Once your power cable, RCA and remote lead are all securely running through the car to
where you want the amp and the earth wire is fastened securely, somewhere close to the
amp, you can fit the amplifier. Don’t forget to fit the bass remote control and run the
control cable with the other wires to the amplifier! This can be plugged in right away.
TheThe amp needs to be mounted on a solid surface, favourites are boot floors, backs of
seats etc. Wherever you do choose to mount the amp, it needs sufficient ventilation; 2-3”
around will be enough. We do not recommend mounting an amplifier on a bass box as the
vibrations can cause damage to the internals of the amplifier over time.
YouYou are now ready to connect your subwoofers! The DB1.2 has 2 positive and negative
connectors, this is for ease of connecting multiple speakers and bridges inside the
amplifier (THE ARE NOT SEPARATE OUTPUTS IT IS A MONO AMP) Take care that the
positive on the speaker is going to the positive on the amplifier. If your car speakers and
woofer are connected “out of phase” then it can severely affect bass output as the
speakers might cancel each other out acoustically.
ThisThis bit is VERY IMPORTANT. You need to ensure that the load you subject your amplifier
to is within specification and of a sensible nature and that you have the appropriate
cooling where applicable. This particular amplifier is suitable for running a mono load at at
minimum of 1 Ohms, however at 1 Ohm it can generate a large amount of heat due to
being less efficient. At 1 Ohm loads, it is YOUR responsibility to ensure the amp is kept
cool. Vertical mounting, “hot boxing” or other improper installation can cause severe
damage to the amplifier. The TDOS protection circuitry reads current draw to define
protectionprotection parameters, the algorithm it uses presumes the amplifier is used at 4 Ohm. If
you are using the amp at 1 Ohm you will need to bear in mind that the protection circuitry
may not intervene in time. That is not to say that the amplifier can not function reliably at
1 Ohm. It just needs the appropriate cooling; if used in a confined space it needs fans to
circulate the air (especially if mounted vertically) ideally the amp needs to be horizontal on
the ground plane and be mounted to a heat conductive plate. A regular mistake that is
made is to mount the amp onto a board that has been covered in carpet. This restricts
airflowairflow under the amplifier, limiting the amount of convection cooling that can be achieved
and insulating the amplifier underneath. This actually builds up heat inside the amp! Avoid
mounting on to carpet where possible!
Just as important is to remember that as well as the actual physical impedance you need
to consider the type of load you are going to subject your amplifier to. A single (or pair of)
8, 10 or 12 or 15 inch subwoofer of an appropriately matched construction and in a nicely
designed enclosure will be fine run off a DB1.2 amp at 4 ohms, 2 ohms or 1Ohm in the
case of the pair (assuming proper setup) but you don’t want to try and run eight massive
heavy coned dual voice coil monster woofers off it, even though on paper you might well
have a 2 Ohm load. You have to use a bit of common sense – if you need to fill a van with
eighteight woofers like that then use eight DB1.2’s. Big power woofers often have heavy cones,
these type of woofers can have big impedance dips and can cause clipping on transients.
Obviously, we recommend the Bass Face range of subwoofers and speakers for ultimate
compatibility. It's also worth mentioning at this point, that, running audio into the amp,
with any level of gain, but no speaker attached can and can seriously damage your
amplifier if done for long periods of time. Some amps have load sensing and will shut the
amp down if no speaker is attached, some do not. Car amplifiers often do not.
