Chrifff

Gunman,
I think that setup would be pretty good - You have decent mids with the 8" (although not crossed over at the best frequency setup with stock) and have the 12" for the deeper thumps! You still have the door speakers which are probably around 6".

ILXSun

A quick update. I was concerned that upgrading the stock 8" would provide the depth of bass I was looking for, and so paid to have a powered 12" subwoofer installed in the trunk (Rockford Fosgate P300, 300 watts amp). Suppose I should have tried a DIY, since the techs just tapped into the stock sub speaker wire while adding the power line! The techs warned me that 300 watts might not be enough given the dampening material Acura uses, and boy they were right.

Im not at all happy with the bass from this 12". Its definitely an improvement over stock, but not significantly or even moderately so. They kept the stock 8" in place to provide some midrange. I've been fiddling with the sub settings (gain, boost, crossover...) but so far haven't seen much of an improvement. Ill mess around with placing the sub in a different location later today and see if that helps (right now the sub rests against the rear of the trunk with the grill facing outwards towards the license plate).

Assuming that repositioning the sub doesn't work, Im wondering if these are the range of my options: One, to replace the sub with a more powerful powered sub or amp/sub combo (the wiring is all in place). Two, to replace the stock 8" sub and see if that helps. Three, do the first two options and have the replacement 8" sub also powered by the amp. Four, give up on adding bass in the trunk and think about upgrading the front door speakers for improved bass.

I also happen to have an old (10 yrs) Infinity Basslink sitting in the garage that might still work. Could I add two powered subs in the trunk? The odd thing is I don't want earth shattering bass. Just something on par with the stock "Monsoon" sound system I had in my old 2003 VW Jetta (only upgrade I did was a new deck), which surprisingly rocked.

Thanks,=

Chrifff

ILXSun,

I am not exactly sure how your set up is however a 12" sub with 300 watts RMS power should do the trick, especially considering you want a bit more deeper and louder sound and not a huge thumping system. What your problem is possibly the type of sub (ie frequency/sensitivity range and ohm impedance) and the enclosure style of the subwoofer (sealed, ported - proper box for the sub specs). If you are looking for a deeper bass response then you would need to lower the crossover points to 60 hz range.

A couple things to note:
1) The amount of insulation in the ILX trunk is highly unlikely the problem, an easy check for that is to open the pass through/rear seats and see if the volume is sufficient for your liking.
2) Installing the amp using the high level inputs from the rear speakers shouldn't effect the performance as this is just the signal you are receiving for the sub. Although the best way to receive the signal is directly from the source (ie the deck and use the proper cross over points for the amp).
3) Installing better speakers in the vehicle cabin would more than likely decrease your mid range bass as the sensitivity on stock speakers are really low. You would not get much better/deeper bass that way and would more likely get a better and cleaner sound (of course it would all depend on the speakers and if you powered them with the amp as well).
4) Powering the stock 8" sub might give you a bit more bass however you would be better off replacing the sub if you do that.
5) Depending on which version of your amp - Mono or dual channel you may not be running enough power to your sub. Depending on the sub specs you may even bridge it down to a 2 ohm load and double the power but that would depend on your sub specs if it is a dual voice coil 2 ohm speaker etc.

I would probably double check to see if you have defeated the ANC properly (you probably did as you would more than likely have some interference sound), play around with the amp gains, amp crossover points, and stock deck settings (You can always try lowering the treble on the deck thus increasing the volume levels and raise the sub gain to full on the deck and amp - This might get you to notice the bass more compared to the deck volume levels).


I'm sorry to hear you did all that and am not satisfied - Feel your pain man, and good luck!

Bchester6

If they simply tapped into the existing sub wires then you are probably not getting a full signal. Instead you are getting the typical "roll off" that the OEM puts in place to protect the stock sub. My guess is that the sub is missing the lower frequencies which makes your sub just an oversized midbass driver. Get a bass restoration device to get the most out of your purchase.

ILXSun

Thanks a lot! Chriff's suggestions and further tweaking have greatly improved the bass response of the sub. I am now generally happy with the sub sound, although it is far from perfect. Perhaps for reasons that Bchester notes, the sub still has a hard time hitting on certain low notes, while at times the mids lack any punch. It really differs from song to song. Some songs have a ton of bass now- almost too much where I have to turn the bass down to keep from rattling the rearview mirror. Other songs, which I know are bass heavy, just lack any bass depth whatsoever.

I might try one of those bass restoration devices- some you can get fairly cheap. I assume the install would be fairly easy? Just tap into the existing power and speaker lines? Ill probably just get an install estimate and go from there. I also wonder if a bass restoration device would change how songs sound beyond the bass.

But thanks again for all the help!

Bchester6

Alot of LOC's have bass restoration features built in with auto sensing turn on so a seperate power wire isn't necessary. Also, try reversing the polarity of your sub (swap wires on terminals) just to see if it makes a difference. It couldn't hurt and it sometimes makes quite a difference.