Having issues with my stereo :(

[E30isGIRL]

Well this is regarding the stereo in my Jetta.. but anyways... what have I done to make the sub hit bass notes invereted??? When it his a low note it thumps inwards rather that out and sounds like total shit! Help me! I did find my crappy Kenwood has one of teh RCA jacks loose... think it may be time to get a new head unit :(

[SeanS]

try to reverse your + and - wires on the sub terminals.

[E30isGIRL]

Already tried that... I even swapped out RCA cables after that started and it's still the same... could the amp cause something like this??

[Van Westervelt]

Even if your amp was sending out the signal reversed, just switching the + and - would correct it. If you replaced the RCA's and switched the wires at the same time, you may have reconnected it the same way. Try just switching the wires on the speaker terminals and leave the other ends connected. Other than that...

[StereoInstaller1]

what have I done to make the sub hit bass notes invereted??? When it his a low note it thumps inwards rather that out and sounds like total shit!

Jessica, it is physically impossible for the human eye to see what a woofer is doing, even at the lowest (slowest moving) frequencies. Human eyeballs are just not that quick.

Now, keep in mind I have been a professional high-end installer since 1980. Until my house burned down, I had a roomfull of trophies. Way back in the day, I had a HUGE following. Cars have been shipped to me from Blaupunkt, ADS and Alpine. I have had cars shipped to me from as far as Boston to make shit sound good. End of bragging, but wanted to let you know I am not some kid spewing shit I have no clue about, OK?

So, here you go.

Woofers move equally in and out, period. Think about it, they MUST move equally in and out or the damn thing would run out of room to move!

As far as your subs "sounding like total shit", here are some potential issues:

(in order of "likelyness")
1. Poor box design. Very few installers have even a partial grip on how boxes work, much less how to build them. This issue is made worse by the fact that manufacturers LIE to us poor people in the quest for sales. The engeneering department tells them to say one thing, then marketing says to tell us something else, so that we will buy it.

2. Amp is running out of power, AKA "Clipping". Audio is made of waves of sound, made by the speaker moving back and forth. Power is made in waves. If the amp cannot make enough power to make that wave, it cuts off the top and bottom of that waveform...that process of "cutting off" is called "Clipping", and it really sounds shitty. You get "thud" instead of BOOM.

3. Poor install, improper grounding, inadequate cabeling. Lack of power makes for an unhappy amp, thus they make less power AND are more likely to clip. You mentioned a bad RCA...get that fixed, but I bet it make very little difference overall.

4. Poor accoustics. When a woofer makes a wave (back to that whole "wave" thing) and that wave is causing a spike in pressure at a specific frequency, it will attempt to stop the woofer from moving. This is called a "standing wave". Again, really shitty sounding.

So, the chance of your "shitty" head unit being the actual problem is highly unlikely.

If you want some complete advice, send me some pics of your install, a COMPLETE list of ALL model numbers, an EXACT measurement of your subwoofer box....if ported, an EXACT measurement of the ports, too.

I want to see pictures of the power wire at the battery AND the actual ground point, plus pics of the box. Without this information, I would be guessing. I do not guess. I can estimate, but without information guessing is all that happens.

Luke

Oh, and BTW, Welcome to R3V.

[E30isGIRL]

wow. I feel like I was just lectured... ?? This system sounded just fine about a week ago and I let a friend borrow the car (stereo had been running 2yrs w/o an issue)... Since then (well besides him claiming his innocence) it hasnt sounded correct.. as in when it hits the bass notes it makes a sorta rattle/thump sound... the sub would cut in and out on occasion and if you pushed a little on the player, the bass would come back but very strong and only last awhile.. that would be the rca jacks correct?? My mistake for believing I could see the speaker working differently... my ex used to have a big setup with 3 15"s which he could reverse polarize and I was thinking somethin was messed up along those lines...

From your description, it sounds that it may be the clipping thing.. grounding out maybe.. I had one day after I got it back from him and the sub was making a chatter noise w/o the stereo on...

I'll check the ground on it...
thanks for the info
and thanks for the welcome

[parkerbink]

Maybe your "friend" took the hu out? I'd have that checked since it was fine before and after not and since moving the hu makes a difference.

[StereoInstaller1]

Maybe your "friend" took the hu out? I'd have that checked since it was fine before and after not and since moving the hu makes a difference.

Yeah, sounds like a plan.

Sorry for being such a lecturer!

Luke

[E30isGIRL]

no worries! Thanks for the pointers guys :)