ok so i have a 2000 monte carlo ls with a kenwood ddx 7017, a 15in orion cobalt and a JL Audio Slash v2 Series 250/1v2 and im having a real hard time making the 15 sound decent. im not looking to knock pictures off the wall but i just want my bass to be clean and crisp. to addtion to everything i also have JL Audio TR650-CSi component for the front and JL Audio C2-690tx for the rear, and pushing my mids and highs is a Clarion APX4240. how would you guys tune this i have no clue how to start.

 

What size box is it in? Sealed or ported? How is the sub/port firing? Is the box prefab or custom made?

 

its 16.5" W x 12.75" BD x 12.75" TD x 16.5'' H and its a permade sealed box

 

I think you might benefit from a ported box...ported boxes are louder than sealed with the same amount of power due to the cone being able to move more freely and you displace more air. You generally have to double the power when going from ported to sealed in order to get the same spl. So is your problem with that sub the quality of the sound or the loudness of it?

 

its the sound quality. i thinks a combination of my head unit and my amp. i would take it to an audio shop but there isnt a good one around town that knows what there doing. so i need to know how to tone it and like what needs to be set so i doesnt sound like S***

 

Well, would be nice if it were that easy. But I can't tell you what sounds good to you. I guess some basic things I would do is first start with all bass/treble and filters (high pass/low pass) set to flat or off, bass boost off. gain turned all the way down and subsonic filter turned all the way down. After that I'd set my gain with a multimeter. Google search on how to do so if you don't know how. You have no need for a subsonic filter since your box is sealed so just leave it all the way down. After that I would make sure the filter on your amp is set to low pass and set the xover freq to about 100Hz. Check the low pass filter on your deck and set it to about 100Hz too. Now you can start playing with the eq (bass/treble/mid) and set it to what sounds good to you. It usually helps if you have a song you're very familiar with and know what it should sound like. That's kinda the basic stuff I would do, can't really go much further than that but if you have more specific questions feel free to ask and I'll help you as best I can.

 

i would try making your own ports? sounds like it may be distorted and not powered enough, i would agree with turning everything flat and no bass boost, really your just gonna have to keep playing with it until its what you decide you like, its kind of hard to tell how to tune a stereo over the internet, we can just give ideas or hints on how to change it =/

 

How can you suggest that he port his box if you don't even know what volume it is? Matter of fact, I can't believe I overlooked that myself.

THE BOX IS YOUR PROBLEM!!!

The ideal volume for a sealed box for that sub is 2 cubes, your box is only 1.3 cubes after displacement. You're choking your sub! Adding port or ports to that sub won't do anything for it but make it sound worse since a ported box for that sub should be 2.3 cubes.

So before you do anything, buy or build the right size box and then go from there. I highly suggest building your own. It's very easy and doesn't cost much. You can buy half a sheet of 3/4" MDF from Home depot, they can cut it to the sizes you need so all you gotta do is go home, mock it up, predrill your holes, glue and screw it together, cut the hole for the sub and you're good to go. A half sheet of that wood should run you about $15-$20.

 

does it matter if its sealed or ported and it has to be alest 2 cube right?

 

Check out www.soundmancaraudio.com. They have great info on car audio