Car audio question

So my Civic has a 10" Pioneer sub and Kole Audio amp in it and it sounds like E36 M3 for most music. Is the amp just E36 M3 or what?

Define sounds like ish. Is it clipping? Does it cut out too high so you lose a lot of lows? Does it sound like it's trying to push too many frequencies? Subs are generally regarded as narrow sound ranges, and I know I screwed up an install once, and it was trying to push voice through the subs, and ended up clipping out way earlier than it needed to due to an overworked voice coil.

How is it hooked up? Is the amp just for the sub, or are you driving all the speakers with it? How does it sound at low-ish volume levels?

It sounds like E36 M3 for the bass in say 3Oh!3 "I'm not your boyfriend baby". I don't think it is trying to send voices thru it. The more I turn the bass up the worst it sounds.

Are you turning up the bass at the H/U or with the gain/signal control at the amp? It could be that you're trying to ask the amp to force way too much voltage, and it's just pushing horseE36 M3 power. You could also be looking at something stupid like say- the higher the DB's, the more she rattles, and something is loose in either the sub or the amp.

I can honestly say I've never heard of Kole audio...but it appears that they might be decent, a few car audio forums don't hate them. I also wonder if the sub and the amp are the same ohm rating. if you've got an 8 ohm 2 channel, and you're not bridging down to 4ohm, and the sub is a 4 ohm, it's not gonna work well.

I am turning the amp at the head unit. The head unit goes from -7 to +7 and it is at -2 right now.

What is the sub rated for and what is the amp putting out?

93EXCivic wrote: I am turning the amp at the head unit. The head unit goes from -7 to +7 and it is at -2 right now.

Did you futz with the amp settings at all when you first installed it? My early diagnosis is that the amp has a huge gain set, and the H/U is overdriving the hell out of it and making it sound like poop. 10's were never meant for big noise, and that to me sounds like what your amp and h/u are trying to do. Check out the amp and see if you can dial back the gain settings at all... and if it's god a hz response, see if you can turn that up a little bit so it's hitting the meat of the frequency range of that sub.

Is the sub blown?

DaveEstey wrote: What is the sub rated for and what is the amp putting out?

Amp 300 Watts. Sub 350W

digdug18 wrote: Is the sub blown?

No I know what that sounds like.

what are you comparing it to that doesn't sound like $!$?

you may have just reached the limit of that sub...

93EXCivic said: The head unit goes from -7 to +7 and it is at -2 right now.

I have found your problem, you need amps that go up to 11.

I've always thought of 10 inch subs as better producers of drum bass than harmonic bass. It might be being overdriven. To echo those above, what is the gain set at on the amp?

The amp may not have enough head room so the power it's putting out is a little dirty. I usually pair an amp with 2x the power of the Sub so you never get even close to using all the amp's power.

do you have another amp to try it with? to either rule out the amp or sub. Are you using a sub output from your head unit? Or a full range output? or how is your amp set up? Because if your sending your subwoofer frequencies that it cannot handle well, its gonna sound like E36 M3.

The car just came with amp and sub. I didn't put them in. I will check the gain later today.

What kind of enclosure, is the volume of said enclosure appropriate, what is the crossover frequency and what is the bass boost frequency and curve, 100hz +3 db/octave or 50 +10 db.octave, all those things could be your problem.... I would play something that is JUST voices, and go around back and see if there is anything coming out of the sub....

Ok so the amp has the following settings. A level knob turned to about 2/3s, bass boost switch turned on, hpf knob 40Hz to 250Hz (turned all the way to 250Hz), Crossover switch with options of HPF, Full and LPF (on full), LPF knob 40Hz to 250Hz (on 40Hz). I have no idea what any of this means though.

Does your headunit have a dedicated sub out?

Your settings are all wrong.

The HPF is preventing anything below 250hz to pass through, and your LPF in turn is preventing anything above 40hz to pass through. So basically, you've got frequencies from 40hz to 250hz blocked out of your sub, leaving it with frequencies that it's ill-equipped to handle.

Turn the crossover switch to LPF, and maybe start the LPF setting at 80hz, and work your way around there (probably going down, depending on what the rest of your speakers are) until it sounds right.

Actually, right now, with the xover knob turned to full, your sub is playing full range. Bad juju. That's why it sounds like E36 M3.

In reply to 92CelicaHalfTrac:

I didn't do any of the settings I will play with it in a bit.