Bass Boost Question

[AsphyxiA 10+ year member]

Hey guys

I just bought Alpine Type R 6.5" components and 6x9's for my car. I'm powering them with the Alpine MRP-F450 amp and i'm running the system without a sub.

My amp has a "Bass Boost" function on it, and i'm not sure if I should use it.

After fiddling around with the amp I have the system sounding very much to my liking. The bass is punchy from my 6.5, but not overwhelming. It's almost too weak for my preference, but it still sounds great. The bass coming from my rear channels is pretty hard to notice.

When I turn the bass boost on it seems that the rear channels (my 6x9's) produce pretty much all the bass and its incredibly powerful. I mean, I have to set the bass on my equalizer to -7 and it still has powerful bass. So powerful that i'm worried about damaging my speakers.

I know the speakers are good quality, but i've never really owned a system before so i'm not sure what I should expect. I have blown speakers before, but those were stock speakers in a work truck. I'm worried about damaging my speakers, especially since they are new.

If you aern't running a sub but want some extra bass, would you turn the bass boost on? And how much can a speaker like the Type R take? I mean, I've got my amp tuned with the gains set fairly low, and the deck is running at 18-22 volume when it maxes out at 35.

My speakers require 75W RMS and 55W RMS respectively and my amp pushes out 70x4.

Will Bass Boost likely damage my speakers? Should I keep it off? The lows are pretty impressive when its on, which makes me want it that much more, however I don't want to damage my speakesr.

Any help or suggestions you can provide would be appreciated, thanks.

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[SVTLightning01 10+ year member]

alot of people will recommend not to use it. Most headunits now-a-days have good eqs on them and you can do it all from the deck. What do you have your x-overs set at?

You can use bass boost, but make sure you set your bass boost before setting your gains.

 

[Twistid 5,000+ posts]

well it depends, you can have bass boost on all day if your not clippin the speakers... just turn on bass boost and put it to a normal listening level and go back and listen to the speakers to see if u hear them bottoming out or making any funky noises... if u dont hear anything bad and they look alright, then its alright //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[benvaldi88 10+ year member]

alot of people will recommend not to use it. Most headunits now-a-days have good eqs on them and you can do it all from the deck. What do you have your x-overs set at?
You can use bass boost, but make sure you set your bass boost before setting your gains.

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[Mike yayo 10+ year member]

my amp sounds the same at 18db on bass remote when i have it not plugged it....

 

[mikey060 10+ year member]

my remote bass thing made it sound like poop...so i disconnected it and now it sounds great

 

[luvinthebass 5,000+ posts]

some subs with a remote boost control if it's maxed to the 18 db like my RFP3002 amp has will make the sub/s sound like crap so i usually have it 3/4 turned up instead of all the way and it sounds deep and good. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[joshpoints 10+ year member]

well it depends, you can have bass boost on all day if your not clippin the speakers... just turn on bass boost and put it to a normal listening level and go back and listen to the speakers to see if u hear them bottoming out or making any funky noises... if u dont hear anything bad and they look alright, then its alright //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

For SQ I find it harder to make a system sounds good with the bass boost because it increases output at a given range affecting balance. I did have a set of speakers where I had to use a little bass boost to make them sound better usually I don't use it though. If you do use it be careful with the gain setting.