Wanting more bass at low volume

[chevymotocross]

My 87 chevy has the following components:

pioneer headunit
pioneer 4'' dash speakers
pioneer speakers in the rear cab factory speaker holes
sony xplod 1000w amp
Kicker 10'' 300w Comp subwoofer truck box

The only thing hooked to the amp, is the sub, the speakers are wired to the headunit. The sub gives a decent punch, but only at high volume. I'm wanting some bump at lower volumes as well, but at lower, moderate volumes, you wouldn't even know there was a sub in the truck. I have the low level bass adjustment, on the xplod amp, all the way up. What else can I do?

[AceX]

Head unit should have an EQ in it. Try adjusting that. If not, find an ARC Audio PEQ and use it to make the adjustments. +/-12dB is a big difference.

[chevymotocross]

Headunit does have an EQ on it, and I can adjust bass levels, but the problem is, since my 4 speakers are wired to the headunit, it's also applying the bass to the speakers, causing distortion. Wondering if it can be applied to just the amp? The low level boost on the amp is already all the way up.

[munroe]

wheres your sub? mine is behind my seat in a truck box, but the seat mutes alot of the bass

[chevymotocross]

Originally Posted by munroe

wheres your sub? mine is behind my seat in a truck box, but the seat mutes alot of the bass

Mine is mounted the same. Someone actually told me to face it backwards but I don't think that would work very well.

[AceX]

It won't matter really...

I'd go with a KEQ5. 5-band parametric EQ from ARC Audio. Will allow you to do what you want...

[munroe]

Originally Posted by chevymotocross

Mine is mounted the same. Someone actually told me to face it backwards but I don't think that would work very well.

im not sure what youve got for a box, but i know with mine its too wide at the bottom end to fit facing the back wall of the cab. im going to take it to the stereo place up the road and see if they can build me a box for under the seats. if the 10 dosnt work ill get a couple 8's. i know back when i was heavy into volkswagens i had what we called a bass cube in my gti. all it was for was adjusting the frequency of the bass. i geuss thats the way to put it. i could turn the knob and either turn the bass to a higher tone for listening to it with the music or a lower tone to let all the pedestrians listen to it. im not sure if they make them anymore, this was in 99 when i was young and full of beans

[corn]

Which pioneer unit is it? Mine has a loud button that makes the low end bass much better...

[chevymotocross]

Originally Posted by corn

Which pioneer unit is it? Mine has a loud button that makes the low end bass much better...

DEH-1900MP It does have the loud button, it's on. I've actually turned the equalizer on "powerfull" mode, which bring the bass all the way up to +6 and with the loud button on, it's actually not too bad. I don't know, I guess I'm just use to all my friend's cars that thump loud but they have all the room in the world with a trunk, and most are running atleast 2 subs... usually 12's. Maybe in the future I will upgrade to a 12.

[Classic69]

A 12" sub should hit harder than a 10". Also, your friends probably have more power going to their subwoofers. You mentioned you have the bass boost on the amp set to the max? Also, you said you checked the EQ and have the "loud" button on, but does your headunit have a separate subwoofer control?

Most newer headunits have a subwoofer control. With my Rockford Fosgate RFX-9220 I can set the subwoofer to low pass frequency (80 Hz) or high pass frequency (120 Hz). I have a separate bass boost (-12, -6, 0, +6, +12). Also, I have 2 volume controls, a subwoofer volume control (just for the sub) and a regular volume control (for the speakers).

[corn]

That head unit doesnt have a sub crossover built in, does your amp have one? If not the bass wont be very good. What size is the box you have? Seal or ported? Give me a few more details & Im sure we can make a little improvment...

[michael bustamante]

since you head unit has a seperate sub pre-out you should be ablr to turn your bass down on the speakers powered by the deck and not effect the sub output. also I know this is a "duh" question but did you make sure the amp itself was turned up? make sure your gain is turned up also. Plus if you have a sealed box, you want to opt to get one that is ported

[corn]

Originally Posted by michael bustamante

since you head unit has a seperate sub pre-out you should be ablr to turn your bass down on the speakers powered by the deck and not effect the sub output. also I know this is a "duh" question but did you make sure the amp itself was turned up? make sure your gain is turned up also. Plus if you have a sealed box, you want to opt to get one that is ported

It has standard output jacks. Ported boxes are fine as long as done correctly. A sealed box is probably better for a small truck cab...

[chevymotocross]

Originally Posted by corn

That head unit doesnt have a sub crossover built in, does your amp have one? If not the bass wont be very good. What size is the box you have? Seal or ported? Give me a few more details & Im sure we can make a little improvment...

The sub is a ported Kicker 300W TC10 10'' Truck sub. The amp, a 600W Sony Xplod XM-4060GTX, has the following adjustments: Low Boost (turned all the way up to +10 dB), Level, which I have not touched, Front and Rear filters, which are turned off. Only component, connected to the amp, is the sub.

[corn]

Originally Posted by chevymotocross

The sub is a ported Kicker 300W TC10 10'' Truck sub. The amp, a 600W Sony Xplod XM-4060GTX, has the following adjustments: Low Boost (turned all the way up to +10 dB), Level, which I have not touched, Front and Rear filters, which are turned off. Only component, connected to the amp, is the sub.

There is a cross over in the amp but the amp is a 4 channel setup & cant be bridged down to mono. Can it be bridged to 2 channel? And if so, does you sub have dual voice coils? It showed 60 watts at a 4 ohm load per channel with a 120 load. If you sub is 8ohm its lower yet. A little more info would be cool on your sub but Id start by selling the 4 channel amp & buying a bridgable 2 channel amp. I have 2 10's in my 89 with an explode 2 channel amp on each sub. It sounds great for walmart sony stuff...

[chevymotocross]

Originally Posted by corn

There is a cross over in the amp but the amp is a 4 channel setup & cant be bridged down to mono. Can it be bridged to 2 channel? And if so, does you sub have dual voice coils? It showed 60 watts at a 4 ohm load per channel with a 120 load. If you sub is 8ohm its lower yet. A little more info would be cool on your sub but Id start by selling the 4 channel amp & buying a bridgable 2 channel amp. I have 2 10's in my 89 with an explode 2 channel amp on each sub. It sounds great for walmart sony stuff...

The TC10 has a 4 OHM final impedance, 300W peak, RMS of 150W. I really should probably go with a mono amp, since my headunit powers my 4 speakers, and all I need the amp for, is the sub. This amp was given to me, brand new, so I took it, but I guess I'm not really using it for what it was intended for?

[corn]

How you wire the amp & also depending on what your sub impedance is, determines the wattage that the amp will deliver. Do you have the sub wired for bridged mono on the amp & does the sub have dual or single voice coils & what ohm rating are they? Lots of little details but maybe there is an easy way to help make it sound better...

[chevymotocross]

On the amp, there is a front speaker set with 4 terminals (2 speakers), and a rear speaker set of 4 terminals (2 speakers). According to the amp's manual, to power the single sub, I have the positive sub wire on the first terminal, and the negative sub wire on the 3rd terminal. Not sure if this means it is bridged or not? I'm not sure what you mean by dual or single voice coils, but there are only 2 connectors on the sub if that helps?

[corn]

Yep, you hooked it up correctly. I guess just set the x-over to around 80hz & turn the amp gain up to around 3/4 & run it. You could try to cover the port & see it it helps at all but thats about it...

[chevymotocross]

When you say cross over at 80hz, are you referring to the cut off frequency adjustment? That is the only adjustment on this amp in hertz. Also, my amp does not say amp gain on any of the settings, I've seen this on other amps but not mine. Would this also be referred to as the level adjustment, which this amp does have? The setting on the level adjustment are as follows: 6v 5.5v 4v 2v 0.5v and 0.3v. Low boost, as I already said, is adjusted to its max. Besides these settings, there is no other adjustments. Also, I am just using car audio speaker wire to power the sub. That's all I can use. My friend's mono amp, actually has RCA style outputs to power the sub. Not sure if that's a restriction but my amp does not allow for RCA wiring, besides it's input from the headunit obviously.

[chevymotocross]

Actually, I understand this now, when everyone refers to the gain adjustment, on this amp its labeled level adjustment. I have not touched this yet. Never mind what I said about what you meant about the 80 hz, the hertz numbers on my amp are for the low and high pass filters which are turned off anyways.

[corn]

Originally Posted by chevymotocross

Actually, I understand this now, when everyone refers to the gain adjustment, on this amp its labeled level adjustment. I have not touched this yet. Never mind what I said about what you meant about the 80 hz, the hertz numbers on my amp are for the low and high pass filters which are turned off anyways.

You definatly want your low pass filter on! Thats what gives it the bass. When the low pass filter is turned off, it makes the sub play as a plain old speaker. Im guessing thats part of the problem. Im pretty sure the adjustment that shows 6v etc may be for different levels of input for your turn on lead (blue wire) so it doesnt "pop" when you turn it on & off. Also, get rid of the speaker input wires & get a set of RCA cables & run them from the headunit to the amp, your power will increase quite a bit as well as the sound...

[chevymotocross]

Originally Posted by corn

You definatly want your low pass filter on! Thats what gives it the bass. When the low pass filter is turned off, it makes the sub play as a plain old speaker. Im guessing thats part of the problem. Im pretty sure the adjustment that shows 6v etc may be for different levels of input for your turn on lead (blue wire) so it doesnt "pop" when you turn it on & off. Also, get rid of the speaker input wires & get a set of RCA cables & run them from the headunit to the amp, your power will increase quite a bit as well as the sound...

I have RCA cables from headunit to amp. I'm talking about from amp to sub. In the subs instructions it says to use RCA style cables. Anyways, I just went out, and turned that level setting up. What a difference. Since I have very good thump now at the sub, I went to the headunit, and turned the bass down, since that powers my 4 speakers. Now I have no distortion at my speakers, and since I turned the level up, which I found out is the Gain, I have good thump. I pretty much have what I want now, bass at low-high volume, and no distortion at my 4 speakers. I did not mess with the filter setting, it is still off. Maybe I will go try turning that on as you have stated.

[chevymotocross]

Filter now set to LPF and sounds great! I think I am pretty satisfied now. Thanks for the help!

[corn]

Sweet!