How, if at all, can you change how punchy and tight your subs hit

[snb778 5,000+ posts]

Ok, I have asked questions on the differences in SPLvs SQ with subs, and From what everyone has told me its pretty much, if you have subs that hit low (tuned low) your setup for SQ.......BUT....

Is there any way to make your subs more punchy and tight. That is the sound I really like and what im looking for. Does this depend all on the subs, or not? How do you control this?

If anyone can get into deep detail about this please do. Im really curious.

When I was building my car, I figured setting it up for "sq" or tuned low would give that to me....NOOOO, just gave me low hitting bass, when now ive realized Id rather have it tuned around 38+ ALONG WITH the tight bass......TIGHT BASS is where im focused on here. It just gives you that chest pounding, hard to breathe feeling more....I think

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[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

http://www.bcae1.com/spboxad2.htm

Small sealed enclosure, high Qtc if you're looking for something "punchy".

 

[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

a lot depends on the music you listen to. i want that tight bass but haven't acheived it yet with rap.

 

[bikejunkie223 10+ year member]

If your box is sealed you can stuff in with polyfill, that will help

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

If your box is sealed you can stuff in with polyfill, that will help

Polyfill will lower Qtc and decrease overall output...the exact opposite of what he's trying to do.

 

[SirSyko 10+ year member]

You might want to switch to a sealed setup to get that feeling in your chest. You will lose a lot of output but your car will really shake.

 

[Raven 10+ year member]

If the subs are DVC, a potentiometer on one of the VCs can change the Q of the sub itself.

 

[Blunt 10+ year member]

If the subs are DVC, a potentiometer on one of the VCs can change the Q of the sub itself.

little more info?

 

[snb778 5,000+ posts]

If the subs are DVC, a potentiometer on one of the VCs can change the Q of the sub itself.

Yes, what do you mean? What do you do with the potentiometer, and how will this help...

Is it easier to get this sound with a system tuned higher, or lower, or does it matter?? Cause that tight, punchy bass is what I consider SQ...THAT is what im looking for.

I really still dont understand whyyyyyy tuning low is considered SQ....If I have subs that arent really sq oriented (but good quality) and are tuned low, they still wont sound good!!!!!

From what I hear, most people are pretty much saying I can take a RE Audio MT and tune it low, and it will be setup for SQ.....that just doesnt make sence now does it.?

 

[Raven 10+ year member]

http://www.adireaudio.com/Files/TechPapers/RDOOperation.pdf

That was a VERY hard link to find. I could have swore it was from Decware..

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

Yes, what do you mean? What do you do with the potentiometer, and how will this help...

http://www.adireaudio.com/Files/TechPapers/RDOOperation.pdf

http://www.adireaudio.com/Files/TechPapers/DualVoiceCoilDrivers.pdf

You know how Ascendant had the "adjustable Q voice coil" on their Atlas series subwoofers? Well, that was nothing more than a dual voice coil subwoofer, and they had you place resistors on the unpowered coil to arrive at predetermined Qts values. And you can do this with ANY dual voice coil subwoofer...only you will not know the resulting Qts without measuring it yourself.

Though I caution, this is NOT something for the novice to attempt, as one of the major changes will be that power handling is decreased by 50% due to only powering one coil. Other things change aswell that will alter the sound, but power handling is the main thing that most people will "screw up" on.

Is it easier to get this sound with a system tuned higher, or lower, or does it matter?? Cause that tight, punchy bass is what I consider SQ...THAT is what im looking for.

A lot of that "punch" comes from the mids, with the subs acting as more of a "fill" for the punch. So, don't neglect your midbass in the effort to find that nice "tight punch", as that's where a lot of the perception of tight, punchy bass comes from.

I really still dont understand whyyyyyy tuning low is considered SQ....If I have subs that arent really sq oriented (but good quality) and are tuned low, they still wont sound good!!!!!

Many reasons. For one, the lower you tune the lower the peak in the frequency response is. So, you get a flatter frequency reponse.

From what I hear, most people are pretty much saying I can take a RE Audio MT and tune it low, and it will be setup for SQ.....that just doesnt make sence now does it.?

It will be more sound quality oriented as opposed to being a SPL oriented enclosure, but that doesn't mean it will be a sound quality setup, or that the sound it produces will be worthy of being called "quality" //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[req 5,000+ posts]

sound quality is the term used to define a stereo that has as flat of a frequency response as possible.

sound quality is NOT the fact that you like more "punch" from your subwoofers (ie midbass) than regular subbass.

and another note - tuning low - as squeak said - results in a flatter frequency response, but again - SUBwoofers produce SUBbass, and SUBbass is 1hz to 80~100hz. the "punch sound" is 80~100hz to about 250~350hz. the line is not defined clearly, but it will sound different in many listening environments.

so you are looking for whats called MIDBASS, not somthing many subwoofers are created to do.

BUT - a smaller sealed box will yield "more midbass" out of a low frequency transducer.

 

[bikejunkie223 10+ year member]

Polyfill will lower Qtc and decrease overall output...the exact opposite of what he's trying to do.

oops, my bad- please disregard my post.

 

[snb778 5,000+ posts]

Thanks for all the info guys, I appreciate it!!

This is another example of what I mean.......I used to have 2 12" L7's.....it pounded, straight up......then........

I heard my friends 2 12" L7's, both applications in a ported box tuned to around the same frequ. BUT HIS SETUP, the bass was tighter...even at lower volumes I could feel it in my chest, where as my setup was more boomy. Cause the setups Ive heard this sound im looking for, there was no midbass drivers

But so you guys are saying that a good pair fo 6 1/2" midbass drivers can give that much of a powerful punch?? Or are you saying some 8" drivers? If so, I just dont see how a pair of midbass drivers could keep up with 4 12's.

My friend has a 15" Eclipse Alum, and it didnt move that much air around the car, but ****nnnn this thing was loud. Hurt my ears and gave that tight bass

1 Last thing, does this mean that single voice coil subwoofers will give more of a tight bass sound?