Unlike a coupe, I find I really need to adjust bass levels depending on what I am doing, roof up, roof down slow, roof down highway. I currently have an older Sony Head unit that has multiple programmable equalizer settings. I can easily flip between them. On the highway I use a setting that cranks up the bass but sounds poor at slow speeds. I am always flipping back and forth.

One issue is I think the Sony becomes shrill at high volumes and it has no loudness function, so at low volumes the bass just falls away.

I really like the JVC -DVD MP3 unit because I can ditch my changer and even play video on the face plate. But really I am looking for suggestions for a new head unit suited to a convertibles difficult conditions.

 

It may just be me, but why do you constantly change the EQ settings? IMO you should be able to find a level medium and just stick with it. Kinda confused about what you actually want and why?

 

I can't tell if your car is a convertible or not but in my case with a trunk sub, putting the roof down muffles it a lot and I have one equalizer setting for roof up with a lot less bass.

While moving, the wind noise when going fast drowns out the bass much more than higher frequencies. My head unit has no loudness function so as I raise the volume it is not altering the bass components like other head units would. So at high speeds if I have enough bass and I slow down and turn down the volume I lose the bass and found I really needed to set up a 3rd equalizer setting.

No single setting covers all conditions.

 

Can't you just use a bass **** (remote level adjustment) with your amp?

My kenwood deck has three pairs of RCA outs, one for subs. So I have a huge bass adjustment range through the sub level controls. Top up is like setting 5-6, top down is 11-13 (out of 0-15).

Works fine.

 

I have been trying to do it with the equalizer settings because I have 7 settable modes each with 7 bands. I might look into some sort of controller like you said, do they make them stand alone, I have only seen them come with amps. By the way where is your sub.

 

You can buy them seperately, they are essentially just a resistor ****. But your amp must have a remote level control port on it (most intended for subs, do). A **** or dedicated subwoofer RCA out level control will probably give you a much broader range of control than an eq, but imho you should be able to make due with a 7 band eq pretty well. I can't say I've seen a head unit with a 7 band eq... is it an old ES or something?

Also, it sounds like you are powering your speakers off the head unit? That just won't cut it in a vert. Stock speakers or head unit power, both big no-no's.

I have a JB slim box (shelf mounted, ported low on the shelf firing forward), 4 stage 1 RF 8" subs, wired to 1 ohm to get 400rms from my memphis amp. I made a lot of mistakes in the setup but I'm not willing to spend money again right now to fix it. It does sound good but it is not at all optimized as a setup, very inefficient and I don't like that aspect.

My mistakes:

1.) Expecting bass levels like a coupe. I figured 4x 8" would be enough to get me up to the levels of a decent 10" stealthbox installation (which is what I had in my previous coupe). I also wanted to keep the trunk, I really need it. It's fine with the top up of course, but the acoustic wall the top forms just kills it top down. So from the get go I had unrealistic expectations.
2.) Using 4 subs. The box can't be big enough, at least with common 8" subs. There may be some that can work in such a small space but the RF stage 1's were a terrible, terrible choice.
3.) Using the wrong 4 subs. Not only wrt to the enclosure, but the RF1's have terrible sensitivity, 83db I think when there are drivers out there at 90db. Very poor choice as power is limited and volume is critical in a vert. At least they were cheap.
4.) Not enough power. This one was a self-imposed hurdle. ~400 watts rms is about what I figured the stock charging system could support without flickering lights, keeping decent key-off play time, and not requiring any electrical upgrades.

- This setup would be fine if I had better driver selection and a 1,000 watt class D section. With that it would meet my goals, I am sure. But that is also a lot of money and I'd be into charging upgrades.

What I've learned:

1.) With the same box arrangement, I would have been better off feeding 2 proper 8" subs the 400 watts, and tuning the enclosure properly. High sensitivity infinities or some other choice of the 100's out there.
2.) Taking the shelf box approach was a bad idea because of how I use the car. My car is a 2nd vehicle. If I'm driving it, 95% of the time the top is down. So adding a shelf or trunk solution was not the right direction for me to take. I should have jumped right to a backseat or other cabin based solution.
3.) If I could start all over, I would have put the money into either glassing 8" subs into the kick panel area (mine's an auto so I could do it), or beefing the hell out of the doors to house a 8" or solid 6.5" and driving the hell out of them. The money I put into the box, 4 subs, and 5 channel amp would have definitely funded this endeavor. Some fabrication costs, beefy front door drivers, and a higher power 4 channel amp.

I could be a lot worse off, the subs were cheap and the amp was ebay. But with the box I have about $450 in the box/drivers/amp/wiring, and I could have used that money a lot more intelligently. On the same note the amp new would have ran in that range, so it makes me feel a little better.

Right now I have 6.75" 2ohm infinities in the doors which are dynamatted up, and alpines in the back. Top down the infinities are doing as much bass work as the subs are, which is ridiculous. You can FEEL the subs, but the sound you hear is being produced near equal between the two.

 

Right now I have MB Quarts in the doors powered by an amp, they sound quite good. The rears are Polk db650s powered off the head unit. The sub is a 10" in the trunk per my signature, it is powered by a 500W rms 2 channel amp running in bridged mode for the amp. There is a gain adjustment on it, I will have to see if there is an available remote adjustment. My head unit is about 6 years old now, one of the early Xplod series when it was Sony's high end line, I cannot remember the model number right now. I think part of the problem is the head unit, it seems to unevenly amplify things as you turn up the volume.