Just wondering. I have a JL Audio 10 inch sub that is roughly 3 years old. It is in great quality, the strip that goes around the sub is still good, its still connected, but i want to know sound wise, when does it sound like maybe its getting bad? I was listening to the sub to Master P's, ooohhhwee song and had my trunk open looking at the sub, and it almost sound "loose", but i am wondering if that would be normal for a 3 year old sub. It may have something to do with the settings on my amp, but i have to have them turned fairly high since i am running it off my aftermarket deck. There is an BASS EQ option to turn it on and off, and i have to have it on to get bass out of it. Let me know

Thanks
bryan

p.s. If it may be "loose" is there anyway to tighten the sound up. Maybe tighten how the bass hits!

 

is the box still in good condition??

 

Yes it is. When i wonder about the quality, on mine, it actually seems like the actual woofer itself (the thing that goes back and forth when theres bass) kinda flutters when going back and forth, like its loose, but when in the car, the bass sounds fine. I just didn't know if it is suppose to "HIT" more, kinda a shorter harder bass note and less of a flutter. I would go to a audio place, but i don't want them saying, "well, it does seem it is loose, here let us offer you this sub for 250 bucks, blahblahblah...

bryan

 

i'm not sure if the sub is going bad on you or not, just the flutter part sounded like a bad box. i've never had a sub go bad on me, but that because i can't seem to keep a sub for longer than a few months, i can't help trying new ones out.

 

What is the sub crossed at?

 

Ive noticed that older subs can have a pronounced flutter to them...especially if its been ran hard for such a long time. Its not necessairly a sign that the sub will fail, just that it isnt quite as strong as it once was. I tend to have the same problem as Victor, after 6 months im ready for something new and improved! There isnt really a way to improve the fluttering sound, except to look into a new sub.

Warbucks

 

Damnit, i don't want to fork out any more money. Maybe i will be able to find a slightly used one from someone in the future. Like i said though, the fluttering doesn't make the bass sound too bad inside the car. I had to fix a problem with my rear view mirror today because the bass makes it rattle, and i have a roserie attached to it, and it rattles whenever the bass is strong, so i went out and bought some of that double sided mounting tape, and applied 2 pieces up behind it and pushed the beads into it, and wallah, Majority of the rattleing was eliminated.

Hey, just wondering. Will i see a significant increase in sound quality if i run 16 gauge speaker wires from my Kenwood 648s amp to my 4 speakers instead of running it from my aftermarket HU. that is what i currently use, and it sound great, but will my sound, sound crisper and better quality coming from that amp. Its only like 25 watts per channel.

here is a pic of my sub to give you an idea
http://www.gamecubecheats.net/speakers/ampsubsmall.jpg
thanks
bryan

 

I think the fluttering sound you mentioned is typical of small sealed boxes designed for in the car. Like you said, it's only noticable from outside the car with the trunk open. So when the cabin pressure is reduced the sub more easilly goes beyond it's mechanical limit. Close the trunk and windows and all car systems instantly have tons of extra bass energy. An infrasonic filter may help out. Also, what amp are you using for the sub? A low quality amp will have less control of the sub and allow it to 'ring' longer than in the recording.

 

What kind of door/deck speakers do you have? Once you go to amplified highs youll never go back. It makes a huge diffrence in my opinion. Depending on the speakers you have in the door, I would generally shoot for a little more power than 25 per channel. A good deck will put out 22-25 watts of rms per channel, so you really wouldnt be upgrading by much. Look for someting closer to 75 watts. Heres a little trick to help wire them up so you dont have to run new wires. Behind your deck, wire your front and rear channels together. Then tap into the factory speaker wire that goes to the rear speakers in the trunk and wire those to the amp for the front channel(now the signal goes from amp down the rear speaker wire to the deck, splices into the front speaker wires and then travels to the front speakers) and run new wires to the rear speakers from the amp in the trunk(very close and easy). This way you dont have to run new wire from the trunk to the front doors. It uses your factory wiring. Hope it helps!

Warbucks

 

Geez... Well, i am not looking for that much power.. I have an Eclipse cd player, model 54410. And Boston Acoustic FX6 speakers, 2 in the front, 2 in the rear. The cd player puts out a continuous 13 watts of power per channel. But since i have that amp in the back, and its already hooked up (all i have to do is put the fuse back in and attach the speakers wires), so i will probably just use that, i just wanted to know if there will be a significant difference.

I am using a Alpine v12 mrv-100m monoaural amp. Just enough for the amp. Its pretty good from what i have heard. I am not looking to upgrade this system either, just to possibly give the speakers more power. Like, on the cd player, i tend to run the volume at about 52 while the bass is at -2, treble is at +2, and subwoofer is at 14 (1-16 option). So i didn't know if using the amp for the speakers (the kenwood) would give me something like the same sound quality at a lower volume, like 45 or something.

thanks
bryan

 

Maybe...I wouldnt promise any huge gains but Id say youll notice the difference. If the amp is just sitting there, use the method I described above it will be a fairly easy job to amplify the highs adn youll like the difference it makes!

Warbucks

 

25 watts RMS from an average amp is significantly better than the power coming from a high quality head unit. Head unit power is normally measured at 10% or greater distortion. Amp power is typically measured at a fraction of a percentage. If the amp were driven to the same level of distortion the output will most likely be close to the 50-75 watts you recommended.

 

Let me ask you this...Have you considered that maybe it's that song that just sounds that way with that sub. Go back and listen to somthing else youve had for years and see if it sounds the same. 2nd, you if the sub is firing toward the trunk lid, with you listening to it with the trunk open thats the reason. Listen to it with everything closed and see if it's the same. But a sub does tend to "loosen up" if you will over time, just like anything. So in that sense it may loose its "punchy nature", and in sence loose quality.

 

A valid point...another reason why amplified highs are the way to go!

Warbucks

 

the reason it sounds different is due to what jmax said. when you run the system in the car with the trunk closed, the sub is controlled more by the airspace in the trunk, as well as the box. the trunk just acts like another large box to control it more. when you open the trunk, it's no longer there to keep some of those nasty noises out of the system, so that's what you hear a difference.

 

When opening the trunk, you change the loading on the sub. If the sub is "rearward firing", when the trunk is closed, you get a 6db boost due a boundry effect caused by the soudwaves hitting the flat surface of the trunk. Hence, open the trunk and the sub is loose and not very loud.

I'm pretty sure I've explained this correctly. I guess I could always break out my GAIT manuals.

 

Pretty much what I said, but left the boundary conditions out of it. there's the 6db boost due to that too, but the biggest issue is the large-box effect of the trunk. put a mic in the trunk with the lid open and closed and you'll see waaaay more than a 6dB difference in max spl more like 15.

 

Yeah, lots of "things" change the dynamics of raw subs. Put one in a box, changes the sub to 1/2 axis, net a DB gain. Load a box facing a corner, changes to 1/4 axis, net a DB gain. Do either wrong and you have maybe 1/2 the gain you would have with it done properly and think something is wrong with the sub.

Man....It's been at least 5 years since I have had these conversations on RAC.

 

It's acually 3db not 6

The large gain from opening up parts of the car is a nice way to get a gain, which is why it's against the rules on the comp scene

 

Hmmm...Maybe it was 6db with corner loading the sub.....Like I said, it's been quite a while since I have even thought about sub installation, sine waves, axis responses, loading, etc...

Maybe it's time to get back into it again