got a newbie question

[Defiant[YD]]

k, i just installed my subs. but i can't hear them pound when i close the trunk. i can hear it when i'm sitting inside, but not when i close all the doors and the trunk and walk around the car outside. is that a good thing? or is it cuz i'm using a lower power amp?

[pmip]

It depends what you're going for. If you want to keep all that bass to yourself, than it's a good thing. If you want everyone else to have to listen to your music (and probably piss quite a few people off), then you might want to go for a more powerful amp. Although, if you're really running those 2 10" subs with a 500 watt amp (as it says in your sig), I find it hard believing you can't here the subs outside the car. I have a 500watt amp hooked up to one 10", and when my volume is up, you can definately hear it thumping from a ways away.

[Defiant[YD]]

yah, well, it ways it's a 500watt amp. but i dunno how much the subs can take each. and like i still have to change my fuse from a 30A to a 40A to turn the power up if not i'll blow the amp.
so if 500w is enuff? what cound be wrong with it?

[toastyghost]

If even you don't know what your own subs are rated, how the hell are we supposed to know what amp you need? :lol

[87AccordsterLx]

your really going to have to be more specific man... I know that your a quote "newbie" as you say... So I'll help you out a little... You need to tell us what name brand Amp and subs you have, and what their power ratings are. As well as what deck you have and its power rateings... How you wired your subs: bridged? Parallel? what... Amps are just not amps.. you can have a shitty ass namebrand amp that "says" it pushes 500w but you would be lucky to pull 100w out of it.....

[Defiant[YD]]

It's a "500W" Thump amp, and 2 10' jensen subs. i got them at a liquidation depot so it was cheap but it didn't say how much power they could take. and i'm running i think a pyramid deck with a 150w output i think. and i dunno what parrallel and bridge is, but i just connected the two red/white preamps to the amp.

[dXsquared]

OMG!!!!!! all that stuff is soooo shitty....

SORRY TO TELL YOU... but i have 10inch Jensens at the moment and i can hear it with a 300 watt amp...

any way... make sure the apm is in LOW PASS mode. check how many RCA's there are on the back of the deck... if there are 2 then use the front one and fade to the front a bit so more noise goes to the subs... get a new deck with a SUB out and definetly dont crank the amp coz those subs will take a shit! turn the frequency down to its lowest settin on the amp... turn up the bass on the deck and it should be ok... maybe get a set of TYPE S's or some other low priced subs then crank up the amp a bit more! i dunno know what the prob is exactly but do all those thangs and it should help... IMO get a nice deck... that should help some

Travis

[dXsquared]

ps... im not tryin to give you shit coz ur a NEWBIE

Travis

[Defiant[YD]]

yah no worries. i know this stuff is crap, but i got them cuz it's cheap. i don't really have enuff money to upgrade to a sony deck with the infinity speakers and sub that i want. i got that deck cuz my stock one went smoking.

[Cobraman15]

Just remember sound quality is far better than waking the neighborhood.

[dXsquared]

sure... BASS IS BEST!!!!


Travis

PS and for those peeps that just wanna look kewl... thats a true def of a RICER!!! thats gay... I LOVE BASS... the Pioneer truck came to town this summer and i went in it and turned all the subs on(16 12's) and turned that shit up! SOOOO COOL how it hurt!!!

Travis

[Neuspeed007]

i outrank all of u, hehe i am running a 350 wt amp on 3 10 inch subs! and i can hear it ouside my car, But defiant; was your car Pre-owned??? if so maybe the owner before your put in some dynomat......that stuff is supposed to block sound so people outside cant hear it. unless you do it yourself...so they can. You 500wt amp should definatly power those 2 subs of yours, no matter how shitty of brands you got. =)

[dXsquared]

he's right... but set it like i said.. then it should kick

Travis

PS... Do u wanna buy a 2001 Kenwood Excelon X617? 145 Canadian dollars plus S&H. i paid 400 canadian dollars for it... I even have the recipt. PM if ur interested!
oh yah... it has a remote too...

the cool thing about this deck is that you can turn the bass on the speakers down and the sub bass up so there is no distortion from ur speakers and u can play the subs real well... so 145 canadian dollars

[87AccordsterLx]

neuspeed007... I dont even want to know what amp you have because you must have run that in parallel and thats bringing a 4ohm amp down to 1ohm... you mine as well stick it in front of this guy... :flame: (insert amp here) I dont see how you are getting any power out of that setup.

Defiant[YD]: ok check it out... there are several factors at play here. You need to mess with your amp settings on the actuall amp itself. Post a list of the options that the amp provides (bass boost, crossovers etc.) You also need to mess with the settings on your deck as far as pre-amp power is concerned... Post those options as well. Next check the gauge of the wires that you used to "power" the amp, power the speakers, and ground the amp. Then if you could check exactly what speaker wire goes to what.. for example pos. of left and neg. of left goes from the amp to the pos. left and neg. left of the speaker... I need to know what wires connect to what. If you can answer those questions I might be able to tell you whats going on... and maybe even give you more power to your subs...

I'm running a 400w Interfire Amp rated at 420+watts to 2 - 12inch pioneer IMPP's with voice coil cooling technology (sorry I love adding that part :flip: ) the subs are rated at 600w and are run in a bridged (non-parallel configuration)

http://www.ghalili.com/Nathan/Nate's%20Page/3gs/3gbeats.jpg

[Neuspeed87lx]

i kinda notice when you have the bass real loud ....and it sounds real loud inside the car...if you get out and stand next to the car you dont hear the bass as much as if you were like 50 yards away ...

[Defiant[YD]]

yah thats what i was thinking. cuz my friend also told me a 500w sub should be ample power.

i don't think the previous owner sound proofed it cuz that idiot left the stock battery in there for 12 years and didn't flush the cooling system at all.

87AccordsterLx, i'll try to describe most of the settings that i can. and i doubt there's any preamp setting behind my cheap deck. i know there's some x-over setting or something.

could the wires connecting the subs to the amp affect it? cuz it was bought separately from my amp kit.

DXHATCHBACK, i'm interested in ur deck, but right now, i gotta wait like, 2 months to get it. gotta pay off bills really soon and have enuff money left over for car insurance. u live in US???

[87AccordsterLx]

the preamp setting that I was refering to is part of the functions of the deck it self... like bass/treble levels front/rear settings... you should have one for the sub preout... but the more 411 you can give me the more I can help...

[dXsquared]

i live in Ontario

thats cool on the two months thing... i dont wanna get a new deck till spring. but if u can pick it up sooner, that is cool to. 2 months would be just right I guess. with this deck, the sound output will be so great! and dont forget to post some info on the setup... i also have a 240 watt amp i can throw in for ur speakers. it will be an extra 40 bux. it is a 4 channel. it improves the sound alot over the deck amp. any way... holla in a PM if you are still interested!

Travis

[Defiant[YD]]

well, the deck doesn't have any sub output. and yah, there's bass, treble, f/r speakers settings. and the amp has 2 x-over settings, for low frequency (80Hz) and high frequency (100 Hz). and i adjusted the level on the amp to half.

oh, and i'm not too sure about the deck, cuz the reason i bought the pyramid deck was becuz it was a tape deck. and since i can't get an MD deck for now, i just use the tape deck hooked up to my miniD player. and haha, one more thing, my speakers are stock.

[dXsquared]

so are you still interested in my deck? it doesnt play mini disc's. any way, turn the crossover all the way to low frequency and turn the gain up. how many RCA's on ur deck?

Travis

[Defiant[YD]]

i might still be interested. is there someway i can connect an analog wire to the deck to the md player?

i have 2 rca connections on the amp. and i connected those to the pre-amp outputs on my deck.
if i turn up the gain, that would mean the the deck would draw more power from the battery right?

[87AccordsterLx]

you need to turn the gain alll the way up man.... it will make the amp generate more power... thats the reason that its not hiting.. turn that shit up to max... put the x-over to 80hz and you should be good... oh by the way how are your sub speaker wires connected? are they just hooked up like normal speakers are run? pos to pos and neg to neg?

[dXsquared]

do u have a big wire to the batery for ur amp? and the gain is like the Level or Volume. it wont draw anymore from the daeck. it just amplifies the signal more and makes the bass louder.

Travis

[Defiant[YD]]

i have a wire with a plug-in fuse connecting the battery to the amp.

right now, the fuse in there is a 30A fuse, but the amp needs a 40A fuse so i'm not sure if i'll blow the fuse if i turn up the gain. would i?

and the speaker wire was bought separately from the amp kit. i dunno what kind of speaker wire it is but i'm assuming all speaker wires are the same.
i just hooked up positive to positive and negative to negative for both subs.

[Defiant[YD]]

by the way, what is the x-over for??? whats the difference between the settings for the x-over??? whats the diff between the high and low inputs?

[87AccordsterLx]

ok well you shouldnt blow the fuse if you turn the gain up. If you do then just get another fuse thats larger... they only cost like $2 for a pack... x-overs filter frequencies. Subs are designed to play bass which is obviously low frequencies. If you were to set the x-over to a higher frequency it would let the treble come in which is bad for the voice coils on subwoofers... you should only use the higher frequency for amplifying regualr speakers like 6x9's for example. Use the low x-over setting (80hz) and the x-over wont let frequencies pass through that are higher then the 80hz range....

[Defiant[YD]]

hmm... ok, i try it before i leave for work. i'll report any changes.
i'm running my songs off my md player, so should i jack the bass on the player to max? and should i turn up the bass on my deck to max also????

[87AccordsterLx]

turn the gain up and tune the bass on the deck .. if you dont get the proper bass out of the system them turn it up another notch on the MD player... just go from there.. you 'should' get distortion if you put all of the bass (deck and MD player) all the way up... you need to find a middle ground...

[Defiant[YD]]

yah thats what i thought about the distortion thing. like, u can feel the bass in the seat, but when u step out... omg... sounds like nothing.

k, i just turned the gained all the way to max. i have to wait till tmw to try it out cuz my family will be pissed. they can hear my stock speakers even from their room.....

it should be better if i take off the plexiglass from the box too right?

[87AccordsterLx]

oh shit you have a bandpass sub box??? Shit I wouldnt have figured...lol... if I were you I would invest in a sealed enclosure.... for now leave the plexi glass on....

[Defiant[YD]]

a bandpass sub box??????? shit... whats the diff?????? cuz i already took off the plexiglass!!!!
well, i got the 2 subs and box for 88 bucks. thats the only reason i got subs.
wouldn't ehs glass seal all the sound in or something????

[87AccordsterLx]

good bass shouldnt be heard.. it should be felt.... you will hear some of it... bandpass boxes that are tuned correctly will change the frequency in which your bass is produced... it will be more noticeable at different frequencies....

[Defiant[YD]]

hehe, sorry, i totally didn't get what u were saying.
so it shouldn't be heard from the outside? but felt on the inside of the car? well, yah, it does that already. so ur saying that it's working fine then?

[87AccordsterLx]

haha... ok what part do you not get? People mix up the sound that subs produce with the vibrations that are produced. Many powerful setups can be heard and felt outside of the car. I personally have a lot of bass and I cant really feel it outsize of the car. Thats not a bad thing. I thought that you werent getting any bass out of your system thats why I was trying to figure out the things that are causing that. If your gain is all the way up, and your bass control on the deck is at the point that if you put it up any higher that it will distort then there is only one more thing that you can try... Now from what you have said before about only paying $88 for the box and subs I can tell you right now that that is most of the problem... along with your amp of course. YOu really need to buy namebrand stuff if you want a good setup. With car audio you have to expect to pay to get a good system... I payed over $300 for my subs and box and I got a deal off that shit... Cheap components will sound cheap... Im not trying to talk crap Im just filling you in so you know more about car audio...

Heres my sub setup again... two 12 inch IMPP pioneers rated 600w max each in a custom made MDF fosgate box...

http://www.ghalili.com/Nathan/Nate's%20Page/3gs/3gbeats.jpg

[87AccordsterLx]

BANDPASS
http://ebay1.ipixmedia.com/abc/M28/_EBAY_eb440adb48886195899bc3862a86675e/i-1.JPG




PORTED
http://ebay3.ipixmedia.com/abc/M28/_EBAY_52d9834bb7cad948f4434a2f380a4247/i-1.JPG




SEALED
http://www.subenclosureoutlet.com/sb12bs-5.jpg

[Defiant[YD]]

they all look the same though. whats the difference that makes each box sound different?

and yah, i tried those things u told me to, but still the same. haha just more punch when ur in the driver seat. guess it's kinda a good thing since it's supposed to be a bandpass or something.

so for speakers to go with my setup. are rockford speakers dependable??? my friend told me they're not. if thats the case, then i'll have to go with infinitey but damn, they cost at least $20 more per pair.

[87AccordsterLx]

ok the bandpass has the plexi glass, ported has one or more holes cut into the box to allow air flow, sealed has no ported holes and once the sub is encased and drilled into the box it seals the air behind it. They all over a different sound to your setup. They change the frequencies in which bass is produced. Now... you said that you feel more punch... well thats what I was trying to acomplish. Its ok that you dont hear the bass outside of the car. As far as subwoofers are concerned Fosgate are great subs. They make amasing amps as well. Infinity is a great brand and if you can find then for a similar price I would choose the one which fits your amp setup the best. Find out what the RMS (average watts produced at a normal level) is for the amp and the subs and try to match them as best as you can. If you get a bub that handles 1000watts and your amp only pushes 200watts then your not going to get a good feedback off of your subs.

[Defiant[YD]]

OHHHH icic!!! different design, different frequency and therefore different sound!!! i get i get i get now. :bow: u know too much man.
ah shit, that means i gotta re-attach my plexiglass then.... fuk!!!

yah cuz i'm now thinking of going all infinity's. i'll replace my subs in a year, but i need to replace my stock speakers now asap.

in my car,
the front speakers are 5 1/4 right?
and the back ones are 6 1/2 right?

[Defiant[YD]]

haha, oh yah, whats with the christina pic??? haha, wanna challenge britney?? hahaha j/k j/k

[87AccordsterLx]

dude... you know that Christina is finer then fuck....!!! lol That pic of brittney is pretty hot too but Christina just looks naughty :D

front 5 1/4
rear 6 1/4

you can put larger speakers in the front if you want 5 1/2's will fit I think.... maybe even larger... I would stick with a componet setup which infinity has too... its a speaker with no tweeter in the middle and comes with a seperate tweeter that you mount on your dash or where ever you want it... it has its own crossover for high frequencies... that way you can seperate your highs and mids and it offers a better crisper sound... being that you have subs I think its the best way to go....

http://imagehost.auctionwatch.com/bin/imageserver.x/00000000/vital01/I60.5CS.JPG

[Defiant[YD]]

holy smokes! that infinity set. yah, i was thinkin of those, but it cost more then what i'm hopin to spend and i wouldn't have time to install the tweeters at the moment. stupid exams are comin up in december and i gotta get a high or moderate gpa.
cuz i wanted to get the other ones which would cost me 170 for all 4 since my buddy works at futureshop.
but damn, i would love to settle for those speakers.

[Defiant[YD]]

hey, but britney has the best catch phrase ever! oops! she did it again!!! haha, take that christina!!!! hahaha just jokes.

oh and like if i get the tweeters, it'll be a bitch to remove when i get a new car. cuz if i take it out, i'm gonna have some holes on the dash in the accord.

[87AccordsterLx]

I didnt cut holes for mine... they are adheased with double sided tape and they look great.. I'll try to get pics but it may be a while...

[87AccordsterLx]

by the way DIRTY is wayy sexier then anything brittney has come out with!!!!! lol... I love dirty girls....

[Defiant[YD]]

double sided tape??? doesn't a wire come out the back of the tweeter also?

and where'd u put those 2 black boxes in the pic? cuz after installing that amp, i really don't feel like doing anymore wiring.

hey, but britney's a slave 4 u!!! haha, dirty enuff???

[87AccordsterLx]

nah Christina is wearing next to nothing practically having sex with the camera... thats quality TV if you ask me... :D Damn she's fine....

anyways ya the wire is barely noticable and the crossovers fit under the steering wheel colom.. where all of the wires are at underthere.... you just screw it in to somehting... I'll try to get pics but if you can find a pic of someones front dash I'll show you where the tweets are... it needs to be a shot from far back that gets all of the top of the deck though...

*the last ones my favorite :D*

http://www.christinazone.com/2002vma/images/vma02_14.jpg
http://www.christinazone.com/pics/images/pix10.jpg
http://www.christinazone.com/pics/images/pix33.jpg
http://www.christinazone.com/pics/images/pix32.jpg

[Defiant[YD]]

lol, u want pics, i'll show u pics!
http://www.geocities.com//jadzia_ezri/pics.html
hahah

ic. yah, i dunno, my buddies are now persuading me to get a new deck now. but damnit.... i just bought my pyramid this year too. and i have to re-attach my plexiglass onto my box still.

[87AccordsterLx]

damn that link doesnt work... if you get a new deck then look into mine... ALPINE CDA-7893 its really good and it has a 4 volt sub pre-out, front, and rear preout...

[Defiant[YD]]

http://www.geocities.com/jadzia_ezri/pictures/page1.html
if not, just copy and paste and stuff. blah.

alphine? damn, i was thinking about that today too.
but the new kenwood deck that i can get will only cost $90 CAN cuz my buddy working at this store gets it for employee discount. and he can get me the whole infinity system for $170.

[Defiant[YD]]

and damnit, this stupid dual bandpass box is pissing me off. i don't wanna wreck my ears, but i wanna hear some pumping bass!! arghh.
if i upgrade my subs to infinity, i should be able to notice a big difference right?

[dXsquared]

fuck... i just wanna get on a plane and fly a couple provinces over and set this shit up for u. i did alot of these HACK jobs this summer with friends that had no cash. i got alot better bass than they had goin so i think i could help you.

this is what you must do in order.

1. PUT THE FUCKIN PLEXIGLASS BACK ON!!! the box doesnt work right with out it.
2. turn the gain up and the XOVER down.
3. try putting the deck bass to like 0 or 2 and turn the md player bass up. sometimes it sounds better.
4. get a cd player. good bass is felt when you have good quality recordings and reading MD's of a cassette wont help.
5. consider waiting to get a better deck. a 90 dollar KENWOOD wont do much better than a cassette/MD. i still have my Kenwood and I will have it for a while! PM for details.

Travis

[Defiant[YD]]

i already put the glass back on, i turned the x-over down and the gain to max, i set my current deck to the same bass and my md to max bass.

the 90 kenwood is originally around 200, but as i said, my friend works at futureshop and can get me a huge discount on it.

[dXsquared]

how is the bass now? better?

Travis

[Defiant[YD]]

um... i dunno, it's.... softer to say the least. not as loud as i want it to be. i'm waiting to get my infinity speakers in tmw before i test it again to see if it improves.

[87AccordsterLx]

ok... check it out... just getting the subs will not make that big of a difference... you need to get new subs and a new box, a SEALED one... then you need to get a new amp... it seems like the one that you haven isnt pushing for shit. Just becasue it says 300watts or 500watts it doesnt mean that it pushes that much... I'll give you a quick run down on how I want you to try to wire your speakers...

from the amp:
take one wire from the LEFT positive side and put it to your left subs positive terminal.

take another wire from your amps RIGHT negitive side and put it to that same speakers negitive terminal.

then take a wire and connect it to that same (left) sub's right terminal and connect it to the right terminal on the other sub.

take the last wire and connect it from the (left) sub's left terminal to the left terminal on the right sub...

confusing as shit huh... heres a qucik pic that I pulled out of my ass... :D yes it is the shittiest thing I have ever created but Im tired and dont want to put time into it :flip: haha... anyways let me know if you get a power increase from this...

http://www.ghalili.com/Nathan/Nate's%20Page/3gs/shittysubdiag.jpg