So i have an fi q 12 sealed at 1.2 cubes and it sounds like chit to me. It isnt musical at all and it makes a ton of mechanical noise. most of the time thats all i hear. I am running it off a hifonics 1606 amp with the gain turned half way up and the bass boost all the way down. I have a alpine 9883 HU with the sub at + 15 and bass -2. The sub is inverted and it is down firing in a hatchback. Any opinions as to why i it sounds so chitty to my ears. I mean my old system was 2 10w6v1s and it seemed like they were twice as loud off only 650 watts.

if you hear mechanical noise there could be something wrong with the sub...or something not set up right....is it bottoming out?

So i have an fi q 12 sealed at 1.2 cubes and it sounds like chit to me. It isnt musical at all and it makes a ton of mechanical noise. most of the time thats all i hear. I am running it off a hifonics 1606 amp with the gain turned half way up and the bass boost all the way down. I have a alpine 9883 HU with the sub at + 15 and bass -2. The sub is inverted and it is down firing in a hatchback. Any opinions as to why i it sounds so chitty to my ears. I mean my old system was 2 10w6v1s and it seemed like they were twice as loud off only 650 watts.

did you properly seal your box? an air leak sometimes sounds liek mechanical noise. and the things i highlighted could also be your problem in terms of sounding crappy. not sure about the alpine decks, but isnt +15 like all the way up? set your gains with a dmm. also check your sub wiring. you might have accidentally inverted the polarity.

More than likely its just because its inverted. Try running it in the box and see how it sounds.

And btw.. "gain at halfway" isn't a really good measuring point. You need to set your gains using an Oscilloscope to prevent clipping the amp

Or at least set it properly by ear.

More than likely its just because its inverted. Try running it in the box and see how it sounds.

I agree, inverted is the noise you're hearing.

not so sure the inversion is the cause, sounds like a very not-solid box, with possible leaks, and turn down your sub volume on the HU, turn bass to 0, make sure your xover on amp is set correctly, and try turning your amp's gain down. if no O-scope, here's one idea, turn LP xover off on your sub amp, so that woofer is playing higher tones, start your car, if you hear whining, or any noise coming through woofer, turn down gain until eliminating, then reset xover accordingly. It's no where near "proper" but better then "it's halfway up"

Keep the sub setting at +15 and properly set your gain. Then turn the sub down. Now you can exceed where the amp is set at