Whats your opinion

[Law luck 1]

You've spent a lot of money to be running all that off a factory head unit. I'd be curious what the voltage is. Factory head units aren't designed for people like us. They're budgeted down to be good enough for the majority of buyers, who frankly wouldn't notice or care for it to get loud. I have no idea about how a 17 honda head unit is, but $120 deck is usually better.

Before you go spending money on subs and boxes. You should start here (in reverse):


You should go and measure the AC voltage coming off your sub amp's terminals/wire. Do the math, and see if you were getting the wattage you want.
Gladen lists 2 1ch amps that do 1300w RMS. Both are at 2ohm (3200c1, 1800c1)

Then I see for Ground Zero lists 3 subs in that power range:
I hope this is the one you have:

GZHW 25XSPL-D1 1200RMS 1ohm DVC​

not​

GZHW 25XSPL-D2 - 1200RMS 2ohm DVC​

GZRW 10XSPL 600w RMS 2ohm DVC​

If it's that first one, there's still quite a bit left on the table. If it's one of the others, then we have a problem.

I get the head unit *****. I use a dsp. My install guy told me that the head unit is designed to only go down to 50hz etc. So he put a dongle that attaches at the helix amp to use bluetooth straight to the dsp. Maybe it is two ohms. I believe the sub is wanna say iridium but that doesnt match the spechs. I believe 750 is the rms if you will. I swear he said 1 ohm. Cody the guy who put it all in thinks I should first get a better box. He also recommended a 12inch sub. But he did explain to me that different subs do different things. Even when I use the blue tooth straight to the dsp. I still dont feel like the sub is putting out the volume. I really trust css. I want to avoid a head unit so the car appears stock. Hope I am making sense.

 

[Law luck 1]

I get the head unit *****. I use a dsp. My install guy told me that the head unit is designed to only go down to 50hz etc. So he put a dongle that attaches at the helix amp to use bluetooth straight to the dsp. Maybe it is two ohms. I believe the sub is wanna say iridium but that doesnt match the spechs. I believe 750 is the rms if you will. I swear he said 1 ohm. Cody the guy who put it all in thinks I should first get a better box. He also recommended a 12inch sub. But he did explain to me that different subs do different things. Even when I use the blue tooth straight to the dsp. I still dont feel like the sub is putting out the volume. I really trust css. I want to avoid a head unit so the car appears stock. Hope I am making sense.

Not sure why they ***** stuff but ok

 

[Law luck 1]

Not sure why they ***** stuff but ok

And I dont know all the right terms. But I do know he said the gain still had a ton of room (digital in signal something only needed the gain to go up to the first setting or something along those lines) the input signal from my head unit was something which made it possible to keep the gain low. That makes no sense but it what I remember lol. I believe because he used a fancy piece of equipment to set the input on the dsp to match a more normal flat input instead of the curve they use to make 15 watt cruddy speakers sound better. He did tell me the subs peak power handling was 1100. And that they were careful to set it up so it didn't "blow" the sub up. In css defense i had the sub before they got the car. I ran out of money for the project and had to leave the sub as is. I wish I had the pictures. I mean these folks did good work. I mean they mounted the 4 inch mids in my a pillars. That's why I think a "better" sub more suited to my taste if you will. Sorry I am trying to repeat what he explained to me. He said the amp had plenty of "room" left. And he had to set the sub lower to make sure the sound stage staid in the middle of the car. The dongle has attachment that they mounted and had to fabricated next to my power and usb ports on my center console. This thing allows me too use five different presets two off my head unit each set to move the sound stage to different places based on whether its just me or have passengers. Then two aftb settings for just bluetooth and a vallet setting. It also allows me to tune the subs output "volume" and the rear deck speakers to set the sound stage.

 

[HardofWhoring]

If the head unit could only go to 50hz, then you are definitely missing out on the good deep bass. Even with a dongle to the dsp, the signal is still originating at the head unit. If it's going through the head unit, it would be cutting it off.
1. I don't believe that, because head units don't usually cut that high.
2. How would your install guy know that, unless they were testing out different frequencies to set the gain, but that doesn't seem likely. (If you have a signal going from phone to amp, and bypassing the head unit, then you could test that).

Nobody is going to think it's stock when you play it. You can find really simple looking head units. single or double din?
1. If you're missing out on frequencies below 50hz because of a head unit, and
2. aren't willing to change it,
then do yourself a favor, and just pull the sub out and forget about it. You might as well put in a midbass and get something. (Still don't believe that's accurate though).

Did they sell you any of this equipment? How did you choose this equipment?

There are several things you are saying that are just wrong. Either you are saying them wrong, or he told you the wrong thing.


You may not realize this yet, but you spend $1200 on a single 12" sub and amp, and the sub is probably somewhere around 500 -700 watts. (That's at least twice as much as what you should have spent.) It sounds like you've spent about $6K so far, haven't done any sound deadening, you haven't said anything about electrical and have next to no bass. Unless your plan was to spend $10K on a simple system, then you should have a problem with that, and need at least a second opinion.

You've really gotta find the part numbers. They will be on the receipts. Even taking pictures of the equipment should give you something. You need to know/we need to know what equipment you have, and you want to know what it's being set at. I know you don't like to hear what I'm saying, but were the ones that are NOT trying to sell you anything.

 

[HardofWhoring]

(You bought some really nice speakers, spent a lot on a great amp with DSP, and haven't done anything to clean up the sound stage, so you can notice the clarity. Your vehicle would need somewhere roughly $500-$1K worth of full deadening to justify buying those speakers for their clarity. Without it, you're just going to get too much ambient noise of the world interfering with the sound quality.

Not sure what the wattage is on your 6ch + your sub amp, you most likely need a larger alt, and big 3. You might want a bigger sub, factor that into electrical now, so you're another $300-$600 for electrical).

Sound deadener install can get pricey, and doesn't sound like you do your own work. Probably another $500-$1K for install.

 

[Law luck 1]

(You bought some really nice speakers, spent a lot on a great amp with DSP, and haven't done anything to clean up the sound stage, so you can notice the clarity. Your vehicle would need somewhere roughly $500-$1K worth of full deadening to justify buying those speakers for their clarity. Without it, you're just going to get too much ambient noise of the world interfering with the sound quality.

Not sure what the wattage is on your 6ch + your sub amp, you most likely need a larger alt, and big 3. You might want a bigger sub, factor that into electrical now, so you're another $300-$600 for electrical).

Sound deadener install can get pricey, and doesn't sound like you do your own work. Probably another $500-$1K for install.

 

[Law luck 1]

The front doors and trunk rear deck etc all have dyno matt. I had a head injury that makes it really hard for me to clear my thoughts that's why I generally dont get on forums. They did not sell me the sub is bought it on amazon as part of the first build. Which was a disaster. I had some "department" store installer so css had to undo all of their really bad install. The new guys sold me the 3 ways and rear deck speakers. And helix amp. I wish I knew the right terminology to descibe how the inputs work on my dsp. No problem though thanks for trying to help me. But like I said my thoughts get trapped in my head and then I dont make sense. Especially with folks who are way more advanced then I am. It just make me feel stupid. But thats my problems anyway like I said thanks for trying to help me. Take care

 

[1aespinoza 10+ year member]

thanks for trying to help me. Take care

I think your front stage is spot on. If your DSP has a dongle that connects to your phone, then you are getting the full clear signal. No need to mess with anything other than the sub itself.
For your music tastes, I recommend a sealed enclosure. It keeps a tight control on the cone so the sub will play flatter across the board.
One thing that you can try on this setup is to raise the Low Pass Filter frequency to see if the sub will blend better with the front stage. If the LPF is at 80 Hz, try going up to 100 or 120 Hz.
This should produce that "kick" you are lacking.