Subwoofer help (I give up)

[IronAnger]

I hate asking for help in forums, Kuz I always feel like I'm embarrassing myself, but I'm perplexed as to why my system is sounding so bad.

I installed my kicker speakers and amp with no issue, and they sound great. But after finishing the box for my kicker L7 sub and installing it I was very disappointed!

I have a 10" Kicker L7 Q-Class DVC 2 Ohm (paralleled to 1) powered by a Rockford Fosgate R2-750X1. This thing is 750w RMS, so I would think it could put out some serious bass. But.... It doesn't. With bass boost at 0 on the HU, and Punch EQ at 0 on the amp, you barely notice there's even a subwoofer in the car at all!

I used a multimeter to set the gain on the sub amp, but found it very peculiar that the C.L.E.A.N. output clipping light was firing off when the gain wasn't even half way up. Voltmeter read the correct voltage for my subwoofer with the gain knob at 11 o'clock.

I actually can get decent bass if I turn up the Punch EQ; which I understand is a bass boost. Which, obviously, is not ideal! I don't want bass in a narrow frequency.. but why would the bass boost be acting more like a gain than the gain?

The HU has a Bass boost setting from 1 to 5. I played with it and got more bass out of the sub, but it doesn't sound good at all. Very muddy, almost like I would need an EQ for the sub itself!

So, I'm at a loss. After spending all this money on decent equipment and spending months to build a box, sound deadening the doors and trunk... I feel defeated. What am I missing?

Click to read more...

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

Even if people give you sh*t for needing help, don't worry about it. We all need audio help, sometimes. What you're describing is a common issue and even installers can have this exact same issue. Sometimes it's very tough to figure out, because there's so many things that could cause this exact problem. What you have to do is a process of elimination.

-Does your head unit have a subwoofer level/volume/output controller that goes from something like 0-15?

-What voltage RCA outputs does your head unit have?
-Are you sure the correct RCA output from the radio is hooked up to the sub amp?
-May check your RCA's too, sometimes RCA's can be partially working, so the system will only partially play.

-Double check that your sub is reading one ohm and that each voice coil on the sub is hooked up and reading 2 ohms and a wire hasn't fallen out or something from the VC terminal/connections.


It sounds like something electronic is wrong here, maybe low signal input into the amp or maybe amps settings aren't the best. I can tell you right now, if I design a ported box for that Kicker L7 10, it'll be much louder, but I think your primary issue here isn't that.

-Can you show us a pic of your amp settings? Gain, crossovers, etc?

 

[RobGMN 5,000+ posts]

Process of elimination. Do you have alternatives you can use for each device in the chain (source, amp, sub)?

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

I hate asking for help in forums, Kuz I always feel like I'm embarrassing myself, but I'm perplexed as to why my system is sounding so bad.

I installed my kicker speakers and amp with no issue, and they sound great. But after finishing the box for my kicker L7 sub and installing it I was very disappointed!

I have a 10" Kicker L7 Q-Class DVC 2 Ohm (paralleled to 1) powered by a Rockford Fosgate R2-750X1. This thing is 750w RMS, so I would think it could put out some serious bass. But.... It doesn't. With bass boost at 0 on the HU, and Punch EQ at 0 on the amp, you barely notice there's even a subwoofer in the car at all!

I used a multimeter to set the gain on the sub amp, but found it very peculiar that the C.L.E.A.N. output clipping light was firing off when the gain wasn't even half way up. Voltmeter read the correct voltage for my subwoofer with the gain knob at 11 o'clock.

I actually can get decent bass if I turn up the Punch EQ; which I understand is a bass boost. Which, obviously, is not ideal! I don't want bass in a narrow frequency.. but why would the bass boost be acting more like a gain than the gain?

The HU has a Bass boost setting from 1 to 5. I played with it and got more bass out of the sub, but it doesn't sound good at all. Very muddy, almost like I would need an EQ for the sub itself!

So, I'm at a loss. After spending all this money on decent equipment and spending months to build a box, sound deadening the doors and trunk... I feel defeated. What am I missing?

Do you have a digital multimeter or a fluke? Some sort of device that can read voltages, specifically AC voltages?

 

[IronAnger]

I've been playing around with the head unit, and it has both a bass boost and a "SW level" (1 to 10) in the equilizer settings. The sub REALLY came alive at 10.. so I guess that's what I have to do is adjust that to get it where I need?

There is something I'm not understanding though. If the Output clipping light blinks every once and awhile while listening at 0, won't turning these settings up make it clip more? ...to the point of maybe destroying the speaker?

 

[Bobbytwonames 5,000+ posts]

I've been playing around with the head unit, and it has both a bass boost and a "SW level" (1 to 10) in the equilizer settings. The sub REALLY came alive at 10.. so I guess that's what I have to do is adjust that to get it where I need?

There is something I'm not understanding though. If the Output clipping light blinks every once and awhile while listening at 0, won't turning these settings up make it clip more? ...to the point of maybe destroying the speaker? View attachment 33343

Put the FREQ. HZ. @ 80. Subwoofer level on the headunit at 10 and then adjust the gain.

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

I've been playing around with the head unit, and it has both a bass boost and a "SW level" (1 to 10) in the equilizer settings. The sub REALLY came alive at 10.. so I guess that's what I have to do is adjust that to get it where I need?

There is something I'm not understanding though. If the Output clipping light blinks every once and awhile while listening at 0, won't turning these settings up make it clip more? ...to the point of maybe destroying the speaker? View attachment 33343

Check the RCA output voltage on your radio, see what it's rated at.

 

[IronAnger]

I was using the head unit for crossover and slope is that the wrong way to go about it?
Sub
LPF: 90Hz Slope: -12db
Front
HPF: 120Hz Slope: -24Hz
Rear
HPF: 150Hz Slope: -18Hz

Also, in deciding the type of enclosure to make I had decided on a sealed box due to the fact that, even though I listen to techno, dubstep, some rap and other "bassy" music, the main type of music I listen to is metal. So the idea was to keep the double-bass kicks very tight with a sealed enclosure.

I will say, after setting that sub level to 10... OMG this thing POUNDS! It's possible to mistake this car for having 2 12s! Click click boom by Saliva came on and my head nearly exploded!

I think my mistake was this: I thought the subwoofer is set up for maximum potential, then turned down (by EQ, or reducing gain) to blend correctly. This is why I was searching for a hardware issue. But it seems the output of the subwoofer still needs to be increased on this head unit. If the SW is set to 0, then.. well, it won't be there!

Thank you guys for your input and correcting my thinking on this topic. I'm amazed at the quick reaction of this community! I have book marked this site and hope to contribute in the future!

Have a great day guys!
-IronAnger

 

[DRBOOM]

OK, this is a typical issue with head unit voltage. You need to either purchase another head unit or, you can buy a Audiocontrol LC2, or similar to increase the voltage to your amplifier's RCA inputs. Before you go and spend your doe, see if you can borrow another head unit and test it to see if there is any difference in sound output. I know for a fact the new head units, although have a 200watt IC chip, the RCA has legged off the voltage since the current market trend has fallen off using external amps,/ subwoofers due to better sounding stock systems available in cars and also the integrated head units that also is a big deterrent tp upgrade your cars head unit.
That is why the car audio market has gone down-hill the past 10 years ago so the car audio manufactures save money by watching the trend and make amendments, due to current market trends.