A couple basic questions

[tykempster 10+ year member]

I put in a Kicker L7 15" today (finally) powered by a RF Punch 1000 amp. It's the loudest thing I've ever heard by far, although I haven't heard much in the way of subs.

Work took precedence so I've only listened to the L7 on the way to work, and the way back, and noticed several things:

1) My headlights dim when the bass hits. I can do the "big 3" no problem, but not for a couple days. Is my battery gonna be ok for up to a week?

2) The bass is nice and clean on some songs, but gets muddy on other songs, example "Enter Sandman" sounds nasty, while another rock song will sound perfectly clean, "Drop the World" sounds somewhat mushy, "Drop It Low" just shakes everything in the surrounding area while still sounding clean.

Any ideas? Thanks folks, still learning this stuff!

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[daboyfrumdabx 10+ year member]

You'll be fine for a few days. Just don't push it too hard in the mean time. As far as the way it sounds, kicker isn't known for sounding very clean. In most cases they sound like crap, so there may in fact be nothing wrong. On the other hand, tell us about your box(sealed, ported, you build it?, volume, tuning, etc). And how did you set your gain?

 

[tykempster 10+ year member]

I built the box, it is 33x25x15, tuned to approximately 33 Hz. The box is a bit rough as at first it was taller (turned out excellent, but wouldn't fit //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif) and had to be cut down, and didn't turn out perfect. However I'm pretty sure it's sealed with silicone.

The gain, tuning, boost, and everything else were set in a major rush as I had to leave ASAP for work. The gain is probably halfway up, it's set to play up to 100 Hz I believe.

If I posted a video of the sub in action would that help diagnosis at all?

As well, I'm in dire need for midrange now. My Sony HU says 52 watts x 4, although I know that's overstated...will they power a set of 6x9s to be audible over the subs, or will I need a new amp? (a new amp would probably put me in the realm of overdrawing from the stock alternator)

I'm

 

[daboyfrumdabx 10+ year member]

I'd get the substage up and running perfect. Measure voltage. See how it sounds. Then go from there on deciding what to do with the other speakers.

Was the box at 33hz before or after you cut it and shrunk it? A bad box can easily cause it to sound like crap.

Gain needs to be set with an oscilloscope, DMM, or by ear but you have to know what you're listening for. You can't just pick a random location for it. Bass boost should be off completely, including if you have any boost up on the HU. LPF should be somewhere from 80-100, as long as you don't hear any vocals. Subsonic should be set a bit lower than your tuning.

 

[bhsdriller 10+ year member]

maybe too big of a box?

 

[tykempster 10+ year member]

I just got done messing around with the amp and stuff, I found the following...

Air is leaking from the bottom of the sub, but no where else. I can't hear the leak, but it's a pretty good one, this is definitely causing issues I bet!

Turning the gain all the way down, then turning the music to however loud I'd ever listen to, I could then turn the gain all the way up with no distortion...everything I've read told me gain very far up is bad, so I backed it down to half, and turned the boost up to about 1/3.

The LPF is about 100 from eyeballing the numbers, assuming that's accurate. It is a long way from hearing any vocals, should I leave it there or turn it up?

Just messing with those few things made everything sound much better, although it still sounds muddy on certain sounds. The biggest thing I noticed was when the bass "sweeps" it doesn't sound that great, an example would be a big drum getting hit. A single note sounds as good as I could ask for, and even quick double bass lines aren't much worse than the sealed 10's this L7 just replaced.

In the end, is the air leak causing the sound quality issues, or is this just a problem with the Kicker itself?

 

[bhsdriller 10+ year member]

everyone says kicker don't "sound good", but half those people haven't used them

don't blame the sub

fix the air leak and see if it helps

 

[daboyfrumdabx 10+ year member]

I just got done messing around with the amp and stuff, I found the following...
Air is leaking from the bottom of the sub, but no where else. I can't hear the leak, but it's a pretty good one, this is definitely causing issues I bet!

Turning the gain all the way down, then turning the music to however loud I'd ever listen to, I could then turn the gain all the way up with no distortion...everything I've read told me gain very far up is bad, so I backed it down to half, and turned the boost up to about 1/3.

The LPF is about 100 from eyeballing the numbers, assuming that's accurate. It is a long way from hearing any vocals, should I leave it there or turn it up?

Just messing with those few things made everything sound much better, although it still sounds muddy on certain sounds. The biggest thing I noticed was when the bass "sweeps" it doesn't sound that great, an example would be a big drum getting hit. A single note sounds as good as I could ask for, and even quick double bass lines aren't much worse than the sealed 10's this L7 just replaced.

In the end, is the air leak causing the sound quality issues, or is this just a problem with the Kicker itself?

Box is your biggest issue right now. It needs to be fixed. There's no way you're turning the gain all the way up without distortion. I think you need to learn what distortion sounds like and set it properly. Keep the bass boost OFF. Like the said, the kicker won't sound very clean, however it's still very capable of reproducing bass and I think your biggest issue right now is box and settings.