Hi Guys,

I installed an Alpine ina-W900 headunit with the Bluetooth addon, Alpine MRP-M500 Amp running a SWR-1043D 10 inch sub in a sealed box. For power, I've run an 8 gauge wire.

The install was done at a shop that has worked on my car before.

My main issues are the following:

1. The head unit is running my stock components, and at what should be very low volume, they are POUNDING my brains in (ie. they're far far far too loud).

2. The sub doesn't seem to be getting enough juice from the AMP. I have to keep the subwoofer volume at MAX on the deck and the gain on the amp at 85% to get any sort of real "pound". Also, the bass is sounding sloppy and not tight and clean as i had expected.

I installed a 400w 2channel amp in my brother's car yesterday running a 12inch sub (bridged) in a ported box and it pounds my system to kingdom come with cleaner, nicer sounding bass.

I'm at the point at which I'm looking to tear everything out of the car, throw it on the ground and smash all of it with a bat...

I'm thinking the root of my problem is the box.

Based on my research, the wrong box can totally cripple a sub's performance...perhaps a ported box is better? perhaps I should go with a Zenclosure sealed box as opposed to the universal box the shop put my sub in? I have a sneaking suspicion the shop cheaped out on my box and my system is paying the price for it.

Also, there's SO few audio adjustment options with this headunit, that I can't really address issue #1 by adjusting the volume offset...

Side note: I also have a set of SPX-13REF components that are going to go in, just waiting on a 2 channel amp. not sure if this will address issue #1.

Frustrated, need guidance.

help.

thanks,

Sunj

 

I dont know why people put that sub in a sealed enclosure. Your adjustments are way off if your running your amp at 85% your def clipping and is a matter of time before you blow your sub and burn out your amp also.

 

Ok, so I've got to change the enclosure?

What do you recommend for an enclosure - is there a company that makes a good ported box for the z?

 

Although the manufacturer states the sub can be used ported or sealed its much happier in a ported enclosure. Check the specs on the sub and get a box built for it you will be a lot happier with the outcome and stay away from the prefab boxes. Zenclosure does make some nice boxes, I bought one of their ported boxes and just altered it to the subs specs and couldnt be happier. Stop running your gains so high your gonna damage your equipment i would turn it down or completely disconnect it until you remedy the problem. Under the proper conditions your amp will have more than enough power to supply that sub without
having the gains so high.Check all your wiring it could be a number of things. imo you should of done things a little different but you should be fine with what you have. Thats a sorry a** shop to let your car leave their shop like that

 

What issues may be related to wiring?

 

I've actually heard the exact opposite. Not about these subs specifically but about any sub in the under strut box. I've only ever heard a sealed box in our cars and it sounded d*mn good.

 

Perhaps the box the sub is installed in is too small? Would this cause poor range?

Also, if the shop wired the speaker wire to the pre-existing wires in the car, would power come from the headunit and head straight to the component speakers or do the components get power from the factory amp AND the head unit?

these components are just SO loud at volume level 10 (of 30), it's insane.

also, i noticed there's a little 'hiss' when no audio is playing on the headunit... RCA's?

 

Check the x overs as that could have something to do with the sub. I have noticed over the years that it helps to drop the sub ranges on the EQs to below reference and they adjust the gains accordingly. Also bass boost is jsut a distortion creating setting so turn that down as far as you can.

One of the biggest issues with double din decks is that they lack options for audio control. I normally have run single dins to get around this. Without signal processing you might be out of luck with the speaker volumes.

Getting a amp for the fronts will fix the issue as you will be able to adjust the gains of the 2 channel to what dbs you want at a given deck volume.

As for the box, I always run ported if room will allow. Did you make the box? There could be a number of things occurring. The box could be leaky, it could be too small, the amp setting could be off, etc. Ported boxes in a general sense are able to play much lower than a sealed box. A seal box is generally going to produce a tighter bass if built correctly. A sloppy sounding sub in a sealed box that isn't way too large is indicative of a leaky box or bad amp settings, or a blown sub.