Can't hear my new sub

[maylar 10+ year member]

Hey guys -

I finally installed a sub in the trunk of my 85 Olds Delta-88. It's a JL 10W0, in a .8 cu ft sealed box. Powered by a RF 160.2 in bridged mode.

I have the amp gain all the way up and I can't even hear it from inside the car. The 6X9's in the rear deck are way louder, and only running off the head unit. From outside, I can feel the trunk sheet metal vibrate. If I open the trunk I can see the sub moving, feel it blow air, and it's pretty loud.

Maybe the rear seat of the Delta muffles the sound too much? Maybe 160 wrms ain't cuttin it? What should I expect for volume with this setup?

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[Unregistered]

dude that sub should be shakin your *** have you checked the way you hooked it up like bridging it crossover turned all the way up that amp alomost perfect for that sub it should kick that box is a little on the small side but does it hit hard when you put your head in the back ofd the trunk?

 

[zane 10+ year member]

I have encountered this issue with JL Audio woofers many times. Box size, input power, crossover frequency, etc - all within spec- and still lacking output.

There is really only one way to deal with this- tweaking. Try different ways of facing the sub enclosure and listen to it in each position.

You will need a reference track with ample bass to perform this test. This will eliminate and variables that the music itself can cause.

The first thing we will do is turn down the gain on your amplifier a bit. A gain is not a volume control, it is there to allow amp adjustment to match your Head units pre-amp voltage. Having the gain to high forces your sub into clipping which can lead to premature failure.

One thing you neglected to mention- is your sub an 8 ohm or a 4 ohm model?

This could explain a lot of things right away.....

How about the other variables- speaker wire size- power wire size- etc.

Are your lights dimming when your bass hits?

Spending time with your system and trying things with it are really the only way to resolve this for sure- with your current setup.

You should be able to recieve a good bottom end, however, do not expect ground pounding bass. Your car is fairly large, and you have but one 10. The vehicle itself could be hindering your subs performance. Quite a few variables to consider and work with. Try a few things and see what happens.

take it easy,

-zane

 

[SuckMikeHawk23 10+ year member]

i know this may sound stupid, but check the filter on the amp.... is it on hp, lp, or off? put it on lp if its on hp or off.

 

[maylar 10+ year member]

Thanks for the responses. This is frustrating as hell.

The sub is 4 ohms. I've double checked the wiring and I'm sure all is well there. It runs from 8 gage wire tied directly to the alternator output stud. I measure 14.5 volts at the amp terminals. Lights don't dim, I have a 78 amp alternator.

16 gage wire to the sub, but it's only 12" long. The amp mounts right on the sub box. I took extreme care to seal the box well, and it's stuffed with poly fill. The box is mounted inside the rear fender, and points toward the inside, which could be part of my problem. The Delta also has impressive sound deadening (1/2" thick fabric) everywhere - I probably should remove the mat that's behind the rear seat

Filter is set to LP. I can't really figure out how to adjust the gain control since it's so hard to hear distortion at those frequencies. What's the preferred method for doing this? Thanks.

 

[taylor 10+ year member]

your power wire shouldn't come from your alternator, it should come from the postitve terminal on the battery. Those cars are bad for subwoofer setups because the trunks are basically sealed from the car, i don't think the seats fold down so most of the bass is blocked by the seat. Remove the 6x9s so you have a way for sound to enter the car (6x9's sound like crap, and you shouldn't have rear fill anyways) oh and face the sub towards the back of the car, you will get more output.

 

[jester73440 10+ year member]

ok some of these things sound weird but me and my freind had this same problem he has a old rusty crown vic with a vega 15 in it and it hit nicly when he got a newer crown vic very nice car it sounded like a nice 6x9 to start we removed all the bags of sound proof foam hidden up in the sides of the trunk by the seats made it a little better then we took out all the foam behind the seats made a little better then we got the idea of maybe the trunk is too tight the old car had holes in it so that was it we took out the drain plugs on the bottom of the trunk and and the trunk gasket off 1st making sure there was no water leaking in and that was the biggest improvement that came much clsoer to the sound of the old so you may want to try this in addition to the othere things names i seen a kicker sub move a lot with no sound coming outta it and i think we fixed that with changing the box so good luck i know its a pain in the @ss when you got the sub with no sound one thing you might try is placing the sub in a nother car just run the wire across that will tell you if it your equipment or the acoustics of the car good luck!!

 

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by maylar Hey guys -

 

I finally installed a sub in the trunk of my 85 Olds Delta-88. It's a JL 10W0, in a .8 cu ft sealed box. Powered by a RF 160.2 in bridged mode.

 

I have the amp gain all the way up and I can't even hear it from inside the car. The 6X9's in the rear deck are way louder, and only running off the head unit. From outside, I can feel the trunk sheet metal vibrate. If I open the trunk I can see the sub moving, feel it blow air, and it's pretty loud.

 

Maybe the rear seat of the Delta muffles the sound too much? Maybe 160 wrms ain't cuttin it? What should I expect for volume with this setup?