So I recently blew my second sub in a matter of about 2 months. The first lasted about 7 months or so and the most recent only lasted 3 weeks. The latter was an Alpine SWR-12D4 and again, it was brand new with a brand new Alpine M110 mono amp. I took it back and the shop swapped it out for me but while I was there, he told me a couple things that I don't understand or agree with.
Basically he says since I have a 4 volt radio (Pioneer AVH-4000NEX), that I should have the amp gain turned all the way down to zero and the I should crank the head unit as loud as I want to. The head unit maxes out at 40 and they say they have put meters on this particular unit, and it does not start distorting until around 37 on the volume dial. Basically saying that if I turn up the volume on the radio versus the gain on the amp, that it is better for the sub.
Seeing as I've blown two subs I'm inclined to take their advice but this is where I'm confused. If I turn my radio up to 35, as opposed to 22, and I achieve the same volume level, won't the amp be pushing the sub just as hard? I mean 50db (just a round number for arguments sake) is 50db whether the radio is at 37 or the amp is at half gain. 500 watts is 500 watts either way. So he must be trying to say that the amp is clipping and sending distortion to the sub. That's the only thing that makes any sense to me at all. But am I really to believe that an 1100 watt RMS amp starts clipping at half gain with 0db bass boost?!?! This just doesn't make sense to me.
Any light on this situation is appreciated.
Basically he says since I have a 4 volt radio (Pioneer AVH-4000NEX), that I should have the amp gain turned all the way down to zero and the I should crank the head unit as loud as I want to. The head unit maxes out at 40 and they say they have put meters on this particular unit, and it does not start distorting until around 37 on the volume dial. Basically saying that if I turn up the volume on the radio versus the gain on the amp, that it is better for the sub.
Seeing as I've blown two subs I'm inclined to take their advice but this is where I'm confused. If I turn my radio up to 35, as opposed to 22, and I achieve the same volume level, won't the amp be pushing the sub just as hard? I mean 50db (just a round number for arguments sake) is 50db whether the radio is at 37 or the amp is at half gain. 500 watts is 500 watts either way. So he must be trying to say that the amp is clipping and sending distortion to the sub. That's the only thing that makes any sense to me at all. But am I really to believe that an 1100 watt RMS amp starts clipping at half gain with 0db bass boost?!?! This just doesn't make sense to me.
Any light on this situation is appreciated.