first of all, i'd like to get a subwoofer answer:

my pioneer sub is rated at 400w RMS and 800peak. i'm currently running it in the recommended amount of sealed airspace (1.5 cu ft). i have a profile ap700m amp pushing it... specs are: 700w peak, 220w rms. it sounds nice for the most part, but there is an issue i'm having. in the backseat, the bass sounds hollow and not very powerful/deep. sounds in the front seats are nice until i crank the volume on my panasonic head unit up way high. would i benefit in this situation from adding some pillow stuffing in the enclosure? i'm wondering if that would eliminate the hollow sounding bass that ends up in the backseat... or perhaps i should consider a more powerful amp because i still have 180w of unused RMS power on the sub?

second question regarding front door speakers:

i'm looking to replace the stockers with the eDi 6000s V2 component system. i'd obviously need to amp them. i'm a little noobish when it comes to door speakers. first of all, would the included tweeters from eD fit in the factory tweeter mounting positions without modification? secondly, i'm guessing that the tweeters would be powered by the same power going to the 6.5" midranges, correct? final question: how does this all integrate? if my fronts are powered by a separate amp, would my rears still get the same amount of power as before from my head unit? how would i keep the sound balanced between front/rear? would i adjust gain on the amp manually or would i use the head unit Front/Rear Balance controls?

thanks for helping me out. it'll be nice to straighten all of this stuff out.

 

what size sub is it?

 

I wouldnt know on the first question? On the second question. The tweeters might need something to hold them. On my CDT components it came as a 2 piece where the back piece i was able to screw into the door and then put the tweeter/grill snapped back on and it stayed pretty good. Im not too sure on how the ED tweets are and hopefully someone can chime in and answer it. The tweets will take power like the midbass does. The rears will get the power that it gets right now if not more from the HU. Im not too sure if it gets more since the fronts arent taking power from the HU. I dont know if thats how it works? As far as balanced, it doesnt really matter i currently have mine fadded to the front since i never hear the rears and its really not worth it. I would just leave the rears the way it is and worry about the power up front.

 

sounds about right. if u have a powerful front stage you won't need much if anything in the back.

 

Adding "pillow stuffing" would only fool the speaking into thinking it's got a larger box to work with so, your bass may sound more "muddy" as you crank it. My suggestion is find a better sub that has lower frequency capabilites. Something 30hz or below and if you sub already does this then odds are your under powering your sub.

For your last question, wire them in parallel (front and rear) or just get a 4-channel amp and completely get your HU out of the picture. It'll make things easier to tune too.
-hope this helps.

 

thanks for the responses.

the pioneer is a 12". the sub hits low... all the way down to 18hz, so that's not a problem. i guess it's just the amp. i'll have to look into getting a different one at some point. thanks everyone. if anyone else knows about the eD tweeter fitment, chime in

 

1.5 cubic feet is big for a single 12 sealed. 1-1.25 sounds right for most 12's. you'll get tighter sound out of a slightly smaller box, and your power handling will increase as well.

 

i thought 1.5 sounded big, too, but it's the recommended size for my sub according to pioneer. if i were to have a ported box, the recommended would have been 1.25. who knows... maybe i'll test out my friends 1 cubic foot box just to see what happens.

 

i think u might have that backwards. you would need a bigger box for ported. try the 1ft box but i think the bigger problem is the weak amplifier. put 400-500 watts rms to that sub with a 1-1.25 ft box and it'll sound better and louder.

 

^ what he said. You might have the box specs backwards

 

what gauge power wire should i use if i were to have a 400w RMS amp? 4awg?

 

you could get away with 8 gauge but 4 gauge would do you better (recommended).

 

i have 8 gauge in there now... if i could get away with leaving it there, i might. it'd be a little cheaper and a lot easier b/c all i'd have to do is unplug the old amp and plug in a new one... no need to take apart some of the interior and get wiring through the firewall, etc. what would be the disadvantages of 8 gauge? would it, theoretically, not be able to carry enough power to a 400w rms amp?

 

Theoretically, you'd be pulling about the maximum amount of amperage an 8 gauge wire is rated for but, its not really going to blow up or anything. It's possible you could rob power from your amp though during high bass transients.

 

8 gauge is fine for 400 watts.