Brad4321
Junior Member
I installed two MB Quart PS2-302 subs (12", 250 rms each, wired at 2ohm) subs into my winter beater at the beginning of this year. They are running through a Eclipse XA1000 amp (480 rms @ 2ohm). They sit inside a sealed, 3/4 mdf box at 2.0 cubic ft (subs are rated at 1 cubic ft each sealed). Running a pioneer Pioneer DEH-X9500BHS HU. True 4 gauge wiring and big 3. This is sitting in a 1998 grand am coupe. Stock front speakers, no sound deadening or anything else. Subs in the trunk firing forward into the rear seat.
I listen to either old country (such as waylon jennings, johnny cash, hank williams) or metal (such as children of bodom, metallica, disturbed). My whole goal is SQ, not SPL, although I do crank it on the highway. The subs sound fantastic with the bass in country. They hit clean and hard. I am quite impressed here with the cheap subs.
However, under fast and heavy bass they do not hit clean. Take the bass from Dimmu Borgir - Puritania or the intro of Children Of Bodom - Everytime I Die. It is very noticeable at my typical cruising listening volume (volume level 50 on the radio), but it can still be barely detected at low volumes such as 25 (can hold a normal conversation in the car at this volume). The crispness and body of the tones is all wiped out and muffled and at times the individual tones just run together. It sounds a bit like the bass coming from factory speakers, just quite a bit louder at a lower hz. I have the HU set to "natural" which gives a 0-100hz a +3 and do not run any bass boost or anything of that nature. Crossover at amp is set at about 140hz which is within what the subs are rated for (35-150).
The subs hit individual notes as loud as I want (never tried to find their limit) and clear, but only seem to fail under rapid, heavy notes. This is my first time ever installing subs in a car (or ever messing with car audio, although it has been a repressed passion) so I am not sure what the issue is. No lights come on the amp (clipping light and such) to show that is a problem. I had a friend help set the gains, but that does not mean it is right... My first thought is rapid hits are reducing my voltage. I do notice some light dimming/flickering when it is cranked to my limit (not the subs), but my voltmeter says I always stay above 12.8v at idle. Approx 500 watts through a 4 gauge wire is nothing.
What is my problem?
I listen to either old country (such as waylon jennings, johnny cash, hank williams) or metal (such as children of bodom, metallica, disturbed). My whole goal is SQ, not SPL, although I do crank it on the highway. The subs sound fantastic with the bass in country. They hit clean and hard. I am quite impressed here with the cheap subs.
However, under fast and heavy bass they do not hit clean. Take the bass from Dimmu Borgir - Puritania or the intro of Children Of Bodom - Everytime I Die. It is very noticeable at my typical cruising listening volume (volume level 50 on the radio), but it can still be barely detected at low volumes such as 25 (can hold a normal conversation in the car at this volume). The crispness and body of the tones is all wiped out and muffled and at times the individual tones just run together. It sounds a bit like the bass coming from factory speakers, just quite a bit louder at a lower hz. I have the HU set to "natural" which gives a 0-100hz a +3 and do not run any bass boost or anything of that nature. Crossover at amp is set at about 140hz which is within what the subs are rated for (35-150).
The subs hit individual notes as loud as I want (never tried to find their limit) and clear, but only seem to fail under rapid, heavy notes. This is my first time ever installing subs in a car (or ever messing with car audio, although it has been a repressed passion) so I am not sure what the issue is. No lights come on the amp (clipping light and such) to show that is a problem. I had a friend help set the gains, but that does not mean it is right... My first thought is rapid hits are reducing my voltage. I do notice some light dimming/flickering when it is cranked to my limit (not the subs), but my voltmeter says I always stay above 12.8v at idle. Approx 500 watts through a 4 gauge wire is nothing.
What is my problem?
