Sub Tuning Tips

shakes · 04-15-2004, 03:01 PM

Hey guys ... I just got my sub in and haven't really tuned it yet to get the best sound. I listen to primarily rock so I want a lot of punch and not much rumble.

It's an older 12" Polk Audio sub i'm borrowing from my brother in a single sealed box. Powered by an Alpine 2ch amp in bridged mode (MRV-420 i think). I plan on moving to a Infinity Perfect 10.1 soon tho.

I just got it in so I haven't taken much time to try tuning it to get the best sound ... But I thought this would be a good starter thread for this new forum that many people could get tips from.

So any of you guys who have a lot of car audio experience ... post your tips for tuning subs to get the sound you want.

sfay93 · 04-15-2004, 03:07 PM

Does your amp have a crossover built in? Sealed box is good for tight bass but you will still need a crossover to tune in the frequency responce of the sub/box combo you have.

shakes · 04-15-2004, 03:37 PM

I have a clarion EQ that has a sub output with a setable corssover freq of 60Hz or 90Hz ... i currently have it set at 60.

And then there's also a crossover at the amp ... i have low pass enabled and the cutoff set around 50Hz i think ... haven't played with it much like i said.

falconey · 04-15-2004, 03:43 PM

There's really no way to truly help someone tune their sound unless you're right there with them. It's not the same if both parties can't hear what it sounds like currently. One thing you can do is tell us what it sounds like now and what you want to change about that sound. I know you say you want punch with less rumble, is this your current problem. Also if you can be more specific about what those two terms mean. I say this because the way the bass comes out is based on how it was recorded and what the producer intended for the output. Meaning if they wanted it to be a rumble type of bass there really isn't much you can do to that rumble. I could be off base with what I think a rumble is compared to what you think one is.

Bluebisz · 04-15-2004, 05:50 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by shakes

I have a clarion EQ that has a sub output with a setable corssover freq of 60Hz or 90Hz ... i currently have it set at 60.

And then there's also a crossover at the amp ... i have low pass enabled and the cutoff set around 50Hz i think ... haven't played with it much like i said.

Well, the 60 Hz on the EQ and the 50 Hz on the amp are both too low in my opinion. I would suggest to try to set it up to around 90 Hz and listen to it. Of course, it also depends on where is the crossover point for your front/rear speakers.

Bottom line is, you have to experience with different settings and decide it for yourself. For me when I finally finished my system it took about two months to set everything up correctly. I listened every configuration for a few days at least or a week and changed it afterwards.

Have fun

TaylorMade · 04-15-2004, 08:25 PM

Agreed that 60hz is too low for "punchy" bass. Also, if you still have too much "rumble", fill the box with Polyfill or another polyester cotton type product. I've almost always used that to "stiffen" the bass in my boxes.

shakes · 04-15-2004, 09:38 PM

I will try setting the EQ to 90Hz instead of 60. The guys at clarion were nice enough to put the switch for that right on the top ... so when you have it mounted to the dash you can't get to the switch.

I have adjustable crossovers in my amps ... so I can just change the HP and LP cutt off point on my component and sub amps to compensate.

I thought setting it to 90 would give me more bass guitar and other low end stuff that i don't want to hear as much. But I will try and see how it sounds ... i can always set it back.

I got it sounding pretty good tonight by tweaking the EQ and sub volume on the eq ... it was with some harder music which always has punchy bass anyway ... so just gotta get it to sound the same for my more mellow rock.

TaylorMade ... do you fill the box completely with polyfill? or just a little bit? If you fill it completely wouldn't that mess with the air volume of the box and be the same as putting the sub in a real small box?

inniss777 · 04-16-2004, 01:13 AM

The most important thing to good sounding bass is having it in the right box. 3/4 " mdf wood is the proper size and make shure that the subs are in are the right cubic ft box.

brrman · 04-16-2004, 09:44 AM

yeah pout the EQ at 90 and set the amp to around 80. Thats what I have and I get amazing punch out of my sub. Took me close to a month of fiddling before I got my sound the way I wanted it. BTW I have the same Clarion EQ in my car also.

shakes · 04-16-2004, 12:25 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by inniss777

The most important thing to good sounding bass is having it in the right box. 3/4 " mdf wood is the proper size and make shure that the subs are in are the right cubic ft box.

this brings up something else ... i've noticed a lot of dual boxes don't have partitions in the middle ... so both subs share the same open air.

Do you think it'd be better to have two separate single boxes rather than a dual box with no partition?

another random question ... if you have a dual voice coil sub ... does it hurt the sub to hook up just one vc?

shakes · 04-16-2004, 12:28 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by brrman

yeah pout the EQ at 90 and set the amp to around 80. Thats what I have and I get amazing punch out of my sub. Took me close to a month of fiddling before I got my sound the way I wanted it. BTW I have the same Clarion EQ in my car also.

I'll give it a shot this weekend and see if i get better response.

How do you like your infinity perfect 10.1? that's the one i've got my eye on ... Does it sound ok with just having one?

Banderon · 04-16-2004, 01:09 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by shakes

another random question ... if you have a dual voice coil sub ... does it hurt the sub to hook up just one vc?

If you had a V12 and you disabled 6 cyclinders so it'd only run as a V6... would it hurt the car?

The real question is: Why get the V12 if you're only going to use half its power?

TaylorMade · 04-21-2004, 08:21 AM

Hey Shakes, sorry that I haven't replied, I forgot about this thread. To answer your question, no, I don't fill the entire box, I just use spray glue and coat the sides. In essence you are fooling the sub into thinking that it's in a smaller box. The reason that most folks don't have a divider in the middle of the box is they're usually running bridged (mono) and not in stereo. If they were running in stereo the speakers would move at a different times rather than at the same time and therefore screw things up airflow wise.

brrman · 04-21-2004, 09:30 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by shakes

I'll give it a shot this weekend and see if i get better response.

How do you like your infinity perfect 10.1? that's the one i've got my eye on ... Does it sound ok with just having one?

The Infinity totally rocks, man. Really tight bass. I mainly listen to rock and some techno/trance. It really pounds when you want it to. Not to mention it flew off my car roof one day (in the fiberglass box) when I was workin in the trunk and needed to run out to the hardware store... Thing still tickin!

One sub is perfectly fine for me - it can push more than I require for my listening pleasure - and I like it loud.

shakes · 04-21-2004, 10:12 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by TaylorMade

Hey Shakes, sorry that I haven't replied, I forgot about this thread. To answer your question, no, I don't fill the entire box, I just use spray glue and coat the sides. In essence you are fooling the sub into thinking that it's in a smaller box.

ah ... good times ... I may need to try to add a little. there's a little bit too much thud sometimes, and i suspect there's just a little bit too much air in the box for the sound i want.

Quote: Originally Posted by brrman

The Infinity totally rocks, man. Really tight bass. I mainly listen to rock and some techno/trance. It really pounds when you want it to. Not to mention it flew off my car roof one day (in the fiberglass box) when I was workin in the trunk and needed to run out to the hardware store... Thing still tickin!

awesome ... that's definately the way i'll be going then. I've been watching ebay for th 10.1s ... both svc and dvc ... can't decide which i want yet. Trying to make myself hold off for another mointh or so tho ... i've been spending a lot of money on this system lately and I still need a few other things (new power supply, etc)

Quote: Originally Posted by Banderon

If you had a V12 and you disabled 6 cyclinders so it'd only run as a V6... would it hurt the car?

The real question is: Why get the V12 if you're only going to use half its power?

well ... my amp can put out 350W RMS x 1 @ 4Ohms bridged... so if i got the single voice coil version that'd be fine.

But I'm unsure if I want just one, or two of these. If i get two, then I can't run in bridged mode very effectively. The amp only gives off 170W x 2 @ 4Ohms ... so in that case I'd want the dual voice coil version so I could run the subs as a 2 Ohm load and get more power per channel.

But ... since I'm unsure whether or not i want one or two subs, i was thinking I'd just get one, see how it sounds, and go from there. But I wouldn't want to get one singla voice coil, then decided i need two and have to get two dvcs and sell the svc. And of course i wouldn't want to run the dvc in 8Ohm mode bridged ... as that loses me power. see my dilema?

Anyway ... I think more than likely i'm just going to stick with one sub ... so I may just get the svc and be done with it.