All BTL's like this?

[smashedz28 110]

Alright.. first of all excuse my terminology.. probably use some 'wrong' terms in this post, bare with me

here is some backround.. 1 18"BTL, 1 SAZ1500D, 2 Kinetik HC2000's, all 1/0 knu wire. Had some guy build a box for me.. thought he knew what he was doin.. i could have been wrong.. the box seems strong.. very huge. I dont know the exact Cu Ft of the box, he told me tuning was around 32hz. This is my first big system.. ive had tons of 12's but no 15's or 18's. Im going to set my voltage with a DMM here in a little while (post my math under for verification).

1) This BTL is insane.. the output blows me away.. hits so damn hard when it hits.. but as far as musical its just not there what so ever. Im beginning to think this may have been the wrong sub for me. Are all BTL's like this? (i know it could be the box). This sub makes so much pressure.. its going to break numerous things in my tahoe I can tell already. It hits the lows so nice. but everything else isnt so nice. My interpretation of it is its at one level for a duration of a song then the low note hits and its SO much louder.. almost like something is wrong.

2) Where should my LPF be set?

3) Phase.. how does that work on the amp exactly? Where would I want that?

these are just a few questions off the top of my head.. my Deck has a ton of options as well I could very easily have set wrong. basically if this is how all btl's are then I now know the true difference from an SPL sub compaired to a "SQ" sub such as the Q. my friend has a 12" Q and it sounds lovely.. it doesnt hit as hard as mine.. but its so damn clean and smooth.. this BTL is an a-hole sub. obnoxiously loud lol. I love the power it puts out.. just not very smooth or clean to the ear. seems like it would do wonders with a meter but for the everyday listener it might not be the sub for the job.. any thing you guys can throw in here will help me out, this being my first time with something this powerful i have to be missing some things here.

Edited April 18, 2010 by smashedz28

[smashedz28 110]

forgot to add the voltage calculation i did.. So please correct me if im wrong. Im using a Sundown1500D at 1 ohm. so...

Voltage = Sqrt(1500 * 1)

Voltage = 38.72983....

Play a 50hz test tone and adjust the gain until I get a voltage as close to that number as possible? 3/4 volume.. AC volts..no bass boost or Loud features on at all..? that sound about right?

[b34tBoX 0]

2) Where should my LPF be set?

80-100Hz, what's it at now?

[thebiggmann12 14]

ssf at 60-100...i like mine at 60 but its really just preferance. keep ur phase turned all the way down. try finding out the box size...if its too big it could make it sound bad.

[jcarter1885 995]

ssf at 60-100...i like mine at 60 but its really just preferance. keep ur phase turned all the way down. try finding out the box size...if its too big it could make it sound bad.

Most systems you can leave the phase at 0* but you can play with it to see if sounds better since its relative. You mean Low Pass Filter, depending on where you have your mids crossed at is where you want this to be set (generally 60-80Hz, but some do gas high as 100Hz).

Ask the person who built the box for you to give you the plans for it and somebody on here could tell you what it is tuned to and the exact volume if you dont trust buddy.

[NB50 206]

Both lpf and phase depends on your setup. Tune them to where it sounds best on your setup. SSF should be set ~5hz below tuning frequency.

[Sir-Lancelot 216]

^ agree with this. Except I think he meant LPF at 60-80 not the SSF. Set your SSF a few clicks below your box tuning.

Give us the box and port dimensions.

Edit to add I was agreeing with Brandon. You guys type too fast. lol

[smashedz28 110]

I tried measuring it once and failed, there is a thread floating around here about it.. I can give you the width of the box, height, depth.. think my problem was the port, not sure the proper way to measure that to give you guys the numbers you need to calculate it. but if you guys can instruct me ill sure do it. appreciate the responses guys. I have the subsonic filter set properly (if my box truely is tuned to 32hz). the LPF seems to be based on my high's and to be honest its a damn mess right now. I have 4 Eclipse 6.5's in all doors all ran to a MB QUART 4125.. the system has been in thevehicle for 3 days now, and i cant turn it up at home, 98% of my tuning has been done while driving on the deck or sitting parked in the driveway with the system off.. lol.. need to get to the park or an open parking lot with a small flathead and get to work i actually got out earlier today while i had it up.. flexes the hell out of everything.. doors, roof.. windows.. things laying in the gutter 6 ft or so away.. sub is amazing, just need to get it figured out.

[XxedgarxX 2]

maybe you could show a video of all that flex

[MrSlinky 0]

also dont think that the btl is all you need. a couple good sets of componets also make it sound cleaner/better.

[bigrank916 72]

also dont think that the btl is all you need. a couple good sets of componets also make it sound cleaner/better.

Betters yet, a proper front stage. Just because you have a BTL doesn't mean you need multiple sets of mids and highs.

[stealth 113]

also dont think that the btl is all you need. a couple good sets of componets also make it sound cleaner/better.

Betters yet, a proper front stage. Just because you have a BTL doesn't mean you need multiple sets of mids and highs.

you better have multiple sets......... no matter what mids you got, 1 set aint gonna properly keep up with 1 18btl with thousands of watts.

and to the OP. this definitely sounds like a box issue if it aint your filters.... do you have WINISD???? i have a feeling you have too much port area or maybe you box is too small.

some info on the box would be nice.

[bigrank916 72]

also dont think that the btl is all you need. a couple good sets of componets also make it sound cleaner/better.

Betters yet, a proper front stage. Just because you have a BTL doesn't mean you need multiple sets of mids and highs.

you better have multiple sets......... no matter what mids you got, 1 set aint gonna properly keep up with 1 18btl with thousands of watts.

and to the OP. this definitely sounds like a box issue if it aint your filters.... do you have WINISD???? i have a feeling you have too much port area or maybe you box is too small.

some info on the box would be nice.

I have a set of Mach5audio 6.5s and a set of Vifa textile dome tweeters that play very, very well with my BTL.

Look at the Punisher. It has 4 15" Icons with a small front stage. I've only seen one speaker in the doors and never spotted his tweets, if he has them. Sounds clear as day in all videos.

[smashedz28 110]

yea front stage is hurtin me, i need to learn what the hell im doin with that part also.. the sub im thinking has broken in over the past few days, its getting a bit lower. I honestly doubt the box is too small.. its too big if anything, port area might be too much also.

Little more info on the box (which i measured wrong somewhere)

Box for my 18" BTL

[NDMstang65 403]

..I've got a BTL in my home theater...

It definitely doesn't sound bad

[j-roadtatts 1,129]

I've had my BTL in for a month now in my SQ set-up and it sounds amazing. I have my low pass set at 50 hz, anything above this sounds bad in my set-up. I recommend listening to the sub with the fronts turned WAY down, just enough to reference to the music, THEN adjust your LPF and see what you hear. For me, once I got to 50 hz @18db slope the BTL started sounding AMAZING.

After a month THIS sub has REALLY started to loosen up and smooth out. My box 5cf tuned 32hz, 12 in. port area per cu. ft.

[Notorious97200 339]

a BTL in your HT ? Damn... You must work for Fi !!!

What kind of amp do yo have to push this sub ?

Sorry OP !

[sundownz 197]

As for the LPF -- most customers set it about half way up. Works well in many cases. If the LPF is too low then you will only hear the "low bass"

[johnecon2001 82]

a BTL in your HT ? Damn... You must work for Fi !!!

What kind of amp do yo have to push this sub ?

Sorry OP !

Sarcasm? He does work for Fi lol

[PureSPLprix 0]

if you want more upper end go with a smaller box, look at the vid I posted. I had that thing on a hifonics 2005d in that puny box and it played everything well, coulda been just a little bigger to help the low end out but for a generic shop box that was leaky as all day it didnt sound bad at all. If I try a bigger box and it dosnt do too much Ill go back to something like this when I get my 18 just so Ill have the trunk space