High Pitched Subs?

[digitall]

A friend and I finally got around to getting subs installed in my car. First I had a Kenwood amp and an old set of subs (dual 10's from Pioneer) that used to rock in my Honda. I was using the LOC to connect everything but my amp kept overheating, and the bass wasn't that loud at all. Since the stuff was older I opted to go ahead and replace it by getting a new Infinity 611a and a set of Polk DB212-2's and hooked all of that up yesterday. While the bass is still better, it pails in comparison to what my Honda did with the old setup still.

Is it maybe the sturdiness of the car thats causing this? With the old setup my mirrors could shake to the point of being unusable but with this new setup, even now I can fairly easily overpower an amp (ACL Level 3 plus a little bass/treble tweaking) and this happened to both amps - but the bass still isn't nearly as powerful as what I had before. With the Honda, I did have an aftermarket HU installed (JVC Arsenal KD-AR5000 http://www.crutchfield.com/S-F9Y6PfwK5XH/cgi-bin/prodview.asp?i=257KDA5000) and was using the sub pre-outs in this. THe reason I say sturdiness of the car, is the Mazda seems to be built much more solidly than the Civic I had was. Basically, the bass hits, but it isn't nearly as deep as I would've hoped it would be. I can feel a kick, but it also seems to be higher ptiched, like a "thump" instead of a THUMP if that makes any sense.

Anyone have any ideas? Currently the setup seems to be working fine on ACL 1 with a little bass/treble modification, but considering all the reviews I read on that sub setup, it should be rattling my neighbors windows yet it barely rattles mine.

Thanks in advance!

 

[tsunami]

where is your lpf set? and also if you used a loc did you use a 1 or 2 channel? make sure you don't have the speaker fade away from whatever end you took the sub output from. do you have any other speakers in your set up or just the amp and subs?

 

[WetsuitxNinja]

Box size and type? If you drive a sedan, put the rear seats down and see if its any louder? Everythings wired correctly... ?

 

[Lord Ikon]

A friend and I finally got around to getting subs installed in my car. First I had a Kenwood amp and an old set of subs (dual 10's from Pioneer) that used to rock in my Honda. I was using the LOC to connect everything but my amp kept overheating, and the bass wasn't that loud at all. Since the stuff was older I opted to go ahead and replace it by getting a new Infinity 611a and a set of Polk DB212-2's and hooked all of that up yesterday. While the bass is still better, it pails in comparison to what my Honda did with the old setup still.

Is it maybe the sturdiness of the car thats causing this? With the old setup my mirrors could shake to the point of being unusable but with this new setup, even now I can fairly easily overpower an amp (ACL Level 3 plus a little bass/treble tweaking) and this happened to both amps - but the bass still isn't nearly as powerful as what I had before. With the Honda, I did have an aftermarket HU installed (JVC Arsenal KD-AR5000 http://www.crutchfield.com/S-F9Y6PfwK5XH/cgi-bin/prodview.asp?i=257KDA5000) and was using the sub pre-outs in this. THe reason I say sturdiness of the car, is the Mazda seems to be built much more solidly than the Civic I had was. Basically, the bass hits, but it isn't nearly as deep as I would've hoped it would be. I can feel a kick, but it also seems to be higher ptiched, like a "thump" instead of a THUMP if that makes any sense.

Anyone have any ideas? Currently the setup seems to be working fine on ACL 1 with a little bass/treble modification, but considering all the reviews I read on that sub setup, it should be rattling my neighbors windows yet it barely rattles mine.

Thanks in advance!

Depends on a lot of things.

The signal may be being modified from the source (deck). If there is any crossovers on the deck, or the amp, that could be modifying your bass.

The shape of the box is important to get the proper response.

The shape of the vehicle matters. The amount of space in a mazda 3 is greater than the honda most likely.

The material in the vehicle matters. Studier body could actually be a bonus, but if the material between the box and you is thicker or reinforced, less of the sound will make it to you, or it will be dampened.

I'm not sure how you're "overpowering" the amp. The signal going to the amp shouldn't matter much, whether it's line-level or not. The amp shouldn't overheat unless it's not getting any ventilation. Many amps today have decent heat-sinks and/or cooling fans.

Sub pre-outs and an aftermarket deck like you had in the honda would likely have helped somewhat.

Have you tried laying down the seats to see any difference in sound? I'm assuming the polk's you have now are 12's from the model number. If that's true the 12's should have a deeper bass than the 10's you had. But the frequencies you'll get that 'deep bass' sound from will be lower.

 

[BrianG]

Do you have the LOC wired right (+ to + and - to -)? Sounds almost like you have some signal canceling. In my car, one 12" sub running on ~400w makes both side mirrors vibrate badly and the rearview mirror actually "self adjusts" from the vibration.