HEY GUYS, new member here, heres a pic of my system and i have a few questions...

[pimpn04coupe 10+ year member]

Hey guys, im a new member here, i just registered... i got my system installed about 2 months ago, it consists of:

Alpine 7998 Headunit

Focal Utopias (2 sets for fr and rear)

JL Audio w7s (2 10s)

JL Audio 1000.1

JL Audio 300.4

Rockford Cap

I have it in a custom box... 2 plexi windows, lit with neon and mirrored bottoms... trunk finished in silver vinyl

subs are mounted reversed, firing into the cabin, with my rear seats folded down... the problem about putttin system in bmw is that they are so properly insolated that no bass would get into the cabin from the trunk if i would have mounted them otherwise...

NOW THE ? is: i have heard 1 10w7 in a ride in the jl box, the sub pounded, up until very high volumes... now i expected my car to be alot louder... but i mean my subs pound, make the whole car shake... but they dont seem to sound as loud as they should? what could this be due to? Also on the alpine headunit, if the volume is over about 20, the subs begin to clip and i get that popping sound, they are bottoming out, i heard that theses subs shouldnt bottom out till alot higher volumes... the bass is set at 8/15... any input would be great.

I attached a few pics of the system: any comments, suggestions, etc welcomed, i am in need of ideas to make the trunk "flashier" since now i deciede that im going to enter shows... im thinkin making panels on sides engraved with jl and w7 logos and backlit with neons? any suggestions on this matter would also be appreciated... thanks!

well i tried attaching a pic and it didnt work... but heres a link to a thread i posted with pics of my system on another forum...

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=146735

Click to read more...

 

[BoostCarAudio 10+ year member]

Hey man, E46fanatics is awesome. My sn is Acs330i over there. You system sounds very good with 2 10w7s and one 1000/1. The BMW cabin is made very well to isolate sound, that is the hard part. It think with a few more adjustments you should be perfect.

 

[Tear 10+ year member]

Sorry, can't help you with the problem, but..nice enclosure you got going there. Must have some serious cash flow. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[lombardo 10+ year member]

redo your reardeck. My audi is the same way. My trunk just loves keeping all the bass. I'm gonna rip up my rear deck. Cut a couple holes and insert some fabric grills inplace of it. Should let quite a bit of bass through (I hope)

 

[fast4door 10+ year member]

Well you can either wall it off at the back of your rear seats , or go in and remove all the plastic liners behind each door and thin out your back seat a little. The reason for this is because BMW, Audi,Mercedez and other high end manufactures make the cars with very little air movement space, they use this liner behind the doors to block the air from moving, removing these will allow alot more road noise but willl also allow more sound!! We had to do this in a 99 M5 w/2 13w7's. Also try porting the box, the 10's sound awesome ported!!!

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

NOW THE ? is: i have heard 1 10w7 in a ride in the jl box, the sub pounded, up until very high volumes... now i expected my car to be alot louder... but i mean my subs pound, make the whole car shake... but they dont seem to sound as loud as they should? what could this be due to? Also on the alpine headunit, if the volume is over about 20, the subs begin to clip and i get that popping sound, they are bottoming out, i heard that theses subs shouldnt bottom out till alot higher volumes... the bass is set at 8/15... any input would be great

They are bottoming out because you are running a sealed enclosure and you are running them to their limit in the sealed enclosure. Displacement limited power handling and all. If you are looking for louder, ported is going to be the way to go.

 

[maniackilla 10+ year member]

all i can say is ...... ****!!!

 

[pimpn04coupe 10+ year member]

all i can say is ...... ****!!!

how will i go along porting this box? i have to have a new box made, correct?

 

[BoostCarAudio 10+ year member]

It could be possible to make a hole or two in the box and make a port. My 330 i had made a large opening on the top deck of the rear seats. It helped greatly.

 

[BumpinDoug 10+ year member]

I can name a few problems with the volume you are getting from your subs. First off, your system is very nice and very clean looking, making a ported box would make them louder but would also require a lot more money and more labor than its worth. I can list some problems though that could make your sealed system sound a lot better.

1) First of all you ahve your subs aiming forwards, which is never a good idea if you can help it becuase it leads to lower sound quality and they wont appear as loud. If they were faced towards the trunk they would be much louder.

2) If your sub level is only at 8/15 and your hearing your subs clipping then you obviously have problems with your gains. You need to turn down your gains a lot this way you have more flexibility with the sub control in your head unit. I have two 15's and I always keep the sub control at 14/15 and even when the volume is 20+ there is no clipping. Just give your gains some more leeway

3) You said you can fold down your seats right? Unless you have someone else in the car just keep em folded down, the subs are much louder that way and sound better

What I would recomend doing for maximum output would be to build a new box with the subs facing backwards, sealed or ported your choice, and have about three-four inches of clearance between the top of the box and the rear deck with your seats folded down. This could doubled the loudness of your subs if done effectively and look tight if you wanna show your system off.

Hope this helped