HU and the SUB

[marcopolo 10+ year member]

Hello guyz!

How can solve this situation:

I am running my front and rear speakers with internal HU amp and I have an amp + sub attached to HU as well. Now, I would like to lower the bass level on my 4 speakers (get the bass on -7), but keep the bass volume on my sub the same. Whenever I lower the bass with bass control on the HU, the bass is also lowered at my pre-out to which I have my sub amp connected.

Is there a head unit, that would have preouts that are completely independent of the bass and treble controls of the HU and would only change volume when it would be changed on the HU? Or is there another way of dealing with this?

Thanx in advance to all of ya!

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[Wonderbread 5,000+ posts]

the only thing i can think of are bass blockers, or an EQ....

 

[beastyle 10+ year member]

nah man //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

You need a GOOD amp (or you should check your current one a bit better)...

You should level your radio at 0 bass and 0 trebble etc. so that you always can adjust a LITTLE from your HU.

Your current amp has the SUB on it if i'm reading you correct. Every single amp has one of the following options:

- Gain level (might be indicated with ohm numbers 1 - 4 or 2 - 4)

- Frequency (the lower you set it the deeper and heavier the bass will be)

- Bass port (all my pg's have it, kinda the same as frequency)

- Hertz (0 - 150 or something, the more hertz you set the heavier the bass)

If you have one of the options above on your amp (pretty sure u atleast have two) then use those to tune your bass couz these will only effect devices connected on the amp itself and not speakers connected to your HU).

If you really dont have any of the options above then (... it must be one hell of a lousy amp) go to the store and buy a remote bass controll device. I bought one two days ago from Caliber for 20 bucks and it works REAL great. The device has a hertz and gain controll wheel and is connected on your RCA cable so that it only will effect your subs and not your HU speakers..

gl

 

[marcopolo 10+ year member]

Yo!

Maybe I was not clear enough, what my problem really is. But the more than I try to figure out a solution, the more it seems to me that there is none.

Here is the situation:

My sub and other 4 speakers are working just fine and all. But when I turn up the volume, my 4 mid/tweeter speakers get distorted quite a lot. I can turn the bass control down to minimum and keep the treble at 0, then the speakers can naturally play a lot louder, because they don't have to produce the basses. But in that case, the bass gets turned down at the pre-outs too, and the amp (and then the sub) doesn't get bass either and that's shitty. I was thinking about active crossovers, but as far as I know, you must install that before the signal goes to the amp, which is then useless in my case, where I power other speakers (except sub) with head unit internal amp.

So I guess, the only way to have a high pass filter on mid/tweeter speakers and still get regular bass out of a sub is to buy an amp for the other 4 speakers. It looks like it can't be done, if I want to keep powering those speakers with the HU.

Any suggestions?? Thanx!

 

[Wonderbread 5,000+ posts]

waht kindof speakers are you running, and waht HU?

 

[marcopolo 10+ year member]

Here's my setup:

I'm running Mac Audio Mac Iron 2.13 components in the front (90RMS, titanium cone, soft dome tweeter) and Mac Audio red attack 69.3 in the back (110RMS, 6"x9"), amp is Magnat RAVE 300 (1x185RMS bridge) and the sub is Mac Audio Mac Fire 300 (12", 200RMS, aluminium cone). The head unit is Alpine CDE-7853R, but I am soon getting an Alpine 7874 or Pioneer 4400, not sure yet.

Any help?

 

[Wonderbread 5,000+ posts]

thats hould help someone, not me, i was jsut getting more info for people to work with, good luck!

 

[Ganji 10+ year member]

Some form of crossovers would seem like the most logical choice to me. If you're tight on cash, get 2 pairs of like 200hz bass blockers for your 4 speakers, so you can adjust the treble and bass as you please. You'll be able to turn the bass up without distortion, since low frequencies will only reach the sub.

 

[beastyle 10+ year member]

hahahah

you call that a problem? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

Just disconnect your amps/subs and leave only the speakers connected directly on the HU.

Flatten your bass and trebble and pump your HU upto the volume where they do not distort (just not)... From there connect your amps and tune them that they are at their max when you reach the volumelevel which you experienced above

GAIN level controll is your solution

(example, my second set of tweeters is not amplified and distort at a volume after 30. Amps are set that they reach max @ 29, problem sovled)

 

[marcopolo 10+ year member]

Could anyone explain me more about these "bass killers", because I haven't heard of them before, please!

Dear mr. Beastyle, I wish it was that easy!!!

I've been there done that! The problem is that when I lower the bass on my HU, it gets completely eliminated on my pre-outs too. So even if I turn the gain up to the maximum, there is still no bass comming from the sub (although ofcourse there is music playing on the sub if I switch the LPF on the amp off, but only high frequencies - same as from the HU).

Ha ha ha now if you can (I would surely like to)!

These bass killers seem nice idea, so please do explain to me more about it!

Thanx

 

[marcopolo 10+ year member]

I apologize Beastyle, I didn't see you wrote "flatten bass and treble".

That is sure working allright, but my speakers can play far much louder if I keep the treble at 0 and lower the bass to say -4 or -5. Than I can pump them for a 1/4 louder, but in this case, the sub is almost inaudible (the bass is lowered on preouts too). So I can either enjoy very loud mid and highs without the sub, or enjoy my pleasantly sounding woofer with it's all power, but have mids and highs on my speakers at only moderate level, because they start to distort. Well, I prefer loud mids and higs AND sub to the full. Problem???

You are welcome to share your ideas!

 

[dan7532 10+ year member]

Sorry to butt in, but I have a very similar question. I have two sony 5x7 two-ways in my front doors running off the head unit. I have my stock front speakers in the rear deck because it holds the same size and my stock fronts are higher quality than my stock rears. Anyway, I have FIE on in my Pioneer HU so the rear speakers only get low frequencies. I plan on getting a tempest 15" sub soon and will unplug the rear speakers as they will be pointless.

So I'll be left with two sonys in front doors running off HU and a tempest in the truck running off an amp. I want all the low frequencies running to my sub (of course) and I'd like to prevent my sonys from getting bass that the sub can play. Should I do the same things that you suggest to marcopolo?

 

[mrray13 10+ year member]

Here's my setup:
I'm running Mac Audio Mac Iron 2.13 components in the front (90RMS, titanium cone, soft dome tweeter) and Mac Audio red attack 69.3 in the back (110RMS, 6"x9"), amp is Magnat RAVE 300 (1x185RMS bridge) and the sub is Mac Audio Mac Fire 300 (12", 200RMS, aluminium cone). The head unit is Alpine CDE-7853R, but I am soon getting an Alpine 7874 or Pioneer 4400, not sure yet.

Any help?

when u get a new h/u..ur problem will be solved. the cde series of alpine are Entry level, they don't have much in the way of features. geta cda series alpine (the 7874 might be), the Advanced line will have non fading sub pre-outs that can be adjusted seperatley from the other pre-outs. even when u turn the bass doen, u can turn the sub control up to compensate...when u buy the new h/u ask them(the retailers) to demonstrate.

hope that helps......btw, any h/u with the above mentioned feature will work.

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/peace.gif.2db28b618ed8d1964ebbe2f5021d2c39.gif

 

[DBfan187 5,000+ posts]

when u get a new h/u..ur problem will be solved. the cde series of alpine are Entry level, they don't have much in the way of features. geta cda series alpine (the 7874 might be), the Advanced line will have non fading sub pre-outs that can be adjusted seperatley from the other pre-outs. even when u turn the bass doen, u can turn the sub control up to compensate...when u buy the new h/u ask them(the retailers) to demonstrate.



hope that helps......btw, any h/u with the above mentioned feature will work.

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/peace.gif.2db28b618ed8d1964ebbe2f5021d2c39.gif

This thread is over 2 years old!//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

Btw, R.I.P. Beastlye!//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

 

[dan7532 10+ year member]

Oh, didn't notice. I replied to this thread when I saw it in the "similar threads" box at the bottom left of the page when I was viewing a different thread. Anyway, my Pioneer DEH-P545 does not have separate sub pre-outs. Pioneer's site says it has "RCA Preouts (x2 pair) (Front/Rear)"