Bass on stereo with amp and sub

[bldunn]

Hi guys,

I have a question. I had my stereo system, the amp tuned by a shop here where I live that did my window tint. It really sounds a lot better than it did before with the kicker comp-r that I had. Here is what I have:

Factory Toyota Stereo that has the ASL, which is currently turned off. When it is on though up to a certain level it makes it have more bass, or so it seems to me.

Elevation Audio DX1500.1D (same as a SAZ1500) which the shop set the gain all the way up on, but the bass boost is off.

The sub is a Power Acoustik MOFO 124X wired to 2ohm load to the amp. So probably pulling maybe 1000 watts, I imagine.

I also have a LC-1 universal bass knob, that the tint shop also installed, but AFTER they had already set the gain and everything on the amp.

The problem I have though is that when I listen to classic rock, sometimes the kick drum just doesn't seem to be as hard as I would like it to be. I could turn the bass up on my stereo, or even use the ASL on it, but would that be bad or is that just one of those things you use and adjust accordingly as needed to whatever you're playing if it ends up sounding like something is doing something that it shouldn't? I've read lots of places not to use the amps bass boost and the head unit bass at the same time because of phase distortion, but does this mean since the bass boost is off on the amp I should be ok adding a little more bass with my stereo?

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[winkychevelle 10+ year member]

Gains should never be all the way up. How did the tie into the factory radio? It seems they used a very weak source for the signal to not be clipped at 100% gain. Some sort of line output convertor should have been used

 

[bldunn]

Gains should never be all the way up. How did the tie into the factory radio? It seems they used a very weak source for the signal to not be clipped at 100% gain. Some sort of line output convertor should have been used

Well that's how they set it up. The wiring and everything was already there. Amp was hooked up. I bought the sub, which is rated at 1500rms 2700 peak, put it in the box after wiring it for 2ohms connected to the amp and had them set it up. They didn't use any tools to set it up, the guy did it by ear. He was better than I would have been by ear. Bass on my head unit he had at -2, treble at 3. Sounds excellent. Just not on classic rock. Amp doesn't even get warm hardly could hold hand on it all day long even after listening to it turned up almost full blast a while.

 

[bldunn]

Some sort of line output convertor should have been used

And yes, there was a line out convertor which is spliced into the front speakers of the car which was used. The wiring and all was from a previous system I had which was all installed by a stereo shop where I use to live in Houston. If it clips at all, you don't hear it or smell the coils.

 

[winkychevelle 10+ year member]

It prolly isn't clipping but whatever you are using as a source is extremely low voltage which may cause loss of signal on fast transitions. I would look further into your amp integration before going much further. That sub should be about at its limits with that amp.

As for having the bass at -2 that's a preference. I set my amps with everything flat as high as I can before clipping. That is typically too loud for daily so boosting up or down won't bother on my regular volume level.

With everything said a good custom box can alter the systems behavior to lean more towards what you would like. ie: rap, rock, dubstep, loud, low you get it the box controls the sub not the other way around.

 

[bldunn]

It prolly isn't clipping but whatever you are using as a source is extremely low voltage which may cause loss of signal on fast transitions. I would look further into your amp integration before going much further. That sub should be about at its limits with that amp.
As for having the bass at -2 that's a preference. I set my amps with everything flat as high as I can before clipping. That is typically too loud for daily so boosting up or down won't bother on my regular volume level.

With everything said a good custom box can alter the systems behavior to lean more towards what you would like. ie: rap, rock, dubstep, loud, low you get it the box controls the sub not the other way around.

Really, a 1500 rms sub at its limits on a 2ohm load to a 1500 watt at 1ohm amp? I'm not being a smarta** by asking either, I'm being serious. I don't know why the guy at the shop set it up that way, but he did. I've enjoyed it. I listen to it almost full blast a lot when I'm driving to work and driving home from work. I even tried moving the box so the sub faces different directions to see what it sounds like that way. Firing upwards seemed to be way less rattle than facing the rear of the trunk. But then the back windshield looks like it might break the seal. I thought they did good with it, but then again they did do a really **** poor job on the tint.

 

[bldunn]

The guy said he set the bass and all that like he did because the car speakers were distorting. Could have fooled me. I don't have the ears to tell distortion when I hear it. Or maybe I've ruined my hearing already.

 

[winkychevelle 10+ year member]

Really, a 1500 rms sub at its limits on a 2ohm load to a 1500 watt at 1ohm amp? I'm not being a smarta** by asking either, I'm being serious. I don't know why the guy at the shop set it up that way, but he did. I've enjoyed it. I listen to it almost full blast a lot when I'm driving to work and driving home from work. I even tried moving the box so the sub faces different directions to see what it sounds like that way. Firing upwards seemed to be way less rattle than facing the rear of the trunk. But then the back windshield looks like it might break the seal. I thought they did good with it, but then again they did do a really **** poor job on the tint.

1500w is a very generous rating for that sub Not to belittle your system but power acoustik over rates everything they make 750-1000w should make that sub perform to its full potential.

And you can blow a 1500w sub with 5w if you are clipping it. Now I can pretty safely assume you aren't clipping the sub since it has lasted this long, but the fact that the gain knob is all the way up is troubling and in essence the amp is working very hard to pick up the input which has to be very low voltage.

It could be that you signal going into the amp is so weak that on music genres that have bass recorded at even lower levels than the typical rap, dubstep, etc the amp is struggling to pick up the notes in between the peaks in the bass notes.

This all again points to either the line output convertor or a faulty amplifier input board. The line output convertor is really cheap and the one installed may just need to be adjusted so I would start there before switching amps

 

[winkychevelle 10+ year member]

On another note getting back to your original question you may have to adjust the bass settings on your radio due to differences in recording quality and recording levels in between genres. This is typical of any system just don't use the bass boost knob. Using the equalizer on the deck should be fine.