Printer Friendly Forum Posts - mercedes bass problem

I finally figured I would post a question after browsing this site for a long while.

here goes....I have a mercedes e320(2000).(with the infamous gas tank behind the seat)

my list of gear is as follows.
Alpine Ivad310, Pxah701
Audiocontrol Matrix
2 jl 1000/1's and 2 300/2's
focal 165k2p front for now
focal 130kp not hooked up yet(considering pillar/dashmount similar to Earls BMW)
2 13w7's sealed

other stuff
alumapro 15farad
225amp mechanical man alternator
dual optima yellowtops in parallel
0/1 and 4ga from alternator to battery under seat.2 0/1 grounds from batt's to chassis.
0/1 to dist block then split to 4ga into amps.
72ft^2 dynamat extreme, a bit of gutter tape acoustic foam & dynamat inner doors with modified mount and more dynamat on outer door to seal things up.

okay here is the problem. My mids are great even without the 5 1/4's hooked up. the subs are in the trunk currently firing up. The first time I had them facing to the rear and found that the car was not going to go easy on me. even with all that dynamat it was the worst rattle I have ever heard and that there was hardly any bass.

so I break out the manuals, multimeter, and my osilliscope and checked the amp settings and gain structure.
7.6volts unclipped from the matrix into the amps.(wanted to keep delow the 8v max). exactly 54.5 volts at the outputs with a 40 hz tone.

My progress...
cut the rear deck to give the subs more room to move air through the deck. bass was better but still nowhere near what the w7's can do.

pointed box up through the rear deck and sealed(not completely)the subs to rear deck. better but still not exceptable.

removed rear seat and seatback along with rear deck. much better but still not showing the full capability of the w7.

which leaves me where I am now. Driving with no rear seat or seatback or rear deck just so I can at least enjoy a little until I find the permanent sollution.

I have taken care of 70% of th rattles but the trunk still wangs with the bass. I will add even more dynamat in the area of the wang.

What else can I do? I have a couple basic ideas
1. seal the subs off completely to the reardeck and cut 2 8x15 holes to get the right pass through.

2. port a new box through the read deck(even though I like sealed better)

Now your turn...

tell me your suggestions.

I will be posting pics soon...

My quest is for more bass and less rattle.

-------------
do it right the first time ....or do it again and again and again...