Losing Faith In Car Audio!

[tboyko]

I've put a considerable amount of time and effort into getting some good sound out of my car. I just can't seem to get a sound that I am happy with though. I would consider myself moderately picky, so I think with the amount of time I've spent, I should be able to expect a better sound.

Perhaps someone can suggest what I do to get a better sound. Here is my current setup:

infinity kappa 5.25 components up front

infinity kappa 5x7s in rear deck

four channel 50Wx4 MTX Thunder-404 amplifier

2 12w0-4 JL Subs

two channel kenwood amplifier (about 125W RMS per channel)

Alpine 8429? HU

The subs and kenwood amplifier i picked up from a friend recently. they aren't my first pick by any means and take up a ton of space in my trunk, but they will do for the time being i suppose. I have the kappas on high pass at 85hz on my four channel MTX, and my subs (which are both in a box) set to Mono with a low pass at 80hz. I just feel that there is a gap in my audio frequency, that the lower mids aren't as apparent as I would like them to be. Also, I feel that the subs just don't put out much of a rich sound. They hit fairly hard, but sometimes I feel they hit too hard and don't fill in enough bass and so on. I've had to lower the treble on the HU due to the harsh tweets on the kappas, and I'm happy with that, but I'm still trying to enhance my overall sound. The thought of eventually switching to a 10w4 or something similar has crossed my mind both for space and because I feel the 12w0s dont sound as tight as I would like them to.

Do my settings seem correct on my amps and such? I feel that this system SHOULD sound really good and it just doesn't. I know Bing and others suggest kick pods, but I want the stealth look. I'm basically just looking at changing settings and such from this point to get the sound i desire. PLEASE HELP!

[850drag]

best setup, boston front and rear speakers along with a 450 watt kicker amp, boston tweeters too, I love my bostons, best money can buy

[AnthonyR]

I'm not as big a fan of the Boston's, they're like the Kappa's with a slightly harsher tweeter.

Have you thought of getting a bigger speaker up front (like a 6.5" component?) and put them in kicks. The 6.5 will be able to play a little lower which should help the midbass which in turn helps to fill your gap. Also try lowering the kappas to 63hz or so if you can but this might not be possible. All in all, even though you don't have the "highest line" of your given products you should still be able to make it sound pretty good with what you have. My only suggestion would be a bigger front midbass in a kick.

The 4ch MTX amp sounds good, but the Kenwood seems a little on the small side, although I don't really know what those JL's are designed for, if they are designed for only 150W rms then the Kenwood would also be good.

Here's my setup that I have been VERY happy with

Head Unit: Alpine 9815

Front Stage:3way Crystal components in kick pods (6.5", 4", .75")

Rear Stage:None

Subs: 2x Image Dynamics IDQ10's

Component Amplifier: Kenwood KAC729s (~100W rms per front channel)

Sub Amplifier: jbl600.1 (600W rms)

Front is high passed at 63hz and the subs also on low pass at 63

[Bing_0]

i totally undertand the need for stealth, but as i said in my pinned post, our 850s, if you use stock locations, just will not get you the midbass you need.

simply put, a 5.25" in our rather shallow stock upper door location will have a hard time going below 80hz with any kind of authority...and to be honset, it sounds like this is what you are experiencing...

so...there are three solutions in my mind to your issue:

1. cross the subs higher, to say 100hz, the problem of course is that now the subs will sound boomy and come from the rear of hte car.

2. kicks with a set of good 6.5s", but as you said, it is not as stealthy...

3. do waht ben is doing, mold a set of 6.5s in the doors, but i am sure you know htats a ton of work...

basicall6, if you are going to stick with stock locations, you are not going to have good mibass, simple as that...

b

[BenW]

3.  do waht ben is doing, mold a set of 6.5s in the doors, but i am sure you know htats a ton of work...

I wish that curse on no one ;)

[wattsat]

I bet this is the problem you are having.

The rear decks sound muddy and unclear.

The fronts lack midbass.

First thing I would do is disconnect the rear deck speakers. Think about this. The rear decks essentially use the trunk as a free air enclosure. In this same enclosure you have Two very large air movers working against those 5x7's. Everytime the subs hit the sound wave is working against or with the movement of the 5x7's and is making them sound like crap. Either seal them completely or ditch them entirely.

If you ditch them you will lose your only source for good midbass. Right now I do not have a great solution for curing that. What I do have is a single 6.5 midbass in a sealed box sitting on the floor in my back seat. When I turn it off you instantly hear a hole in the frequency range.

I see only two good solutions.

1. Like everyone says, Put 6.5" kicks up front.

2. Leave the 5.25" in the front doors and find another location in the car (besides the rear deck) to install 6.5 or larger midbass drivers.

This is what I currently have and thus far I can live with it.

1 Xtant 404m -- 2 Channels to Front, 2 Channels bridged to 6.5mid

1 Xtant 202m -- Bridged running 2ohms to Dual Voic Coil Sub

Fronts -- 5.25 db Mids. Focal Crossover and Tweeters in Dash

Behind Passenger Seat -- 6.5" Focal Midbass in sealed box

Trunk -- 1 JL 10" Dual Voice coil sub in Sealed box

Factory SC811 headunit using RCA out to amps.

[orange850t]

Even though I am wagon owner I have an idea. For my two pennies I would build a small enclosure under the package shelf where the rear speakers are. I would open up the holes to accept some kicker rmb8's. Instant midbass enclosure, cross them between the kappas and the subs with a good three way x over. Probably kicka....you know. The kickers can be had on fleabay for short money.

my .02c.... B)

[blazen244]

I've put a considerable amount of time and effort into getting some good sound out of my car.  I just can't seem to get a sound that I am happy with though.  I would consider myself moderately picky, so I think with the amount of time I've spent, I should be able to expect a better sound. 

Perhaps someone can suggest what I do to get a better sound.  Here is my current setup:

infinity kappa 5.25 components up front

infinity kappa 5x7s in rear deck

four channel 50Wx4 MTX Thunder-404 amplifier

2 12w0-4 JL Subs

two channel kenwood amplifier (about 125W RMS per channel)

Alpine 8429? HU

The subs and kenwood amplifier i picked up from a friend recently.  they aren't my first pick by any means and take up a ton of space in my trunk, but they will do for the time being i suppose.  I have the kappas on high pass at 85hz on my four channel MTX, and my subs (which are both in a box) set to Mono with a low pass at 80hz.  I just feel that there is a gap in my audio frequency, that the lower mids aren't as apparent as I would like them to be.  Also, I feel that the subs just don't put out much of a rich sound.  They hit fairly hard, but sometimes I feel they hit too hard and don't fill in enough bass and so on.  I've had to lower the treble on the HU due to the harsh tweets on the kappas, and I'm happy with that, but I'm still trying to enhance my overall sound.  The thought of eventually switching to a 10w4 or something similar has crossed my mind both for space and because I feel the 12w0s dont sound as tight as I would like them to.

Do my settings seem correct on my amps and such?  I feel that this system SHOULD sound really good and it just doesn't.  I know Bing and others suggest kick pods, but I want the stealth look.  I'm basically just looking at changing settings and such from this point to get the sound i desire.  PLEASE HELP!

←

I use the same set up in my car Infinity's in the front doors ,front doors ,and in the rear deck I used 6x9 's with the front speakers I crossed them over at 200 Hz the rear doors I crossed them over at 125hz the rear deck ( prior to installing 2 10" woofers )Icrossed them over at 100hz then the sub's I crossed them over at 80hz

Setup is a little different now I have 2 12's and 2 10's , Now I keep them crossed at 100hz. The size in the front are fine If need be use dyno mat I did and it sounds great I put my sounds against any one and theirs

[tboyko]

Thanks for all of the advice guys! The problem is that I just spent all this money on this equipment and I don't really want to spend any more. I'm thinking my next step will be to sell the subs and amp i have for them and get something nicer but smaller, like a single 10 or 12....from there I can look into putting some pods in if i must, but I really really don't like that idea. We'll have to see.

As for the crossover points, I can't adjust mine. I guess I could make some passive crossovers, but I don't know how much they would really help my situation.

bing, thanks for the advice as well. I've had the low pass turned off on the subs before and it does help the problem, but obviously the subs just don't sound as good having to hit all those frequencies. furthermore, since the two subs are in the same box, if i do stereo audio, they interfere and take power away from each other to a certain degree, so i have to stick with mono...

[BenW]

Hey Tboyko,

Check and see about your crossover points. They MAY be adjustable on your amp.

I know your feeling about the lower midbass. That is one reason I went with larger 6.5" drivers in custom door panels. These are a work in progress....

I am then able to use a little larger driver than stock. Even with that, my midbass is not stellar. Acceptable but not that AWESOME upfront bass that you get with a 8" or even a 10" driver up front.

I am considering moving up to a 8" driver for that application. Maybe even go with a three way setup.

This is really a driving force in my car audio experience. I really like to experiment and Im in a quest to get the best sound out of a given setup. Not always easy. But always learning something.

I dont think you need to spend any more money. I think you can do what you want with what you got. Just be patient. Some good pointers on install techniques, deadening, amp setting and such can be sound online in places such as

sounddomain.com

elitecaraudio.com

carsound.com

etc.

Good luck.

[bogelo]

Here is 2 questions for you:

1. What problem are you getting from your setup?

a. Too much hiss when you turn the volume up

b. Tweeters too sharp

c. Not enough kick

d. Sounds not clear (boomy mid-bass)

e. all of the above

f. none of the above

2. What kind of music do you MOST listen to?

a. hip-hop

b. trance/techno

c. jazz

d. classic

e. rock/pop

f. all of the above

g. none of the above

[tboyko]

Here is 2 questions for you:

1. What problem are you getting from your setup?

a. Too much hiss when you turn the volume up

b. Tweeters too sharp

c. Not enough kick

d. Sounds not clear (boomy mid-bass)

e. all of the above

f. none of the above

2. What kind of music do you MOST listen to?

a. hip-hop

b. trance/techno

c. jazz

d. classic

e. rock/pop

f. all of the above

g. none of the above

←

tweets were too sharp so i turned the treble on the HU (centered at 10KHz) to -2. fixed the problem. no other problems, minus a serious lack of midbass.

i listen mostly to rock/pop, according to your categories.