[quote name='flash' date='Jul 18 2005, 11:10 AM']the woodwork and fitting look good - it probably does a good job all the way down to 100hz - below that though is where i begin to question the design
my concerns are what it looks like on the analyzer, particularly below 100hz - the design looks problamatic - i would have avoided parallel surfaces, those create harmonics that can actually negate low end support
the port is odd, and likely all but non functional for anything below 100hz - port tuning is a real science - the wrong size port is worse than having none at all - where did you get the design specs for that one?
by the way, what does it weigh?
[right][post="7505"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]
Don't anyone be afraid to tell me that my "baby is ugly". I will appreciate anyone and everyones help in making my car better. Even if it means swallowing personal pride. (So don't anyone else flame Flash for doing what I have asked him to do, which is give me an honest opinion.)
I am actually looking for some analysis equipment other than my ears to measure the frequency response. I know my church has some tools. I am not sure if they will work well in a car environment. Maybe you can make a suggestion on how I can go about measuring things.
From the seat of my pants, I can tell you it gets well below 100hz. Playing around with the boosting the eq in different areas of the bass range, and by selecting different music that uses that very deep bass ranges, I can get a feel for what the subwoofer is doing. It sounds pretty clean. But not on every kind of song.
I am slow wondering about the porting. Reading up on the Kicker documentation, this porting does not match what they specified. And there are certain kinds of "boomy" music where I am hearing under/overtones that appear to either be part of the structure or of the car itself. By playing around with both the adjustments on the amps, and with the adjustments in the head unit, I have it pretty close to what I want. But I would like it to be even better, and I am planning to go back to the guy at custom sounds to talk to him about making it better.
I did not design this enclosure. There was a specialist at the sound shop where I went that has earned some awards for his work. I gave him the guidelines I wanted, and he did the design and implementation.
All that said, by bigger complaint about my system is not the bass, but the midrange. There are some sounds that just come out too harsh. This is especially true of sounds in the vocal frequencies. When I try to eq this down, I lose some of the crispness in my upper range that makes the music sound so live. But I think I have found an eq that does a very good job for my ears.
Which brings me to my biggest gripe. The EQ on CD's is inconsistent! To make one some from one CD sound good I have to set everything one way, and to make another sound good I have to adjust another a different way. Some music has been pre-engineered to be so heavy on the bass it is ridiculous, while other stuff need so much boost I wonder what they were thinking.
Finally, I wish I had multiple user settings on the head unit. This unit has several preset eq settings, but only one custom one. When the top is down, the and the wind is blowing, the EQ really needs to be different.
Flash, I have been interested in what your design is going to look like, but I ran out of time and had to let the insurance company pay for the installation, or risk not getting some of the installation paid for. I am still interested in your design, and will consider retrofitting down the road.
In the mean time, my car still rocks better than anyone elses I have sat in. <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/cool.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />
