rjones02

Good morning everybody -

My audio system is a work in progress. 1999 E320. I wanted to get bluetooth and full ipod integration. I've got only a general knowledge of car stereos, definitely nothing advanced. With that said.....

I've recently upgraded my factory HU to an ALPINE iDA-x001 with the add-on bluetooth unit. Everything works like a charm. Just needed to buy an adapter to go between the Alpine HU and the factory bose amp. The ipod interface on the HU is amazing along with the bluetooth connection to my phone (now i won't miss calls while i'm listening to music!)

I've now added a JL powerwedge in the trunk with three 10's. My old PPI PC275 amp is powering it. I stole both of these components from my old Tahoe (everything sounded great in there.) I only chose the JL box and PPI amp cuz they were sitting in the attic...wanted to save on some cash. I also dynamat'd the whole trunk. Now i know there is a steel plate behind the back seat, and i think that is causing issues with the bass reaching the cabin. What do i need to do to improve on this? Have some sort of custom box built? Any ideas on a good amp/sub combo that will sound good in my car? I like good, clean punchy base for rock/alternative music.

Sometime in the next week i'm also going to remove the bose amp and replace with something new and also replace all the speakers in the car.

thanks for any help...

Bobby

DPC32

I used to have a w124 400e, and I ran into the same problem with bass. I remember the bit about the gas tank and the steel plate seperating the cabin from the trunk.

What I did in my w203 is remove the stock Bose sub in the rear deck to create an opening directly between the trunk and the cabin and allow the sub to move some air that way. The grille is still there so it looks completely stock, and I get great bass from a single JL 10w6 in a sealed box.

Also, I don't know how much power that PPI amp runs, but I had problems in the past underpowering subs. I learned my lesson though, currently running the 10w6 off a JL 500/1 which hits just right.

rjones02

DPC32 -

in the 99 e320 w210, there is no sub. There are 2 speakers on the rear deck (no sub), and there is some open space there....maybe i'll disconnect those speakers eventually to create more airflow and for rear speakers only use the ones in the door.

The PPI amp is giving it enough power. It ran the same sub in my tahoe for years. The bass just doesn't sound as good as it did in the open air tahoe. Will a ported box work better in this situation? I don't know enough about it to know whether or not that would help.

thanks -

B

DPC32

May not be a bad idea to get rid of those rear speakers to create openings for the subs to push air into the cabin. A lot of car audio guys I know advocate getting rid of "rear fill" altogether, as they say is screws up the imaging in the cabin. They advocate a component set in the front along with sub(s) in the trunk to achieve the best sound.

As far as boxes, ported boxes give a louder, boomier bass tone. A sealed enclosure will give you tighter, more responsive bass. I assume your enclosure is sealed, have you checked the recommended dimensions of the box for your subs? For a 10" you should have about .65 cu. ft. in volume for a sealed box. For 3 subs just multiply times 3.

rjones02

^^

Yeah...that's what i was thinking. Remove the speakers on the deck for more air flow, only replace the speakers in the rear door...and get some good components for the front. I've heard that speakers in the dash are only used for the built in phone (which i obviously don't use.) The tweeters for the front speakers are in the A shaped wedge inside the side view mirrors. Is that true? If so, i'm going to put the tweeters in the dash instead...looks like there's a little more room to work with.

As for the box size...it's branded from JL, so i'm guessing/hoping they got the dimensions right!! I like accurate/punchy bass...so i guess i'll stick with the sealed box for now. I tinkered with the settings on the amp this afternoon, and it sounds a lot better. I'm thinking when i replace the front and rears with some focal's...along with a good amp...i'll like the complete sound better.

06c230hwd

you dont want a ported box in your trunk anyways. in the tahoe it may sound better. keep the sealed setup for your trunk. im using a 465watt max 85 x 2 RMS amplifier right now..LOL it's pushing two pioneer premiers (12's) in a sealed old mtx box, still using stock HU and tapped into hifi for amp through speaker wire but boy does it SLAM! anyways, MY06W203 has foam in the rear speaker deck underneath the back window.. so im guessing this makes a huge difference from earlier models.. ive heard someone mention taking the front off of flip down cup holders in the back and just leaving the flap to optimize sound levels as well :P

Dan_Audio Man

You should not have to take the rear deck speakers out. Yes, the gas tank does impede bass penetration into the cabin. To get around that, you need good subs in the right box. JL being one of the best brands, should be doing well in your car. However, 3 10'' subs is not the right application for your car.

If you like the clean and punchy bass, you must remain with a sealed box and with the recommended air volume for each sub or a just bit less. The higher frequency bass frequencies that sound punchier are more penetrating than the deeper tones.

Back to your 10'' subs. 10'' are great techno/rock music drivers because of their ability to move faster than larger subwoofers, however 10''s present a problem in how much of their output will travel, audibly, into the cabin. Despite your love for them, 12'' driver(s) or larger are appropriate with the cars having the gas tank orientation as ours do.

If your amp has bass boost, you should have it up a bit more than usual as the added dB output will aid in bass penetration. I would love to dynamat my trunk, but even without it, I have the ideal audio setup.

How much did you pay for all of your dynamat and did you buy it by the roll or what?

Aussie-E-John

Im running one 12" sub which sits in the a custom box sitting in the spare wheel well.

I get plenty of sub bass into the cabin.

justinzcustomz

2 ten in. subs in a SEALED box, with a good powerful amp. And NO ported boxes are not louder!, that car has to create a sealed truck area in order to project the bass. I have done a ton of these cars and never had a bass problem.

denim

Actually ported boxes are more efficient near tuning. Hence almost every single SPL competitor is ported of some configuration.

I suggest ported tuned low, due to the gas tank being in the way and the sealed trunk, any claim of supreme SQ of sealed over ported is going to be lost in the transfer between the trunk and the passenger cabin. But space consumption is a factor, so if you do not want to give up the room to have a ported box, you can do things with a sealed to get a little more output.

If you are really interested in getting the most bass transfer out of your install, you could go so far as finding the resonant frequency of your car and tune the ported box with-in 5 or so hertz of it. That is not always the best option for the cleanest sounding of installs because the res. freq. of the car is probably in the low 40's.

The sealed trunk cars are prime for infinite baffle installs, which are usually some of the best sounding sub stage choices possible. But power handling drops and you have to have total isolation between air space on each side of the cone.

I have seen a few cars with a 4th or 6th order bandpass design in a Mercedes with the port hidden under the medical pack cover on the rear deck. Also I do not suggest throwing one companies sub into another sub companies pre-made box. You can build a better one for your install for less.