# Subs not hitting well



## Bl0wn Phuze (May 9, 2003)

I hooked up my 2 12" Jensen XS's to a 520 watt amp and they just arent hitting good. I have my sub control and the bass all the way up. does anyone have any ideas?


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## sicc 03 spec-v (Jun 25, 2003)

turn your head deck all the way up and your amp down..... make sure you have your cross over hooked up right....if not your screwed. you can make your own crossover, and tweak it to your own perfection, thats what i did....


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## Bumpin (Feb 18, 2003)

Okay I know exactly what the problem is.

You have jensen subs. Sell those jensens, and buy some real man subs. Fosgate, kicker, crystal, JL audio. Anyt of those subs will hit in your car. Trust me. Oh yeah and dont forget to buy a good amp too. Your gonna need a good amount of power to power of of those subs. If you get those subs and they still dont hit right, come back and I will tell you where you wired it wrong.


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## Psch91 (May 18, 2002)

Did you buy the box with the amps in them, or did you put them in yourself? If not, your wires may be set wrong. Are they like not working at all, or is there just a little amount of bass? And how is the amp set up? Did you mess with the little knobs there? Try turning the gain up, to match your head unit output level. Maybe turn up the bass boost too.

And sicc 03 spec-v, if he cant determine whats wrong with his subs, I really doubt he can "tweak" his cross over, so that was unnecessary. And Bumpin240sx, maybe he cant afford more than Jensen subs. Dont have to be so harsh, and maybe actually help him out (although you kind of where, still)

And I had Jensen subs before, 2 10's and one of their amps. It didnt sound bad, and I probably would have kept them if they werent stolen.


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## SentraStyleEMW (Aug 15, 2002)

I am guessing that you have one of your subs wired out of phase. Check the connections at your subs and make sure that one of them aren't wired backwards. The Jensen subs certainly aren't the best out there...but then again, they are not the worst either. You should have decent bass with that setup, your not going to win any SPL or SQ competitions with them...but if your just trying to get decent sound in your car...they will definately do the job.


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## UNISH25 (Aug 12, 2002)

Ok...I have the solution to this.

I had the same problem before as well..with my subs for my car.
Its not due to any wiring problems. Wiring problems will only distort signal and add noise to your problems or won't give you signal at all.(Please dont' get technical with me on this ok!! THANKS!). 

This is not your problem. Your problem is that your subs are not delivering punch. Here are the possible solutions as I see it.

1.) Although some people take this for granted, the housing and enclosure of your subs are really really really really important. 
I bought mah sub enclosures from The Wiz, when they were going out of business sale.
When I bought my sub enclosures, it came with predrilled holes
in the corners. But the holes had these funny cylinder shaped black things in them. They can be pulled out by hand
See the picture?? 

http://www.sounddomain.com/sku/QLCQB2103


Thats what my sub enclosures exactly look like.
See those black things that are in the holes? They can be taken out of the holes! and they have to be cut to certain specs.
Well, I didn't actually cut them, I took one of them out and left it out, the difference was amazing. 

In the beginning when I had all 4 of those black things in the holes. I couldn't feel any punch at all in the subs and I thought I got ripped off. So I started tweaking the signals, started increasing the boost, but nothing worked. 
The second thing I did was go to the enclosure and took out the bottom left hole and then I felt the punch!!!

Now If I had cut those to specs, then mah amps would probably sound more amazing than I have it now!


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## SentraStyleEMW (Aug 15, 2002)

UNISH25 said:


> *Ok...I have the solution to this.
> 
> I had the same problem before as well..with my subs for my car.
> Its not due to any wiring problems. Wiring problems will only distort signal and add noise to your problems or won't give you signal at all.(Please dont' get technical with me on this ok!! THANKS!).*


Wiring problems can cause a lack of bass too. While your comment on subwoofer enclosures being very important is so very true, a sub wired out of phase will cause the two subs to cancel each other out...thus causing a lack of bass.


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## UNISH25 (Aug 12, 2002)

SentraStyleEMW said:


> *Wiring problems can cause a lack of bass too. While your comment on subwoofer enclosures being very important is so very true, a sub wired out of phase will cause the two subs to cancel each other out...thus causing a lack of bass. *


Wiring problems can cause a lack of bass, only if your wires are really bad guage. I mean if its small wires.
And what you mean by out of phase wiring? In electrical engineering two signals out of phase I can understand, but out of phase wiring? Pleas ebe more specific


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## SentraStyleEMW (Aug 15, 2002)

UNISH25 said:


> *Wiring problems can cause a lack of bass, only if your wires are really bad guage. I mean if its small wires.
> And what you mean by out of phase wiring? In electrical engineering two signals out of phase I can understand, but out of phase wiring? Pleas ebe more specific *


Out of phase means that if you have SUB A wired with the + terminal on the sub to the + terminal of the amp and the - terminal on the sub wired to the - terminal of the amp while SUB B is wired the opposite, the + terminal on the sub to the - terminal on the amp and the - terminal on the sub wired to the + terminal on the amp


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## UNISH25 (Aug 12, 2002)

SentraStyleEMW said:


> *Out of phase means that if you have SUB A wired with the + terminal on the sub to the + terminal of the amp and the - terminal on the sub wired to the - terminal of the amp while SUB B is wired the opposite, the + terminal on the sub to the - terminal on the amp and the - terminal on the sub wired to the + terminal on the amp *



Ohhhhhh!!! Why didn't you say it like that?!!! 
Hmm...are you sure it cancels out the signal. Well anyways even if it did, his problem is that he is not getting enough punch in his system.


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## SentraStyleEMW (Aug 15, 2002)

UNISH25 said:


> *Ohhhhhh!!! Why didn't you say it like that?!!!
> Hmm...are you sure it cancels out the signal. Well anyways even if it did, his problem is that he is not getting enough punch in his system. *


Having the subs wired out of phase does nothing to the signal. But what it does is when one sub is moving out, the other will be going in...which will "cancel" each other out causing a lack of bass and no punch.


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## Bl0wn Phuze (May 9, 2003)

Actually i have watched them and only one of my subs is hitting. it only feels like they are blth hitting lightly becuase that one is hitting hard enough to vibrate the other sub. I have checked the connection of the sub and it is ok. the connection on the outside of the box that is and the connection to the amp. i also have another question. where is a good place to connect my ground to in an extended cab? mine keeps coming loose. I have it wrapped and wedged around the metal in the seats in the sides of the cab. thanks for any replies or answers.


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## Psch91 (May 18, 2002)

Ground wire should be as big as the power wire, and as short as possible, and securely fastened to metal, without paint on it. I dont know how to help you with where to mount it, I just wanted to say that.

Thats funny. When I got my jensen box, only one sub was hitting as well. And as with you, I thought it was working because the other sub would make it move. I checked the cables inside, and one actually came loose.


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## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

the ground wire should be 6-8 inches long and be securely fastened to metal (no paint, screwed down tightly, etc). Your problem could be the ground, you said it's just wrapped around some metal? Having a clean ground is one of the most important things in a system.


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## Bl0wn Phuze (May 9, 2003)

yes it is just wrapped around the metal right now until i get the time and money to hide all the wires. Until then, i am just looking for a temporary fix.


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## Bl0wn Phuze (May 9, 2003)

i found out that it was an internal wiring problem and i fixed it. sorta of by accident actually well anyway its fixed
anyway, does anyone know of some cheap, but good 6.5 speakers and some 5.25 speakers. any help would be greatly appireciated


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## sicc 03 spec-v (Jun 25, 2003)

pick up some MB Quartz, or boston acostics, or kappa perfects, those are your best best i believe. but they might cost ya but trust me you will be way happy with them. on your sound you will know the money you put out, and will understand with the quality. i believe that kappas all around are a excellent choice but thats personal prefference, so jus check around and see whats in your range and what you like......good luck


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## xt_out (Jun 23, 2003)

i know you fixed it and all, but i just want to give my 2 cents anyway  one channel of the amps not working was what i was thinking. my buddy had his pioneers do that. turned out to be his amp. stupid cartoys guys don't know how to do shit in spokane.

about the ground. less than a foot, mine's bolted to the metal that you see when you fold down the rear seats and look under the carpet. yuo should really concentrate on getting that rigged up right. just wrapped around metal that's still painted sounds pretty iffy.


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## UNISH25 (Aug 12, 2002)

Bl0wn Phuze said:


> *i found out that it was an internal wiring problem and i fixed it. sorta of by accident actually well anyway its fixed
> anyway, does anyone know of some cheap, but good 6.5 speakers and some 5.25 speakers. any help would be greatly appireciated *


WAIT! WTF did you wire up wrong? TELL ME! Mah bad then! I apologize for giving wrong advice...HMM...now you have to tell me what you did wrong with wiring!


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## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

I have infinity kappas all around and they sound awesome, but only if you are feeding them the power they need (70+ watts each). I have 85 going to each of mine and it can get so damn loud when I turn it up and still stay perfectly clear.

on ebay my components up front were $150 and the coax in back were $100


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## xt_out (Jun 23, 2003)

i have a PGti5004 (4 ch.) and nothin running from my deck. i want those kappas except i was told they were too deep for my door panels. apparently they fit though


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## Bl0wn Phuze (May 9, 2003)

UNISH, to tell you what happened, i just had a wire loose and the wires reversed. Obviously, the guy that i bought them off of thought that i would just be stupid and not try to fix them. So he crossed the wires. That is all that it was. simple but annoying


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## AnthMC (Jan 4, 2003)

Jenson is not known for the great sound or quality. Go with something else like JL audio, or JBL's, they you will get some serious sound. I have 2 12" Pyrmid speakers in a sealed box. Now pyrmid isn't the greatest brand either but it came with my legacy amp. And legacy's have the bold on amp control which is right by my shifter. That way the bass can be adjusted, rather than on your amp itself.


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