read 14.5 volts and the power loss still seems to be there, but again, randomly comes back sometimes! My engine RPM seems to have no effect on when it decides to come and go either.

I am really clueless as to what's going on, I am bringing my car into the audio place on Tuesday to have them take a more thorough look. But I was curious, what might your guys' opinion be on this matter? I have done a lot of googling but none seem to have the same exact symptoms as me. Any input would be much appreciated.

Sorry for the long wall of text and if there's any confusion, I **** at writing long things.

Click to read more...

 

[Kangaroux 5,000+ posts]

Either a faulty alt or a faulty amp. Your alt is either not powering up for short periods of time (hence the voltage drop) or your amp is broken and is pulling large amounts of power when it shouldn't. You can rule out the bad amp by pulling out the sub amp and seeing if it persists. If it doesn't, your alt may be starting to kick the bucket

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

Take the cap out of the system. 90% of the time that will fix voltage issues

 

[canibus]

They are going to temporarily test with a different amp for me just to see if there's any change, I've also wondered about my cap, it's kind of old, so is my amp and deck, probably going onto 2 years. my w6's aren't even two months old though.

The whole alternator thing does seem to make sense as well, but on a 2008 very lightly used car? (bought it from my mom //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif). It didn't even have a system in it until about 2 months ago.

edit: i guess you did use the keyword 'faulty' though //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

edit2: big thanks as well.

 

[Kangaroux 5,000+ posts]

They are going to temporarily test with a different amp for me just to see if there's any change, I've also wondered about my cap, it's kind of old, so is my amp and deck, probably going onto 2 years. my w6's aren't even two months old though.
The whole alternator thing does seem to make sense as well, but on a 2008 very lightly used car? (bought it from my mom //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif). It didn't even have a system in it until about 2 months ago.

edit: i guess you did use the keyword 'faulty' though //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

edit2: big thanks as well.

For starters pull out the cap and see if it helps. If it doesn't just leave the cap in and switch out the amp. Headunit shouldn't be an issue and I highly doubt that the alt would have died, or at least began to die. My car is 10 years older than yours and I've put my electrical through a lot more abuse with no issues lol

 

[canibus]

LOL. Cool I'm going to suggest those steps to them if they didn't already know to do that. I just try to bring them as much info as possible because I'm a goof like that.

 

[wenn_du_weinst 10+ year member]

sounds like loose wire

 

[alexh15s 10+ year member]

What kind of fuse do u have for your main power wire.Ive had an inline fuse do this before.not just the fuse but the holder its self .

 

[Sub Woofin 10+ year member]

Hello guys, brand new to the forums.
I'm not very pro with all the audio stuff so excuse me a bit

Here's my set up, 2008 Honda Accord LX, 2x JL Audio 12'' W6v2 subwoofers, a Kenwood KAC-X1R Amp (1 ohm stable i believe), a 1 farad capacitor, a Kenwood Deck, and the proper gauge wiring everywhere possible. My local audio shop did this, good people.

Anyways, the last few days I have noticed that my bass randomly gets softer as if it's losing like ~40% of it's power, but my interior speakers stay the same volume. There is no pattern to it, and the time between full power/power loss seems to vary as well. The volume does not matter, it's happened while turned all the way up, and also running at a very conservative volume. And in both situations, the bass still sounds good, no distortion or weird sounds.

I also noticed that the reading on my amp and cap have been fluctuating between 14.5ish and 12.5ish which I have never noticed before (14.5ish being what it's always normally read before this problem). So I brought it to the shop to have a more professional opinion, and we ended up hooking up some meter to my battery and it was also fluctuating the same 12.5 and 14.5 numbers there. they said perhaps it might be an alternator or battery issue, I personally don't think it would be the alternator, but I did buy a new battery from advanced auto parts, the yellow top one; and the problem persisted within 5 minutes of the new battery being installed. I also noticed that sometimes my amp/cap will still read 14.5 volts and the power loss still seems to be there, but again, randomly comes back sometimes! My engine RPM seems to have no effect on when it decides to come and go either.

I am really clueless as to what's going on, I am bringing my car into the audio place on Tuesday to have them take a more thorough look. But I was curious, what might your guys' opinion be on this matter? I have done a lot of googling but none seem to have the same exact symptoms as me. Any input would be much appreciated.

Sorry for the long wall of text and if there's any confusion, I **** at writing long things.

im pretty sure it has something to do with the power cable between the alt and batt. my lights dim every time im in idle waiting for the light to turn green. btw i got the same exact car you got.

 

[Why So Cereal? 5,000+ posts]

check RCAs...happened to me...did everything in the world to fix it....turned out to be bad RCAs....

 

[canibus]

What kind of fuse do u have for your main power wire.Ive had an inline fuse do this before.not just the fuse but the holder its self .

I'm not exactly sure what you mean, the fuse thingy next to the battery? I have one with a lil box that says kicker on it and 100 on the fuse, its not one of the circular fuses. sorry if im talking about something completely different lol im a newb

 

---------- Post added at 07:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:36 PM ----------

 

im pretty sure it has something to do with the power cable between the alt and batt. my lights dim every time im in idle waiting for the light to turn green. btw i got the same exact car you got.

I actually just had the audio shop dudes put a fatter wire going from the alternator to the battery yesterday, didn't do anything //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

 

---------- Post added at 07:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:37 PM ----------

 

check RCAs...happened to me...did everything in the world to fix it....turned out to be bad RCAs....

Noted, thanks //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[stl_314 10+ year member]

It could be a number of things. Bad/loose ground, fuse, power wire loose/shorting, bad rca's, bad amp, bad connection to a sub, hu could be bad. I would say its not your alt or batt if you are staying atleast in th 12 volt range and it is dropping 50%. I would start by hooking up a different amp and see if the problem is still there.

 

[sacsking916 5,000+ posts]

Lmfao noone has said the Honda eld. Its your alternator shutting itself down to conserve gas. When the computer detects no load(amp doesn't count as load) it tells the alt to turn off an not put out power hence the 12.5v. Also toss the cap.

 

[Sub Woofin 10+ year member]

Lmfao noone has said the Honda eld. Its your alternator shutting itself down to conserve gas. When the computer detects no load(amp doesn't count as load) it tells the alt to turn off an not put out power hence the 12.5v. Also toss the cap.

is there a way to not make it turn off?

EDIT* nvm dude, just googled it

 

[canibus]

Lmfao noone has said the Honda eld. Its your alternator shutting itself down to conserve gas. When the computer detects no load(amp doesn't count as load) it tells the alt to turn off an not put out power hence the 12.5v. Also toss the cap.

Great to know. Why would it work flawless for 1.5 - 2 months though? Truly curious, not trying to sound like a doosh.