vipvop

I have 2 12" Kicker Comp VRs and a rockford fosgate 550s, but some low bass notes don't hit nearly as hard they should (heard them on other subs). I have to have the bass on the HU all the way up, and the remote punch bass knob all the way up just to get decent bass for most songs. I was thinking it could be a setting on the amp but Al and Eds managed to strip the threads for the screws to the amp when they installed it so I can't check the settings. Is it likely the equalizer the head unit goes through is cutting out a lot of the low notes that the factory sub wouldn't hit ordinarily?

I was also thinking that maybe they hooked up the amp to the output of the equalizer instead of the wire that goes to the factory sub (i think thats where they should have hooked it up), but I don't know where to begin figuring out whats wrong (my car audio knowledge is almost nothing - still learning...). Anyone have some advice?

dnd2984

iTrader: (6)

I never had thar problem wit my facotory HU and I cant tell a differ with my Alpine unit. But it might be the amp. I have the rockford 500s and I have my gain up a lil over half ways and my bass boost is pretty high to. I think when they test the amps they test wit the gain and bass boost all the way up...

drcookie

Here are a few thins to look for.

Do you know where they tapped the input from ?
If input line was tapped from the factory sub's input line, it's good.

Check the low pass crossover on the amp. If the amp is set to 100Hz, you most likely will not get anything that is lower than 100Hz.

The lines to the door speakers have been "equalized" to not producing any low frequency. I am not quite sure what is the cut off point.
If the amp that drives the sub is hooked up from the lines on the door speakers, you may not get a lot of low end frequency.
One way to find out is to play with the fader on HU. If the volume of the sub goes down when you turn the fader to the front or rear, your amp is hooked to the lines on the door speakers.

Hope this helps.

Good Luck.

Cheers

dnd2984

iTrader: (6)

where is the input single to the amp coming from??? IT should be tapped off the rear woofer.

Southbound

The stock equalizer does provide a fairly flat response to the door speakers from 50Hz to 5Khz... Above 5Khz, it boosts the highs with a 12db/octave slope that adds around 15db at 15Khz. Below 50Hz, it cuts the lows at a rate of 12db/octave and is down about 15db at 20Hz.

This would still provide solid bass levels down to around 40 hertz which is actually a good thing for 6-1/2 inch door speakers. They would distort and/or self destruct trying to reproduce anything below those frequencies anyway. However, if you are using this point to feed a TRUE subwoofer, it should still provide some nice tight bass with GOOD PUNCH down to 30-40Hz, but if you're talking about 20hz and below.... frequencies that you FEEL and that rattles windows, etc... then that's not going to happen from the factory EQ output signal or the Factory headunit door speaker outputs.

In reality frequencies below 30-40 hertz AREN'T going to provide "PUNCH"... they will provide "BOOM" and chest vibrations along with the whole neighborhood listening in... Bass with PUNCH like from nice drums are really coming from the 50hz-100/200hz range. HipHop and Rap type bass is exaggerated, and does produce ultrasonic frequencies below 20Hz.

Hope this helps a bit...
Southbound

vipvop

Well it turns out the sub is hooked up to input for the rear speakers. Is the equalizer built in to the factory HU, or is it sepearate? I'm guessing if its built in then the amp is getting the equalized signal, damn the incompetent people at Al and Eds. Would it be hard to change it so it's hooked up to the bass signal by myself? I can solder, I just don't want to have to take off the whole back seat or anything like that.

Southbound

The EQ is a separate unit from the headunit. There is a line level output of the headunit that feeds the EQ box, and then the line level output of the EQ feeds back into the headunit to the output stage. This is ALL up under the dash. Bypassing the EQ can be done with the connectors on the back of the Headunit. But that doesn't really help for what you want to accomplish. There is a SUM output from the headunit that feeds the EQ that then feeds only the low frequencies back to the subwoofer amp in the back of the seat... (or to your new subamp) This would be where they should have tapped your wires...

NO OFFENSE TO GREAT AND LEGITIMATE CUSTOM INSTALLERS LIKE STREETEFFECTZ,.... But a LOT of these BOZOS from "Ed and FReds" and Best Buy, etc. are just cheap help who never really know exactly what they are doing. I feel your pain in dealing with that type of shop. Even if you haven't done this yourself before... if you can solder, you're probably ahead of these jokers. Yes, you could pull it off by yourself... It is a fair amount of work... But if you really stayed and watched the "ED and FRed" guys tear apart your console and dash, etc. YOU WOULD PROBABLY GET SICK TO YOUR STOMACH... Either do it yourself, or DON'T WATCH! The same goes with mechanical repairs... What you don't know, won't haunt you...

I'm sure Iggy could better help you with the subwoofer amp feeds and placement, etc. He's the man!

GOOD LUCK!
Southbound

vipvop

Are there any good custom installers on the boards here that live in Southern California? It seems like they're all on the east coast.