Before I start, this was posted in audio already... and I am impatient Please help if you can.

I installed a kicker cvr ten into the center compartment of my C5 Vert's trunk. It's in a sealed enclosure and is powered by a soundstream reference 500w amp and 1.5 ferad cap.

I used to get all sorts of boom out of this single sub without the ferad cap but now I'm lucky to hear a muffled thud.

Here's how I wired it (actually followed the instructions):

A 4-gauge power wire is run from the battery to a fuse box in the trunk.
The fuse box is run to a distribution box.

A Positive lead is run from the distribution box to the amplifier.
Another lead is run to the positive terminal on the Cap. Is this right? The instructions show it hooked up like this.

All grounds lead to the same stud underneath the waterfall (convertible).

The amp is bridged mono (left channel negative and right channel positive on the speaker out side) with only the right RCA input connected (as per the warnings on the amp).

I should not be able to turn the power on the amp all the way up without blowing the speaker but I have it all the way up and am getting a low muffled rumble.

Any ideas what I may have done wrong? I know the speaker isn't blown.

I'm thinking that everything changed when I put the cap into the circuit. Will it hurt my charging system if I take it out of the loop and run the amp straight off of the car's charging system.

Thanks in advance

Critterus

 

The cap needs positive and ground and needs to be charged prior to use.

The amp should be fed off of the positive of the cap. You should use a common grounding point.

You can remove the cap and it will not hurt anything.

EG

 

O.K... so I ground the amp and the cap to a common ground (waterfall in the vert). The cap was charged and the display on it reads anywhere from 13-14 volts when the car is running. 12.8 when it's not.

Where I am lost is how to do the positive wiring to and from the cap. Do I have the positive from the fuse block go directly to the positive of the cap? Then do I run another positive wire from the caps positive terminal to the positive of the amp?

If this is correct, I have one wire coming into my distribution box for positive. It splits to the amp and the cap. Isn't this essentially the same thing?

If you're correct, the instructions that came with this thing are bass ackwards.

Thanks for the help.

 

A picture is worth a thousand words...

 

"I see!" said the blind man.

Thanks for the pic. I'm going out to do this hook up during lunch.

 

And ground to the CHASSIS - not to some interior place like the waterfall or seat bolts.

 

Where's a good spot on the chassis and can you get to it through the rear of the car?

 

Driver's side rear wheel - on the chassis, there is a ground point. Use that or drill a new one and tap it. Sand the area so it gets a good ground.

 

That's where I grounded my amp. BTW I have a JL 10W0 running w/o a cap, it gives plenty of thump but obviously doesn't draw the amps of a more powerful set up.