Fitting an aftermarket Sub-Woofer - bass roll-off and signal sources

[kaanage]

My setup is the amp as above, all wiring looms to suit the GTI 7 and a PP8E-Q subwoofer, all pro installed by a shop for $1400. Amp is under the passengers seat.

sound is significantly better even without changing speakers. Next step is to have my rainbow germanium components fitted and i expect to go up another level again

I wouldn't say that is a certainty - higher end drivers tend to have more power handling (largely irrelevant since you have bass redirected to the sub) and higher end tweeters will have extended treble response which is often too bright with the large glass area of modern cars. I know people who have done the full driver upgrade on various cars and, yes, they can run higher volumes if they aren't running a sub but most ended up padding down the tweeters (or even placing some filtering material over them) to make the treble tolerable.

Your sub is the most limiting item in your current setup - an 8" driver can only do so much (and being ported will increase and may possibly extend the output a touch, at the expense of group delay but it also adds to the size of the enclosure)

see if you can have a listen to the pioneer sub first. I found most of those super tiny ones a bit boomy for my liking. OK if its in the boot, but if they're in the cabin it might not sound the greatest. If you can, i'd still load a 10" into the boot in a hidden enclosure or something.

^ This

[mgrobins]

Matt, there is an OEM install kit for the speakers from Focal.

I believe the Mk7 version requires a small mod to the front tweeter mount (it uses the existing one and attaches the speaker inside it I think) but provides an original finish. the speakers are well regarded too.

I'll price some options like the Match Amp/DSP vs an L2Ci and sub with standard speakers. Not sure if I want to spend the extra at this point though I appreciate a new amp will improve things a lot.

If I can borrow a router I'll be able to do a custom enclosure very easily and design it as a circle that protrudes into the wheel well so I have depth for mounting a 10" at least.

[mgrobins]

Thanks for the additional input Kaanage.

More thought is leading me toward building an enclosure for a 10" driver or 2x8" and simply running a mono Ch amp via an L2Ci (if my tests show that bass is being fiddled with by the head unit) for now.

At the levels I listen the stock amp is doing ok and I'd like to see how the car sounds with low end reinforcement and increasing the spare head room on the stock amp.

[Matt P]

I wouldn't say that is a certainty - higher end drivers tend to have more power handling (largely irrelevant since you have bass redirected to the sub) and higher end tweeters will have extended treble response which is often too bright with the large glass area of modern cars. I know people who have done the full driver upgrade on various cars and, yes, they can run higher volumes if they aren't running a sub but most ended up padding down the tweeters (or even placing some filtering material over them) to make the treble tolerable.

Your sub is the most limiting item in your current setup - an 8" driver can only do so much (and being ported will increase and may possibly extend the output a touch, at the expense of group delay but it also adds to the size of the enclosure)

Mostly after better clarity, separation between instruments, vocals etc... I got over the BOOM BOOM about 10 years ago

The amp helps find the limits of the factory speakers and they sound a tonne better with an amp, but still not as good as a good as a pair of these puppies Rainbow Audio USA