horrible midbass! help!!!

[thisisausername 10+ year member]

I just install my seas ca18's into the stock location in the door. The highs are crisp thanks to my new tweeters and my mids are loud and clear. The problem is, my bass is nearly non existant, def. worse than stock! My ca18's are being fed 55 watts each and they have much flatter response curves than the stock speakers! I must have messed something up with the install.

the only thing bad I noticed is that the stock speakers were sealed to the door, and my new ones are raised up on spacers for clearance issues. They are far from sealed(1.5 cm air gap all the way around). Is this whats killing my midbass? What else can I do to improve midbass?

I was thinking I could go buy weather stripping and adhere it to the back of the spacer, so when I bolted it down to the door skin it would seal. Does the seal have to be rigid or would this rubbery seal be sufficient? Another thought was caulk but it sounds like it would be a nightmare...

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[GSteg 10+ year member]

use either weather strippers or non-hardening clay. (preferrably clay for better sealing).

The leak is definitely killing your midbass. I had that problem too until I sound deadened my doors and sealed the leaks.

 

[Blunt 10+ year member]

use non hardening modeling clay. put some between spacer and door and speaker and spacer will greatly improve the midbass

 

[thisisausername 10+ year member]

the only non hardening clay i know of is that oil based kids stuff. wouldn't that melt in the summer, IMO?

 

[GSteg 10+ year member]

Find the nearest art supply store. They will have it.

 

[thisisausername 10+ year member]

i was just listening to my system again before I blew my 6th, and last, crossover fuse(the ones i'm using are 1 amp too small lol). The midbass isn't just bad, its completely non existant. even with the eq on my hu all the way up for the lower freqs the bass sux. I hope sealing them makes a huge diff...if not //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crying.gif.ec0ebefe590df0251476573bc49e46d8.gif . I should be able to try it and report back tomorrow. Is there anything reletively easy I can do in addition to sealing baffle? I gotta take door panel back off neways, might as well try a few things.

i'm glad I went active crossover tho, lot more configurable. I'm a little dissapointed that it doesn't get louder...how do I set gains right? maybe they are too low.

with a 4 channel amp running 55 watts per channel at 8 ohms shouldn't it be like deafeningly loud? the amp is rated 220x4@2ohms RMS

also, what should I cross my CA18's in at(high and low pass)? Right now its at like 60 low pass and 3k high pass. the tweets come in at 3k+. I don't have a sub...yet.

sorry for so many questions...I don't like to thread spam, I would rather pack 349287 annoying questions into one post. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[djman37 5,000+ posts]

here's a 21 page discussion on seas midbass not sure which they end up talking about most.

http://forum.elitecaraudio.com/showthread.php?threadid=117405&pagenumber=1

i haven't LOOKED yet, but I thought those were mid's, not so much midbass drivers.

 

[slain93gsr 10+ year member]

deadening and sealing the door around where the spacer and speaker sits helps out greatly...

 

[thisisausername 10+ year member]

i haven't LOOKED yet, but I thought those were mid's, not so much midbass drivers.

yeah they are mids I was referring to midbass as in the frequencies between bass and midrange, not the actual driver.(whoops maybe I shoulda been clearer)

 

[GSteg 10+ year member]

The one in that link is the RW165 where as thisisausername has the CA18. Both are completely different drivers. The RW165 has midbass output, it just takes some work to get output. Same with any drivers actually. When you have a mid that is not completely sealed, you're going to lack output. Same with subwoofer. Put the subwoofer behind a baffle where it leaks all around and you're going to have little to no output.

 

[thisisausername 10+ year member]

Same with subwoofer. Put the subwoofer behind a baffle where it leaks all around and you're going to have little to no output.

haha, thats what I tried to explain to my dad. he's pissed that i'm taking the door panel off again and he's convinced that sealing the baffle will do nothing and is a waste of my time. He truly believes that the lack of bass is because I have my crossover set wrong, and that I should just up the bass on the equalizer and call it a day. He also thinks that you guys don't know what you're talking about //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif.

I plan to prove him wrong on all these things. He has a bad habit of not listening to my suggestions...

 

[alphakenny1 10+ year member]

you get the RNXs? I just ordered the RLYs.

and yea just like everyone said deaden your door and seal it up and it should improve the output.

but thats very odd that you got "non existant" bass. there should be some at least because when i just threw in my mids with no deadening and sealing on the stock baffle (plastic POS) and i got some bass. but after deadening and sealing it improved tremendously. good luck.

 

[GSteg 10+ year member]

I just ordered the RLYs.

Sorry couldn't help it

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/rotflol.gif.b453361716769b8110ddefc85ff03cd2.gif

 

[alphakenny1 10+ year member]

Sorry couldn't help it

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/rotflol.gif.b453361716769b8110ddefc85ff03cd2.gif

hahaha you //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crazy.gif.c13912c32de98515d3142759a824dae7.gif . lol nice find.

 

[thisisausername 10+ year member]

I took the stock baffle off and made my own...at least the stock one was sealed. Mine has a huge air gap all the way around. The stock baffle was for ghey bose and had some ghetto amplifier built into it. it was too small neways.

is there a cheap alternative to dynamat/other ripoff sound deadening? I've heard some things about using roofing tar shingles or something?

and whats the best way to seal the door? there's no way i can use MDF with my funky door shapes.