Underpowered speakers

[William]

In my car at the moment I have Ԛ£200 Infinity components in the front which are driven purely by the 50w Alpine HU. The bass is weak and to get any punch you have to turn it right up, bass setting is on +5 which seems excessive.

I was told when I had them fitted that the speakers really needed to be amped separately but the way I was doing it was a good way given my budget, as I could do it in stages and also hear the difference.

This is in comparison to my old car which has a Sony Xplod HU and very sensitive MTX components - the sound is thick and bassy even with the bass setting on +0.

Is it likely that by amping my new speakers the sound quality will increase dramatically and the bass response will be a lot better than currently. In other words, to get decent bass will I still have to turn it up to +5!!

Thanks



PS. I dont need a sub, the sound in my old car was amazing and the bass went right through you and there was no sub in sight!

[Grantley]

If you run your speakers with a amp I think you'll just make everything louder across the board, it mite be worth checking to make sure they'er both wired up correctly. If one was wired in reverse phase they would cancel out each others base and that makes a big differance. The only other thing I can think of is the way they are fitted, is the front of the cone sealed from the back because if its not you could be suffering from return waves (an air leak) where the air moved by the front of the cone is just replaced from the air behind it thus greatly reduceing any feeling of base.

[placey]

william

a separate amp will increase sound quality for sure. volume too. as for bass the above advice is good/essential but cone size is also an issue. if your components are 5 1/4 inch (standard e30 fitment) they're never going to give much more than mid bass. a cone size of 6 1/2 inch (17cm) will give mid-bass and some decent bass too (sub bass unlikely however unless you've spent considerable time installing them very carefully) so you can't expect miracles.

to get more of something in music it's usually better to take everything else away rather than increasing what you want - so it might be worth trying lowering some eq curves on your head unit rather than increasing the bass - if it has this facility built in.

paul

[jamo]

Spending Ԛ£200 on a set of speakers and not using an amp is a waste of Ԛ£200, your speakers are probably getting a 1/3 of the power required. Get a quality amp to run and you will be fine, genisis and soundstream have some great 2/4 channel amps out at the minute for decent money....

[William]

Spending Ԛ£200 on a set of speakers and not using an amp is a waste of Ԛ£200, your speakers are probably getting a 1/3 of the power required. Get a quality amp to run and you will be fine, genisis and soundstream have some great 2/4 channel amps out at the minute for decent money....

Yep, this was always the intention, its just that I couldnt afford it all at once. So I will start by getting an amp in there and see what i think of the sound then. Thanks for the advice guys, the bass is fine if i turn it up but on previous HU/speaker combinations in e30s I have never had to and have achieved as much bass as I wanted.

I will report back when all amped up!

[amit325i]

your not going to get bass from components regardless of how you fit them and amp them, if they are crossovered then the bass frquencies will never get to the unit anyway. best spend money on sub amp or even 6 x 9 for fill in sound and bass, you have the components for the crisp mid and treble frequencies, so you should get a balanced sound!

[placey]

amit

i've heard bass from components that has sounded deeper and louder than some sub installations i've heard. it's all about the installation in my experience.

i'd rather have carefully and properly installed cheap components than an expensive sub thrown at the car from the other side of a workshop. i know which would sound better...

paul

[JAMZ]

And if youve ever heard Placey's setup you would surely know he got some knowledge in this department

It Bloomin Roxors!!

[Grantley]

I agree with you Placey, Ive got vibe components up front and the base is good considering thier only 13 cm. When I fitted them I put as much sound proofing as I could in and around the kick panel and made sure they were well fitted, I think people get too hung up on big power and amps and overlook the effect the qaulity of instalation has on the overall sound. Just my opinion thuogh !

[amit325i]

Placey not that i don't believe you, but....if these are proper components
with crossovers then i am sure they are not going to get the low end 40Hz and lower bass, which is what i class as proper bass, using your argument i am sure a well designed and installed sub and amp package will out perform components simply because they can't move that much air as sub can.

You don't need big power, its all amount matching amps, subs and enclosures, i don't have sounds in my car anymore because i am selling it
but i had one rockford sub, in a rockford spec box, with a tuned port at 35Hz and thats low, with a matched jbl amp, everyone thought i had at least 2x12, so i agree on your point about a good installation!