hu settings

[extrarice311]

my current setup : amp JBL gt5 a604, seps JBL GT5 650C, coaxial JBL GT5 652. Im just using the stock hu for this setup. Is setting the trebel and bass to max ( 6 in my hu) pushing this setup hard? Since the speakers are entry level and I dont have subwoofers will playing music make the wear and tear faster? I dont play music too loud ( just at level 12 -15 on my hu) my car btw is a 2013 honda city.
Follow up question im planning to add a small subwoofer to my setup. Is a 1o inch enough since I really dont like the "bayo" factor. The installer placed the amp under the seats at the back, im also planning on placing the sub there. Is this a good idea? Coz I dont want place it at the trunk.
Thanks for any input on these concerns guys.

[extrarice311]

just to add to this, i have always set the treble and bass to max settings in my previous cars with stock hu and stock speakers. hindi naman nabasag yung mga speakers ko. with this slight upgrade and with branded speakers i guess gusto ko lang alagaan para matagal ko pa magamit. with me setting bass and treble to max of 6 wala naman ako na sense na distortion. may mga song nga lang na mejo ma lakas tlga kick ng bass kaya kapag ganun mejo hinihinaan ko din volume. any thoughts on this guys?

[jhnkvn]

Okay, where to start..

Treble, mid, and bass are basic tone controls. All they do is add gain to several "banded" frequencies. Bass is usually grouped from 300hz and below, mid is from 400hz-1.2khz and treble from 1.2khz and above.

The problem with gain is that they're artificially amplifying the signal and at more demanding levels, start distorting the sound. If you choose to ignore it, it might cause the woofer and a tweeter to release that magic smell

What I recommend is setting it to a maximum of +4 and simply increase the volume on the head unit (ex. from 12-15, try 14-17) to compensate for the gain. Don't be afraid to turn it up, however turn it down once you start to hear audible distortion (your ears will force you to turn it down anyway).

Distortion doesn't kill speakers. It IS however a good indicator that something's wrong. What kills speakers is rather them reaching their mechanical limits.. For example, throwing 100W at a tweeter meant to handle 50W maximum means its voice coils can't cope with the heat being produced and go poof! Another example would be churning bass tracks on a high volume and your driver can't keep up (overexcursion).

Also, don't believe that amplifier clipping kills speakers. That's false (but true in a way). Your speaker doesn't care if it sees 100W of a pure sine wave or 100W of ugly clipped wave forms.. for them, power is power. Problem is, when you overdrive any amp into clipping, the amp is actually producing a lot more than it's rated power along with a lot of added high frequency harmonics. This is also why the tweeter is often the first driver to blow because at typical loads it's simply humming along, and when clipping occurs, it suddenly sees a ton of energy in the form of square waves and added harmonics causing it to blow.

But, clipping doesn't kill speakers... exceeding the mechanical limits of a driver is. I can have a one watt amplifier clipping and sending distorted signals at a speaker and it still won't kill it. However throw your typical 100W amplifier into clipping and it'll start killing your speakers quite fast... because once it clips, it isn't throwing 100W.. it's throwing something like 300W to a driver causing it to blow.. that is, unless your speaker can handle it.

Hope this clears up your misunderstanding regarding exploding speakers

[jhnkvn]

Oh yeah, regarding the subwoofer.

Want a general explanation?
Yes, 8-10" would suffice. To keep it under the seat you'll have to throw it in a small box such as 1.0cu.ft sealed. You might also need to look for shallow-mount subwoofers (subwoofers that doesn't have your typical 5" depth installation).

Want a more technical explanation?
SPL is only dictated by xmax and displacement. For most people, just worry about displacement. This is why I always favored cheap-ass multiple subwoofers over a moderately priced single subwoofer. Reason? Efficiency given a fixed power output from the amplifier.

Do not mistake output with sensitivity ratings. Your 90db sensitive woofer isn't louder than a 83db rated woofer. Sure, it might be louder at a given power rating that is until you hit xmax.

A 6.5 inch driver can output the same decibels as a big-ass 12" subwoofer as long as it has the xmax for it. The only advantage of the 12" is that it doesn't need to move that much to achieve the same output while the 6.5 inch cone would be moving like mad. Problem is, to fight the output of a JL W7 doing a maximum xmax of 23mm (estimated figure, too lazy to google), you'll have to throw something like 4000W and 200mm of xmax on your 6.5" midbass. And no such midbass exists on Earth today

Xmax would only be the limiting factor once you have the same displacement and the required power to reach xmax. Take my IDMax 12" as an example. If I threw it in a huge box and it only needed 500W to reach its xmax, then even if I throw it 1000W, output wouldn't increase because I'm limited by the xmax. It's not like my woofer cone would magically jump out to produce more output.

(That's a copy-paste of my post in KAC regarding SPL output. Too lazy to retype.)

[extrarice311]

Thanks so Jhnkvn! Much appreciated information : ) especially for a noob such as me