Using a line out converter - question on 'Bass' setting. Frustrated!

[IonRL205 10+ year member]

Why do you even need the bass all the way up anyway? Is your system not loud enough? And with your gains set right, you will be getting everything out of your sub unless your amp is underpowering it. If it's not loud enough for you then you need to upgrade your equipment.

Save up some money and get quality stuff so you'll be happy for a while, instead of always buying cheap **** and being disappointed.

 

[maylar 10+ year member]

Anywho, I hooked it all up and everything but I asked a neighbor who is extremely knowledgeable with car audio about 'tuning' the amp for me. He did that and everything, but he said to not put the 'Bass' in the factory stereo above 50%, because it could blow the rear speakers.
Is this true? If so, I'm kind of bummed out. Everywhere I read it said adding a line out converter and using the signal of the rear speakers was very close to the same quality of using an aftermarket head unit and an RCA pre-amp out to plug it in.

Now after it's all said I done, I'm told I have to leave the Bass setting on my factory stereo to 50% otherwise I'd blow the back speakers. I'm honestly pissed off. I had no idea that could even happen, and I'm not getting everything I could get out of my subs because of this. I want to get a stereo at this point, but I don't know how to install it and I already put $20 into getting a quality line-out converter, now I have to buy a new head unit for $50+ and install it, when I have no idea how to. And then I have to rewire the amp to plugin to the new stereo.

Anyway, all that being said... what should I do! Can the speakers really blow if I turn it up anymore? (The rear speakers blowing, not the subs blowing). If so, I'm extremely ticked off. After putting more money into it then I originally wanted to, now I have to pay $100 for a new stereo and installation.

Good quality line out converters are fine. I'm using one on my front stage. How much bass you can give your rear speakers has nothing to do with that. The limit is a function of the speaker's capability to handle power at low frequencies. You didn't say what size they are, but smaller speakers will reach their limit sooner than bigger speakers (generic statement). For instance a good set of 6X9's can usually handle anything the HU can put out, whereas 3.5's will blow out with too much bass unless you hipass them with bass blockers.

The LOC has no effect either way. The only reason I can think of for that "50%" comment is the possibility for the subs having an influence on rear deck speakers. Dunno if that's possible or not.

 

[akheathen Premium Member]

let me put it to you this way- both me, and my friend, well actually like 5 friends, have tahoes. his has the bose touch/nav, etc, and we set it up so he has the bass control via the head unit, and it's tapped to the sub out via one of the factory sub wires. now, mine, i basically have it set so the bass is always all the way down, and control it with the amp bass knob, so my factory spoeakers are not really playing much of any bass at all, and the amp gets a nice, clean signal to power the sub. basically, it comes down to- now you have subs to play the bass, no need to distort your mids, which are not really going to put out any clean bass you can notice anyways. when you feed the mids a bunch of distortion, you are probably not going to hear it with the subs overpowering the distortion, and that is how they might blow..

 

[zorphon 10+ year member]

let me put it to you this way- both me, and my friend, well actually like 5 friends, have tahoes. his has the bose touch/nav, etc, and we set it up so he has the bass control via the head unit, and it's tapped to the sub out via one of the factory sub wires. now, mine, i basically have it set so the bass is always all the way down, and control it with the amp bass knob, so my factory spoeakers are not really playing much of any bass at all, and the amp gets a nice, clean signal to power the sub. basically, it comes down to- now you have subs to play the bass, no need to distort your mids, which are not really going to put out any clean bass you can notice anyways. when you feed the mids a bunch of distortion, you are probably not going to hear it with the subs overpowering the distortion, and that is how they might blow..

So what do you propose I do without buying a new HU?

 

[akheathen Premium Member]

enjoy

 

[speakerdude123 10+ year member]

To the OP:

I will be giving you a long and thorough answer here to better help you understand car audio/ audio in general. So I suggest you read it all.

First off, keep your treble, mid, and bass settings to default (flat). It drives me nuts when people turn these up! They are set at flat for a reason, they give you the best sound quality!

Now, I am currently running the same type of setup as you (LOC tapped into rear speakers), but different gear.

With that being said, I think your buddy was just giving himself an insurance policy for installing your speakers. The LOC will not change anything about your current speakers in your car, the only thing it does it provide a signal to tell the sub when to dump and thump. Whether you have a LOC or not, turning up the bass past 50% can run the possibility to blow your speakers, just like with any other speaker in any car, radio, or home audio. They are not meant to be turned up to add the type of bass you want, they are meant for tuning purposes.

The reason he probably told you not to turn up your bass past 50% is probably becuase he has your gains set at 50%, so turning them up past that would blow your sub, not your rear speakers. I would suggest setting your gains yourself, it is fairly straight forward and people on here are more then welcome to help you out should you run into any problems.

Lastly, I think I read somewhere that you spent 13 dollars on your system, if that is true and you feel your system is inadequate to your liking I am fairly certain that those cheap subs/enclosure you bought has everything to do with it.

So to sum up your question about the rear speakers blowing, if they didn't blow before, adding a LOC wont change anything. Also invest in a proper enclosure and quality sub-woofer.

 

[akheathen Premium Member]

"flat gives the best sound quality"? mmmm-k?. many times, flat sounds like poo. the adjustments are there to tewak the sound to your liking, and correct bad source sound. then there is also the factor of wanting to tweak it differently for different volumes, one of the big reasons behind the creation of the "loud" setting. and then there is equipment difference. some tweeters are harsh, and you will not enjoy music and likely kill your hearing if you don't turn it down, and others are soft and quieter than the mids and you will want to turn the trebble up to equalize......... sounds like you were given good advise already, and that you have discovered that it does sound better anyways. the loc won't blow your speakers, but you can. the reason it sounds best in the middle, is just as i discribed, you have reached all it will give, and any more is just clipping and distorting. you are actually getting a better sound quality as-is, so i repeat- "enjoy" if you want more bass, change the equipment

 

[zorphon 10+ year member]

To the OP:
I will be giving you a long and thorough answer here to better help you understand car audio/ audio in general. So I suggest you read it all.

First off, keep your treble, mid, and bass settings to default (flat). It drives me nuts when people turn these up! They are set at flat for a reason, they give you the best sound quality!

Now, I am currently running the same type of setup as you (LOC tapped into rear speakers), but different gear.

With that being said, I think your buddy was just giving himself an insurance policy for installing your speakers. The LOC will not change anything about your current speakers in your car, the only thing it does it provide a signal to tell the sub when to dump and thump. Whether you have a LOC or not, turning up the bass past 50% can run the possibility to blow your speakers, just like with any other speaker in any car, radio, or home audio. They are not meant to be turned up to add the type of bass you want, they are meant for tuning purposes.

The reason he probably told you not to turn up your bass past 50% is probably becuase he has your gains set at 50%, so turning them up past that would blow your sub, not your rear speakers. I would suggest setting your gains yourself, it is fairly straight forward and people on here are more then welcome to help you out should you run into any problems.

Lastly, I think I read somewhere that you spent 13 dollars on your system, if that is true and you feel your system is inadequate to your liking I am fairly certain that those cheap subs/enclosure you bought has everything to do with it.

So to sum up your question about the rear speakers blowing, if they didn't blow before, adding a LOC wont change anything. Also invest in a proper enclosure and quality sub-woofer.

They are quality. I spent $13, but you can get the 'bundle' for 149.99 on SonicElectronix. The retail price of the bundle was 479.99, originally. All of it's made by MTX Audio. Thanks for the answer though!

 

[speakerdude123 10+ year member]

"flat gives the best sound quality"? mmmm-k?. many times, flat sounds like poo. the adjustments are there to tewak the sound to your liking, and correct bad source sound. then there is also the factor of wanting to tweak it differently for different volumes, one of the big reasons behind the creation of the "loud" setting. and then there is equipment difference. some tweeters are harsh, and you will not enjoy music and likely kill your hearing if you don't turn it down, and others are soft and quieter than the mids and you will want to turn the trebble up to equalize......... sounds like you were given good advise already, and that you have discovered that it does sound better anyways. the loc won't blow your speakers, but you can. the reason it sounds best in the middle, is just as i discribed, you have reached all it will give, and any more is just clipping and distorting. you are actually getting a better sound quality as-is, so i repeat- "enjoy" if you want more bass, change the equipment

Like I said, the equalizer is not meant to be turned up for the type of bass "he wants"; and CAN be used for tuning to your hearts liking.

However, I don't know how you listen to music but I'd say 99% of the time if the music is coming from a quality source you don't need to adjust the equalizer. In fact most of the time, when coming from a quality source, the equalizers are already preset in the songs for you so no adjustment should be needed. I can always tell when someone has there equalizers manually set because it "sounds like poo". There are those rare cases were a certain song needs a little tuning but for the majority you shouldn't really have to mess with them.

Once again, everyone is different at different times. So yes every once in a while I will mess with my equalizer and what not, but I am speaking from a general perspective here and attempting to give the OP a better understanding of his situation.