? install w/ stock stereo and amp settings

[justininhifi]

Hey guys, I recently switched my amp and sub to my new Civic over the weekend and everything is working fine. I used speaker level inputs for the amp and the quality is good, at best. I have a Sony Xplod d9001-gtr and a Solobaric 12" in a ported box running at 2ohms.

Right now the stereo is on -6 for bass because it sounds best there, at the moment.

My questions are:

1. Would it be better to leave the bass setting on the stereo at 0(C) and play with the amp settings to get it sound better? I am no expert on amp settings but I know I dont want to throw tons of gain to get it sounding good. I am also not familiar with the SubSonic Filter it has or the Low Pass Filter. Any help about the filters and info on cutt off frequencies would be appreciated. thanks.

Here is a link to the manual: http://www.xplodsony.com/files/manua...ers_Manual.pdf

2. Would a Line Out Converter enhance the quality at all? (I have a feeling it won't)

[4dr_bob]

1. Yes! By using the Bass control you are rolling off everything below about 500Hz, which is way way above what the sub plays. So you get no midbass at all!
2. Probably not.

Try setting the LPF to 80Hz for starters. 30Hz should be OK for the subsonic filter.
Are you tapping off the rear speakers only to drive the speaker-level inputs on the amp?

[bikinpunk]

SSF is a High Pass for your subwoofer. This is usually set based on the tuning frequency of the box. Do you know this? If not, I'd stay with 28hz w/24db slope.

I'll agree with 80hz LPF, with slope @ 24db.

Whatever you do, don't bother touching that 'low boost' crap. You're already going to have significant cabin gain in a trunk which will be around 45-50hz in most vehicles. All that extra low boost will do is magnify that even more. It will sound horrible.
If you do decide to set this high (as I'm sure you will), don't set gain until you've set the low boost. Otherwise you're going to induce clipping and you'll do some damage.

[toxin]

Definitely start with as flat of an EQ as possible from the head unit, and set the amp from there.

[silver h22]

not to jack the thread, but is running an amp/sub off of the speaker wires as inputs using one of the rca converters a good idea? im sure it will be worse quality than having an aftermarket hu, but will it be clear? i dont want to tear up the dash.

[volvo9]

Originally Posted by silver h22

not to jack the thread, but is running an amp/sub off of the speaker wires as inputs using one of the rca converters a good idea? im sure it will be worse quality than having an aftermarket hu, but will it be clear? i dont want to tear up the dash.

It's fine, it's the only thing you can do in your case, unless your amp has high level inputs and you can wire directly from the speakers into the amp, not sure if that's better then your current setup though.

[4dr_bob]

Originally Posted by silver h22

not to jack the thread, but is running an amp/sub off of the speaker wires as inputs using one of the rca converters a good idea? im sure it will be worse quality than having an aftermarket hu, but will it be clear? i dont want to tear up the dash.

What model do you have? Your profile says 97 Prelude

[justininhifi]

Thanks for all the helpful responses.

To answer some questions:
- Yes, I am only tapping into the rear speakers to drive the amp.

- I believe my box is tuned to around 28-30 Hz. The guy who built it wrote it inside the box but it has been a while since I looked to make sure.

So when I have some time to tinker with it I will:
1. Set the headunit to 0 for bass
2. set the SSF to 28hz with a slope of 24db
3. Set the LPF to 80hz with a slope of 24db
4. No Bass Boost, which I never use anyway

What exactly does the slope do? My understanding is that it 'slopes' everything not in your range at a rate of -12db or -24 db. Thanks once again.

[4dr_bob]

Originally Posted by justininhifi

To answer some questions:
- Yes, I am only tapping into the rear speakers to drive the amp.

Good for two reasons:
= The rear channels are nearly flat from 30Hz-100Hz (+/-1dB) with volume in the 10-30 range. I've measured this on my EX sedan non-navi HU.
= You can use the Fader as a crude sub-level control as long as you don't care about hearing the rear speakers. Set the sub gain with the Fader at C to the loudest level you would want (relative to the front speakers). Then you can fade to front to reduce the sub level.

You should have good results once you get everything tuned properly.

[justininhifi]

I didnt even think to use the fader as a "level control" for the subs. Thanks for all your help. I just wish i knew more about the 12db and 24 db slope.

[4dr_bob]

Use 24dB for both filters. It makes the filter sharper, so output drops more quickly above the cutoff frequency (80Hz in this case). You usually want a steep slope on a sub so that it isn't playing at higher frequencies where it will start to distort. At 24dB, the sub's output is down 24dB one octave up from the cutoff frequency, or 160Hz in this case. At 12dB, it would be down 12dB at the same freq.

Ideally, you would have a high-pass filter on your main speakers set at about the same frequency. You can buy "bass blockers" to do this if you don't plan to add an amp for your main speakers.

[justininhifi]

Makes sense. I set everything and it sounds much better now. Not as good as it did when i had it running off an aftermarket deck but better than nothing.

When in the back seat, I notice I have static coming from the rear speakers when i have the AUX selected. Even when nothing is plugged into the aux cable. I might try a new cord but could the amp have any interference with the AUX? Or is it possible that there is a bad connection when i tapped into the rear connections?

[4dr_bob]

Is the noise volume dependent? It's not white noise but something more sporadic? A loose tap is about the only thing I can think of.

[justininhifi]

If by volume dependent you mean gets louder as the volume does then yes. It sounds very sporadic but why does it only affect the AUX channel?

[4dr_bob]

I have no clue. Maybe it's unrelated to the amp and you just didn't notice it before?

[justininhifi]

I'm sure it is. I just keep the volume up on my ipod and keep the volume down on the stereo. It's not that big of a deal but I may check into the connections just to see. Now I just got to find out how to deaden some of the trunk and keep things from rattling/shaking.

Thanks once again for all your help. I appreciate it.

[toxin]

You can read more about crossovers here. The easiest way to explain the slope is a picture. The 24dB dropoff will be much steeper than the 12dB.