Hi Everyone!

Yesterday, I had my Sony amp installed. With '01, the seats have changed a little, so it wouldn't fit under the passenger or center. It had to go under the flip seat. Anyway, it is a 60x4 pushing Polk EX572a's. Before the amp, they just wouldn't go loud enough and the bass wasn't quite there. Now, after the amp install, they are real "boomy." I have tried adjusting the gains, the crossovers, and the eq built into the amp. It is a little better, but still sounds worse than before. So, I have a couple of questions:

1) Is this the speakers? Should I upgrade to a DX7 or an Infinity Kappa, etc?

2) Will Dynomat make any sort of difference? I just left the white "filler" sheet on the door?

Thanks for any input!

 

If you set the bass boost to zero, and don't have the high-pass or low pass filter on, the amp should not color the music significantly. However, each amp is going to affect the music a tiny bit, regardless of the specs. If the amp is affecting the speakers to the extent you're talking about, it sounds as if it has a built in bass boost at around 60Hz, which will make the speakers sound muddy or boomy. If the speakers didn't sound boomy before, they shouldn't sound boomy now, just louder. Those speakers are efficient enough that you should be able to get the full frequency response with only 1-4 watts, so even the stock HU can power them, although maybe not as loud as you'd like.

Did you signal path change? Were you using speaker-out on the HU before, and line out now? Some HUs have different eq settings on line out vs speaker out.

Dynamat or other brand acoustic dampers will make a tremendous difference, especially as you move up in volume. They tend to make the bass tighter, and eliminate the buzz and boom from body panels resonating. They also lower background noise in the cab, so you can hear the music better.

 

The amp is a Sony XM-604EQX. No bass boost, but I do have the high-pass crossover set at 100. I tried 80, but it didn't seem to make any difference. I will turn it off tomorrow, and see how it sounds. Also, the signal path "kinda" changed. I am using the factory head unit with line converters right behind the radio in the dashboard.

One more q...I really like the sloppy bass that carries, not the real tight, quick hit type bass. Will the Dynomat change the speaker response or just clean up the sound? Thanks.

 

Hmmm...I've not had any experience with line converters, but I know a few people on f150online run them. They say that there's no notable difference in the sound.

Dynamat will quiet down the resonance of the body panels that buzz and rattle along with the speaker. It will not change the speaker's output, except in enclosures with a flat surface perpendicular to the back of the speaker. Then it tends to dampen the out of phase reflection from the back wall of the enclosure, thus making the speaker more efficient.

 

Could be your enclosure size is too small. Without a lot of power you made not have noticed before, but now that you are pushing it, the small enclosure is more noticable. Find out the min and max enclosure size for that speaker , the mid point is your SQ point, if less than the midpoint, the bass sounds boomy.

 

Try some dynamat on the doors. This will keep the metal from vibrating and CAN clear up some of the boomy sound. Also, w/o a sub, run the speakers full-range and no bass boost. You are already near the power limits of the speakers and giving them the extra boost can push them over the edge.