i dont know if this has been discussed in previous threads but i was experimenting with my stereo the other day.. turning the subwoofer on and off.

i started to like not having the sub on, although i have it turned back on now.. it sounded really nice without it.

my current setup is the jl xr653 3-way component up front (midwoofer in door, midrange and tweet in kick panels) driven by front channels of a jl 300/4 and a 12w6v2 driven by a jl 500/1 with a pioneer premier p680mp headunit.

i have not yet done any sound deadening to my current car, a 2 door LS integra..
i plan on deadening the whole car which should really make a world of difference, especially with the front stage and woofers in the doors..

anyone like running no sub rather than a system with a sub.. anyone try experiencing just using their front stage components and turning off the sub?
im just looking for a little conversation here, seeing what people enjoy or what they try out.

also, while i make this thread, anyone with advice on the most important places to sound deaden the vehicle, what type of sound deadening to use (and where) and what to use to stop all the little creaks and rattles that annoy the **** out of me

type away!

 

With your set up with 3-ways I would or could get away with out a sub for a day. Depending on your setup you can acheive some great midbass. I seen plenty of setups like yours that sounded like subs in the trunk.

 

a friend of mine had a set of xr650csi off a 3004 in the front doors of his integra with a solid mounting plateplus a lot of dynamat extreme that put out plenty of low end extension. obviously it didn't play as low as his 12w6v2 on his 500/1, which he eventually took out of the system and sold because it added too much weight to the car, but just the 6.5" with plenty of dynamat sounded very good with rap/hip hop at moderate volumes.

a few years ago, at work, a guy put a set of xr650cxi coxials (with a butt load of dynamat) into his gf's 92 civic powered off an old alpine deck. after the install. after demoing the system, we told them the system really didn't have a sub or a 4 channel amp in the trunk.

you can get a lot of low end out of those xr woofers if they are in the right environment....

 

as far as sound deadening goes, This might sound stupid but have you ever driven in a car without a headliner? it sounds like a hollow tin can... slap some up there and it will reduces a lot of vibration and echo.

 

its not so much that i am looking to run my setup without a subwoofer, its more that i was just seeing if anyone else has had experience with this..

i dont plan on ever not running a sub, i love my 12w6 haha

but i am looking very forward to extensive dynamatting (will probably use raamat)
as well as making mdf mounting rings and using some sort of expandable foam in the rear portions of the car.

im going to try to make this thing as quiet and rattle free as possible, because as far as im concerned.. the rattles, road noise and vibration are holding my stereo back from having some very, very good sound quality.

although being overpriced in most peoples eyes, JL really does make some great stuff and i can surely say i am not disappointed. the xr woofers have a nice bit of excursion which helps them down in the low frequencies

anyone else care to chime in im hoping to get quite a few responses, this topic is interesting to me haha

 

most people don't know how to properly integrate their sub with the rest of the system. so what they end up with is a boomy, over-exaggerated low end.

So, it would make sense that your car may sound a touch more natural without it. On top of that, most pop music doesn't drop below 45hz or so - and while that can be reproduced by smaller drivers at moderate levels, it certainly isn't the best way to get low end response.

My bet is that if you tune the sub in - eq, ta, phase, level adjustment - it will blend seamlessly and you won't even notice it - that's the ticket!

 

If you want a good, musical setup, then you can certainly achieve it without a sub.

I did a system for a customer a while in a 99ish prelude: niched the rear speakers, did extensive sound deadining in the front doors, did a nice set of diamond audio hex series, a d6300.4 (150x2 rms) and an alpine ivad310 running it all. It sounded fantastic with plenty of midbass and sounded like there was an 8" sub in the vehicle. He was more than happy with it, but will definitely be back to get a nice 10" sub to fill out the low end in the future.

I have tried turning my sub off for a while, but couldn't do it for more than a couple of days. I had plenty of midbass from my components, but there just wasn't enough bass for me (and no I'm not a bass junkie).

For my needs, I do not think I can have a "complete" system without a sub

 

hi, i'm running a JL 300/4 to kicker 5.25s in front and some crap sony xplod 6x9s in the back. i used to run a single alpine type e 12 on a JL 250/2 but now I roll with no sub at all. I think i just like the clarity and loudness the 300/4 puts out all by itself rather than booming bass. since i listen mostly to rock, i don't miss the bass very much. besides the mids pound pretty hard just off the 4 ch.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mulletov &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> since i listen mostly to rock, i don't miss the bass very much.</TD></TR></TABLE>

lol no "rock system" is complete without a sub.

 

I have two points to make,
1) cars are tin cans and make terrible listening enviroments, and that the human ear also has a frequency responsse. so what sounds good to one individual sounds poor to another. sound setups are a personal taste.
2) Most setups of subs dont blend in the audio from each of the speaker classes - sub, woofer, mid,tweeter. and hence dont have a flat response acroos the frequency spectrum. Base is also non directional, higher frequencies are more directional , so you tend to get overpowering effect of the base end. getting it right takes time, but when done correctly adds to the fullness of the sound.

besides with the subs on, you cant hear the car creaks & squeks