Well, folks, it was gonna happen eventually I guess...some be-atch in a 99 Pathfinder rear ended my 99 Accord, and I guess from the impact, something happened to my box and amp...first of all, the sealed box holding my Fosgate XLC 15's came loose from its brackets, and is sliding all over my trunk---this must have caused the power cable to pop out of the amp somehow and now I have no bass----something was disconnected from something back there. I have been trying to get my installer friend who put everything in to look at it and get everything working again, but getting him to find a minute out of his day filled with nothing to do is impossible.

So, from this accident, which has been remidied by a local body shop (they replaced my bumper and everything seems to be new again and looking perfect), now I have no system right now either. I have been thinking, that being I was not so happy with the performance of the system so much -- I complained that the bass from these 15's never really carried outside of the vehicle -- this would perhaps be a good time to upgrade from these Fosgate Punch 15's; but I dont know yet. I just want my friend to get the system up and running again for now.

While I am really, really pissed about this, I have been told that having a hobby like car audio, or home audio even, comes along with MAINTENANCE, and that things like this are gonna happen---constant tweaks are gonna have to be made, systems have to be rewired sometimes, things come loose, etc...do you guys agree? Anyone else can relate to my system problems? Right now, I have a huge box just rolling around in my trunk and I hate it---no bass, just the stock head unit and speakers.

 

I disagree if something is hooked up safe and secure you should never have a problem with it and not have to touch it. Everythign should be bolted down so it won't move, even in an accident. Its dangerous to have a huge box flying around the car or even an amp if you get into an accident. Re wiring would only have to done if you are upgrading just to upgrade or you are adding somethign liek another amp that requires more or bigger wiring. It should last. Tweaking depends on who you are. Some people can set it once and be happy. Others like me will always be tweeking and tuning in search of a little better sound. Well if its not working jsut take out the box for now until you can get the amp fixed. If its jsut the power is loose all you have to do is plug the wire back in. But if you really don't know its always good to have someone else look at it that knows...

 

it's a hobby, and the thrill of things being "the shit" only lasts so long before it "needs work"

for me it's cars & computers... my computer is constantly being upgraded... last month was a 19" monitor & new speakers... who knows what it'll be next month...

the point is, look at instances like this as an opportunity to upgrade...

 

Well, he secured this huge box as best as he could in my Accord's trunk; my suspicion is that the body shop did something to the system when they fixed the trunk -- because suddenly when I got the car back from the shop, one day I noticed the bolts on the box came loose and then the power and ground lines popped out from the amp, and now there's no sound.

I guess no rewiring needs to be done; but my installer needs to put the power and ground wires back where they belong, and just make sure all connections are tight again----including the RCA converter cables, gains, etc. There's a lot going on with my box and amp---the amp is running bridged, so that caused a load of speaker cable lumps back there....then, there are the wires for the RCA converter, which are all over the place---the RCA cables themselves going from the converter to the amp, the speaker-level wires tapping into the rear deck 6X9s, etc....he just needs to make sure everything is working okay again....but I assume gains on the amp and/or RCA converter wont need to be adjusted, correct> This should just be a matter of getting cables plugged in once again and tightening everything up, I would assume...

My original bitch with this system was that no one was really hearing my bass outside the vehicle---even with it cranked up pretty high---I have two 15s being fed by a bridged Rockford 800.2 (supposed to be 800 watts in bridged mode), so what could be the problem? The fact that the box is in my closed trunk? The fact that I dont have a ported box, but rather sealed? What would you recommend for outside-the-car performance subwoofer wise? I dont want to change my head unit because Im pleased with the Honda deck---I just want to add mind numbing boom to the system. Are there subs I can upgrade to which will give me the bass Im looking for? Are these Rockford XLCs the problem? What about my amp----can I keep my Punch 800.2, or should this be upgraded as well? Is ONE amp good enough to deliver that out-of-car bass Im looking for?

 

Yeah I can totally understand that----my hobbies are my car, car audio, and my home theater surround system---and all three need CONSTANT work and maintenance, to the point it sometimes doesnt feel worth it....

For instance, my home theater surround system was working perfectly, after an ex coworker of mine set everything up and balanced the speakers, levels, etc....something happened where I accidentially wiped out the surround receiver's memory settings and I lost all surround speaker settings and the whole system had to be re-calibrated---NOT PRETTY or fun. Then, I had to get in the back of the system and switch a rear surround speaker from where it was plugged in because it was reversed and not working right----I had to switch the left surround with the right one, because they were reversed---THIS WAS A NIGHTMARE TO DO because of the way my wall unit and audio gear was. Then, the speakers had to be recalibrated ONCE AGAIN....

My car and its system have been giving me similar headaches and Im beginning to lose interest in all these hobbies because it seems like so much work. I know what you mean by "being the shit only lasts so long before it needs work"....

 

I dunno i like messsing with the settings. I can calbrate my ht in about 5 min with just a disk and an spl meter not a huge ordeal at all to me anyways. If its your hobbie its something you should enjoy doing. Anyways don't want to start a fight but there are set backs in everything. I don't see any real reason for constant mantaince on a ht. Its a lot easier than a car and once levels are set and phase your good and shouldn't have to touch it. Car is much more complecated to set up.
Anyways as for you your car my suggestion you have enough power so i would say ported or bandpass. Bandpass will probably be the loudest. Won't sound the best but will be the loudest. Youll probably need a subsonic filter as well so you don't blow the speakers. Or you could jsut open the trunk and all the doors when you want to hear it outside.

 

I hear you. I did not/do not calibrate my home theater system with a disc; I have come to accept that on my particular Onkyo TX SR600 surround receiver, it seems that the settings of "+6" for all channels but the center sound just perfect for Dolby Digital and DTS playback. So every time my receiver goes out for a power outage or whatever, it loses the memory and I need to reset all my calibrations and "IntelliVolume"s . This becomes a massive pain in the ass because when the power goes out and things get reset, EVERYTHING needs to be input again: speaker levels, digital/analog connections, distance from sweet spot----EVERYTHING.

As for my car, well, the system has been fixed and my friend put everything back into working order this weekend, so Im booming again...power wire, ground, remote turn on box, RCA converter...all have been tightened, plugged back in and the sub box has been bolted down tight again. For your suggestion, do you really think I have enough power with this Rockford 800.2 running bridged? Should I just port this box and not worry about getting better subs than these XLCs?

Thanks for your ongoing insight...

 

I really think you have enough power. The 800 is the rms right not max? If you want cleaner bass might want to look at getting a new pair of speakers. If you just want louder bass id say ported only problem is the box would probably be huge for two 15's ported. I would not suggest just throwing them in any box. It needs to be built just for your speakers and ported boxes are very finicky about measurements that are off. Sealed you can be off a fair amount before it affects anything but ported has to be basically dead on. My suggestion is try ported first then if you still don't like it look for new subs. One of my old friends had two xlc 10s off an mtx in his ranger and is was pretty loud i used an xlc 10 in my ht for a while and had it for a bit in my car. Probably not the cleanst though. The only other thing i can think of is that maybe your speakers are not wired to get the most out of the amp. How many ohms are the subs and how is it wired together?

 

My friend originally had this Rockford Punch 800.2 amp running in stereo mode up to these Rockford Punch XLC 15's; it seemed they didnt kick hard enough for me, so he did the following: he ran the sub's speaker wires coming out of the rear of the sub enclosure in "parallel" and then wired them to the amp in bridged mono form---he said this would get maximum power output from the amp. Since I am dealing with two subs, not one, he needed to run them in parallel, and then wired them bridged at the amp. What he did was this: took the positive speaker wires from the rear of the sub enclosure and tied them together, then did the same with the negatives, and then took those combined wires and fed them into ONE postive terminal on the amp and ONE negative terminal on the amp; he said this was running the two subs in parallel and then bridging the amp, and this would get maximum power...first of all, does this sound right? I watched him put everything in---and it all looked right when he was doing it; all speakers are in phase, etc. Would this be the best way to get maximum power from an amp into two subs?

Now, according to Rockford's specs, the 800.2 is supposed to put out 800 watts RMS in bridged mono, as I have it running---should that be what my subs are seeing, approximately? Is that 800 just going total to the two subs and being split between them, in theory? I KNOW this number is VERY, VERY approximate because I am running all this off of my stock battery, altenator, etc, plus I have an RCA converter between it all, which robs the power. So I realize this is all approximate; but let's say I am supposed to be getting 800 watts -- wouldnt 800 be enough to be heard outside of the vehicle? Why isn't anyone really looking when I pull into my office parking lot, for instance? (I ask other folks I work with, who have car audio systems in their rides if they heard me pull in with my 15's cranking, and they say no---this doesnt make sense). Are Rockford's XLCs really THAT bad?

Now, in order to really get s**it cranking, I need to bring up my head unit's volume to half way on the display, and perhaps one tick beyond that---at this level, with the bass turned up on the head unit's bass knob, the boom is SERIOUS---everything is rattling and shaking and coming to pieces....but the sound just doesnt wanna escape out of the vehicle with my windows halfway open on each side of the coupe. Why is this? Is it that the subs are trapped in the trunk with nowhere for the bass to go? Would stepping up to an aftermarket head unit change anything? I really dont think so, in a setup like mine. Im looking for balls-out SPL outlaw bass, not SQ. That's why I bought 15's.

 

yes 800 is split between them so each will be getting 400 watts. I personally don't like groundounders and think thats how you get your system stolen and damage yoru hearing imo. Anyways as i see it you have two choices different box, ported or bandpass but you need it tuned kinda high and a sub sonic. Probably won't sound good but will be loud or the other option is to go with a different speaker maybe something that is a bit more expensive. You might want to ask around on www.soundillusions.net or www.caraudioforum.com they will probably be able to help you out more than i can.