Question on car sub speaker

Feeling a little 'chav' I decided to get an amp and sub for the car, the reason being the sound was shiiite.

After some messing and one fried Sub, I now have it up and running.

At the moment I just have the sib connected to the left speaker terminal, however I am able to run in bridged mode.

Is there anything to be gained doing it this way?

 

louder, in theory by 6dB. However each channel of the amp draws twice the current as before so it will probably run out of steam before it's 6dB louder

 

Thanks.

The amp (JBL) has an input volume, if this was set to max is that basically what ever was coming from the head unit it, or is it into 'overdrive' if you get what I mean?

In other words, I have to have the input set to nearly full to get a decent sound.

One other thing, the output on the head unit says Left/Right rear, and this is phonos. Which goto the amp in the rear.

The consequence of this is the fade still works.

would I be better off setting the fade to middle ground or all up front and increasing the volume of the sub or would I be better turning the sub down a bit and fading towards the back a little?

yes I am new to all this.

TBF I have only just got it in and its very dark and cold so have not messed with the settings much.

 

www.talkaudio.co.uk/vbb

 

well connected this way, you have the advantage of being effectively able to adjust the volume of the sub by moving the fader to the back, or front. Bridging amp channels will give a heck of a lot more volume ; you don't mention the sub model ...and i can't remember the amp model off your TA thread.

I shouldn't get too worried about the gain level on the JBL amp but then i wouldn't have it on full either. I'd always say if its not loud enough at two-thirds volume then you've made the wrong purchase. The Aiwa probably only has 2V lineouts too though, and the JBL was expecting 4v (which is more common these days)

 

Hi, the amp is a JBL On Tour 72.5 (I think) It has stereo or bridged mono. It has hi/low/flat filters with a crossover adjuster.

It has an input and bass adjuster.

This is where I am getting confused. I have kind of knocked the bass off the head unit so the front speakers are not under pressure. And the bass duties goto the sub but what I briefly got last night was a quite disappointed sound, the bass seemed to be about half a beat behind the music.

I purchased a JBL 10inch speaker yesterday, it says 1000 on the front. I made a box for it, it is by no means the worlds best box, I really like the looks of those Pod bass boxes, have you seen them?

They are made from fibre glass, could I buy fibreglass to have a stab myself?
One other thing, There is currently no access to the boot for sound to escape into the main car, is this usual?

 

I'll try the bridged mode. Correctly this time. The first time round yesterday without any instructions I read the amp as saying to hook one side right up to left and one to right, this fried the sub (I took it back and said it wasn't working, snigger)

 

Afaik you wouldn't want to work with fibreglass yourself, the resin is very very horrible stuff. I wouldn't think you'd want to totally knock the bass off the front either, the speakers in the front will be mid bass, the sub is sub bass so your loosing a whole
band there. I assume you've got the filter set to low?

 

Yes I believe so, when I can get my lazy arse out of bed I'll have a play.

Fibre glass is available on ebay, but I think i'll leave it. Too cold now any how.

 

You can get the fibreglass easy enough but its actually setting the stuff that is the nasty bit. I'd have thought you'd be better off with mdf then using body filler or something on it to get a shape if thats what your looking to do.
The fibreglass sub boxes you can buy are made around a frame I think, then they actually spray the fibreglass and resin over the frame. They wear full chemical suits etc. to do it. Think its the job they give to the work experience person

 

After a bit of playing I am getting there.

The sub is set to low pass, however as they other speakers are basically rubbish I have set the crossover quite higi so as to get the sub doing some mid range as well (Its only a 10 incher)

The sound still sound a bit weird. So I plugged the rears back onto the head unit, this as helped fill out the sound.

With just speakers up front connected, you could clearly hear bass coming from the boot, it sounded like two stereos.

The only trouble now is the car speakers and head unit

I am not going to ge to far into this game, I'll twiddle some more. If any one has some car speaker donations, throw them my way, I got told off for spending money we don't have boo hoo.

 

for that JBL GT4 10" 1000W (pmpo) sub, they usually like 1 cu ft sealed (for tighter bass ) or ported (for slightly lower extension but not as tight) boxes. Need to be 12" x 12" x 12", 12mm or 18mm MDF. Don't bother with fibreglass...too much hassle. Have you not got some 4 ohm home speakers spare that you could put into your car? Remind me where u are in the UK, Gary.

 

Na I am not a petrol head, the only speakers in my house are the SBLs.
I am in Andover.


The sound at the moment is to say the least s.h.i.t

I think I need to except that I am trying to chav it with inferior gear. I need a decent head unit and car speakers before messing with the sub.

The issues at the moment is treble and bass nothing in between, and there is too much bass on CD but on radio there is no bass what so ever. As I do not have remote it means adjusting the amp all the time.

I just don't really know what I am doing haha.

 

One other thing the car speakers up front has a treble unit on the dash and the bass unit in the door, the treble unit actually carries the signal to the bass not the other way round.

Is this normal?

 

its not normal but makes most sense...the wire goes from headunit to tweeter (roll off capacitor) then off to woofer. Instead of wire going from headunit to woofer, back out to dash and then capacitor.

Getting a good car stereo is not 'chavving' it btw Gary. Think you need to budget yourself something reasonable...£200 should do it. Get yourself one of the JVC headunits off CAD atm which are half price @ 100 and then get a decent set of 6.5" components, again for a ton.

 

It's Car Audio Garyi, thats what happens.

Unless of course you wish to spend an awful lot of time , effort and money to get a decent compromise solution.
The good thing is when you've been driving for a while and spent lots of time listening to your Car Audio equipment, you will appreciate just how good your Home High Fidelity Equipment is....

 

Hehe I guess.

All I really wanted was a decent system Merc for instance even thebog standard car system is very good, a good balance of sound.

Rory it is chaving it, there is a sub speaker in the boot of my car! Common man.

The trouble is the parcel shelf will not allow a decent speaker and that leaves no where else.

I think i'll save for some decent front speakers. I don't have 2 quid to rub together right now (baby on the way) so 200 quid is a bit out there.

 

Seriously;
Have you considered getting some custom speakers for your particular model of car ? Certain Car Audio manufacturers make speakers designed to upgrade the extremely cheap and nasty OEM units. I know that both Pioneer and Kenwood used to make these as i've bought and fitted them to previous cars.
Just as with Home Hi-Fi I'm sure that you would improve your current sound by perhaps adding a seperate ( not specifically expensive) Power amplifier to ensure your current speakers have plenty of juice behind them. Then maybe upgrade the standard speakers , specifically the front pair as they are your near field monitors and need to be the best quality , then perhaps concentrate on integrating your Chav-Box.

still seriously:
Does your cars manufacturer make an upgrade SUB for your car , i was surprised to find that my wifes Punto had one fitted. I've also got another one in my loft (made by Pioneer iirc) that fits perfectly into the centre of my spare wheel , where the tool tray usually goes - I just cant be arsed to fit it at the moment.

and just for fun;
At the moment you seem to be upgrading your Car Audio in typical Mullet Chav stylee, with loads of boom in the boot and a little low quality tizz thrown in up front for good measure, Just for a laugh, perhaps you could find some waterproof HF tweeters and mount them underneath the car , externally and perhaps illuminate them with 12v LEDs, or Cathoide Flo tubes for added effect... In this way you will be able to impress pedestrians by allowing them to hear you coming a good few hundred meters before you get to them and then sweep past in a blaze of light and HF tizz , this is what you're trying to do isn't it.

( )

 

Larf yes very good Sid.

No that is not my plan. Unfortunately its panning out that way, I very much like the idea of the sub in the wheel thing, I wonder if I could do that with mine to clear away the box.

I just want a decent sounding balanced system, its just not panned out well. I will measure the current speakers and see whats out there and perhaps move the sub on.

I have an amplifier BTW, its driving the sub at the moment but can run stereo as well.

 

Regarding the car maker making speakers. I have concluded the Seat are a rip off as they want £75 for a new key, and £30 to give me the code to my own Stereo!

I still can't get over that.