some random questions/thoughts

[burton907 0]

1) so i don't think there is a meter in my town, nor has there ever been one. (i live in teh capital of Alaska, but the only way in and out of town is by plane or boat either way it's 2/6 hours outta here.) so for someone just starting in car audio like me and all of my friends. we have no idea what 140+ or i'm sure 130+ db sounds like..

how can you explain it to some noobs so we can get a guess as to what were hitting with our subs?

2) how do i know about what htz my music is hitting, i mainly listen to hip-hop/rnb/rap. a very even mix of all. and i was just readin in another thread that pretty much rap and really heavy bass songs are higher bass hits.. well how high? and how low is a common low? basically my issue here is my 12" fi Q, its sealed now and i'm gonna go ported to try something knew. figure out what i like.. and idk where to tune it, and/or what it will handle and sound decent with.

3) i had more that kept coming up but when i try and think of them ig ot nothin.. ill post wheni can think of them.

anyone feel free to ask random questions here.

[dwright27 0]

140's is probably the loudest you'll hear from someone on the street running something like 2kw daily IMO.

rap hits around 30 - 40 hz and some songs jump to low 50 hz.

[hiloracerboy84 0]

its really hard to "explain" how loud a certain spl will be percieved...for different people, it will vary, whether they've got experience or not. a "basshead" may think 140 is loud enough, yet a beginner might not think that anything that isn't at least mid 40's on music isn't loud at all.

with the 12Q (when you make your ported box) and the sundown 1000, i'd be pretty confident to say that you're probably at least in the mid-high 130's range, but like always, install is a big factor, so i can't totally say for sure.

perception of loudness will come vary from diff frequencies too...and a same score at diff frequencies will have different effects on you.. (i.e. - 139db at 55hz vs 139db at 29hz).

rap songs are more known to have highER bass notes, not high bass notes period. generally, most of em i've mapped out on audacity (which you could use to see the freqs of songs youre listening to) go down to around 35hz, with the exception of some in the 30region. Low stuff i think would be considered 30hz and down.

a popular song w/ clear bass notes is "I Put On" by kanye/jeezy. iirc, its 55, 48, 38, 29hz or something like that...im too lazy to look it up

these are hard to address questions youre asking, and experience and time will take care of the 1st one

[hiloracerboy84 0]

keep in mind, 140 isn't really that hard to achieve, even with a beater system, and isn't extraordinarily loud by any means. mid 140's would be loud enough for quite a bit of people. 150s and over may be painful for some

i slapped a $30 walmart sub in my box and did a 137.x w/ crappy hifonics power (51hz which isn't all that impressive)

[dwright27 0]

higher dbs @ lower frequencies is usually beter and more impressive IMO.

my btl 18 did a 146 @ 30 hz with 3000 RMS.

Edited March 9, 2009 by dwright27

[hiloracerboy84 0]

yeah. unless you're competing, i say forget the numbers, and tune low and get the chest shaking bass instead of the itchy-face buzzing bass

[bassahaulic 155]

I did a 143+ with Jeezy daily....... It wasn't loud at all to me.

I would love a 155+ with Jeezy, that I could do for hours on end lol

But there is no way to tell what your hitting, some systems seems loud to the ear then hit low numbers.

Edited March 9, 2009 by bassahaulic

[burton907 0]

its really hard to "explain" how loud a certain spl will be percieved...for different people, it will vary, whether they've got experience or not. a "basshead" may think 140 is loud enough, yet a beginner might not think that anything that isn't at least mid 40's on music isn't loud at all.

with the 12Q (when you make your ported box) and the sundown 1000, i'd be pretty confident to say that you're probably at least in the mid-high 130's range, but like always, install is a big factor, so i can't totally say for sure.

perception of loudness will come vary from diff frequencies too...and a same score at diff frequencies will have different effects on you.. (i.e. - 139db at 55hz vs 139db at 29hz).

rap songs are more known to have highER bass notes, not high bass notes period. generally, most of em i've mapped out on audacity (which you could use to see the freqs of songs youre listening to) go down to around 35hz, with the exception of some in the 30region. Low stuff i think would be considered 30hz and down.

a popular song w/ clear bass notes is "I Put On" by kanye/jeezy. iirc, its 55, 48, 38, 29hz or something like that...im too lazy to look it up

these are hard to address questions youre asking, and experience and time will take care of the 1st one

oh wow, so i think my whole perspective on what's higher and lower notes are backwards, i always thought that the first hit on "I put on" was lower and it went higher from there.. (if i remember right it's been 2 months since i've heard my subs due to medical surgeries ) my sub loves that 38hz tone.. maybe 29, i forget. but that's good to know. iw as thinking about tuning my box to 32hz, but now i'm not sure if i should go higher.

in the near future i'm also thinking about selling my Q and pickin up a BL or something else more SPL oriented just to see if i like that more. and i know i want atleast a 15".

so you think mine will hit a mid 30's with a decent install eh, what do you think my friends 2 RF P1 12's are getting in a ported box. i really don't know much about it, cause he doesn't either, nor does he care it just hits pretty hard that's all he cares about =/. if i remmeber right (he's only told me once) it's some sort of sub putting out i think 1600. thats all he said i know he didn't specify at what ohms it's rated or anything like that. im just lookin for a rough estimate, i'll know soon enough hopefully spring break how mine is comparing to that.

[burton907 0]

yeah. unless you're competing, i say forget the numbers, and tune low and get the chest shaking bass instead of the itchy-face buzzing bass

tune low... give me a ref number bud.

[burton907 0]

k, i got a couple more questions

1) when i'm setting my gains up. i watched a couple video's on youtube, and some used a DMM (how i will do it). some people went to 40volts, some went to 60volts.. which should i go to? or how can i figure out what i should go too?

2) test tones, when setting my gains, does that matter a whole lot? should i use what ever my box will be tuned too? on the demo video's everyone used 50hz.

3) enclosure size, i'm abotu to build a box for my 12" Q, and the recommendations on Fi website say 1.8-2.5 cuft. what will the different box size sound like between 1.8cuft and 2.5cuft? like a general rule of thumb would be nice

[///M5 2,833]

Read the gain setting tutorial, then ask questions...

[burton907 0]

yea i just found it today

i was looking in teh how-to section, not int he amp section.. i think it should be moved!!

[burton907 0]

Question:

1) enclosure size, i'm about to build a box for my 12" Q, and the recommendations on Fi website say 1.8-2.5 cuft. what will the different box size sound like between 1.8cuft and 2.5cuft? like a general rule of thumb would be nice

2) i have been playing with my amp settings lately (for my first time) and i notice that there is pretty much no output when the gains are as minimal as they'll go. is that normal? same with bass boost, theres a pretty large change between 0db-16db. but mainly i'm just worried about my gains. i can't seem to find what my sub sounds like clipping. maybe i'm hearing it but it's not what i think it is.

3) without using any settings on my midrange/tweeter ("highs") amp. how can i use my HU to set the "highs" so they don't play the lower (80 or so, down) frequencies? i tried using my HPF on my HU and i played with it a little bit, and noticed that it doesn't play those low notes as well when i have it set to 80-125hz. but it still plays them. my midrange speakers are fairly cheap (no idea what kind, they came with the car when i got them. i do know they're aftermarket) and they hate those low notes, so i want to get arid of it as much as i can. any help would be much appreciated!!

4) on my headunit, there is a "SW Settings 1 & 2" in Settings 2, there are 2 options i can modify, it looks like "SW: [50 through 125]hz [-26 through +6]. how should this be set? there is obviouse change in the second option, but with the "50 through 125hz" option i don't notice much of a difference in the sub playing on pretty much any tone.