why do amps have a bass boost if its bad for the amp

[AZhomegrown 10+ year member]

i am just curious as to why amps and decks have bass enhancement devices if everyone says they are so bad for the amps and subs. Im curious as to what is so bad about these devices? This isnt an argument i just have been told this but was never given a real reason.

thanks

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[gboo559 10+ year member]

I use my bass boost on my HU at LOW volumes.

 

[T3mpest 10+ year member]

Bass boosts can be useful depending on what your doing with it. EQ on subs is very popular in home audio and works just as well in a car. The issue is that most people into car audio just want loud. They use bass boost as a volume control not as a equalizer and don't pay attention to how much power they are pulling from their amp nor what the sub can handle.

 

[ciaonzo 5,000+ posts]

Bass boost is a form of EQ and even a little bit of EQ requires quite a bit more power from the amplifier. It can create a set of circumstances leading to clipping.

Edit - You beat me T3mpest.

 

[AZhomegrown 10+ year member]

Right now i have my bass boost on my deck running and have my bass boost on my amp set to the low setting from off and it also has a med. and high. I dont hear any distortion but i hear that if its clipping i might not necessarily hear distortion. Is there a way of knowing when its too much. I only really need it because my zune is terrible at giving a quality signal. It may just be the av cable that is losing volume and sq. Ive notived that ipods sound better because my deck (pioneer deh-510ub) has the ipod compatability and can use the usb line instead. I dont have an ipod so this is how i compensate. right now my sub is a 2ohm(ts-w1008d2) dvc and i can only pull 200w rms from my amp, if i could run it at 4 ohms it would be better cause thatd get me 400w rms. If i had that kinda power i dont think id need to compensate at all. This is mostly for low volumes. Once i upgrade to a 4ohm 12 of the same sub i dont think ill need to do this. Sorry for babbling, i figured it would give better insight into what im running and my question. Does it sound like im doing harm to my system or should this be ok?

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

EQ on subs is very popular in home audio and works just as well in a car.

Granted, the vehicle's transfer function makes the need for EQing much less.

In a room without that kind of cabin gain on the bottom octave, that's where the Behringer Feedback Destroyers and the like come in handy //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

right now my sub is a 2ohm(ts-w1008d2) dvc and i can only pull 200w rms from my amp, if i could run it at 4 ohms it would be better cause thatd get me 400w rms. If i had that kinda power i dont think id need to compensate at all. This is mostly for low volumes. Once i upgrade to a 4ohm 12 of the same sub i dont think ill need to do this.

This doesn't make sense.

 

[AZhomegrown 10+ year member]

basically im saying because i have a 2ohm subwoofer i can only wire it to a 4 ohm load. My amp only provides me with 200 watts at this level. If i had a 4 ohm sub which i plan on getting i can wire it to pull a 2 ohm load and thus giving me 400w rms power from my amp. My sub is currently a 10 right now and i want to upgrade to a 12. I have to compensate for only getting to use half the power of the amp. I think 400w would be louder than 200w, if im wrong let me know. At lower volumes the 200w doesnt get loud til i turn it up, thus the bass enhancement devices for lower volumes. what else do i need to fill in so you understand? Does this make better sense, i dont know how else to explain it. Bottom line with what im doing here, am i using too much bass boost. I dont really crank it in its current state. Like i said i just did it so i didnt have to turn the volume as high to hear some bass.

thanks

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

A 2-ohm DVC subwoofer can be wired to 4 ohms in series, and 1 ohm in parallel.

 

[marcotheclepto 10+ year member]

the way you worded it you were it sounded like a dual 2 was worse than a single 4, but im now assuming that you mean to upgrade to a dual 4. im assuming your current amp is not 1 ohm stable?

 

[AZhomegrown 10+ year member]

yes that is correct it is stable from 2 to 8 ohms. It is a pioneer gm-6400m which puts out 200rms@4ohms and 400rms@2ohms. The subwoofer is a Pioneer TS-W1008D2 2ohm dual voice coil subwoofer that is 350rms.

 

[Team Maxxsonics 10+ year member]

Not all amps with a Bass Remote Module are used as Bass EQ or Bass Boost.

Some bass remotes are used for Bass Level (gain) control.

The new Hifonics are Bass Level Control.