Low volume woofer response...

[mlo 10+ year member]

Just recently had a full system installed and am trying critique our dislikes. It is in a OBS 4dr. Tahoe that often is used for playing a mix of rock, country and some jazz. Volume levels of listening are typically low. The Kenwood HU volume is usually on 9-11. Overall the sound quality is decent though the bass is not pronounced enough unless the volume levels are higher.

Having said that...The woofer is currently in a less than desirable enclosure. It is in a rear door with a custom fiberglass enclosure yielding .37 cu.ft. This was the doing of the installer and did not equate what he advertised. One of my criterias for design was that things stay as oem and stealth as possible. Accepting the fact the current sub set-up is unacceptable I am looking for a sense of direction for the re-build.

For low vloume sub efficiency what are the typicall design requirements? Seems after doing some general research that physical size is important and certainly power. If so, is it accurate to say a typical shallow mount 12 or 13" sub would automatically exceed say a 10" shallow mount as long as both were being fed good power?

Or is it more a matter of shear sub air volume and I should be re-examining the use of a full size sub even if it meant an entirely custom hidden design like behind one of the interior quarter panel trims?

I realize that my questions may be missing the mark entirely and appreciate any feedback accordingly, TIA.

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[slapperz 10+ year member]

Well if you normally play low then turn the LOUD feature on your HeadUnit on and that should do the trick. Ppl say dont use it but thats only if you constantly slam ur subs to its max. At low volumes its fine tho

 

[T3mpest 10+ year member]

Just recently had a full system installed and am trying critique our dislikes. It is in a OBS 4dr. Tahoe that often is used for playing a mix of rock, country and some jazz. Volume levels of listening are typically low. The Kenwood HU volume is usually on 9-11. Overall the sound quality is decent though the bass is not pronounced enough unless the volume levels are higher.
Having said that...The woofer is currently in a less than desirable enclosure. It is in a rear door with a custom fiberglass enclosure yielding .37 cu.ft. This was the doing of the installer and did not equate what he advertised. One of my criterias for design was that things stay as oem and stealth as possible. Accepting the fact the current sub set-up is unacceptable I am looking for a sense of direction for the re-build.

For low vloume sub efficiency what are the typicall design requirements? Seems after doing some general research that physical size is important and certainly power. If so, is it accurate to say a typical shallow mount 12 or 13" sub would automatically exceed say a 10" shallow mount as long as both were being fed good power?

Or is it more a matter of shear sub air volume and I should be re-examining the use of a full size sub even if it meant an entirely custom hidden design like behind one of the interior quarter panel trims?

I realize that my questions may be missing the mark entirely and appreciate any feedback accordingly, TIA.

So the issue your having if I understand you correctly is that at low volumes your sub isn't prounounced enough for your tastes? If so turn up the gain on the amplifier powering it or the use the hu's sub control, if it isnt' maxed out already.

For your enclosure size, if you feel it's too small try some polyfill. Polyfill makes the air inside the enclosure less dense by heating it up when the sub is moving. The lower air density makes the sub behave as if it were in a larger enclosure. I think .75lbs/cubic ft should do the trick, so in your case .25 or so should be fine. This will make the sub more effecient and play a little deeper too, this might be all you need.

 

[mlo 10+ year member]

You are correct in what I was trying to relay. The installer did mention having the gain adjusted for what he felt was an undersized enclosure. I believe the intention was to protect the sub and provide the best possible response with the current system design. Frankly, I feel he set me up on this whole sub enclosure in the rear door scenario. It is obvious he's had little history with this mod as he originally touted it as being a perfect location and wanted to install an even larger 12" woofer in the door. He hand glassed the door in and built a new carpeted face etc.

I'm trying to get a sense of direction on where to go from here and not allow the installer to lead me in a circle as I spend more money. Would the rather low quality Pioneer amp have much to do with the lower volume level response signal?

TIA

 

[nabissssco 10+ year member]

Like said above, try to turn the gain up a little until it sounds the way you want but remember that since you did that the signal would be amplified to much at higher volumes clipping the signal so you will have to keep the subs volume down at that point. If you are set on trying a new setup look into JL audio stealth box setup's. Kinda expensive but will accomplish the goal you have and sound good. You could also look into Image Dynamics subs which have small box requirements and have great sound. I would take a idq any day over any shallow mount sub fyi.

 

[nabissssco 10+ year member]

The pioneer could have some problems but bottom line is if your powering the sub correctly with the pioneer it should work fine, its when you try to get that X watt pioneer amp to act like a larger amp that you will have problems.

 

[mlo 10+ year member]

I am taking notes for when I talk to the tech/installer this evening. TIA

 

[Psycareyo 10+ year member]

I had that same problem and I increased my gain and increased my subwoofer volume and I'm pretty happy.

I play with LOUD on even at my higher volume levels. I have noticed the bass significantly diminish past ...say...24 in volume. I listen to some rock around 20-27 in volume. With Rock, at low volumes, it sounds like I have the bass maxed out when it's actually pretty low. I listen to Rap a little lower, around 15-19 in volume and I get a lot more bass out of that volume level with that type of music.

It's really weird. If it's on a CD is still sounds better and has more base than the same song on my Ipod. I burned the CD from my Itoons lol. Why is this?

 

[nabissssco 10+ year member]

the loudness feature is supposed to add dynamics to the music at low levels, anything above that will start to add distortion and you run the risk of damaging the speakers. The gain setting is there for you to match it to the hu's preamp output voltage...say the deck is 4 volt preouts so you set the amp to 4 volts also. As long as your not significantly overpowering your speakers you should be able to play all the way through the volume dial with no distortion or clipped signal. the problem with that for some people is they want a sub stage that over powers the front stage so they turn up the gain to get the amp to reach rms power sooner. this makes for trouble if you keep turning up the volume and not turning down the sub stage.

as a rule I always keep loudness off as well as bass boost...to me if you need those features its a sign that you need a larger amp with more power, not the feature itself.

 

[dafobbishon3 10+ year member]

never have your LOUD setting on. fail.

 

[dafobbishon3 10+ year member]

and your ipod's eq is probably set differently. that's why. or just a bad connection.

 

[nabissssco 10+ year member]

It's really weird. If it's on a CD is still sounds better and has more base than the same song on my Ipod. I burned the CD from my Itoons lol. Why is this?

Its due to a few issues. Im not 100% sure of this but I think some decks dont run the ipod signal through the internal DAC. Also the most common problem is that the music on ipods are compressed to allow more music to be stored on the ipod. when music is compressed you chop off some of the lower freq and upper freq to save space and the music wont sound the same...that's why a cd will sound better. you could do a loss-less file swap but you wont be able to have nearly as many songs on at that point. I use mostly cd now due to the reasons I said.