Just got a subwoofer, Rockford Fosgate P1-1X12, ported, how to tune it?

[Florida_Audio 55]

just got Rockford Fosgate P1-1X12

its a ported enclosure made by the manufacturer, so i assume its decent enough of a port design for the subwoofer.

i know ported makes it so its more difficult to hit fast notes. but i feel it really muddles the notes together and very little separation on fast bass notes.

any way to improve this? i believe the gain is set to around 75% and the low pass filter is around 100 hz.

the subwoofer is rated at 250 RMS. my amp is bridged and is rated at 300 RMS for the bridge.

and the subwoofer is rated at 25-250 hz. would it be better to raise the hz on the low pass filter to around 150 or 200? or should 100 be fine?

i was somewhat expecting the subwoofer to rumble and such in the middle of songs. but it seems to be on "standby" during many parts of songs. until a deep bass note hits then it will play.

wondering how to make it sound better?

thanks!

[frogcase2002 393]

Usually manufactur enclosures sound like crap. . And usually people have the lpf between 50-80.

 

What made you get the sub? Did you find a deal or something

[Florida_Audio 55]

1 hour ago, frogcase2002 said:

Usually manufactur enclosures sound like crap. . And usually people have the lpf between 50-80.

 

What made you get the sub? Did you find a deal or something

really.... wow fk me... i thought the manufacturer enclosure would be better? cause they themselves made it to sound well? better than another prefabricated box?

i got it cause it was cheap. $140 with for sub and box, and i assumed the port was made optimal for the subwoofer?

it doesnt sound horrible. but i feel like i guess, i get what i pay for? its a low end subwoofer. but wondering what i can do to make it sound better?

what other options might i have had, with a small budget as such? and looking for a subwoofer than can be run off of up to 300 RMS

also, of note, i dont have any filter set for the front component speakers. since i just got a subwoofer, should i set a high pass filter for them? if so around what? or is it possible its fine without setting the high pass filter?

i tried searching info about subwoofers, and filters and such, but have many mixed opinions. alot of it is just, well do what sounds best... while i understand it can differ, im wondering where to start? maybe give a general idea and i can try it, and then alter it from there? sort of also wondering what is a big No No, something i definitely should not do? so i dont do it without understanding why.

Edited April 28, 2016 by Florida_Audio

[///M5 2,833]

You tune a ported subwoofer by designing a box.

 

Everything else you said about ported boxes in your original post is wrong.  Really wrong.  Troll like wrong....

[Florida_Audio 55]

1 hour ago, ///M5 said:

You tune a ported subwoofer by designing a box.

 

Everything else you said about ported boxes in your original post is wrong.  Really wrong.  Troll like wrong....

can you please correct me where im wrong? im trying to learn

or point me in the proper direction, towards a website with good info on this? thats easy enough to understand?

thanks

[///M5 2,833]

Starting with "i know" and ending with "notes" is 1000% incorrect.

 

There is more but you type books and I am on a mobile device and am not retyping it.

The other major wrong is that RF has a good enclosure.  More like horseshit.

[Florida_Audio 55]

1 hour ago, ///M5 said:

Starting with "i know" and ending with "notes" is 1000% incorrect.

 

There is more but you type books and I am on a mobile device and am not retyping it.

The other major wrong is that RF has a good enclosure.  More like horseshit.

ok. i thought u would build a subwoofer ported enclosure based on the specs provided by the manufacturer of the subwoofer?

so i would assume that the manufacturer would make their own ported enclosure based on these specs?

 

[frogcase2002 393]

No they usually just make enclosure to be able to fit in any trunk. Usually to small. To low of port area and tuned way to high

[Florida_Audio 55]

1 hour ago, frogcase2002 said:

No they usually just make enclosure to be able to fit in any trunk. Usually to small. To low of port area and tuned way to high

wow... so id have been better off getting a more expensive subwoofer, and a cheap old prefab sealed box?

i thought this was a safe assumption that the manufacturer would make a decent box for their sub

[altoncustomtech 773]

That's how it's supposed to be done, however manufacturers, especially when it comes to lower end equipment, design that kind of stuff to simply get as loud as it can get. The reason you ask?  Because to 99% of the people listening to it at the store displays (and all too often even to the people selling it) the louder it is the better it sounds. Because the volume of sales drive the decisions of the bean counters at these companies they make sure to capitalize on that at every opportunity knowing that the 1% of people who really cares about response accuracy are not the people who will be shopping in those price brackets to begin with, or as in the case of companies like Power Acoustic, Boss, Pyramid, Pyle and the like they don't even try to cater to the few who care. Unfortunately over the years the latter situation has happened to and keeps happening to major name brands that were always known for their quality. Companies like MB Quart, Zapco, US Amps and Pheonix Gold to name a few examples of brands that cheaped out or were bought out to keep sales going. 

That's why Fi, Ascendant Audio, SSA and a few others are basically the only brands I recommend for subs. Because they aren't corporately driven to put profits before product quality. Of course none of those products are that inexpensively priced either so it's harder to make direct comparisons, but the old adage of "you get what you pay for" follows suit in most cases. 

[Florida_Audio 55]

1 hour ago, altoncustomtech said:

That's how it's supposed to be done, however manufacturers, especially when it comes to lower end equipment, design that kind of stuff to simply get as loud as it can get. The reason you ask?  Because to 99% of the people listening to it at the store displays (and all too often even to the people selling it) the louder it is the better it sounds. Because the volume of sales drive the decisions of the bean counters at these companies they make sure to capitalize on that at every opportunity knowing that the 1% of people who really cares about response accuracy are not the people who will be shopping in those price brackets to begin with, or as in the case of companies like Power Acoustic, Boss, Pyramid, Pyle and the like they don't even try to cater to the few who care. Unfortunately over the years the latter situation has happened to and keeps happening to major name brands that were always known for their quality. Companies like MB Quart, Zapco, US Amps and Pheonix Gold to name a few examples of brands that cheaped out or were bought out to keep sales going. 

That's why Fi, Ascendant Audio, SSA and a few others are basically the only brands I recommend for subs. Because they aren't corporately driven to put profits before product quality. Of course none of those products are that inexpensively priced either so it's harder to make direct comparisons, but the old adage of "you get what you pay for" follows suit in most cases. 

thanks. yea. i do realize i didnt spend much but was hoping for something slightly different than what i got.

but it does produce bass, and doesnt sound extremely horrible. but i do notice the bass from subwoofer lagging behind the music quite a bit. its just extra bump in the song, at quite often, the wrong time

[altoncustomtech 773]

For example, I'd put an SSA DCON(s) in a good custom built enclosure up against any prepackaged sub/box combo and bet on the DCON's being the overall winner in every situation. I'm that confident in their ability to sound great and give great output.  Confident enough that I've used the DCON on three different personal builds in the last few years and depending on their status when the time comes up I'll probably use them in a fourth build in my daughters car. 

Thats just the DCON and baby brother of the lineup SSA offers. I've also used the ICON and XCON subs as well with outstanding results. My single 10" XCON on a 1500 watt amp constantly has people doing a double take when I show them what just blurred their vision and sounded amazing doing it. Eliciting responses like "I didn't know a 10 could play that low" or "I could've sworn you had a pair of 12's back there" and "How in the world can that sound that good on everything you just played, it didn't matter if it was a double bass or a huge bass line it did it all perfectly".

 The sub in that Rockford package could probably sound better than it does in a better enclosure but it still wouldn't compare to a better sub in an enclosure just as well designed and built as you would have to do to get the best performance from that cheap little prepackaged sub. 

[nigel 148]

A Dcon 12 from SSA is $144, and not entirely sure on the cost of would in the U.S., but you could probably build a sealed box enclosure for ~$40 or less.

 

This would be minimally more than what you spent, and done right, be capable of sounding much better.

 

Just to compare.

[SS Teacher 177]

When I first started getting back into car audio a few years ago I learned a LOT from this site, the guys here are very knowledgeable and very helpful.  In order to learn more of the basics I found www.bcae1.com  Give it a shot, you can learn much.