9 replies to this topic

[riczito]

Hi all,

 

I have a Mini with a fairly old JVC unit in it, wired up to a pair of 13cm Kenwood speakers on the parcel shelf. I'm not expecting miracles from this setup, but I thought at least it might have SOME bass response! Nope, not really - they sound very tinny. All mids and highs. They seem to be solidly fixed, and I guess reasonably airtight with respect to the boot. I was wondering if there were any straightforward way of improving the bass response? For instance, what if I built a pair of simple wooden boxes to enclose them under the parcel shelf inside the boot? Would that help?

 

If not, then would supplementing them with a pair of bigger drivers under the rear seat work? Any recommendations? Would fitting be as simple as just splicing off the speaker wires?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to ICE.

 

Thanks!!

Ric

 

 

This is the JVC unit :

These are the speakers :

[mini_in_progress]

Im no pro with ice and not done much with it since i was younger. I used to have sony xplod stuff and a decent sub and amp... recently ive looked at better amps and there now so compact, my old one was the size of a large dvd player, now there a lot smaller. I still have boxes of old bits ready for the mini one day.

If it were my car id look at wiring, and not use the door bell type stuff get the oxigen free wires and not expect the best with component speakers, 6x9s would be a moderate upgrade for a touch more bass even better hook it to an external amp

[unburntfuelinthemorning]

Generally you need large speakers for bass.  I'd say 8"/200mm full range (or woofers with separate tweeters) if you're only using one pair, plus enough power to drive them, and well sealed to seperate the front and rear sides of the speaker maybe using some sort of enclosure.  You'd have a nicer sound though if you mounted these at the front although that's not always the easiest in a Mini.

 

Improving the sound deadening in the vehicle can help too - you probably notice a deterioration of sound quality when driving due to the vehicle noise.

[pete l]

Check to see if you have more bass when you move the balance to one speaker, left or right, if you do then they are out of phase, as in, the + from amp is going to the - on one of the speakers. and the - from amp to the +

[Bat]

Hi,

What Pete said!

Failing that it looks like the speakers are around 200w to the head units probable 50w.

To get bass you need to move the cones to move the air. Fit an amp or get speakers that are a closer match to the head units output.

 Cheers

[hhhh]

50W is plenty to get decent bass. Car stereo ratings are all b*llocks anyway. To double the volume you'd need 500W. 100W would be a barely perceptible difference. The power rating of a speaker is a completely separate parameter from its efficiency so it doesn't matter that you're driving 200W capable speakers with a 50W amp, and it's much better than the reverse. I get decent bass with 6X9s and a 30W amp, but the small interior is going to limit the bass extension regardless. If you like muddy bass with a fake peak in the mid-bass instead of real bass, a subwoofer would help but would need an extra amp if there isn't an output on your current one.

 

I think your speakers are likely out of phase as previously suggested. Swap the wires on one of them and you'll know right away. Spending money on special wires is likely a waste, especially for a car stereo. If you don't believe that, find a friend with fancy wires and switch them out with Cat 5 computer network cables without telling him and I'll bet he can't hear a difference.

Edited by hhhh, 30 January 2019 - 09:50 PM.

[KTS]

+1 for speakers being out of phase

 

i got good results from mid-sized speakers like these by making up a panel of 18mm MDF to fit the rear parcel shelf and mounting the speakers through that (..self tappers into the underside of the board from the boot to stop it taking your head off in the event of a frontal collision)

[roblightbody]

In my Mini (6" speakers in original holes, recent Sony head unit), the stereo sounds fantastic without the engine running - there's definitely decent bass - but once the engine's running, and you're on the way, its as if all the noise and vibration from the car just "blows away" the bass - its hard to explain.  But the stationary test of the sound proves its all working nicely.  You just can't expect miracles in a small noisy car I don't think...

[riktanius]

Added bass means you need to move air. You need bigger speakers to get lower and you need to drop in some sound deadening to keep the car from absorbing the bass.

[IronmanG]

Back in the day I squeezed 10 x 7 kenwoods in then put a carpet shelf over it so you couldn't see them then a 4 inch box type speaker in the middle like the minis had in the 80s. 150watt amp. Never had bass problems