Better Bass In Headphones Than In Car

[Shojahan]

Mondo Dudes,

I saw this Facebook page "The bass in my headphones is better than the bass in your car" and I have to agree it might be true.

How come I can hear a clear and distinct bass guitar in my headphones (they were $89.95) but not in anyone's car?

The latest idea I am going to try is mounting my 6 X 9s in speaker boxes instead of on spacers. The boxes look just big enough to fit on the rear dash.

I've always run these rear speakers off the head unit as the amp goes to the front 6.5s and subwoofer. Do you think I should ditch the sub and run the amp to the boxed 6 X 9s instead?

I'm fairly sure the bass guitar is the deepest sound, but I wonder if the sub gets a whole of drums in there too. What's the best scheme for isolating the bass guitar? How I should configure the amp (it's 4 X 140w RMS) if I run it to the 6 X9s (45w RMS each)

I was also wondering if I could just bridge the Head Unit to the 6 X 9s (go from 4 X 22w RMS to 2 X 44w RMS). Is it possible to do that?

Yo Peace In One Two, We Out

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[chillin 10+ year member]

The bass guitar is mid bass for the most part (except the low E string and a few frets on the A). To get the midbass louder you will need to make sure you front speakers are installed correctly, with deadener in the doors, etc.

Read this

http://www.caraudio.com/forums/speakers/95925-proper-door-sound-deadening-you.htmlhttp://www.caraudio.com/forums/speakers/95925-proper-door-sound-deadening-you.html

 

[pr-festiva 10+ year member]

compare the size of the diaphrams that both systems use to compress air then look at the amount of air they are compressing.. the headphones in comparrison have a huge amount of cone area compared to say a pair of 12's in a car,,you are also blocking ambient noise levels which a car does not so you pick up much finer details. sorry bout my bad spelling.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

Good midbass can be had in a car, but a lot of work is required. First step is good midbass drivers in the front doors, and having deadened and sealed from doors. Then an adequate amplifier for the midbass drivers.

You can't bridge a head unit, the output is already bridged. And you only get about 10W of usable power, much less than needed.

good systems have multiple amp channels, one for each speaker set. For example, I have two amps (6 channels total) for my front speakers alone. I have a few hundred hours in my front speaker install.

 

[Shojahan]

Hey thanks to everyone for this help, I've doubled the information in my head thanks to you guys.

 

---------- Post added at 11:54 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:53 AM ----------

 

Two amps for front speakers? What does this do? Why is it real necessary? For clarity?

 

[Shojahan]

Thanks for the help dude, obviously my 6 X 9s are not an issue, I'll get deadeners instead.

 

---------- Post added at 11:57 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:56 AM ----------

 

I appreciate your help, what you're saying about headphones makes sense.

 

[Shojahan]

Thank you for the help, just wondering what do you mean by "mid-bass drivers"?

 

[jockhater2 10+ year member]

I use sony XB40s

and the bass is better than a 8 or most whimpy 10" subs in a car

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

I have two amps for my fronts because I have 6 drivers up front and needed two amps. I can separate one amp for Left and one for Right for better channel separation.

Midbass drivers are typically playing 50Hz-250Hz only. They are woofers 6" or larger. A separate midrange is required. Why do this? You substantially reduce excursion of the midrange driver, which means the midrange frequencies are played with the coil fully in the magnetic gap. An underhung woofer can usually play with less distortion for the same reason. The result is more clarity at high volumes. Another benefit is more flexible speaker aiming now that you have a smaller mid that is easier to locate.

Midbass frequencies require a well sealed enclosure, of adequate size. You want to eliminate a path for sound off the rear of the cone to combine with the front. Doors are terrible for this without adequate seals. People commonly complain that factory speakers have more midbass than aftermarket, in a typical drop-in install. The reason is a lack of seals. Factory speakers perfectly seal against the door panel. The panel is the front of the enclosure.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

Headphones have good bass when they are sealed against the head. Slightly lift the headphone off and bass disappears. The seal is crucial to couple the driver to the eardrum.

In-ear monitors (IEM) with custom ear molds can sound great. I have custom ear molds with flat 15dB filters, 25dB plugs, and they fit Shure IEM's.