Having Trouble Tuning My System

[Woollie]

Hi guys,

I recently purchased a bigger and better subwoofer for my system so I could try and gain a bit more bass. I'm having a lot of trouble trying to tune the system so that the front splits don't overpower the sub and drown it out. Here is a list of what I have running at the moment:-

I have the front splits running off this amp...
Kenwood KAC-9405 Car Amplifier - RYDA Car Audio($245.85)
These are the front splits...
JBL GTO608C 6.5" Component Car Speaker - RYDA Car Audio($218.85)
I have the sub running off this amp...
Kenwood KAC-8105D Car Amplifier - RYDA Car Audio($215.85)
This is the sub which I have running in a sealed box very close to the specs required...
Rockford Fosgate P2D4-12 12 Subwoofer - $229.00

The front splits are 2ohm which means they would be getting around 180w rms each. The sub is wired to 2ohm and getting 500w rms. Do i just need to turn the gain down more for the front splits??? If I tune the system the way most people do it and have everything running just before distortion you can hardly hear the sub.

Any help is muchly appreciated

[HCVP]

Tuning a system also comes down to how the user wants it to sounds also. You can find the point of clipping on the head unit (if you know what it is and how to listen for it) and then adjust the gain on the amps until the drivers just begin to break up.

Otherwise just pick a volume number on the head unit that is fairly high (eg, 45 out of 50) you wouldn't want the drivers hitting their peak at 20 out of 50 you want as much fine control over the volume as you can get.

Adjust the gain on each amp so that both the subs and speakers both reach their limit at the same point. Make sure your HPF is set for your front speakers, and you might need to play around with the eq levels at the same time as the gain when tuning the sub. You might like disconnect the sub and speaker and tune them seperately so you can concentrate better on what you are hearing.

[torana355]

Just turn your gains down on the splits, or get a better/more powerful sub setup

[HCVP]

Just turn your gains down on the splits, or get a better/more powerful sub setup

That's not very good advice, if the sub isn't on par with the front stage he can always eq the sub down, but the components he has are fine and and are well matched.

[Woollie]

I was under the impression that the sub/amp setup I have should be pretty good. I mean I have 500rms into a 400rms sub. Shouldn't it sound pretty loud or be able to sound pretty loud? I did have the bass boost on the amp set to max but from what I read I shouldn't really be using this at all so I turned it down to 0. That then meant I needed to turn the gain up a little more for it to sound as it did before.

[torana355]

That's not very good advice, if the sub isn't on par with the front stage he can always eq the sub down, but the components he has are fine and and are well matched.

Read his post again..... Ill give you a hint, his sub is not loud enough to run the splits at their full potential. That is why i said just turn the splits down a tad so the balance is better.

[torana355]

I was under the impression that the sub/amp setup I have should be pretty good. I mean I have 500rms into a 400rms sub. Shouldn't it sound pretty loud or be able to sound pretty loud? I did have the bass boost on the amp set to max but from what I read I shouldn't really be using this at all so I turned it down to 0. That then meant I needed to turn the gain up a little more for it to sound as it did before.

Those splits are rated at only 70rms at 2ohms so putting 180rms though them is probably a tad to much. Your sub has good power going to it but in big cars like your SV6 i find you need two subs to get a good balance with decent splits. Even in my old SSS Pulsar my single 12" Type R sub with 1000rms running though it was not enough for me lol. I have two cheap Clarion 12" subs in my SV6 that were in the car when i bought it, they go alright for what they are with plenty of bass to keep up with my Focal splits.

[Woollie]

Might have to look into an upgrade in the future. Don't think the wife would let me spend too much more at the moment.

[torana355]

Might have to look into an upgrade in the future. Don't think the wife would let me spend too much more at the moment.

Just turn your splits down a tad, i find i rarely have my system anywhere near its limit anyway, its the better quality at lower/mid volumes that i love.

[AmmoJammo]

you're not running that Kenwood KAC-9405 4 channel amp bridged are you?

that means its seeing 1ohm per channel.

[Woollie]

Yes, the KAC-9405 is only running my front splits. I was contemplating running the rears off this as well but it's been running the fronts now for months. No issues I can see. Are you certain that it's only a 1 ohm load?

[AmmoJammo]

are you using two channels to the front speakers? or all four?

[Woollie]

Yes, 1 speaker for each channel. I just swapped it so that both speakers run off one of the channels of the amp. Doesn't really sound much different so maybe safer to leave it this way. I may have been creating 1 ohm like you said.

Thanks for the advise.

[AmmoJammo]

but the amp has 4 channels?

so, not "1 speaker for each channel"

2 channels aren't being used then?

so, the splits are getting about 90watts each.

[ephect]

if you open the boot, do the subs sound louder? which way are the subs facing? you may be experiencing cancelation.. just a thought..

[HCVP]

if you open the boot, do the subs sound louder? which way are the subs facing? you may be experiencing cancelation.. just a thought..

How do you get cancellation from sound waves in a boot?

[ephect]

depending which way the subs face will depend on how/where the sound waves intercept each other after reflecting of the boot. if they are intercepting when one peak the other -peak, the sound is essentially cancelled out.

which is why some setups sound louder with the boot open, there is no reflected wave to cancel out the sound.

EDIT: heres the webpage with pics. http://montecarloforum.com/forum/int...66/#post295425 and another http://www.ozhonda.com/forum/showthr...l=1#post637592

[torana355]

if you open the boot, do the subs sound louder? which way are the subs facing? you may be experiencing cancelation.. just a thought..

He only has one sub.....

[ephect]

regardless, you can still have cancelation with 1 sub. its not limited to only 2+ subs, its the sound reflection in the boot.
yes with 2 subs you can have them out of phase, but thats not what im talking about.

[StoneX]

Hahaha... The advice givers don't know anything about sub-bass cancellation in sedans

Read this and/or this and get some experience with it. I've heard it in several cars and it's quite noticeable but not bad enough to be the original poster's issue.

[Woollie]

Just going back to the front splits for the moment. I had the amp running as a high powered 2 channel system as per the specs. But in doing that it does say to use speakers with a 4ohm or high impedance.

I'll read some of that info when I get to work.

The sub is facing toward the rear of the car...

[Woollie]

but the amp has 4 channels?

so, not "1 speaker for each channel"

2 channels aren't being used then?

so, the splits are getting about 90watts each.

I had each speaker bridged across each of the channels. This is the way it says to do it for high powered 2 channel amp. It does also say however that each speaker needs to be 4ohm or greater

[ephect]

Hahaha... The advice givers don't know anything about sub-bass cancellation in sedans

Read this and/or this and get some experience with it. I've heard it in several cars and it's quite noticeable but not bad enough to be the original poster's issue.

those links were the proper ones i was after. not much difference to what i posted apart from maybe the explaination.. it was the pics explaination i was after, and it was worth the ask.

[StoneX]

those links were the proper ones i was after. not much difference to what i posted apart from maybe the explaination.. it was the pics explaination i was after, and it was worth the ask.

Wasn't commenting to you.

[AmmoJammo]

I had each speaker bridged across each of the channels. This is the way it says to do it for high powered 2 channel amp. It does also say however that each speaker needs to be 4ohm or greater

so you do have 2 channels bridged to each speaker, and are running each channel at 1ohm.

I wouldn't be running it like that, just run each speaker on its own channel and leave 2 channels unused.