Bass sounds flat when volume is increased

OK assuming you are referring to after market sub and amp whether or not added to factory head unit (stereo). #1 start your engine, and have your amp adjusting knobs accessible #2 insert a CD of the most listened to type of music (Rock,rap,classic) #3 adjust your stereo volume to YOUR max preferred db level with your amp levels at the lowest settings possible #4 start by increasing your freq. rang by 2 bands at a time then the same with gain, once you have gotten your bass to the level you like with out distorting or popping try increasing your bass boost (if available) till your preferred sound(may need to back off gain and freq. add bass boost accordingly until you like what you hear.play around with it for a while make sure you do this at the peak volume in which YOU listen to music because if you do it at a low volume and then turn it up you can blow your equipment . side not 8''in is for very fast bass reps, 10''in is for average rock and 12''s 15''s 22''s are for your low long deep bass reps such as rap and R&B anything else just e-mail me

Hello.... sorry to hear about your problem. Bass is the ultimate evil of coaxial speakers. You have a couple of options here, and this is just my professional opinion because I do not know what your lifestyle details, such as truck space needs, type of music you listen to, budget, etc. If you are looking for alot of bass, the best bet would be to use 2 external amplifiers, 1 for the interior speakers, and 1 for a subwoofer. You would then need to purchase an electronic crossover. With this setup, you can remove all of the low frequencies from the coaxial speakers and put them where they belong, with the sub. You will gain EXCEPTIONAL clarity and a very high volume before distortion level. Again it will depend on what your budget is and if you are willing to compromise on some cab space. The only other option you have at this point is if you are wanting to play your music at high volume levels, you will just need to reduce the bass level as you increase volume. I hope this has helped. Good luck with your venture!!

20 year car audio/video installer
Bay manager

These are "decent" quality 5.1 speakers, usually without any trouble.

Now, to your question, you will not have 5.1 "surround sound" effect with standard sound card, standard sound card will provide only three speakers sound, rear speakers will not connect but bass should be hear. Please switvh power off to the speakers and disconnect all cables from spaekers and connect them for best quality as follows:

1. Audio from PC, orange, green and black connecting to front right speaker.
2. DB15 (D-SUB) connecting to subwoofer, subwoofer is serving as mixer, power board, amplifier and connection box, control pod is just cable connection to it
3. Connect all cables to they respective speakers

Establish location of the speakers, from experience, in ideal world:

1. Sub should be on about your knee level or below, about twice your hight from you.
2. Front centre speaker should be about some distance as sub or bit closer on front and slightly above your head.
3. Front left and right speakers should be at about 45degree from your axis, at distance of about 1.5 your hight and on the level of your head or slightly below.
4. Rear left and right speakers should be located similiary to front speakers, on they level or slightly above them, again, about 45degree from your axis.

Location of the speakers is more actually important than it is assumed, total sound immersion is not possible without proper speakers installation. Head in these instruction meant a location of your head while you are listening to your music or recording not while you are standing.

In reality... hang them higher than your head in four corners of your room, front centre higher than sides, woofer lower than sides and below front centre, if they interfere with each other - increase the distance. I hate reality...

After speakers are connected:
1. Plug power cord in,
2. Turn all sounds totally down, including subwoofer
3. Increase sound on PC to maximum, let play any known to you music, tufftuff or bach, whatever, do not bother with metallica as you cannot discredit on it correct levels.
4. Increase subwoofer volume, holding one hand on the front of the grill till you get some vibration from it
5. Increase sound on centre speaker, then on sides front speakers till you achieve equality of the sound
6. Decrease sound volume on your PC to about 60% - 70%
7. Increse subwoofer volume till you feel sound on your hand in front of the speaker.
8. Increase sound volume on front/rear speakers as required.

Hope that short intro solved all your speaker problems, enjoy! if you require any additional help, do not hesitate to answer to this post with request.

The protection modes in these units ****. Most new units have them. What I do is turn down settings on deck and turn up amp as much as possible. Then the protection won't turn on because you won't have to turn it up as high.

are the sub speakers ok? if ok then u have a problem with the Amp and the output IC's will have to be checked there cud be a problem with the input card in the amp.

Make sure the subwoofer is set to low frequency, make sure subwoofer and bass are enabled on the headdeck. Make sure the gain is turned up on the amp, make sure the rcas haven't come out of the back of the head deck.

Hello again ronnieyannon,

It's probably best to allow the amp that is powering the subs to control the frequencies going to the sub(s). I would not use the lpf on both the head unit and the amp in any case. The control settings are not completely precise and you could end up with a lot of tweaking between the units to get the sound you want. I'd send full range to the amp and with it playing something with a lot of bass, set the 401s to "LP", the crossover slope to near maximum, and then adjust the frequency until it sounded best to me. Starting on page 11 of your manual are the Rockford-Fosgate recommended adjustment procedures, including setting the gains and the filter frequency.

Those numbers for the lpf on your head unit sounds like it allows you to decrease (-24dB), as well as increase (+6dB) the bass at the specific frequencies of 50, 63, 80 and 100Hz. You probably don't want to decrease the bass boost for subs. And the 401s will allow a boost up to 12dB and is variable from 50-250Hz.

Hope this helps.

Hello,

The level control controls the input level coming from your head unit (receiver) to the amp.

Your Sony users manual is a little vague on how to best adjust the level and other controls.

Here is one method that some installers use and works well with most amps.

Most 10" subs sound best between about 80-100hz and below, so start out by setting the LPF at about 80hz. The HPF will not be used. Next turn the bass boost and gain all the way down. Turn on the radio and set all tone controls, bass, midrange, treble to flat, usually "0" on most head units. Turn the volume up to approximately 3/4 volume level or just until you begin to hear distortion. Now, back the volume down until the distortion is gone. Next turn up the gain control on the amp until you hear the subs start to distort then back the gain down until the distortion disappears. Next turn the bass boost up again until the subs begin to distort, then either back the bass boost down or back the gain down until the distortion is gone. You may need to play around with the bass boost and gain controls to get exactly the sound you prefer.

Hope this helps.

Sounds like you need to invest in a capacitor. Those are used when subs receive a bass spike. You just a need a 1 Farat Capacitor (1,000 watts) ran between the head unit and the amplfiier to fix your issue. Also, try reducing the volume gain to half gain and low pass frequency to half gain; this will increase your clarity and make your amp less hot. This may fix it without a capacitor. Also find out what amprage your alternator is. Your alternator may not be designed to run the amplifier. Most alternators are 200 amps now if they are gold plated.

Hope this helps

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Are you sure you don't have any shorted wiring or defective speakers?