Anyone have any experience in car audio?

How is the system wired? The reason for this question is that when I had a fine car system (years ago), the bass would change dramatically when the fader was set differently. I don't remember the EXACT details, but it was something like this: If I faded more to the front or the back, the bass was amplified a great deal. This had to do with a way of wiring for two fronts, two rears, and a subwoofer that wasn't exactly "by the book" because the head unit technically wasn't set up for 4 speakers (as I recall). It worked, and allowed 4 speakers to play, but the fader really screwed up the sound. I never got a satisfactory explanation for this (meaning an explanation that I could understand), but apparently the technique used was quite common for installers at the time to "cheat the system" so to speak.

So, the point of this is.....could it be that there's a quirk in the way that your system's installed? It sounds odd, but I can attest to the fact that there are installation techniques that cause non-linear deviations in tonality.....if that makes any sense.

Most road,tire,mechanical noise is of low frequency,so it masks your bass at speed. For adequate bass @speed it's gotta be a little excessive at rest. If the subs are in the trunk they may need a little boost to get in the interior,also phasing with the other speakers is a lot more critical than in a room.Try inverting the subs phase just for fun. A little equalization may be needed. All car interiors are in a fairly small volume range which tends to give them a mid-bass hump, where I don't recall. It's been a while.

I dunno, if you say that you cannot hear the bass why don't you just crank up the bass? Let your ears be the final arbiter of the settings, not some magical number...

-RW-

First, do you have a sub-level knob linked to the amp that may be dash mounted? Or maybe hidden in the center console?

If you do, use it.

Do you have an aftermarket head unit? The gear you have isn't bad at all so I'm expecting that you spent some cash on a decent HU. If you did then you will have a Sub-level option on the HU to control the sub. And my advice is you turn it up until it works for you.

Your car is an entirely different environment, obviously. You'll need to either make the concession to less bass to save your hearing or enjoy the music while you still have your hearing.

And don't think you have to crank it to a$$clown volumes to get great bass. Just bump up the EQ a bit. You'll be fine. I've been doing car audio since I was 15. So 14 years now? I've wired all kinds of cars and done all kinds of custom enclosures and speaker installs. Never after an install have I been satisfied with the bass at 0. It just doesn't output anything worth the value of the sub.

Good luck with it. And I hope you found some good speaker cable other than that crappy stuff you can buy anywhere. That makes a huge difference too. But of course you knew that.