Aftermarket amp/sub ground location

[luckia]

Hey! I just got my aftermarket Alpine amp, JL stealthbox and AmpPro installed in my 2021 Ram Laramie with HK system. It was installed by a local audio shop. They called me after they installed the system and told me one of the subwoofers was blown. I went to go pick up the truck and it sounded terrible. They told me to send the one subwoofer back to JL. I was in a rush so I didn’t check their work but once I checked the way they ran the cables/ground, it kind of worried me they may have done something wrong. They used the rear seat bracket bolt to ground my amp but did not sand the paint off first...(pics below) They also ran the power and RCA cable in the same location which I heard is not the proper way to do it? What is the best ground connection underneath the rear seat to use? If one sub is blown will it make the other sub sound terrible? I turned the bass knob all the way up to the JL subs and literally my factory HK sub sounds way better than the JL stealthbox. Could it be because of the ground connection? Or is it just because one sub is blown which makes the other one sound terrible? Any input would be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[myles]

Hey! I just got my aftermarket Alpine amp, JL stealthbox and AmpPro installed in my 2021 Ram Laramie with HK system. It was installed by a local audio shop. They called me after they installed the system and told me one of the subwoofers was blown. I went to go pick up the truck and it sounded terrible. They told me to send the one subwoofer back to JL. I was in a rush so I didn’t check their work but once I checked the way they ran the cables/ground, it kind of worried me they may have done something wrong. They used the rear seat bracket bolt to ground my amp but did not sand the paint off first...(pics below) They also ran the power and RCA cable in the same location which I heard is not the proper way to do it? What is the best ground connection underneath the rear seat to use? If one sub is blown will it make the other sub sound terrible? I turned the bass knob all the way up to the JL subs and literally my factory HK sub sounds way better than the JL stealthbox. Could it be because of the ground connection? Or is it just because one sub is blown which makes the other one sound terrible? Any input would be appreciated! Thanks!

There's a ground stud on the back wall behind the rear passenger side seat that I used. Its also used for the e-torque battery if equipped. Bad ground can cause issues but I wouldn't think it could blow a sub.

Modern high quality RCA and power/ground cables can be run right next to each other without any noticeable interference. Old wires had thin insulation and low voltage and that's where this idea came from.

1 blown sub will make them both sound bad because all you're going to hear is the blown sub.

I'd RMA the sub and go from there.

 

[sppb32]

That's one of the ground connections i use and i'm pushing close to 4K watts i tested it and it has very low resistance
Yes one bad sub can make the other sound bad, i would test the subs individually JLAudio makes good sounding stuff but they are not very strong.

 

[luckia]

I will try to remove the paint from that ground connection once I get a new sub and hopefully I have no issues. I will let you guys know what happens. Thank you for taking the time to respond!

 

[805myth1]

There are a few grounds near the rear wall. There's a pic another member posted that I pointed them out on. The one directly under the 40 seat is a 13mm. And the pair near the center are 10mm. If there's any paint to remove, it's minimal effort to get it cleaned up.

 

[luckia]

There are a few grounds near the rear wall. There's a pic another member posted that I pointed them out on. The one directly under the 40 seat is a 13mm. And the pair near the center are 10mm. If there's any paint to remove, it's minimal effort to get it cleaned up.

Thank you For the picture. I need to take out the rear seats anyways to install the stealthbox.