My bass isn't clear anymore. it sounds cheap and distorted. i tried adjusting the amp but it still sounds bad compared to how they sounded originally

The amp is clipping the signal. This could be from the input being too high. The impedance being too low or the finals are damaged.

1st have your subs facing inwards towards the front of the car, not facing out the boot, This creates a better bass.

Wire 1 sub to one channel and the other sub to the other channel.

Turn down your gain as low as possible and then power everything up.

turn volume to desired loudness and then start turning up the gain slowly, if distorts a little turn in back down a notch.

avoid using bass boost, I agree it sounds great but it puts more strain on your amp and shortens its life.

after sorting out your gain, tweak all others until sound is bassy and clear with no distortion.

If you would like to use bass boost, turn on bass boost first, then up your gain etc.

If your head unit has an amp gain, turn it up as high as it will go. If it is hooked up to subs, the head unit will say subwoofer output in the menu. Then take a small screwdriver and turn the amp gain on the side of your amp counterclockwise to zero. Turn your freq. up to about a third. Crank your system up, with a song with good bass, and slowly turn your gain up till the bass from the subs sound distorted, and back it back down. If the bass is drowning out the other speakers in your car, then turn the gain down some more. I find it works best if you have your trebble up high, your mid range at a little less than half. And your bass at zero or one. Your amp is cranking up the bass, so let your other speakers handle the rest. This allows it to sound clearly at higher volumes.

And if you measure distortion, then what? Do you have a scope and a spectrum analyzer and a calibrated sound source?

The Mk.1 Ear can decide if it likes what it hears. Some people LIKE excess bass, for example.

Determine if it's source-related, cable-related, channel-related, speaker-related by swapping or focusing on one at a time and comparing. Try naming the products and look at the manuals for correct setup.

yea for sure thats a good upgrade. You shouldnt havebeen able to blow the kenwoods with 400 watts though-meaning that they probably blew from distortion which causes heat(fast) Check your gain on the amp start it out at 1/4 gain and turn up your deck to the point where you can hear distortion from your mids and highs or to the maximum level that you listen to your music at. If you're jamming out at a level that is causing distortion then you will be sending a distorted signal to the amp as well. The amp then amplifies the distorted signal through the subs which overheat and blow. So find the distortion spot and then turn it down just a little bit till it clears up your sound-then adjust your gain on the amp up slowly until you cant hear it getting any louder. Once you have done that you have reached the limit of CLEAN power that you are going to get.Thats where you want to keep it. Watch the bass boost too if you have the bass up on the deck and then crank up the bass boost on the amp it really f's up the signal too. Good luck

are the sub speakers ok? if ok then u have a problem with the Amp and the output IC's will have to be checked there cud be a problem with the input card in the amp.

Hello,

The level control controls the input level coming from your head unit (receiver) to the amp.

Your Sony users manual is a little vague on how to best adjust the level and other controls.

Here is one method that some installers use and works well with most amps.

Most 10" subs sound best between about 80-100hz and below, so start out by setting the LPF at about 80hz. The HPF will not be used. Next turn the bass boost and gain all the way down. Turn on the radio and set all tone controls, bass, midrange, treble to flat, usually "0" on most head units. Turn the volume up to approximately 3/4 volume level or just until you begin to hear distortion. Now, back the volume down until the distortion is gone. Next turn up the gain control on the amp until you hear the subs start to distort then back the gain down until the distortion disappears. Next turn the bass boost up again until the subs begin to distort, then either back the bass boost down or back the gain down until the distortion is gone. You may need to play around with the bass boost and gain controls to get exactly the sound you prefer.

Hope this helps.

Tune the gain on your amplifier powering the sub. Turn the Bass Gain on the amp all the way down and crank up your system to as loud as you can stand. Adjust the bass Gain until the Speaker begins to distort, then back off a little bit. This way you can crank it up and not get Bass Distortion early.

i say it can! u would get a nice clean sound! acoustic guitar sounds nice through a bass amp!

you probably wouldnt get distortion out of bass amp though! depends on the bass amp! some bass amps have built in effects! e.g distortion