System questions & advice

[spabula]

I recently replace my Mach HU to a Blaupunkt MP57. I also replaced my factory sub with a Rockford Fosgate P1S48, 8" in the same factory location. It sounds great much better than it did, until I turn up the volume too a medium to loud level, then my sub starts sounding really bad, distorted. I am not sure if this is because the factory enclosure isn't the recommended size ( i tried to find out the volume of the factory box but no luck ) or if it is simply the settings i have the stereo on. I am by no means any sort of expert on car audio.
The new sub is rated 50-150 watts RMS, the factory amp is 85 watts from what i understand.... is there an under power issue? or some kind of other issure relating to the amp? I plan on replacing the factory amp at some point anyway but it will be sooner than later if I get any input that that maybe the culprit.
The new HU has a sub pre amp output (3V). I have the gain at 0 and the frequency at 80Hz (options are 80,120,160). I just set it to these cuz it sounded better than any other way.... very scientific, i know.
One last question... when purchasing speakers and then amps to power them, do you match the rms rating of the two? say an amp thats 80Wx2 paired up with 80W speakers? or do you pick the amp for the middle of the rms range of the speakers? what if your amp is rated higher than your speakers? can this be corrected with the gain so not to ruin your speakers? Thanks ahead of time for all the help

Brenden

 

[Donner]

Wow! You know all of this?? I still see Gain as a detergent. I've got to hear the answer to this one...

 

[aznboi3644]

Sub sounds bad probably because of clipping.

What is the minimum load the factory amp can handle??

The amplifier size does not matter on the speakers...generally speaking I'd recommend an amp with 20% or more continuous output than the speakers can handle. Headroom is good.

How did you use the factory amp but with the head units preouts?? did you splice the wires into the factory amps inputs???

I hate Rockford Fosgate Punch series subwoofers....VERY cheaply built and horrible quality dustcaps.

 

[spabula]

I'm not sure what the minimum load the factory am can handle... i dont even know where to find that out.

what exactly is "clipping" anyway? i keep reading about this but dont have a clue what it means... EDIT. I read up on this on 12volt.... i think i kind of understand this now. so my HU could be sending a signal to my amp that is beyond its capabilities? am i understanding that correctly?

I connected the HU to the amp by using the supplied harness from crutchfield. so there was a 4 pin plug ( 2 to the RCA plug, 1 ground, 1 signal)with an RCA that went to the factory harness that plugged into the pre amp from the HU.

The gain setting i was saying is set at 0, is set at 0 on my head unit not the amp itself.

 

[BIGHVM]

I have a blau cd72, it has a menue driven xover, I had to set the range for my sub from the menu- check yours the defalt ones may need tweaking for your set up

 

[spabula]

I have a blau cd72, it has a menue driven xover, I had to set the range for my sub from the menu- check yours the defalt ones may need tweaking for your set up

Not sure what you mean by the range. The only options i have for my pre amp output are the gain and the frequency. set to 0 and 80Hz. am i missing something else?