I know that you tuen up the volume 3/4 and slowly turn up the gain until speakers distort. but how do i do this if i only have subs? does it still work since its harder to listen to distortion on subwoofers?

 

You mean only the subs are on the amp, and the other speakers are still using the stock system? You have a lot more headroom in the aftermarket amp, so you probably don't want to turn it up so loud that it distorts. You're going to have to try to strike some balance where it seems to fit the sound you want.

 

yah, subs only hooked up to amp. i kept the stock system. i still need help adjusting the gain. i dont want to over power my subs

 

Idealy, you want to match the input. Are you running RCA's from the Headunit, or speaker level inputs? Reason being RCA's will have a volt measurement, and that's what you want to match the amp to. (4Volt is common in most newer headunits.) Otherwise, take it to a stereo shop and have them match it up. Another option is to turn it up till it distorts, and then back it off an 1/8th a turn or so. If your amp overheats, or shuts off while playing music, you need to turn it down a little more also.

 

Turn the gain down all the way. Turn up the volume until the interior distorts. Make sure treble and bass is flat. Turn the gains on the amp up until the sub distorts.

 

i have a LOC.
isnt it hard to hear subs distort?

 

Turn the gain on the LOC to half way up and then do the amp, Well if your volume is turned up from the front you will hear your subs distort. No offence, Dual subs are not the greatest so I believe they will sound like crap at the lower freq.

Do u have the DUAL bandpass box? Or just the subs?

 

had the audicity to say my subs suck right in my face. his exact words. at least the manager was nice, i even tiped him for extra work that he did after the insult installer finished.
yah i know DUAL sucks, but they were free and i didnt want something that you could hear blocks away. it pounds great for me, sometimes even too loud esp if i turn the bass boost all the way up. i just wanted a simple add on for my Bose system to fix the bass deficiet.
i got the bandbass box

 

Sounds like you are still a little salty about the DUAL comment
He was probably just trying to sucker you into upgrading, but you didn't bite....
You will hear that at most shops, this one will tell you this sounds better, get this, this sounds better get this...Get whatever fits your needs, your ears and most importantly your budget...

 

yah i am sour. it was just plain rude to treat a paying customer that way. but yah i should have assumed that he was trying to sell me his stuff. he tried to sell me a LOC when i had speaker level inputs on my amp. i told him several times that i didnot need it. but he gave it to me for free at the end. so i cant complain. but i think he did that so the install would be easier for him. w/e, as long as i got my beats

 

That is rude, and you're right that sometimes you just need some extra bass, and don't need the best/most-expensive stuff. I agree that it sounds like a bad sales tactic.

There's another trick you can look into. Look up the model # of your subs and see if they can fit into a sealed enclosure. (You'll need to know the optimal volume/space for the enclosure to match` that exact sub.) It'll not be as LOUD, but the enclosures are smaller and you'll get tighter (but quieter) bass. Sometimes it's the bandpass enclosure that has more to do with the "quality" of the sound, IMO. But bandpass is louder. Depends on what you're looking for.

I encouraged someone I know to make the switch when one of his subs blew, and he kind of missed the loudness, I think, but he really appreciated getting his trunk back! (The bandpass enclosure took up almost the whole trunk!)

For years I used a less-expensive 8" sub in a sealed enclosure, and it really got all the low bass. The only thing I couldn't do is compete against a parking-lot-sound-off or something. It was overpowering for people in the car, so remember -- it only has to be loud enough.

 

I say put them in a sealed box with each chamber filled halfway to polyfill. When I first got into systems I had a 29.99 Radio shack sub sound awesome. Trust Box is key.

 

thanks for the suggestions, but they came preloaded in a mirrored bandpass box with LED lights in them. i dont really wanna mess with it now. it was just easy to put in my car. and yah it does take up quite of bit of space. prob about 40-50% is gone, and i cant use the pass though, not that i ever do.

 

I used the pass-through a week ago, when buying some hardware parts. I prolly could have used the backseat, just not as easily, but anyway, it's still worth mentioning for those considering their options. Worst-case, if you need to haul something, you can just remove your box. Simple enough.

Dnd: what is "trust box"?

 

sorry I didnt see that.

Its suppose to say "Trust me the box is key" Pretty much saying that 50% of the work is done by the box and then rest by the subs.

 

yah i guess i could just unhook everything, its pretty easy to put back together.