Bass Blockers Suck...-Tookem Out

[solaris=amazing]

Ok, a little while ago i asked about bass blockers and if they where installed behind the head unit-this WAS the case. I thought having them on would make things better, well it didn't. Today i took off all the bass blockers/capacitors(4 total) and just connected color to color minus them, and all speakers have more life to em.

Before i had the following settings, -06 to +06 eq on jvc hu. Bass was +01 and treble +04, with the LOUD setting on for good bass. Fader was set to +03(for good staging). Now, with the caps on, i could only put the volume to 21 MAX and the speakers would pop cause the bass. Now, with all caps off i can put it up to say 23-25 no problem. It actually sounds more juicy to me, better bass-and the speakers DON'T pop. Also, if i faded all the sound to the back, before it used to pop like crazy-now it's damn good. Do you think the bass blockers are defective or something?? I told the dude at best buy-who intalled it what i did. He said NOW i run the risk of BLOWING all speakers-HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE.... They where popping WITH them on, so of coarse he suggest for me to come in and take a look-NO WAY.

In the next couple weeks, i cannot wait to install a mono amp/12" or maybe 15" sub, MYSELF. I did lots of reading, and it is way easy. Can't wait.

[SickVette]

Caps have a tendency to rob a little power. I never install them when using head unit power. That could be a reason for lack of "sound". But your settings are a bit out of whack. First turn off the loudness. That is only causing distortion at high volume. Loudness boosts the very high and very low frequencies. It is designed to be used at low volume so the the music is a bi more "alive" ...there are better words that could be used. It is not designed nor should be used at high volume. I do not know what you mean by eq set at -06 to +06...what do you mean by that. You need an amplifier on those speakers. You are clipping the head unit and that is going to cause poor sound.Get a reasonable amp on those speakers and you will be much happier and get better performance.

[solaris=amazing]

Hey Sickvette, by -06 to +06, thats the range of the head units eq inside. Meaning you can adjust bass and treble anywhere between those increments. I have it at good levels and it sounds amazing. As far as the Loudness feature, yeah i know it's mainly reserved for low listening, but you can use it at high volumes. In other words, without it, everything sounds like crap, period, even if you compensate by turning the bass and treble up you cannot get the punch without the loud on. Thats why i got bass at +01 and treble at +04. If i put the bass to say +05, with the loudness-then you would have some issues.

BTW, i'm not going to get the speakers amped, just a nice 15" sub w/mono amp. Then i can simply turn the bass down on the head unit, and let the sub do the thumping.

[SickVette]

I know that is the range but that means nothing to us when you ask a question. You say it has a range of -06 to +06 but you say nothing about what frequency is set where. As far as where you have your settings and not using an amp...hey it is your car and your ears. But I guarantee you have distortion and clipping.

[mtu2]

thanks for the info

[PaulD]

-6 to +6 is usually in dB ...... what sickvette was trying to tell you is that is BIG increase in power. +6 dB is a quadrupling of power, I just don't think your headunit is capable of that kinda power - and if the bass output makes the head unit clip "ALL OF THE FREQUENCIES WILL BE CLIPPED". Those bass blockers are just a 6 db roll off, not like a brick wall filter. That means if the frequency they are set to is 70 Hz, they are only 6 dB down at 35 Hz - they are NOT a cure all for your problems.

[Navy I.C.]

bass freq. need more power to reproduce than higher freq. if you dissipate the power going to a speaker it will be less likely to reproduce certain freq. as effective as it could without them. because power is being robbed after the amp, the HU is going to see new resistance and need more power that it probably can't get for the speaker to be as effective