So, around christmas I bought my first system for my car. I got 2 12w3 JL's, a 500w Rock Fos Power amp, Sony xplod deck, capacitor, and 4 new door speakers. I believe the subs are in a ported box. This system has never been as loud as I wanted it to be. I realize I could be pushing a lot more wattage but I dont have money for a new amp right now. What can I do to make them as loud as possible?
A friend of mine was messing with some settings on the deck the other day and I believe he ended up blowing them...luckily the place I got them repairs for free. Once they are all fixed up I just don't want to mess them up again but I want them to be louder...
For one, Id definitely get an amp to power the front speakers. The amp in your deck (any deck) is grossly small, and heavily laden with distortion. In other words, a front amp will not only make your stereo louder, but sound better too.
Without knowing more details about your system, Im having to guess that you have not sealed your front doors. Foing this, by way of covering all the holes with deadener/wood/sheetmetal/etc will improve the bass response and over all fidelity of your front speakers.
For the subs, just telling us its a ported box is not enough info. You might have the ideal enclosure already, leaving very little room for improvement, or you might have some poor quality pre-fab box that leaves a lot of room for improvement. Also depending on your current box, altering enclosure size and tuning frequency can make a big difference on output potential.
There are just a very few of the possibilities. You are new to the game, so you dont realize your questions and information are way too general to allow us to give some better and more specific answers without completely guessing. For example, we have no idea if you are looking for more low-end output (flatter response from sub), more midbass output (peakier response from sub, or better front speaker bass response), or more midrange/treble to make the vocals louder.
I suspect you dont even know exactly what you want to improve in the sound of your stereo yet, let alone how to reach that goal. And that falls under the category of personal preference. We can all tell you what our personal preferences would suggest improving, but that doesn't really do much to help with what YOU would like to improve. My best suggestion for you is to stick around here a while and learn some of the basics, so you can then make an educated decision yourself.
