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Read the WELCOME ALL BMWFANATICS post.
sound E36
- Thread starter gazza
- Start date
veridico
///Member
Yeah, i know, the boot on your car is well sealed. There is a removable panel behind your rear seats, in the centre. Its a piece of metal attached with a few small welds. Take that out and your bass will increase slightly.
Also from my knowledge, your amp is only 180 RMS at 4 ohms, where as your sub is a 400 RMS sub, if you powered it better with a stronger monoblock it would help.
Bandpass boxes are usually not the best for accurate tight bass, they produce low wobbly bass that is tuned for a specific frequency, maybe try a sealed box in your boot, or even a vented one. I found a sealed box for my sub to work best.
Also from my knowledge, your amp is only 180 RMS at 4 ohms, where as your sub is a 400 RMS sub, if you powered it better with a stronger monoblock it would help.
Bandpass boxes are usually not the best for accurate tight bass, they produce low wobbly bass that is tuned for a specific frequency, maybe try a sealed box in your boot, or even a vented one. I found a sealed box for my sub to work best.
zaleonardz
Well-known member
Agreed.
Power too low, and sealed for a single sub fired through the center arm rest.
Do the band pass ports extend pass the rear shelf into the cabin (just under the plastic cover)
Power too low, and sealed for a single sub fired through the center arm rest.
Do the band pass ports extend pass the rear shelf into the cabin (just under the plastic cover)
gazza
///Member
cool, thanks, ill try the box change.
according to the guys at auto style jhb, the amp is right for that sub, the 4ohm specs reveal 400W rms.
maybe you right, maybe i should change it, what would you recommend?
would you say a split system in the front and back or just the front and maybe 6x9's in the back.
according to the guys at auto style jhb, the amp is right for that sub, the 4ohm specs reveal 400W rms.
maybe you right, maybe i should change it, what would you recommend?
would you say a split system in the front and back or just the front and maybe 6x9's in the back.
veridico
///Member
Did you buy both the sub and amp from autostyle? In my experience, those guys there havent got the greatest knowledge of things, they are really just salesmen.
When getting an amp, it always pays to get something much more powerful than your speakers, so it will never clip or fail to drive the speakers properly.
Also i dont think your sub is an SPL sub, so expecting brain rattling sound is a bit of an ask.
At the moment im running a JBL GTI 60th aniversary 4500w 12" in a vented box with a 6000watt monoblock. Sub isnt facing the ski port, because i like the look of my sub, and i get the same performance inside the cabin as i would with an infinity reference sub in a normal sedan. Having big sound in a BMW is very difficult, but having good sound is easy.
EDIT: A good split system in front and nice 6x9s at the back will make quite a big difference to the sound aswell.
You have a very nice subwoofer, powering it with a starsound amp is not doing it justice. Try find a good quality monoblock with at least 450RMS at 4ohms.
When getting an amp, it always pays to get something much more powerful than your speakers, so it will never clip or fail to drive the speakers properly.
Also i dont think your sub is an SPL sub, so expecting brain rattling sound is a bit of an ask.
At the moment im running a JBL GTI 60th aniversary 4500w 12" in a vented box with a 6000watt monoblock. Sub isnt facing the ski port, because i like the look of my sub, and i get the same performance inside the cabin as i would with an infinity reference sub in a normal sedan. Having big sound in a BMW is very difficult, but having good sound is easy.
EDIT: A good split system in front and nice 6x9s at the back will make quite a big difference to the sound aswell.
You have a very nice subwoofer, powering it with a starsound amp is not doing it justice. Try find a good quality monoblock with at least 450RMS at 4ohms.
gazza
///Member
its not that i want big sound, i mean im not a pavement pounder, i want it to be decent that can turn a head or two. thats y i only bought a single sub. i did buy both sub and amp from them, i usually buy my stuff from them without any influence from the salesman, but this time i asked for the advice of the sales guy.
veridico
///Member
Ah ok, yeah, i understand what you want. I doubt that anyone can hear my sound when i cruise past though, i think the sound proofing in the car is a little too much.
Do you know anyone with a big monoblock? If so, ask them if you can put it in your car and see if it makes any difference to the sound. Dont blow the sub though, as its hard to tell when a sub is over-excurding in a bandpass.
Do you know anyone with a big monoblock? If so, ask them if you can put it in your car and see if it makes any difference to the sound. Dont blow the sub though, as its hard to tell when a sub is over-excurding in a bandpass.
zaleonardz
Well-known member
I have a rockford BD 500 that is earmarked for the E34, but I fully agree, your amp is to be a great deal larger then your sub's max output, and close the gain on the amp almost completly.
More efficient amp, less clipping, nicer sound
More efficient amp, less clipping, nicer sound
veridico
///Member
Yeah, that rockford amp is a great little amp, super clean sound and it has balls. But i think it might be a little expensive in this case? I dont know how much it goes for? I am a firm believer in the amp being the most important part of a system besides the source. The less an amp has to push, the better it sounds.
NoFear
New member
In my E36 I had a 2400W starsound monoblock amp on two 10" 400w starsound subs and I could scarcely hear the subs in action :bawling:
But some time back my friends did sound installs in their cars and made me upgrade mine as well so I changed the amp to the starsound SSA - S10 - 4200W Digital monoblock amp and that made a HUGE HUGE difference it was deeper harder ext ext. I bought the amp in case I would need to upgrade the subs in the future to two 10†duel voice coils, but it made so big difference that it’s not needed anymore otherwise it will sound like a pavement pounder and my goal was clear crisp sound not overpowering bass. It crossed my mind to put holes in the backboard but one of my friends did that and it was a pain and did not look to awesome so I opted for the larger amp instead and I am impress with the clarity and the sound in whole.
I’m also running a 1400w 4-channel starsound amp with 400w splits in front and 450w starsound 6*9 in the rear and its sounds awesome. Im very happy with the sound install.
Hope this can help Gazza.
But some time back my friends did sound installs in their cars and made me upgrade mine as well so I changed the amp to the starsound SSA - S10 - 4200W Digital monoblock amp and that made a HUGE HUGE difference it was deeper harder ext ext. I bought the amp in case I would need to upgrade the subs in the future to two 10†duel voice coils, but it made so big difference that it’s not needed anymore otherwise it will sound like a pavement pounder and my goal was clear crisp sound not overpowering bass. It crossed my mind to put holes in the backboard but one of my friends did that and it was a pain and did not look to awesome so I opted for the larger amp instead and I am impress with the clarity and the sound in whole.
I’m also running a 1400w 4-channel starsound amp with 400w splits in front and 450w starsound 6*9 in the rear and its sounds awesome. Im very happy with the sound install.
Hope this can help Gazza.
zaleonardz
Well-known member
Veridico,
Im going to slightly disagree with you dude, the most important part in any decent sound setup in my view is the cabling, particularly power.
Many people focus on the speakers, and avoid the fundementals
I won 2005 Sound Quality at the rand easter show with :
Subaru WRX fully vibrasealed (No Dynamat in those days)
JVC Headunit
2x MBquart splits
Decent RCA's, cant remember the make, but they were those twist/braided cables.
Hertz 8" space savers in the doors
No rear fill
Rockford BD500
Rockford 551x 4 Channel
Calibra 2 x DVC's in a ported enclosure firing through the ski hatch
Audiocontrol EQX
4g Power and ground using Calibra distribution and quite a number of fuses.
Wasnt the loudest setup in the world, the SPL boys blew me away, but mine sounded good, and still did 140db odd,cant remember exactly.
But all this is going into the E34 one day when I get time
Im going to slightly disagree with you dude, the most important part in any decent sound setup in my view is the cabling, particularly power.
Many people focus on the speakers, and avoid the fundementals
I won 2005 Sound Quality at the rand easter show with :
Subaru WRX fully vibrasealed (No Dynamat in those days)
JVC Headunit
2x MBquart splits
Decent RCA's, cant remember the make, but they were those twist/braided cables.
Hertz 8" space savers in the doors
No rear fill
Rockford BD500
Rockford 551x 4 Channel
Calibra 2 x DVC's in a ported enclosure firing through the ski hatch
Audiocontrol EQX
4g Power and ground using Calibra distribution and quite a number of fuses.
Wasnt the loudest setup in the world, the SPL boys blew me away, but mine sounded good, and still did 140db odd,cant remember exactly.
But all this is going into the E34 one day when I get time
NoFear
New member
I agree with ^, It reminded me now when I changed the amp I did the whole cars wiring as well with a descent setup the best he had in the shop can't remember the gauge but it has massive thick power cables and nice rca’s so this could have also played a roll in the sound ext, thanks for reminding me forgot about the cabling.
zaleonardz
Well-known member
and I agree with ^
It would have been really interesting to hear the change with just a wiring change and then a amp change, I recon probably 30% of your gains or more that you received was due to cabling alone.
Its exactly the same as trying to breeth thru a straw, sure you can do it, but you are not getting in the air that you require.
9 times out of time amps that fail/speakers that break are thru using incorrect cabling/bad grounds, not mounting them properly, or thru shorting out, other then that....
The equipment i mentioned in the list above is all 5 to 7 years old... and it all still works perfectly
It would have been really interesting to hear the change with just a wiring change and then a amp change, I recon probably 30% of your gains or more that you received was due to cabling alone.
Its exactly the same as trying to breeth thru a straw, sure you can do it, but you are not getting in the air that you require.
9 times out of time amps that fail/speakers that break are thru using incorrect cabling/bad grounds, not mounting them properly, or thru shorting out, other then that....
The equipment i mentioned in the list above is all 5 to 7 years old... and it all still works perfectly
Major
Active member
How is one supposed to get decent sound on an E30 then? The boot is completely sealed from the cabin, and no, it doesn't have a panel you can remove for ski's. The only opening to the boot from the cabin is along the rear fenders, on the sides, there's a fist sized gap on each side, but that's hardly enough to let the bass through and would be sealed off anyway.
I'm thinking a ported box, facing the rear of the car, with the ports coming out the rear shelf? I don't want rear fill anyway. Unless I should just go sealed and leave a moerse hole in my rear deck.
I'm thinking a ported box, facing the rear of the car, with the ports coming out the rear shelf? I don't want rear fill anyway. Unless I should just go sealed and leave a moerse hole in my rear deck.
veridico
///Member
zaleonardz said:
Sorry you are correct, i was assuming correct cabling etc. I use 2g at the moment, with RCA's that cost me approx R1k for each, and i have 3, cabling is super important, but source is just as important, if you have crap signal going into your amp, no matter how good the amp is, and how well its powered, its just going to amplify a crap sound.
Major said:How is one supposed to get decent sound on an E30 then? The boot is completely sealed from the cabin, and no, it doesn't have a panel you can remove for ski's. The only opening to the boot from the cabin is along the rear fenders, on the sides, there's a fist sized gap on each side, but that's hardly enough to let the bass through and would be sealed off anyway.
I'm thinking a ported box, facing the rear of the car, with the ports coming out the rear shelf? I don't want rear fill anyway. Unless I should just go sealed and leave a moerse hole in my rear deck.
My friend cut a large square out of the rear shelf in his, put a wire mesh over the hole and put accoustic carpetting over to make it look good. You shouldnt lose too much structural integrity with that. But its a hack to just in your boot at cut it out.
zaleonardz
Well-known member
Agreed with the source.
I actually did an experiment many years ago with a scope and a clean sine wave with some entry level/mid level head units, and it is frightning how these things "Clip" from 3/4 volume up.
I actually did an experiment many years ago with a scope and a clean sine wave with some entry level/mid level head units, and it is frightning how these things "Clip" from 3/4 volume up.
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