weak bass, bad setup?

Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=86968
Printed Date: May 05, 2024 at 11:01 AM

Topic: weak bass, bad setup?

Posted By: bchoi414
Subject: weak bass, bad setup?
Date Posted: December 10, 2006 at 2:02 PM

Hi everyone,
So I just installed everything but I wasn't impressed at all with the outcome. The bass simply didn't hit as hard as I wanted. Well first of all heres my setup:

-Sony XM-DS1300P5 Mono (200w RMS @ 4ohms) /runnning 8ga wires

-Alpine Type-R SWR-1042D in 10" Bass Slammer enclosure

-I also have a 4ch amp running the speakers but I don't think it should affect it. I've already switched around the rca's from input to output; from head unit to mono amp to 4ch amp...I still get the same results.

I've already tried messing with the controls (low boost, lpf, etc) but it's almost as if it didn't affect it at all. I know the sony mono amp was probably not the best choice but I was expecting at least a decent amount of bass. My old Kenwood powered-subwoofer hit harder than this setup, which is sad. I double-checked my installation and everything looked fine. The amp and woofer is brand new (learned my lesson from stupid ebay). Any suggestions would be great, thanks

-Kevin

ps. sorry, i dont have a great deal of car audio knowledge, please bare with my description, posted_image

Replies:

Posted By: advanced_audio
Date Posted: December 10, 2006 at 2:28 PM

Read the sticky on setting gains first of all. Its never a good idea to just start flipping switches and seeing what will happen. What size enclousure is the 10 in? Is it ported or sealed? A proper enclousure can make a world of difference. Im not positive on the recommended enclosure for those type r's but you could look it up up at alpine-usa.com or someone with those same subs will be along to help you on that. Also how do u have the sub hooked up? If i remember the model number corectly its a dual 4 ohm sub which means you could wire it 2 ohm or 8 ohm . heres a link to show you how thats done. https://www.the12volt.com/caraudio/woofer_configurations.asp

Posted By: bchoi414
Date Posted: December 10, 2006 at 3:16 PM

it is a sealed enclosure. I had the sub wired to 2ohms. And thanks for the configurations.

Posted By: jonathancullen
Date Posted: December 10, 2006 at 5:39 PM

i believe that amp is 4 ohm. correct me if im wrong

Posted By: bchoi414
Date Posted: December 10, 2006 at 9:28 PM

hmm...well I wired the subwoofer to 2ohms...should I have it configured to 4ohms instead?

Posted By: cloak559
Date Posted: December 10, 2006 at 9:44 PM

Measure your enclosure and tell us what the internal volume is. You can easily find this out using the calculator on this site. If the box is anything under 2cubes net than you have a lack of airspace issue. Also that sony amp is underpowering that woofer. At 2ohms your probably only seeing a true 350watts, if that. I would suggest building a proper enclosure and investing in a more powerful and higher quality ampifier...

-------------
'89 Mercedes-Benz 300E
Pioneer DEH-5900UB
(2)RE Audio SX 10"s
(1)US Amps MD3D
3ft^3 @ 37Hz

Blowing up in a car accident doesnt worry me, as long as I'm putting out some major dB's when I die...

Posted By: bchoi414
Date Posted: December 10, 2006 at 9:45 PM

I had it setup like option one:

posted_image

would option 2 be better than 1? Could someone tell me the difference. (sorry, still new at this)

posted_image

Posted By: cloak559
Date Posted: December 10, 2006 at 9:52 PM

No, the way you have it wired is fine. That amp is 2ohm stable. The lower the ohm load the more power the amp can produce. If you were to give it an 8ohm load, you would only being seeing about 80-100watts...once again, what is the internal volume of your enclosure?

-------------
'89 Mercedes-Benz 300E
Pioneer DEH-5900UB
(2)RE Audio SX 10"s
(1)US Amps MD3D
3ft^3 @ 37Hz

Blowing up in a car accident doesnt worry me, as long as I'm putting out some major dB's when I die...

Posted By: bchoi414
Date Posted: December 11, 2006 at 1:24 AM

The dimensions are:

12 1/4"H x 12 1/4"W x 15 1/4"D
Volume = .85FT^3

Posted By: aznboi3644
Date Posted: December 11, 2006 at 5:40 PM

Those interior dimensions or exterior??