Need opinion on setup

[SHiFT3]

I have a Kicker L7 15" DVC 4Ohm in a G35 Coupe in a 2.8 Cubic Feet ported box Tuned to 35HZ

Its powered by a 1800W mono Quantom amp as seen in the pics

I currently dont like how it sounds

Im attaching pictures of how its setup right now (I know its messy, been busy lately)

I just want to know your opinions on how i should set this up better to make it sound clean and as loud as possible

Im willing to build another box and maybe change the amp but for now I want to keep using this amp and change it later in the future

Please let me know what I can do to make my setup sound better

And I can make a video of how bad it sounds

The speaker makes a bad sound when playing

Thanks

Click to read more...

 

[OldManBass]

I think L7's want a pretty big box... might start there.

 

[winkychevelle 10+ year member]

Bigger box will help or just seal that box up. Remember a square 15 is about the same as a round 18.

idk much about the amp so ill leave that alone. How bad does you voltage drop? Do you have a good metal to metal ground? How was you gain knob set? What do the bass settings on the radio look like? Bass boost? Low freq eq? Etc.

 

[OldManBass]

Kickers are known to like high tuning as well, and are, to my ear, more burp "one note" subs than anything else. Lows will hurt 'em.

 

[winkychevelle 10+ year member]

Kickers are known to like high tuning as well, and are, to my ear, more burp "one note" subs than anything else. Lows will hurt 'em.

Entirely box dependent I had a pair of 10s that would meter 145db at 26hz on 2k and the customer still plays them to this day.

 

[SHiFT3]

Thanks for the reply guys

I guess its time to build a new box

What do you guys recommend?

Ported or sealed?

Tuning Frequency? (if i make another ported box) I listen to mostly Southern Hip hop with alot of low drag bass

Size of box? Btw i can barely get that box in and out of my trunk so idk what ill do about that

and also where should i face the speaker and where should i put the port if i do make another ported box

Any other advise is welcomed

Im just trying to learn as much as posible about car audio so i can make my setup sound as good as possible

 

[SHiFT3]

idk much about the amp so ill leave that alone. How bad does you voltage drop? Do you have a good metal to metal ground? How was you gain knob set? What do the bass settings on the radio look like? Bass boost? Low freq eq? Etc.

Idk about the voltage

i do have a 5 Farrad capacitor that im planning on installing either today of tomrrow

My ground isnt that great to be honest Im looking for a better spot in my trunk to ground it

How much does the ground matter? Does it make a huge impact on sound?

Honestly right now i have the amp turned almost all the way up and my radio bass turned all the way up

I know thats not ideal but its not that loud unless I do that

 

[winkychevelle 10+ year member]

Well if the bass boost is all the way up and the amp is all the way up a new amp might be needed.

the 5 farad cap will do very little for bass amps more than 500w. A second battery mounted close to the amp will help alot more as well as doing the big 3 upgrade.

the ground is definitely important bad grounds can cause all kinds of weird things and usually results in a blown amp

That sub will like 4-4.5 cubic feet with 16sq inches of port per cube, tuning freq is personal preference some people like painful high bass or gut wrenching low bass. Or 2.5-3cubes sealed.

I like sealed for kickers because the loose suspensions tend to sound sloppy in ported boxes. But smaller ported boxes tuned lower can help this but tend to be more peaky. If I wanted loud while retaining some sq I would use 4cubes tuned to 32hz with 18sqinches of port per cube

 

[SHiFT3]

Thanks for the advise winkychevelle

I'm looking into a new amp right now

Any suggestions for my kicker?

I do have a spare battery so I'll install that instead of the capacitor

Right now I have a optima yellow top under the hood

Doing the big 3 upgrade is kinda pricey for me right now but I'll definitely do it in the future

As for my ground, I get a lot of extra noise from my speaker even when not playing music

I get loud thumps from my speaker when I go over a bump or something so I gotta look for a better ground

I like the really low basses that's why I went with a ported box but if I can still get those deep basses with a sealed box then I'm all for it

Considering I don't have much space to fit a huge box I'm my weird shaped trunk

But if I do make another ported box can you help me with the specs

I'm not sure I'm calculating it right

Any advise on that is welcomed

Thanks

 

[sam_b03 10+ year member]

Your ground is very important. Think of you amp like an engine. It has to get an unrestricted intake and exhaust to work properly.

 

[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

To be honest. The sub is ok at best nothing to call home about. The amp is low end equipment. I'd sell them both local and start over with better stuff. Just my opinion. But I've had those subs and have heard the amps They don't do rated thats for sure

 

[pro-rabbit 5,000+ posts]

Instead of telling him he has less then the best product, why not help him get it to work the best that it can?

The L7's do like and want larger enclosures. So the down side here is that you have a 15" sub that wants a rather huge enclosure and in that car it is likely not possible.

Assuming you are just wanting to improve the sound itself not the actual output, I would suggest moving to a sealed enclosure if you plan to keep that sub. That will likely offer a much better overall sound then what you currently have.

The amp may not be the best ever, but it will do the job you require.