Is it my amp?

[Pigeonrat9]

Right, here's one for the ICE gurus on here. I've just fitted a pair of Alpine SPS-171A components in the front kickpanels of my Nova (in a pair of lovingly-crafted MDF pods I made myself :D), with the tweeters running in the factory position in the dash. They sound great and I've no complaints with either the treble or midrange, but the bass is a bit flat. It sounds perfectly respectable when the car isn't moving, but seems to be drowned out by road and engine noise when actually driving. And the car isn't stripped out and the exhaust isn't that loud either! I don't want anything to shatter the windows, just a bit of weight to the sound.

I think the problem might be that the amp can't run these properly. It's the old one I've had for a while, I can't remember the model but it was Sony's cheapest Xplod model a few years ago, with "222W" written all over it. I know it's crap, but my question is - if you buy a more powerful amp, does it improve the bass response or does it just make the whole system louder? I don't want to splash out on a good amp to find that it's just louder without making any difference to the bass...

Cheers guys :thumb:

[big gra]

if yo9ur only running a set of component speakers a 222w amp should be fine, but dont expect vasts amount of bass from component speakers!

[Pigeonrat9]

Somehow I suspect 222W is PEAK power, and the RMS power is probably 50W if I'm very very lucky! I don't want vast bass, just a bit of weight to the sound. Put it this way, the standard ICE setup in my Mk3 Astra sounds crap in comparison, but it has more bass!!!

[puss puss]

buy a small sub and amp setup there quite cheap and good deals try your local car ice speicallist

[Jack]

Aye, leave bass to a sub. I would suspect the amp is pretty basic and essentially does just empower the signal, not affect the sound like some amps or crossovers can do. Also, I would assume the speakers aren't that big either, so won't have massive bass.

I'd advise soundproofing all in round behind the speaker to stop the sound from escaping out through the wings. Reminds me of a mate's old Fiesta, his audio was just as clear and loud outside the car as it was inside as he hadn't soundproofed anything lol

[puss puss]

motorworlds do some good sub and amp deals atm quite cheap if you are on short of cash


ahh you took the easy way out i put my infinty speakers in the orginal holes (behind the speaker grill) cut up my hand a good'un lol.

Soo happy i got 1 in going to attempt the other one today prehaps get some pictures up.

anyway i think really if you are after some bass a good sub n amp deal will do wonders. if you need all your boot space and dont have that much money i suggest 6by9s even tho i dislike them :(

[L14MNP]

if yo9ur only running a set of component speakers a 222w amp should be fine, but dont expect vasts amount of bass from component speakers!

don't expect ANY FFS

Highs = yes

Mids = yes

Lows = subs in boot :thumb:

Rocket Science explained :tard: Man I should work for NASA :roll:

[Jack]

Motorworlds do some good sub and amp deals atm quite cheap if you are on short of cash

ahh you took the easy way out i put my infinty speakers in the orginal holes (behind the speaker grill) cut up my hand a good'un
Easiest way to do that is remove the dash :D And ebay is probably best bet for a cheap sub - got my JL 10" for ?35.


Man I should work for NASA :roll:
"Simple mate. Sit on this rocket and point it at the moon. Job's a good 'un" lol

[Ash]

I always thought the sony 222w was a monoblock :confused:

Neways, a more powerful amp will allow more control over the driver at higher volume, so you can run it louder without the speakers distorting. When they start popping they're topping out - the cone trying to move further than the rubber will let it. Thats when you turn it down or buy some new speakers, as your either kill them or be on the way too.

Also i mounted my tweeters in the same place orginally, didn't like it, sound harsh and spaced. Then i mounted them in the doors and it sounded much better. Having the tweeter within 8" of the mid-bass is recommended and 'fire' the tweeters across the car if possible. i.e: tweeter in drivers door fires at the passangers head.

[Pigeonrat9]

buy a small sub and amp setup there quite cheap and good deals try your local car ice speicallist

lollollol

Cheers, I've just got rid of a crappy Longmill bass cannon (hence the equally crappy amp already there!) partly for bootspace but mainly because it either swamped the midrange or sounded like a chicken farting in a trumpet, depending on what I was listening to!

OK, back to the drawing board and adding a small 9" sub (a GOOD one this time!) and running that off the crappy amp, with a decent amp for the Alpines (which are 17cm by the way, not tiddlers...)

[Pigeonrat9]

I always thought the sony 222w was a monoblock :confused:

Neways, a more powerful amp will allow more control over the driver at higher volume, so you can run it louder without the speakers distorting. When they start popping they're topping out - the cone trying to move further than the rubber will let it. Thats when you turn it down or buy some new speakers, as your either kill them or be on the way too.

Also i mounted my tweeters in the same place orginally, didn't like it, sound harsh and spaced. Then i mounted them in the doors and it sounded much better. Having the tweeter within 8" of the mid-bass is recommended and 'fire' the tweeters across the car if possible. i.e: tweeter in drivers door fires at the passangers head.

Right, so it'll go louder, but make no difference to the tone itself, that's what I thought. I'm happy with the tweeters, but I can see your point - as with hifi speakers, the sound should ideally be firing in the same direction, whereas now the woofers are firing sideways towards the centre of the car and the tweeters are aiming at the sunroof at the moment. I might play about with that too...

cheers :cool:

[Ash]

Ah, the tone will more than likely to change, it depends what kind of amp you go for. A-class, A-B, D, A+. Each one uses the power in a differant way, some are analog, some are digital - and they both produce differant wave signals - logarithmic and sine iirc. Getting abit out of my depth now...

It's also worth considering the signal from the H/U to the amp(s) normal H/U's run about 2/3volts, better ones 4v and some even 6v. Companies such as Phoenix Gold produce something call a Line Driver which boosts this signal to the amps, resulting in the amp running more efficently and louder, because its cleaner. Some of the loudest cars i've been in don't sound loud till you get out because their so clean.

The ideal setup for your speakers would be with the mid-bass firing at you and tweeter firing across, but just play till your happy with it. Nova's don't have the widest sound stage. I gave up in the end lol

[FUSION X16XE]

i would personaly go for a cheap(ish) active sub and stick that in ur boot or u can get active subs now that fit under pasenger seat if boot space is needed.