ha, but crap. speaker issues...again

[blahhargy]

okay, i finally got my speakers put in, 2 12" sony explodes and i know they arnt the best in town but they were decently cheap and for thier price hit pretty hard in my old car.

but thats just it, they hit hard in my old car. not in my new cobalt. (07 LT)

the stock 10" pioneer keeps up with them and im thinking, hold s***.... there are two 12's being outdone by a 10..... wtf? and its not that they are that crappy speakers, but its just i have no idea how it went from my whole body shaking in my 92 toyota camery to a half-assed thump every now and then. and its funny how when the pioneer was in by itself and up decently loud, it was only slightly less vibration then when i turned the 2 12's on.

okay, so i have a couple questions of reasons of what the problem might be... and you guys are more than welcome to suggest more INEXPESIVE solutions because im extreamly cheap.

1) the speakers arnt really "touching" the car. obviosly they are bolted down but thats just to keep them from moving. like they are bolted to the removable cardboardlike thingy that covers the spare tire.
and like how you put a pinging tuning fork to a door and the door starts to vibrate? well i think it may be the same way with the car, because in my old car the speaker box was better fit to the trunk.
so i suppose i can go get some more mounts and actually mount the thing to the car better and have it touch more places in the car. thus the car is like the door and the speakers are like the tuning fork. vibrating the car to make it louder and more able to be felt. because the pioneer speaker needs 6 different bolts taken off and its bolted to the left hand side of the car so i kinda figured it might be the reason why.

2) i can put some vent holes in the speaker box and the speakers can move more freely and be louder, and work less hard. but thats something im not sure if i want to do because they make a nice 'thunk' and putting holes in them might make them hold that 'thunk' longer.

3) the car might just be too different than my old car. because the setup is exactly the same and the only difference is the fact that i have a stock stereo which is probably better quality than my old one. like i tapped the wires and put them in the high level input in both cars and in my old car i just turned the bass up on the sony's to save my door speakers the stress,
but on this car, the bass has to be turned up all the way on the stereo and the speakers are tweaked so they can be as loud as possible without sounding like crap.
but it shouldnt be like that.... and its irritating me, because my speakers and the sound system in my car is uber important to me,

sorry this post is so long and im pretty sure i sound stupid.

But..... anybody agree/disagree/have suggestions?
love to hear from you is so.

the acoustics in the cobalt is crap...plain and simple...

you cant just simply cut holes in your sub box.
thats called porting, and should be done properly, a port should be spec'ed to the sub and some ports can be complicated to design/build, and actualy with a ported setup the sub "works harder" as you say, ported subs get more excursion which allows for boomier bass, because the sub has more air that it can move, unlike in a sealed box, the sub hits, and the SEALED PRESSURE inside the box pulls the woofer cone back, so the more air in the box the more the excursion by the woofer

easiest thing i can tell you to do is to re-position the box a few times and see if you get better results that way

[tigerpro357]

well it also depends on the tuning of the amp, I have a 12" Infinity with a 300 watt amp, but you would never know it from the thump my car gives. At first I had the same problem, but I decided to just try messing with the tuning of my amp. After about 10 minutes I had it dialed in, and I have since added another amp for my rear speakers, I have two more amps to put in, one for another 12" Sub, one for the front speakers. Oh BTW im still using the factory HU I hate it with a passion, but I refuse to buy a stereo thats just gonna get replaced as soon as I get everything for my carputer. I would be more than willing to draw up a diagram for wiriing purposes, or maybe even a how-to if anyone is interested.

EDIT :
I almost forgot to mention that my box is not secured in any way shape or form to the trunk, i just have it sitting in the space between the trunk and rear deck.

[skoryboss]

where did you buy your subs from? if they were purchased from a big box store with a box,
you got a generic box. The right box will help. which way are the speakers firing? If your subs are close to the trunk lid opening firing against the plastic panel, your good. This helps the speakers load, which means more sound and feel. Ported boxes are very nice if tuned right. I tune are boxes for what the customer plans on doing or wants out of his or her system.

If your running the factory head unit, with a line out converter that could be part of the problem. Factory amped cars such as Bose, Pioneer, JBL, Infinity, and so on will drop frequencies once the volume starts going up. Also see what your crossover settings are on the amp. With sealed boxes I usually set the crossover at 70-100 range.

If you want to get the best out of your stereo buy a nice headunit. If your down with the stealthy factory look buy an Audiocontrol LC6i, or DQ8. Perfect stuff for factory integration.

If you have any questions on wiring or aftermarket stuff just ask. I have been running and installing for a stereo shop for 8 years. I also only run one down firing Alpine S-type 10" in a 1 cubic foot box. Not square in shape. Alpine M-450 amp, Pioneer Avic D-3 headunit, Alpine Reference Type-X 6.5"s in the doors on F-450, and zero rear fill. If you are in the Lansing, MI area look me up. Skory Autosounds... Ask for Jesse

[DjQball]

Instead of tapping the speakers to the hi inputs, tap them into a PAC SNI-35 (or similar) hi-low impedance converter...
The Converter has inputs for left and right speakers, also ground (but you don't need them for the cobalt.)
It (obviously) converts the hi levels to low levels, AND, changes speaker wire to RCA cables to plug in to your low level inputs on your amp.
FINALLY, it's adjustable. You don't have to worry about crappy sounding bass!
I'll post a DIY within the next week, explaining how to install. I have a 400w peak amp and a simple 12" BAZOOKA 600w peak (piece of crap) sub, and it hits harder than three tens with 1000w in my old frand cherokee.

for less than $15 here


Last thing: Allow me to introduce myself.
Jack Metzel.
Orange County California.
Definitely a DIY'er.
Stock '07 LT1 (I think... It's definitely not an LT3)
13K miles.
5speed.
only mod right now: Subwoofer.
Mods to come: I don't even have any idea yet. But lots of stuff I'm looking at.

[Snake890217]

Mine is fine and i only have an 8" tube i get great sound. not competition volume but nice bass.

[tigerpro357]

Ahh Good Ol Reliable Bass Tubes, I had one in my dynasty, Sounded OK, but my new system sounds 10x better with a real sub and amp combo. I had a 8" Bazooka Tube, I dont remember how many watt's, I'll have to pull it out and blow off the dust to find out, but i do remember it was a dual voice coil, wich is a big help.

[blahhargy]

Originally Posted by skoryboss

where did you buy your subs from? if they were purchased from a big box store with a box,
you got a generic box. The right box will help. which way are the speakers firing? If your subs are close to the trunk lid opening firing against the plastic panel, your good. This helps the speakers load, which means more sound and feel. Ported boxes are very nice if tuned right. I tune are boxes for what the customer plans on doing or wants out of his or her system.

If your running the factory head unit, with a line out converter that could be part of the problem. Factory amped cars such as Bose, Pioneer, JBL, Infinity, and so on will drop frequencies once the volume starts going up. Also see what your crossover settings are on the amp. With sealed boxes I usually set the crossover at 70-100 range.

If you want to get the best out of your stereo buy a nice headunit. If your down with the stealthy factory look buy an Audiocontrol LC6i, or DQ8. Perfect stuff for factory integration.

If you have any questions on wiring or aftermarket stuff just ask. I have been running and installing for a stereo shop for 8 years. I also only run one down firing Alpine S-type 10" in a 1 cubic foot box. Not square in shape. Alpine M-450 amp, Pioneer Avic D-3 headunit, Alpine Reference Type-X 6.5"s in the doors on F-450, and zero rear fill. If you are in the Lansing, MI area look me up. Skory Autosounds... Ask for Jesse

ha, wow, nice but im nowhere near MI im in GA, my boxes are pieces of crap and im going to get 2 new ones and seperate the speakers and put them to where the amp can be placed on the floor of the trunk in the middle of the speakers instead of on the speaker box itself because it rattles so damn much.

and i dont have a factory box because i had a friend make it for me and whenever i was installing the speakers in the first place i put a couple of holes into the box that i didnt mean to and i ended up having to seal those holes and i relized after i sealed a couple of those holes that my friend is an idiot and didnt seal the inside of the box so air was getting out of the cracks where the pieces of plywood met, so i ended up sealing those on the outside for a quick fix but basically my box is falling apart, thus the getting/making (whichever is cheaper) of 2 new ones.

and the boxes have to be back near my rear seats so im able to get to my spare tire. because god help me if i actually depend on my tires not going flat because stupid crap happens to me all the time.

i definatly dont have a line out converter because i use the high frequency input, which im not sure if it makes to terribly much of a difference but the whole, "stealthy factory look buy an Audiocontrol LC6i, or DQ8" im really trying to do this the cheapest way possible and thats already $50+ to get those boxes and i have other expenses so yeah, im a cheap bastard

and as for my settings on the amp, i have everything set to where its just barely below begining to distort. i spent about an hour tweaking it.

so is buying/making two boxes to seperate the speakers going to make any difference? because then i could just make/buy a dual box if it really matters

and i tried securing the speakers better and it helped me feel them a bit more, but i still want a wee bit more from them because i know they can do better.

[TravisB]

Proper box is key. I have a single 15 with 750rms and it is LOUD. I have the sub facing inside the car and the other half of the trunk blocked off
experiment with sub placement, its easy to do and there is no need to bolt the subs down right away

[raptor6788]

okay i have one question everyone says the cobalts have very bad acoustics..i noticed how do we fix this.I have 2 VOLFENHAG and there nice speakers with a 1500 watt legacy amp..i want better sound