FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Free Air
Crossovers
Bridging
Should I make a “walk thru”?
Jeep Cherokee Sub
Dodge Ram Pick Up
1 Ohm Amp
1980 Porsche 911sc
New Corvette C5
I have a lot of equipment
Subject: “free air”
Hello I just bought a 12″ free air speaker and my question is what is
the best enclosure for free air speakers?
Dear Tony, drivers made for “free air” applications need to be in very,
very, big boxes. In cars, for example, a trunk is the only place where
they will work well, and it is a tremendous amount of work. You need to
modify the rear deck in such a way so that the front of the driver is
firing into the car, and the rear of the driver is “seeing” the full air
space of the trunk. Since some rear decks aren’t even 12″ wide, it’s
kinda hard to cut a hole that big, make a grille over it, and make a
whole “baffle board” under the rear deck that seals off the cab air from
the trunk air.
A much easier, and better performing idea is to find out the
Thiele-Small parameters of the driver (from the owners manual or by
contacting the manufacturer) and seeing if a band-pass enclosure can be
built to optimize the output – especially between 40 and 90 hz. Then you
can simply run a small (4″), port thru the rear deck which is easy to
install, get to seal and look nice, and remove someday if you need to.
And if you don’t have a sedan at all, it is by far the best way to use
that driver in a van, hatchback, SUV or similar vehicle. If you send me
the make and model of the driver (and your vehicle), I can try to help
you find the parameters and/or the band-pass box dimensions.
Sincerely,
\/\/\.Dr. Sub
Subject: crossovers
Subsolutions,
I have 1991 GMC single cab pickup, I have installed two new sets of 4×6,
three two channel amps, two 10 inch subs(in a sealed box) and a 3 way
crossover. My amp running my 10’s is 100×100 and my subs are 400 watt
max. Any way I cant seem to get near as much bass in my truck as I could
when I had my car and Im guessing its because there’s not as much air
space behind my seat. Is there anyway to overcome this problem, some
people here say a ported box would sound better, what do you think?
Also, is my amp to small and what brand or model of 10 inch sub do you
prefer that’s at reasonable price? (I’m thinking of getting something
different)
Your help would be greatly appreciated
Dustin
Dear Dustin, 3 things come to mind. You said you have a 3 way crx. You
should only be using it as a two way. Check that and see if it is
dividing the signal into about 100 hz and above, to your mids (usually
“Y” connectors splitting out to the two high-freq amps), and about 100hz
and below, going to your sub amp. Next thing: try turning down your mids
- you may have the bass dialed in to be as loud as you can get it — by
setting the gains properly to match the decks’ output etc, but, the
thing is, you may be better off simply turning the gains down on the two
high-freq amps (and turning the rear one way down), in order to have
relatively “more bass” and a better balanced system..
The 3rd thing is – what 10″ drivers do you have in what sized sealed
box?? Maybe they were made for a certain, possibly much larger, possibly
ported, box and all they are playing in this box is high mid-bass?
Also, below is some info we are about to put up on our site that might
help you as well.
Lemme know how else I can help.
Sincerely,
\/\/\.Dr. Sub
Subject: bridging
How do u bridge a 200wt ballistic 2ch amp? Thnx, Tigger
Dear Tigger, most all amps nowadays are of the type of design where to
bridge them into one channel you use left plus and right minus. Years
ago, a few amps were the type that used left plus and right plus, but
you don’t see them any more. You should see on the amp near the
terminals, an “L” and “R”, and + and – under each screw terminal, and,
in addition, you should see under the left plus and the right minus an
additional + and – denoting the bridging configuration.
Good luck.
Go ballistic!
Sincerely,
\/\/\.Dr. Sub
Subject: Should I make a “walk thru”?
I HAVE BUILT A BOX FOR 2 TEN” KENWOODS FOR MY 95 FORD RANGER. IT IS A
REG. CAB SO I CUT 2 HOLES FROM THE BOX TO THE CAB. THE HOLES ARE ABOUT 3
1/2″ IN DIAMETER. I GET DECENT BASS BUT IT REALLY DOESN’T HAVE THE THUMP
I WANT. MY QUESTION IS IF I CUT ONE BIG HOLE FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE BACK
WINDOW TO THE BOTTOM OF THE TRUCK AND AS WIDE AS THE TRUCK ESSENTIALLY
CREATING A WALK THROUGH AND PLACE THE SUBS IN THE VERY BACK OF THE TRUCK
AT THE TAILGATE WILL I GET THE THUMP I WANT OR ARE THE BLOW HOLES WRONG?
Dear Bill, don’t cut the whole wall out. It makes all kinds of road
noise, is hard as hell to seal out weather, and greatly affects the
re-sale value of the truck. What you have now is what you want, and you
can achieve extremely high performance from your subs with a just a few
small ports (you may have to go to two 4″ ones though), but your problem
(and almost everyones’ problem) is with the box design itself. Boxes
MUST be made to the specs required of the driver. You said you made a
box for two 10’s and have two 3.5″ “holes”? The question is – did you
just make “a box”, or did you carefully follow the driver manufacturers’
exact specifications, and construct an enclosure that is just the right
type, size, and porting dimensions and tuning frequencies to allow that
driver to play at its’ very best? Contact Kenwood (you can find thier
url at: http://www.mobileaudio.com/ ), and find out the specs for the
best bandpass enclosure for the PARTICULAR MODEL OF DRIVER that you have
(you may have to open up your box and read the model # off of them). Do
it. Build a new box. And you will be glad you did.
Sincerely,
\/\/\.Dr. Sub
Subject: Jeep Cherokee Sub
Hi I am looking for a sub enclosure for 97 Jeep Cherokee. I have seen a
Jeep Grand Cherokee but not a plain Cherokee. Do you have any future
plans for such an enclosure? – Thanks, Bill
Dear Bill, we don’t, for example, make a model called “the Cherokee”,
however, several models of SubSolutions are ideally suited for that
vehicle. Sport utility vehicles are one of the very best cars (along
with hatch backs, wagons, etc.) to produce bass in, since they help the
sub to “corner load” and play louder than in other cars. SubSolutions
are great sounding, high output, subwoofer systems that are two to three
times smaller than any other sub for their SPL output. The TSSS, TSCS,
TLBS, or TCSS will easily sit in the back area of your SUV and not take
up very much room at all compared to how much bass you will be hearing
(and feeling!). Also, the sophisticated look of SubSolutions help to
confuse the potential stereo thief by not really looking much like any
other sub box at all. By the way, the other big advantage of getting a
universal fit sub box as apposed to a “vehicle specific” one that might
mount in a storage pocket or something, is that, when you get out of
this vehicle and into another one in a few years, it’s likely to fit the
next vehicle as well. I would suggest The Low Bass SubSolution, our dual
driver unit which has enough output to please almost anyone and yet, it
is less than 1.5 cubic feet small. (outside dimensions!)
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Sincerely,
\/\/\.Dr. Sub
Subject: Dodge Ram Pick Up
I have a 1999 dodge ram pick up with quad cab under my back seat i have
two amps is there any other place i can put a sub woofer. is there any
way to mount inside my rear door or under front seats thanks,
Orlando
Dear Orlando, no, there is not any other place for a sub in your Ram
truck xtracab. However, you can put the amps under the front seats, and
then you can fit our Ram Truck Xtra-Cab SubSolutions under the back
seats. This works very well, and they sound really good. They also fit
completely under the benches (see the photo on our website), unlike any
other boxes for these trucks.
Please let us know how we can be of any further help,
Sincerely,
\/\/\.Dr. Sub
Subject: 1 ohm amp
I have a 1ohm stable amp max at 1000×1@1ohm, how can I get max power out
of that?? is the only way to get max power out of the amp is to have 2
2ohm sub. I have 2 4 ohm sub, how can I hook it up to get all of the
1000watts??- thankx for answering kirk
Dear Kirk, just get two more 4 ohm subs and hook them up
series-parallel. That is what we do with our Competition SubSolution and
it gives you the flexibility to have either 4 ohm or 1 ohm total
impedance. The other (more sensible) solution for you is to just use
your two 4 ohm subs and have their 2 ohm total impedance draw 500 watts
from your amp. This way, it will run much cooler, more stable, and have
half the distortion and twice the damping factor and headroom. Also, it
will draw half as much current from your cars electrical system (like
maybe 45 amps instead of 90), and then you might not have to upgrade
your alternator and put in a spare battery. All of which will save you
tons of money, time, space in your car, and you’ll even get better gas
mileage too.
Sincerely,
\/\/\.Dr. Sub
Subject: 1980 Porsche 911sc
I have a 1980 911sc that is in need of more bass. I saw the install on
the 1974 I’m not sure if I need that much of a system. I was wondering
if there was a low cost and simpler install for my car ? thanks, don j.
Dear Don, The Porsche SubSolution is the only subwoofer I know of, short
of sitting a box in your back seat. We do offer several, small, great
sounding, good looking models to consider doing that with, including The
Sports Car SubSolution. The main reason to use the Porsche SubSolution,
aside from the fact that a box in the back would flop around, look
stupid, and take up precious cargo space, is the sound. The sound of the
bass playing in front of you instead of behind is so terrific that if
you ever have the opportunity to do it (which you do with a 911), you
definitely should. The bass couples with the door speakers and sounds so
natural and realistic, that you start to think there is no “subwoofer”
at all, and yet, all the deep bass you could ever need. A sub in the
back of a car always tells your brain “I’m in the back, I’m sorry, I
know I should be up front with the rest of the front sound stage, but I
can’t fit up there”. As far as the install goes, it really isn’t very
hard to install, and does not require any cutting or drilling, so, even
if you sold the car one day, (and were getting another 911/912, and
wanted to keep your SubSolution), it unbolts with no sign of having been
there! The important thing to make sure you understand is the need for
the four channel amp. Your deck only has a tiny amp in it and can’t even
give your door spks the power they need to sound good, and can’t run a
sub at all. A small 4 chan amp is all you need for good sound in that
car. A 50 wattx4 amp (with built-in crossover) can be purchased for as
little as $199 nowadays, and will provide you with true, high
performance sound. A classic car like yours deserves a great sound
system.
Be sure to let me know if I can answer any other questions.
Sincerely,
\/\/\.Dr. Sub
Subject: New Corvette C5
do guys make a box that will fit the late model corvette C5 hardtop.
thank you – Juan
Dear Juan, yes, I’m sure that we must have a SubSolution for your ‘Vette.
I don’t know the exact fit of that car in particular, however,
SubSolutions are so small, that we haven’t seen a car yet that one of
our 16 models didn’t work out well in! The exact dimensions of each
model are on our website on the “Products, pictures, Specs.” page, for
you to compare to your measurements of your cars’ cargo space. Every
SubSolution is a high-performance speaker system with advanced
engineering which allow the units to do the amazing things they do -
especially for their size!
Check them out at www.subsolutions.com and try our “Find a dealer”
feature. If there are no dealers near you yet, you can purchase directly
from us where we pay the freight, there is no sales tax (if you don’t
live in AZ), and, every SubSolution comes with a 30 day, satisfaction
guaranty.
Whip out that tape measurer, and let us know!
Sincerely,
\/\/\.Dr. Sub
Subject: I have
a lot of equipment
I have a 1987 Vette. I have four subs: 2 10″ Rockford punch XLC’s and 2
10″ “tornado style” Kenwoods. I also have a pair of Pioneer 6*9’s. I
have a four channel Rockford amp (200@4) that produces approx. 75w*2 rms
at 2 ohms. I also have a two channel Pioneer amp (GM-X944) that produces
100w*2 rms at 2 ohms. My questions are: What is the best possible way to
wire this? Can I run all four subs off of the Pioneer amp if I bridge
them? Do I need another amp? Thanks, James.
Dear James, the best thing to do with your available gear to make really
nice system in a Vette is to use the four channel amp and try to mount
it somewhere so that it: won’t be seen (& thereby stolen), won’t be in
the way (taking up valuable cargo space for groceries etc.), and will
get a little ventilation. This is a lot harder than it sounds. It won’t
fit under the seats, and if you put it in the storage bins it will heat
up and thermal off. Sometimes in those year Vettes I just put it on the
back wall and make a matching carpeted false wall in front of it – but
with no sides for ventilation. Then try to get some door spks (4″
two-ways can fit) as this will be the biggest improvement in sound you
can make (over using the 4×6″ dash locations). Then put two basic
tweeters in the rear 6×9″ grille locations (or if the stock 6×9’s are
still good, just use those with 1.1 microfarad caps on them for the rear
fill). Then try to build a box for one of your ten’s that will satisfy
the driver’s requirements for air space and alignment (“type of box”),
and make sure the cone does not show (down firing is good), and that the
box is covered in matching carpet. The thing to watch for is having some
usable room back there still, and also, of course, T-top storage. One
good ten in a proper enclosure with that good Rockford amp will blow you
away in a Vette (or any other small sports car or hatchback with the
corner loading that is present). If you have any trouble with the
enclosure and want to get a small, very high performance subwoofer
system (including the driver), check out our “Low Bass SubSolution”, and
our “Pickup Truck SubSolution” which both fit nicely and please owners
of Vettes.
Then sell the rest of your equipment and you’ll have plenty of gas money
to cruise and enjoy your terrific system!
Sincerely,
\/\/\.Dr. Sub