Truck Bass

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

Trashing his choice of equipment is not helping.

Amazed that JL is still in business in this market? Really? Do you actually know anything about their market demographic? Let's put it this way, their target demographic is NOT kids who only care about how loud it gets.

And, no, SQ isn't all in the box. A great box can make a crap sub sound OK and a lousy box can make a good sub sound terrible, but you can't polish a turd. Motor and suspension non-linearity cannot be corrected by the box.

SQ isn't also completely subjective. Distortion can be measured.

Whoever said that RE series subs sound excellent apparently has a very low standard or has fallen to the common psycho-acoustic phenomena that equates louder to better. RE used to make some fantastic low distortion drivers that as a result of the overbuilt motor and suspension could get really loud, but their entry stuff is not, and has never been, what would be classed as an accurate driver.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

What answer are you expecting. You can put any sub in any tuning.

Not if you want it to sound right, you can't.

25-29hz sound quality
30-36 hz sound quality loudness

37-45 hz spl

sound quality fades away somewhat as you tune higher, but its louder.

Sound quality also fades away if you tune it too low or have the wrong enclosure size for the driver as well.

I've got subs that would sound like crap tuned below around 40Hz. Throwing generalizations out there just makes you generally wrong. You can manipulate the sound and response a great deal by varying the enclosure parameters but you have to realize that you can only make a sub sound so good if you have crap to work with. Also once you start moving away from the standard alignments you start making trade-offs. You can increase box size for efficiency but at the cost of a smooth response and low freq extension. You can tune higher with a similar result. You can tune lower at the cost of efficiency and transient response, same with going smaller on a box. You could go with a 1/4 wave based enclosure at the cost of a lot of space.

If you're really concerned about how it sounds, the answer for more output isn't more power, its more cone area. Output volume requires you to move air. Adding power is a quickly diminishing return and costs you accuracy. As the suspension and coil move away from center, you lose efficiency and accuracy. Adding more subs will allow you to get more output without pushing an individual driver any harder allowing you to maintain an efficient and accurate system.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

helotaxi is spot on, as usual.

And to add, a W3 in a ported box isn't even what Id consider a SQ setup. Im sure it sounds good, JL does make quality products. But if its the best setup you've ever heard, then all your friends have some pretty-shitty-to-average-sounding installs.

Im assuming that stealthbox is utilizing pretty much all the usable space available. Id say doing a seat lift install might give enough room for a 10" sub setup. And of course, there's always the nuclear option: blowthrough. Otherwise, you can try getting the specs on the box and see if modifying it to alter its tuning gives a benefit in the performance you want. Going from 300 to 500 watts wont likely yield the improvement you will consider significant. But going from brand/model amp advertised at 300 watts, to another brand/model advertised at 500 watts, does not necessarily simply mean there is a 200 watt difference. There is more to an amplifier than simply rated output specs. The Slash series for example, uses a power supply design that lends itself to sound quality performance, but the product's efficiency is decreased as a result. So placing a better quality, larger, slash series amp in place of a lesser quality smaller amp, may not yield ANY noticeable improvements, due to system voltage issues.

 

[O.G. D-Wet 10+ year member]

worst thread ever.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

worst thread ever.

Obviously you're fairly new here. This one doesn't even make the top 100.

 

[lemon4879 10+ year member]

I appreciate all the help and for once the lack of bashing my choice in audio equipment. And i do agree with ported you can not generally expect sound quality, and that is why i was surprised it sounded good, not the best but very good for keeping modifications low and appearance stock.

My bass as it is really does overpower my speakers which I have no yet amplified due to money shortages. After I do that it should sound very good and balanced. They are Alpine type R 5x7. I have definitely heard better speakers but i started my system before i knew ANYTHING about all of this, so my choice could have been worse.

So thank you helotaxi for advice that makes sense. I do not compete in sound quality competitions but i would say that is the standard for sound quality, how close do you think this subwoofer can take me? I plan on eventually getting components of a higher quality and using dynamat. If i had to get more bass i could always make a custom box at the center seat of the vehicle in the front, i will get a few [pictures to help see what i am working with.

 

[Wingman0121 10+ year member]

Obviously you're fairly new here. This one doesn't even make the top 100.

Yeah I think the worst thread are made by that dude who had 3 fans on his amp and can't wire anything worth a sh!t.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

I appreciate all the help and for once the lack of bashing my choice in audio equipment. And i do agree with ported you can not generally expect sound quality, and that is why i was surprised it sounded good.

All I really care about is it sounding good and I've had nothing but ported setups for the last several years. A properly designed and build ported setup can sound fantastic. JL knows very well what they're doing when it comes to designing building enclosures for their subs. That knowledge and the fact that they shared it with their dealers is one of the things that separated them from their competition and set their dealers apart from the rest in the early days of JL (late 80s, early 90s). No other company did anything like that at the time and really few other do it to this day.