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13W6 nightmare


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sedate 
Silver - Posts: 1,173
Silver spacespace
Joined: July 03, 2004
Location: Colorado, United States
Posted: December 15, 2004 at 8:32 PM / IP Logged  
I'm trying to set up a JL Audio system. . . I've got their 800 watt monoblock e-series amp (1800D) wired to a single 13W6. I've gone through like 2 sheets of MDF trying to build a box for this thing ...
Problem being, the woofer sounds like absolute garbage.
I put the thing in a really small box... the website pdf lists 1.0 - 2.0 cubic feet for sealed enclosures. . . kinda a big range . . . so being that I coulda made the install look really cool with a smaller box, I built this one to about 1.20 cubic feet.
It sounds so bad, not even close to loud, it sounds so strained and shallow. . . like an overextended 8'' or something.
Guess the box is too small, (why would JL publish a box-size that clearly sounds so incredibly bad?) since I have to build another one, how should I build it for balls-out output?
kfr01 
Gold - Posts: 2,121
Gold spaceThis member has made a donation to the12volt.com. Click here for more info.spacespace
Joined: April 30, 2003
Posted: December 15, 2004 at 8:45 PM / IP Logged  
1.2 is kinda high q... above 1qtc... but it still shouldn't sound horrible.
What do you have the crossover set at? How did you set the gain? Do you have bass boost or any other junk like that on? Also, how did you wire it up? Have you tried another speaker attached to the amp... just to make sure it isn't an amplifier problem?
New Project: 2003 Pathfinder
customsuburb 
Gold - Posts: 1,813
Gold spacespace
Joined: January 17, 2004
Location: United States
Posted: December 15, 2004 at 8:49 PM / IP Logged  

Well...the manual specifies a 1.62 cf sealed enclosure. There are so many things that could be wrong with the box or the woofer itself though also. Is the gain control on the amp adjusted properly, is the bass boost maxed out or even on, does the box have a leak? I suggest you take it to a good car audio shop and have them look at it. Or you could check for all of those things and if you find nothing just build a sealed box the of the size reccomended above.

sedate 
Silver - Posts: 1,173
Silver spacespace
Joined: July 03, 2004
Location: Colorado, United States
Posted: December 15, 2004 at 9:06 PM / IP Logged  
Hmm..
the gain maybe 2/3 of the way up. . . i've played with it a bit... the woofer sounds like garbage no matter where I put it... its not really a matter of being sloppy .... just real flat and shallow sound.
But no bass boost or stupid eq setting or something. its getting 80 hz and below.
what is 'q' and 'qtc'?
What happens when the box is leaky? This box is alright but I've had slighty leaky boxes before and I've never heard a woofer quite sound this poor. i mean this thing sounds like garbage.
sedate 
Silver - Posts: 1,173
Silver spacespace
Joined: July 03, 2004
Location: Colorado, United States
Posted: December 15, 2004 at 9:08 PM / IP Logged  
Oh yea, i have the sub wired to 2 ohms, the amp is pushing 800 watts to it. I had a 12W0 hooked up to the same amp before and it sounded better (which wasn't very good but it was louder and deeper) than the 13w6 does now!
audifive 
Copper - Posts: 89
Copper spacespace
Joined: June 02, 2004
Location: United States
Posted: December 15, 2004 at 9:39 PM / IP Logged  

a box that isnt perfectly sealed can sound pretty bad from what ive seen.  try pushing on the sub and listening for air leaking out.  seal every edge and corner and if that doesnt help you can try sealing the part where the edge of the sub screws onto the box.  a good trick for that is 3M strip calk around the bottom edge of the sub to completely seal everything.  i like to use the strip calk because it is still easy to remove the sub in the future. 

Also, what thickness of mdf did you use?

kfr01 
Gold - Posts: 2,121
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Joined: April 30, 2003
Posted: December 15, 2004 at 9:46 PM / IP Logged  
Especially with a small box, leaks are very important to seek and destroy.
New Project: 2003 Pathfinder
wheelerdr 
Copper - Posts: 337
Copper spacespace
Joined: October 25, 2004
Location: Louisiana, United States
Posted: December 16, 2004 at 3:23 AM / IP Logged  
If all else looks good and still a bad sound try using some polyfill in the box to see if this helps. It will trick the sub into thinking it is in a larger box. If this helps you can build another box with about 1.60. or try to go ported.
Paradigm 
Silver - Posts: 284
Silver spacespace
Joined: November 25, 2003
Location: United States
Posted: December 16, 2004 at 8:26 AM / IP Logged  
You might also check your box dimensions to see if you made the box the right size. It would more than likely be that you made it too big if you got the dimensions wrong (volume-wise).
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dr. righteous 
Member - Posts: 34
Member spacespace
Joined: November 04, 2004
Location: United States
Posted: December 16, 2004 at 7:14 PM / IP Logged  

JL Audio has great tech support.  Try calling them since you have their sub AND amp they should outline the perfect setup for you. 

Real High Fidelity........
or forget it.
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