jypy got me thinking in another thread, here goes:

My Kicker comp 15 is.. boomy and loose.. I assumed that the sub sounded naturally that way because of its size, it sounded the pretty much the same when I auditioned one (it was in a smaller enclosure, but the overall "quality" of sound was the same but not as boomy). My box is 23 inches long, 10 inches tall. and 17 inches wide and is a sealed enclosure.. all joints have been screwed down securely and siliconed up.. is that sub supposed to sound like that or did I screw something up?

I could just be getting paranoid lol Thanks

15's tend to be a little on the boomier side to start with, and since you've got a sealed enclosure, I would imagine you're probably hearing it right. I don't know if putting any fill in the box would make much difference or not. Guess it depends on what type of music you listen to alot, and what type of sound you're aiming for.




Brakes? I don't need no stinking brakes....I have air bags
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I listen to a lot of rap/hip hop and techno/trance/house. I've got some poly-fill in there.. but not much.. maybe I'll add a little more and see what that does.. But I feel like the 15 is supposed to sound like that though..

if you think you got too much room (the larger the box the more toward spl and away from sq you get) (2.2 cubes is kinda big even for a 15..) you could try putting a dense material into the box instead of polyfill and seeing if it changes the sound to a way that more suits you (dense materials like... sand bags, to effectively shrink the internal volume) on the other end of the scale you could just flip the speaker over and mount it backwards. (will probably make the boominess worse though)

actually in a sealed box the bigger the box the more of a flat responce youlle get, youlle generally gain spl in a smaller sealed box with a loss of low end extention.



a 15" can and will sound accurate when installed properly. let me ask you this, where is your crossover set, what is the slope, what are you using for midbass where is it crossed over at. how is the box installed. how are the componet installed. all of this is going to contribute to the overall sound. generally bass is boomy. other then that we can't really say if its right or not without actually hearing it, would be like me asking you if this was a hunter green or forest green shirt i'm wearing.


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those l5's suck sealed...and you need a big box if you run them sealed.


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1)where is your crossover set
The amp has a built in LPF and is set about 80 Hz
2)what are you using for midbass where is it crossed over at.
As of now I am using Pioneer 4x6 3-ways up front, I do not have a crossover hooked up to them, my HU's EQ is set to Flat or 0 on all settings. I plan on getting the Kicker
6.5 in components to go up front.
3)how is the box installed
The box is in the spare tire hole with the sub pointing upwards, the magnet is inside of the box IE not inverted.
4)how are the componet installed
See answer #2

I'm not really biased one way or the other towards SPL or SQ.. I guess I'm more of an SQL guy.. but this setup really isn't going in that direction either.. its just .. there I guess lol.
I've already gotten a lot of compliments on how the sub sounds in just plain loudness and low end bass.. Personally I thought it sounded pretty clean compared to other systems I've heard lately, but wasn't as tight as the one when I auditioned it. I attributed that to the big box and the size of the sub..

I'm thinking when I get the components in, I'll get that nice punchy mid-bass that I know is missing in my setup..

Ignore every post before Jason's.

Larger enclosure is going to give you a flatter response and 2.2 cubes is not large for a 15. Its actually on the small side for most 15s. I dont have any modeling software on my work PC but I do believe that sub would do a little bit better in 3-3.5 cubes. Try adding more fill and see if it tames the peak down some.

I am more suspect of your front stage though. A tight sound is generally generated by good midbass. 4x6s arent going to do that for you. And you arent going to get much out of those 4x6s so your subbass is greatly overpowering them and sounding boomy. If this is the case just turn your gain down some to better match your levels.







"all your bass are belong to us"

^^like i said before...l5's don't sound good in sealed enclosures. run a bigger box.


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^ not true either.


Nothing wrong with running a 15 in a sealed enclosure.



"all your bass are belong to us"

derf wrote:^ not true either.


Nothing wrong with running a 15 in a sealed enclosure.

didn't say anytthing was wrong with it..but they sound like @!#$ in a small sealed box..if your gonna run em sealed, use a bigger box.


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wysiwyg wrote:

derf wrote:^ not true either.


Nothing wrong with running a 15 in a sealed enclosure.

didn't say anytthing was wrong with it..but they sound like @!#$ in a small sealed box..if your gonna run em sealed, use a bigger box.

Thats not what you said but I will give you the benefit of the doubt since you cant edit on this forum.


I have seen 15s that can run decently as low as 1.5 cubes though. You cant really generalize them and say they need a large enclosure. They need what they need just as any other driver. However, you cannot get passed Hoffman's Iron Law. The efficiency of a woofer system is directly proportional to its cabinet volume and the cube of its cutoff frequency. You lower the enclosure size and you will have to sacrifice either low end extension or efficiency. Generally, you lose both.



"all your bass are belong to us"

I've been re-thinking how I've got my sub installed.. and although I originally liked it, I'm not really liking how I now have to keep my jack and spare tire in the back seat (my friends don't like it either )

Right now it sits in the spare tire hole and is built out to look like it's all one piece with the trunk. It looks pretty nice in my opinion, but the loss of my spare tire hole has me reconsidering it.. I think I'm gonna go on derf's suggestion and build a bigger box and wrestle it in there, plus find a way to make it fit with my spare and jack.. 3 cubes seems really big.. I thought the 2.2 cubes I have now was big lol but I'll see what happens with it.
Oh and components are coming after the body kit and rims (I'm effectively getting the rims for free )

3 cubes is nothing.


I think my last enclosure was 6.5 cubes. There are others here with much larger too. Js has plenty of room in the trunk.



"all your bass are belong to us"

yeah i honestly dont think your problem is with your bass. the problem is your missing frequencies from the 80-250 range wich is the midbass wich is where all your impact will be. get those kicker componet set, seal the midbass up in the door well. seal the door up and feed them som power and they should be able to play down into the 60hz range (dont forget to damp the door) this is going to give you allot more impact, and the sub is goint to be there to add the feeling. problem is your hearing just all bass, and even the best sq woofer wont sound good if you dont have the rest of the frequencies to go with it. think about the best pizza in the world, if you have the best dough, its not really a pizza till you add the sauce and cheese and toppings. right now you have way to much dough, and not enough toppings.





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Check your specs on the 15, see what the recommended air space is, then go on to this site. www.the12volt.com and there is an enclosure calculator on it. Type in the dimensions of your box and see if they are close to the specs on your sub. If the airspace of your box is too much you will have too much low end repsonse. Besides that 15" subs were designed to pick up lower frequencies than 12's, 10's higher than 12's and so fourth. If you are looking for a tighter response but still want a little boom in the bass I would recommend 12's next time up!


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Hitting 134 Decibals and being recommended for hearing conservation- Priceless!!!

Thanks a lot guys. When I first got the sub in, I thought almost immediately I need components to go with it, but money was tight then.. Now money is fine, but I've got to get my body kit on before the insurance check that was issued to me last year voids.
But thanks a lot on the suggestions guys.. I'm going to be redoing the set up soon.

One other question. I read somewhere else on the forum to get a balanced sound stage, you need to provide equal power to both the front and rear. My sub is receiving
~300 watts RMS. The kicker components are rated at 75 wRMS. I wouldn't even think about putting 300 watts to those speakers, so could someone clarify this for me? I'm looking at the Panasonic CQ-9800 HU to power those components since its internal amp is rated at 60 RMS.