Why doesn't my Infinity Kappa 12 sound that good?

[Chrisrizzy]

So I put in an Infinity Kappa 120.9w in my 07 Acura TL a little over a week ago and it just isn't sounding as good as I expected. I've heard nothing but good things about it, too. It's in a Belva 1.0 cuft sealed box (recommended volume by Infinity) with some poly fill which I guess makes it 0.1-0.2 cuft bigger. The amp is a Rockford Fosgate R500X1D. Cheaper amp, but it puts out a good 500w. Previous set up was with 2 12" Rockford Fosgate P1 subs in a ported box. The Kappa still can get loud, but certain songs definitely don't have as much bass and I expect that with sealed. The Kappa plays rock and anything with natural bass quite well, but a fair number of rap and electronic songs lack the SQ I am expecting. The ski pass in my car is open to let more bass in the cabin because I want it reasonably loud. With it open the bass can get all boomy and crappy sounding which I don't understand as you can have a truck or hatch with a sealed box and still get tight bass. Sure, I can close the ski pass, but a good amount of volume is lost and there is still some of that boomy sound. What is causing this? My low pass filter is set somewhere between 80 and 100 hz, the sub is known for SQ, and the box is the correct size, and I have put plenty of foam tape on my license plate. Is it just purely rattling that I'm hearing or what? I hear rattles from outside and have put some foam tape inside the trunk lid to quiet some of it, but I can't imagine 500W and a sealed sub is going to make that annoying of trunk rattles inside. Someone please enlighten me lol

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[cthedinger 10+ year member]

I would look into upgrading your box first then I would look into upgrading your woofers.

For the box I suggest checking out

https://www.atrendusa.com/

If you decide you want to upgrade your amp and subwoofer check out

https://www.ct-sounds.com

 

---------- Post added at 12:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:18 PM ----------

 

Also what is your subsonic filter set at?

 

[Chrisrizzy]

So you think the box is the issue even though it is at the recommended specs (poly fill in there may make it seem slightly larger to the sub obv)? I don't know a lot of the audio terms, so I'm not quite sure what I subsonic filter is. The knob on the amp I have adjusted is referred to as a variable crossover by RF., but it just appears to be a low pass filter because it goes from 50-250 hz on the knob. I have it set at like 80. The only other adjustment knobs are gain which is set at 4/10 and bass boost which I have turned off.

 

[garychoffmann 10+ year member]

It sounds like you don't have a sealed box but a very bad ratio 4th order that leaks all over....

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

It sounds like you don't have a sealed box but a very bad ratio 4th order that leaks all over....

The trunk design is certainly not helping. I don't think a sidegrade to another brand of pre-fab enclosure is going to fix this issue.

 

[garychoffmann 10+ year member]

Sorry, I should elaborate more...

You have a sealed box, inside another box (your trunk) with a bad port (ski hole). That leaks all over. Since your trunk is not air tight. I see you're somewhat local. I might be able to help you out.

 

[garychoffmann 10+ year member]

The trunk design is certainly not helping. I don't think a sidegrade to another brand of pre-fab enclosure is going to fix this issue.

Nope, but I can probably help him. Not a lot of good help around this area

 

[oxsign 5,000+ posts]

sealed vs ported. You have this 1 in a sealed box and the others were in a ported box. That alone will make a huge difference.

 

[Chrisrizzy]

sealed vs ported. You have this 1 in a sealed box and the others were in a ported box. That alone will make a huge difference.

Yeah, but with ported I'd lose more SQ. And I'm worried that a ported box and a 350 RMS sub getting 500W RMS is just asking for a blown sub

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

Yeah, but with ported I'd lose more SQ. And I'm worried that a ported box and a 350 RMS sub getting 500W RMS is just asking for a blown sub

Build the enclosure according to the guide that comes with the subwoofer and it should sound excellent and be quite noticeably louder.

500W RMS is not going to ruin it, but you should use subsonic filter. This is a high pass filter to protect the subwoofer in a ported enclosure.

 

[Chrisrizzy]

Build the enclosure according to the guide that comes with the subwoofer and it should sound excellent and be quite noticeably louder.
500W RMS is not going to ruin it, but you should use subsonic filter. This is a high pass filter to protect the subwoofer in a ported enclosure.

I'll have to look into that after I can save up the $ to get my trunk deadened (college student probs). I feel like rattles add to this as well which surprises me with 500W sealed. I was just in my car and a country song got louder than an R&B song with decent bass wtf?

 

[Chrisrizzy]

Set my gains from 4/10 to like 4.5 or 4.75 and it sounds even more muddy now...