/ News & Press / Video / 4 Mistakes that Kill Bass - Car Audio Subwoofer Improvements!
4 Mistakes that Kill Bass - Car Audio Subwoofer Improvements!
WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en
00:00:00.230 so you build and install a car audio 00:00:03.26000:00:03.270 system into a vehicle and you turn it on 00:00:05.32900:00:05.339 for the first time and you're just not 00:00:08.78000:00:08.790 impressed the subwoofer bass performance 00:00:10.97000:00:10.980 is lacking in the mid bass from our 00:00:13.00900:00:13.019 speakers is just not as punchy as what 00:00:15.95000:00:15.960 we were hoping for if you've ever been 00:00:17.51000:00:17.520 in this position it is not a good 00:00:19.13000:00:19.140 feeling but not to worry my friend 00:00:20.87000:00:20.880 because in this video we're going to 00:00:22.31000:00:22.320 talk about four different mistakes that 00:00:24.38000:00:24.390 are often made that lead to poor bass 00:00:26.83900:00:26.849 performance and at the end of the video 00:00:28.64000:00:28.650 I'm also gonna give you some bonus tips 00:00:30.10900:00:30.119 for how you can add more bass once you 00:00:32.51000:00:32.520 make sure that you didn't make any of 00:00:34.37000:00:34.380 those four mistakes hey what's going on 00:00:44.45000:00:44.460 guys welcome to car audio fabrication my 00:00:46.52000:00:46.530 name is Mark and I'd like to welcome you 00:00:48.02000:00:48.030 to this channel where we do car audio 00:00:49.97000:00:49.980 reviews and build dog videos and lessons 00:00:52.61000:00:52.620 like this video because I truly believe 00:00:55.06900:00:55.079 that when we design build and install a 00:00:57.26000:00:57.270 car audio system the correct way we can 00:01:00.34900:01:00.359 really experience and feel the music 00:01:03.68000:01:03.690 rather than just listening to it so 00:01:06.10900:01:06.119 mistake number one wiring issues it's 00:01:08.81000:01:08.820 really important that when we're 00:01:09.89000:01:09.900 finishing up our install and making the 00:01:11.63000:01:11.640 connections from the wires to the actual 00:01:13.85000:01:13.860 speakers we want to double check and 00:01:15.83000:01:15.840 make sure that similar speakers have 00:01:18.49900:01:18.509 these same polarity in other words let's 00:01:20.63000:01:20.640 say that we have our six and a half inch 00:01:22.10000:01:22.110 speakers up front that are gonna be 00:01:23.71900:01:23.729 providing our mid bass we want to make 00:01:25.70000:01:25.710 sure that both of those six and a half 00:01:27.49900:01:27.509 inch speakers on each side have the 00:01:29.81000:01:29.820 positive wire on the positive terminal 00:01:32.21000:01:32.220 and negative on the negative terminal 00:01:34.13000:01:34.140 now the same goes for our subwoofers if 00:01:35.87000:01:35.880 we have multiple subwoofers we want to 00:01:37.58000:01:37.590 make sure that they are also wired in 00:01:39.62000:01:39.630 correct polarity the reason for this is 00:01:41.71900:01:41.729 if you have one speaker that is going 00:01:44.12000:01:44.130 out while the other one is coming in the 00:01:47.30000:01:47.310 speakers are going to be working against 00:01:49.39900:01:49.409 each other they're not going to be 00:01:51.16000:01:51.170 compressing air and building upon it to 00:01:54.08000:01:54.090 create acoustical energy now maybe you 00:01:56.20900:01:56.219 have poor bass performance and you know 00:01:57.70900:01:57.719 for a fact that you've connected the 00:01:59.30000:01:59.310 correct wires to each terminal on the 00:02:01.63900:02:01.649 speakers something else that you want to 00:02:03.56000:02:03.570 verify is you want to make sure that 00:02:05.56900:02:05.579 wherever you're getting that signal from 00:02:07.81900:02:07.829 that it is wired with the correct 00:02:09.65000:02:09.660 polarity as well as an example say that 00:02:12.32000:02:12.330 you installed a line 00:02:13.58000:02:13.590 output converter and that you tapped in 00:02:15.47000:02:15.480 to the rear speakers of the vehicle you 00:02:17.86900:02:17.879 would want to make sure that would that 00:02:19.33900:02:19.349 line output converter that you connected 00:02:21.58900:02:21.599 the positive leads to the positive wires 00:02:24.02000:02:24.030 and didn't have them opposite from the 00:02:26.27000:02:26.280 left to right side otherwise you could 00:02:28.30900:02:28.319 have polarity issues let's say that you 00:02:30.47000:02:30.480 check the speaker terminals you know 00:02:31.97000:02:31.980 they're correct and you've checked your 00:02:33.58900:02:33.599 wiring on something like an integration 00:02:35.78000:02:35.790 piece like a line output converter and 00:02:37.55000:02:37.560 you know it's correct there's still one 00:02:39.32000:02:39.330 more thing that could be wrong the 00:02:40.94000:02:40.950 speaker may be wired incorrectly from 00:02:43.58000:02:43.590 the factory this seems crazy but I've 00:02:45.38000:02:45.390 actually seen it happen quite often 00:02:46.97000:02:46.980 where the terminals the positive and 00:02:49.37000:02:49.380 negative terminals on the speaker will 00:02:51.19900:02:51.209 just be labeled incorrectly so 00:02:53.50900:02:53.519 ultimately the best way to really check 00:02:55.88000:02:55.890 polarity is you can use a polarity test 00:02:58.58000:02:58.590 tool this tool that I'm showing on 00:03:00.25900:03:00.269 screen allows you to simply hold the 00:03:02.00000:03:02.010 device close to the speakers and it 00:03:03.86000:03:03.870 fires off a series of pulses so what you 00:03:06.74000:03:06.750 can do is you can use this little device 00:03:08.50900:03:08.519 to check all your different speakers and 00:03:11.08900:03:11.099 make sure that they are all wired 00:03:12.92000:03:12.930 correctly in the same polarity a link to 00:03:15.47000:03:15.480 that device is down in the video 00:03:16.75900:03:16.769 description so let's say that you check 00:03:18.44000:03:18.450 all that you know that everything is 00:03:19.58000:03:19.590 good to go polarity wise mistake number 00:03:21.89000:03:21.900 two that can be made is phase issues a 00:03:24.65000:03:24.660 common example setup that we can use for 00:03:26.66000:03:26.670 a car audio system is something where we 00:03:29.15000:03:29.160 had a subwoofer playing frequencies from 00:03:31.30900:03:31.319 let's say 20 Hertz all the way up to 80 00:03:34.67000:03:34.680 Hertz and then let's say from 80 Hertz 00:03:37.16000:03:37.170 we hand it off to a six and a half inch 00:03:39.77000:03:39.780 component issues with phase can arise in 00:03:42.31900:03:42.329 that handoff transition from the 00:03:43.97000:03:43.980 subwoofer to the speaker this is because 00:03:46.25000:03:46.260 the subwoofer and the speaker will be 00:03:48.53000:03:48.540 located in different locations within 00:03:51.05000:03:51.060 your vehicle let's say that both the 00:03:52.67000:03:52.680 subwoofer and the speaker are playing 80 00:03:54.44000:03:54.450 Hertz our goal is to be at a listening 00:03:56.87000:03:56.880 position that those waves work together 00:03:59.30000:03:59.310 not that they work against each other 00:04:01.72900:04:01.739 and cancel each other out so there's a 00:04:03.80000:04:03.810 couple quick solutions to see if you're 00:04:05.44900:04:05.459 having Faye's issues one of the first 00:04:07.58000:04:07.590 and easiest solutions is to actually 00:04:09.65000:04:09.660 flip the polarity on the subwoofer or on 00:04:13.06900:04:13.079 your speakers generally it's going to be 00:04:14.62900:04:14.639 easier to just flip it on the subwoofer 00:04:16.49000:04:16.500 because a lot of subwoofer amplifiers 00:04:18.56000:04:18.570 have what they call a phase switch where 00:04:21.50000:04:21.510 you can flip it 180 degrees out of phase 00:04:24.38000:04:24.390 now yes at the beginning of the video I 00:04:26.33000:04:26.340 talked about having every 00:04:27.32000:04:27.330 wired in the correct polarity but it's 00:04:29.71900:04:29.729 only important for like speakers in 00:04:32.39000:04:32.400 other words the subwoofer and the 00:04:33.61900:04:33.629 speakers don't necessarily have to be 00:04:35.48000:04:35.490 wired in the same polarity it's okay to 00:04:38.27000:04:38.280 have them in different polarity because 00:04:40.39900:04:40.409 it might help correct your phase issues 00:04:42.80000:04:42.810 because when you switch the subwoofer 00:04:44.89900:04:44.909 180 degrees out of phase it might 00:04:47.89900:04:47.909 correct the issues that you're 00:04:49.01000:04:49.020 experiencing with lack of the base 00:04:50.71900:04:50.729 another solution is you can move the 00:04:52.90900:04:52.919 subwoofer around within the vehicle 00:04:54.80000:04:54.810 before you permanently install it in 00:04:57.35000:04:57.360 order to test and make sure that you 00:04:59.33000:04:59.340 don't have any phase cancellation issues 00:05:01.79000:05:01.800 ultimately though one of the best 00:05:03.64900:05:03.659 solutions is to have a digital signal 00:05:05.71900:05:05.729 processor where you can actually delay 00:05:07.87900:05:07.889 the front speakers so that the sound 00:05:10.36900:05:10.379 that is furthest from you at the 00:05:12.05000:05:12.060 subwoofer when that finally arrives to 00:05:14.65900:05:14.669 you you can delay the front speakers to 00:05:17.24000:05:17.250 then deliver that sound from them at the 00:05:20.05900:05:20.069 same time this functionality of a 00:05:22.39900:05:22.409 digital signal processor is called time 00:05:24.46900:05:24.479 alignment and ultimately it's going to 00:05:26.26900:05:26.279 be the best solution for you but a DSP 00:05:28.73000:05:28.740 can be expensive so it might be easier 00:05:31.10000:05:31.110 to try flipping the polarity on the 00:05:33.49900:05:33.509 subwoofer or moving the subwoofer box 00:05:35.33000:05:35.340 around first if you'd like to check out 00:05:37.43000:05:37.440 one of my other videos that I did it 00:05:38.80900:05:38.819 more in detail on what a DSP is you can 00:05:41.36000:05:41.370 check out this video here on screen now 00:05:43.24900:05:43.259 mistake number three subwoofer enclosure 00:05:45.74000:05:45.750 type and construction along with 00:05:48.64000:05:48.650 installation of speakers let's say as an 00:05:51.58900:05:51.599 example that you have a sealed subwoofer 00:05:54.20000:05:54.210 box installed in your vehicle and you 00:05:56.02900:05:56.039 find that you're not quite getting 00:05:56.99000:05:57.000 enough bass you might want to consider 00:05:59.18000:05:59.190 another subwoofer box type you'll find 00:06:02.11900:06:02.129 that a ported subwoofer box will 00:06:03.70900:06:03.719 generally have more output but it's 00:06:05.45000:06:05.460 important to consider that every 00:06:06.86000:06:06.870 subwoofer has a different range of 00:06:08.80900:06:08.819 variables that affect how it actually 00:06:11.14900:06:11.159 responds and plays music as an example 00:06:14.62900:06:14.639 let's say that we take a ported 00:06:16.51900:06:16.529 subwoofer enclosure let's just say it's 00:06:18.55900:06:18.569 one cubic feet tuned to 32 Hertz and 00:06:22.04000:06:22.050 let's say that we put two different 10 00:06:24.55900:06:24.569 inch subwoofers in it we know that we're 00:06:27.20000:06:27.210 gonna get different sound from each of 00:06:29.77900:06:29.789 these two different subwoofers this is 00:06:31.99900:06:32.009 why prior to building and installing our 00:06:34.36900:06:34.379 subwoofer box we should consider what 00:06:36.52900:06:36.539 the frequency response will look like 00:06:38.57000:06:38.580 for the subwoofer that will be 00:06:40.25000:06:40.260 using now it's also very important for 00:06:42.14000:06:42.150 our base performance to consider the 00:06:44.87000:06:44.880 volume that is required for a subwoofer 00:06:47.60000:06:47.610 if you install a large subwoofer into a 00:06:50.27000:06:50.280 space that is far too small for it the 00:06:52.82000:06:52.830 subwoofer isn't going to perform to its 00:06:54.80000:06:54.810 optimal capability and one of my 00:06:56.60000:06:56.610 previous videos I talked about how you 00:06:57.89000:06:57.900 can estimate what your box volume will 00:06:59.75000:06:59.760 actually be after all displacements for 00:07:02.09000:07:02.100 something like a ported subwoofer box 00:07:03.59000:07:03.600 you can check that out here on screen 00:07:05.48000:07:05.490 now let's say that you're confident 00:07:06.77000:07:06.780 within your subwoofer box type something 00:07:09.32000:07:09.330 else that you're gonna want to consider 00:07:10.52000:07:10.530 is the construction of the subwoofer box 00:07:12.89000:07:12.900 one of the biggest issues that I always 00:07:14.57000:07:14.580 see is when a subwoofer box isn't sealed 00:07:16.97000:07:16.980 well and this goes for ported subwoofer 00:07:19.46000:07:19.470 enclosures also the only way the air 00:07:21.71000:07:21.720 should be able to come in and out of a 00:07:23.72000:07:23.730 subwoofer box is through a pore and 00:07:25.55000:07:25.560 obviously if it's a sealed box it 00:07:27.26000:07:27.270 shouldn't be able to come in and out at 00:07:28.73000:07:28.740 all it's really important to make sure 00:07:30.56000:07:30.570 during the construction phase that all 00:07:32.51000:07:32.520 of your cuts are extremely straight and 00:07:34.73000:07:34.740 accurate and if they're not it's 00:07:36.11000:07:36.120 important that when you're actually 00:07:36.98000:07:36.990 building the box that you use plenty of 00:07:38.54000:07:38.550 caulk in order to seal up all of the 00:07:41.03000:07:41.040 corners next it's important to make sure 00:07:42.89000:07:42.900 that your box is properly braced if you 00:07:45.44000:07:45.450 have a very powerful subwoofer but then 00:07:47.30000:07:47.310 a box where all of the walls of the box 00:07:49.34000:07:49.350 can easily compress and flex then you're 00:07:52.07000:07:52.080 going to lose out on a lot of acoustical 00:07:54.02000:07:54.030 energy and that means that you're losing 00:07:55.97000:07:55.980 out on output to alleviate this problem 00:07:58.25000:07:58.260 you should have bracing another 00:08:00.08000:08:00.090 important thing to verify is more on the 00:08:02.30000:08:02.310 installation side of subwoofer boxes you 00:08:05.00000:08:05.010 want to make sure that they are fully 00:08:07.06000:08:07.070 secured within the vehicle properly 00:08:09.83000:08:09.840 securing the box to the vehicle makes 00:08:12.02000:08:12.030 the box much more stout and it makes it 00:08:14.39000:08:14.400 so that you're not losing any of that 00:08:16.13000:08:16.140 acoustic energy which means again more 00:08:18.77000:08:18.780 output now I'm the speaker side of 00:08:20.66000:08:20.670 things and getting good mid bass it's 00:08:22.28000:08:22.290 also equally important that we consider 00:08:24.29000:08:24.300 our installation something else that's 00:08:26.15000:08:26.160 really nice to add is these foam rings 00:08:28.31000:08:28.320 these rings help to bridge the gap so 00:08:30.80000:08:30.810 that it directs all of the sound through 00:08:33.20000:08:33.210 the hole within your door panel the 00:08:35.48000:08:35.490 reason that's important is if you have 00:08:36.98000:08:36.990 the sound bouncing around inside the 00:08:39.11000:08:39.120 door panel it can actually cancel out a 00:08:41.00000:08:41.010 lot of your mid bass performance for a 00:08:43.15900:08:43.169 full video about that and making custom 00:08:45.11000:08:45.120 speaker adapters in order to make sure 00:08:46.88000:08:46.890 that you get the best mid bass 00:08:48.14000:08:48.150 performance again video on screen now 00:08:51.77000:08:51.780 finally mistake number four 00:08:53.55000:08:53.560 poor system design it's really important 00:08:55.98000:08:55.990 that when we select all the different 00:08:57.11900:08:57.129 gear for our car audio build that we 00:08:59.30900:08:59.319 properly match the different items your 00:09:01.76900:09:01.779 amplifiers output power and watts RMS 00:09:04.47000:09:04.480 should closely match the capability of 00:09:07.13900:09:07.149 the subwoofer that you're purchasing as 00:09:09.11900:09:09.129 an example let's say that you're using a 00:09:11.40000:09:11.410 subwoofer that is super beefy it's super 00:09:14.10000:09:14.110 strong I can handle a ton of power and 00:09:15.84000:09:15.850 you're using just a moderately powered 00:09:18.80900:09:18.819 amplifier you're not going to be 00:09:20.67000:09:20.680 powering that subwoofer to its full 00:09:22.55900:09:22.569 potential and actually the amplifier is 00:09:24.36000:09:24.370 gonna have a hard time moving this big 00:09:26.93900:09:26.949 beefy subwoofer so you're gonna have 00:09:29.04000:09:29.050 reduced performance compared to if you 00:09:31.41000:09:31.420 just had a matching subwoofer now let's 00:09:33.86900:09:33.879 say you have an amplifier that's much 00:09:35.63900:09:35.649 more powerful than what the subwoofer 00:09:37.47000:09:37.480 can handle although you're gonna be able 00:09:38.81900:09:38.829 to power the subwoofer to its full 00:09:41.06900:09:41.079 potential 00:09:41.85000:09:41.860 you're leaving opportunity within your 00:09:44.06900:09:44.079 amplifier you could have had more output 00:09:46.71000:09:46.720 something else that often gets ignored 00:09:48.62900:09:48.639 is you have to remember that it takes 00:09:50.69900:09:50.709 power to make power you can't buy a 00:09:54.09000:09:54.100 10,000 watt RMS amplifier and install it 00:09:57.66000:09:57.670 into a little car something like a Honda 00:10:00.86900:10:00.879 Civic without upgrading the electrical 00:10:03.38900:10:03.399 system it's important to have a big 00:10:05.18900:10:05.199 enough power plant within your system 00:10:07.04900:10:07.059 and in this case that's the alternator 00:10:09.48000:10:09.490 we want to look into something like an 00:10:11.46000:10:11.470 upgraded aftermarket alternator if we're 00:10:13.82900:10:13.839 going to be using a huge amplifier we 00:10:16.19900:10:16.209 also want to make sure that our power 00:10:17.51900:10:17.529 delivery system the wires is also 00:10:20.40000:10:20.410 upgraded in order to handle this 00:10:22.13900:10:22.149 increased power I want to go into more 00:10:23.91000:10:23.920 detail on this in a future video so if 00:10:26.10000:10:26.110 that's something you're interested in 00:10:27.15000:10:27.160 let me know so that's the four mistakes 00:10:29.12900:10:29.139 but what are a couple of easy ways that 00:10:31.37900:10:31.389 if we check all those off the list we 00:10:33.15000:10:33.160 make sure everything is good what's a 00:10:34.43900:10:34.449 couple other ways that we can add bass 00:10:36.54000:10:36.550 if we're just not impressed with what we 00:10:38.97000:10:38.980 have well in my opinion one of the most 00:10:40.88900:10:40.899 efficient ways to add more bass is to 00:10:43.37900:10:43.389 add more cone area as an example let's 00:10:46.16900:10:46.179 say that you have a 10 inch subwoofer 00:10:47.49000:10:47.500 and it's just not performing to what you 00:10:49.61900:10:49.629 would hope it would be and you have the 00:10:51.74900:10:51.759 room to potentially add a second 10 inch 00:10:54.23900:10:54.249 subwoofer well that's gonna be more cone 00:10:56.97000:10:56.980 area so you're gonna have more bass so 00:10:59.93900:10:59.949 as long as you have more room and you 00:11:01.65000:11:01.660 can also power that second speaker 00:11:03.72000:11:03.730 you're going to have 00:11:04.99000:11:05.000 more bass now let's say that you only 00:11:06.79000:11:06.800 have enough room for 1/10 what could you 00:11:09.64000:11:09.650 do 00:11:10.03000:11:10.040 well you're gonna want to look for more 00:11:11.73000:11:11.740 excursion excursion is how far a 00:11:14.26000:11:14.270 subwoofer or speaker actually moves in 00:11:16.72000:11:16.730 and out if we get an upgraded subwoofer 00:11:19.75000:11:19.760 that's still a 10-inch but it has more 00:11:21.49000:11:21.500 excursion we're going to get more bass 00:11:24.04000:11:24.050 also for upgrading that subwoofer we're 00:11:26.20000:11:26.210 probably gonna have more power handling 00:11:28.45000:11:28.460 capability within the subwoofer we can 00:11:30.64000:11:30.650 feed it more power we can have more bass 00:11:33.07000:11:33.080 so there we have it I'm wondering how 00:11:35.17000:11:35.180 many of you guys actually make it all 00:11:36.85000:11:36.860 the way to the end of these videos I 00:11:38.29000:11:38.300 know that this stuff can seem a little 00:11:39.85000:11:39.860 bit monotonous but it is super-important 00:11:42.43000:11:42.440 for really getting the best performance 00:11:44.44000:11:44.450 out of your car audio system a special 00:11:46.69000:11:46.700 thanks goes out to John Bryan Ally Jerry 00:11:49.15000:11:49.160 EJ Emmanuel Truman James and Colin along 00:11:52.93000:11:52.940 with the rest of the patreon support 00:11:54.43000:11:54.440 team a huge thanks to those guys for 00:11:56.44000:11:56.450 helping contribute and crowd fund the 00:11:58.57000:11:58.580 making of these videos more videos on 00:12:00.94000:12:00.950 screen as always thank you for watching 00:12:03.19000:12:03.200 you guys Rock I'll talk to you soon
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