distorted bass

[pgor]

hey, i just installed an amp and replaced the front speakers. But the front speakers bass sounds really distorted. Does anyone know how i can fix this problem? thanx

[aka_NSX]

do you really know how to install system ? coz you might wiring the front left and right speaker out off phase . . .

[solitz]

yeah check the polarity of the wires then also set ur gains corretly

[pgor]

thanx guys, i just checked the wires, its correctly connected. i played around with the gain, it sounds abit better with the bass now, but the front speakers still sound alot quieter than the rear speakers. \

[EuroDude]

Did you install Sound Deadening Mats and Diffusers in the doors and make it as air tight as possible?

It made a massive difference with mine.

[GIPONU]

if u want to control the loudness of the speakers to the sub. and make them almost match. u also need to hook a amp up to the speakers then tune it by adjusting all them little tweak nobs..

[pgor]

i was looking into sound proofing aswell. Is there any tutorials or anything to show me the steps to sound proofing the door?

[GIPONU]

ii think sound proofing just makes things stop vibrating and rattling.
i dont think it'll solve the problem with ur distored bass much

[SeanGT]

how's your system wired? Fronts off the head unit or an amp?

Do you have a high pass filter on the fronts too?

BTW, sound deadening makes a marked improvement when done correctly, it's a piece of p1ss to do. Check out your local audio store for some mats. the spray on stuff is ok, but the mats are better. I've used both.

[pgor]

nah i just set it filtering off. i bought the mats, do i hafta cut it up and place them in the door? coz theres a metal guard in the way

[SeanGT]

nah i just set it filtering off. i bought the mats, do i hafta cut it up and place them in the door? coz theres a metal guard in the way

High passing the fronts is the only way to go :thumbsup:. Sit the mats in the sun before putting in the doors, it'll allow to mould to the door much easier cos it'll be soft. You generally don't have to cut it up much to fit, cover the holes in the door to make it more like an enclosure and be sure to do around the speaker mount.

Not sure what you mean by the metal guard, i'll be pulling my panels off this weekend to do my car. Can't help you here.

[Jon_51]

set the hi pass to around +70-80 hz or jiggawatz or whatever it is called

[EuroDude]

What front speakers are they? Cheap speakers have bad bass reproduction. If you dont use an Amp, you will get almost no bass at all, especially if the speakers are over 50wRMS and have low sensitivity. 150wRMS speakers designed for an Amp, will sound bad running straight off a Head Unit.

A decent pair of Boston/JL Audio speakers will sound considerably better than a cheap pair of Sony/Pioneer speakers. Sending low bass to cheap speakers will cause them to distort.
If you dont use sound deadening/diffusing, a good quality pair of speakers can sound like a $10 no-name pair.

The Bitumen Mats (Dynamat, brownbread, etc..) are applied to the metal panels of the doors and stop the metal from vibrating and resonating.
The sound diffuser pads are placed directly behind the speaker on the inside of the exterior door panel. These Pads absorb the sound waves behind the speaker, so the rear waves dont fight the frontal waves and cause distortion.



You can get sound deadener mats (AX????) and sound diffuser pads (AX3660) from Jaycar.
The Jaycar stuff is actually very good, almost as good as Dynamat, but Dynamat is very expensive. Brownbread works well but it peels easily (and is now discontinued).


Basically you add sound deadener on the exterior and interior door panels.
You need to fill any holes surrounding the speakers so they are as airtight as possible (you can use the remaining Bitumen Mats to fill in the gaps around the speaker).

Here you can see the silver bitumen mat stuck to the exterior door panels, with the black diffuser pads placed over the mat directly behind the speaker hole:
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/7291/20092007116ia7.th.jpg (http://img171.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20092007116ia7.jpg)

And here you can see the speaker installed on the bitumen mat on the interior panel, with left-over mat used to fill the gaps. The Euro already has sound deadening over the interior door panels, so I only needed to use a small amount near the speaker.
http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/3170/22092007134sw5.th.jpg (http://img267.imageshack.us/my.php?image=22092007134sw5.jpg)

[pgor]

i put the sound proofing mat behind the speaker directly onto the door. but it didn't seem to work...

[EuroDude]

What brand and model are the speakers?

[beeza]

Great stuff Euro Dude :thumbsup:

[IZY-10]

What front speakers are they? Cheap speakers have crappy bass reproduction.


That will be because speakers aren't designed to put out low frequencies!
Can you abbreviate a bit more on your setup please.
How many amps you running?
How many pre outs your head unit have?
if only two and you have two amps has one amp have a preout?
How high is your gain for the front and back?
Have you turned on your low pass filter for the sub?

[IZY-10]

ii think sound proofing just makes things stop vibrating and rattling.
i dont think it'll solve the problem with ur distored bass much

True it wont help with the distorted bass but it will deliver a much crisper sound.

[kingyy]

this might sound stupid but trasfer all the bass to the rear of the car via the headdeck....

or ur headdeck cant run enough power to the front speakers and the rear speakers.. i would be looking at a 4 channel amp so u can wire the rear speakers up the the amp and the fronts stright from the headdeck...
and some good quality wire

[SeanGT]

this might sound stupid but trasfer all the bass to the rear of the car via the headdeck....

or ur headdeck cant run enough power to the front speakers and the rear speakers.. i would be looking at a 4 channel amp so u can wire the rear speakers up the the amp and the fronts stright from the headdeck...
and some good quality wire

I don't know about you, but when i go to concerts or clubs i expect the music to come from infront of me, not behind. Ignore rears and spend the money all up front - quality speakers, amp and wiring.

[EuroDude]

^ Yeah but the problem is that if you pump too much bass in the doors, its very hard to get them rattle proof due to all the moving parts. Even if you install heaps of sound deadening in the doors, the door interior trim can be noisy and hard to silence.

Use a high pass filter at the front so only mids and highs are outputted.
Let the rear speakers/sub give the bass, bass is virtually non-directional anyway.

Also if you have decent speakers in the front and back, you get a better sound stage. Swapping the front L+R (connect Left input to right speaker, and right input to left speaker) can actually give an interesting surround sound effect :p

[sik-vic]

set the hi pass to around +70-80 hz or jiggawatz or whatever it is called

couldnt agree more, if the deck you are using hase individual pre- out adjustment set the fronts to around 80htz, if not set the amp to run hpf instead of full range, should fix your problem

[IZY-10]

couldnt agree more, if the deck you are using hase individual pre- out adjustment set the fronts to around 80htz, if not set the amp to run hpf instead of full range, should fix your problem

you would not set the front to 80Hz way way to low. Maybe 8-9KHz

[sik-vic]

you would not set the front to 80Hz way way to low. Maybe 8-9KHz

ummm you realize that khz meaning 1 khz = 1000 heartz? if you set the crossover at 8000 htz you basicly getting all treble and no midrange whatsoever, aftermarket decks will only let you adjust between 80htz, 100htz, 160 htz and 200htz :p

[narchi]

guys i dont think u understand the concept of distortion. Distortion is not rattling the doors. Distortion is not because they are cheap speakers. Distortion is not because speakers cannot play low.

Distortion is due to the amp clipping. Meaning instead of it amplifying the signal given in AC it is now running DC straight into the speaker. This is what blows speakers up and amps. Everything runs hotter and u get square waves
square waves = distortion.

What this means is that if u are running speakers of a headunit. Even tho it is rated to 4x 50w is probabaly really at 4x 25 in real terms. So u can see not alot of power. But you want the speaker louder. so u turn the volume knob up. Also put the loudness button on because it sounds louder. Then u start to hear distortion. Some songs it will be really bad but others it wont be. Depends on sound reproduction and also frequency. So putting more power into the speaker will help this problem. U can put an amp on factory speakers and get it to sound 50 times louder and better.
But in saying this does not mean u cant put on $1000 speakers. It will just not sound any different if u put on $200 speakers. So if u are never going to run an amp $200 speakers make more sense dont they. Does not mean the $1000 speakers will distort due to requiring more power. Just means they wont sound as good as they could with more power.
Cheaper speakers generally have lower power handling which means u will be limited to how much power u can put into them. They will also sound better than Hi end speakers off a headunit and will probabaly sound bassier to due to effciency/ sensitivity.

Also crossover points it just for the sound quality. If u set ur crossover point to high u will lose midbass. I always have mine set at 80hz high and low. Won numerous sq comps with that setting so must be right lol. again will not stop distortion.

If u are talking about bass rattles well dynamat is all u can really use and also sillicon everything that is lose and doesnt need to move. tighten up bolts and screws. Thats an easy problem lol. Not expensive.