2012 Cruze LS: Sound Difference when seats lifted up

[ZachFools]

I've installed a system with the stock stereo.Here are my specs:

Boss D800.2 1600 watt amp
1 12' Kicker 4ohm DVC Crv12 sub w/ ported box (Port facing front with sub)
Hooked up in series and bridged to amp (8ohm load)
Using a cheap lil Line out converter.
Installed 2 crappy vr3 6x9's in rear harness to get by with hooking up the line out converter,6x9s hooked in with door speakers as well.
Ok,so those are the basics..
I have everything adjusted to my likings, (with what I got to work with.) and it sounds fine when your right in front of it.
But heres my problem..

I have the sub centered in my trunk facing the back of the car,with the port in the same direction,if your in the front seats with the backseats down,with what I have to work with,you can hear it somewhat fairly.
HOWEVER,the moment you lift the back seats up,it immediately basically cuts off what bass I have,unless its a real low note or your in the backseat..

So basically what Im asking here is,how to I get it to sound the same as with the seats down if I want the seats up?I havnt had this problem in my previous sedans with the seats up.Cruze's are really freakin' compact I must say.Any help/advice would be appreciated,thanks.

PS:when I get my taxes back,I do plan on getting another exact kicker CRV with a double ported box,so maybe that will help out.

[obermd]

There's a lot of sound proofing and deadening in the rear seats. Try driving your car around without your stereo on but with the rear seats up and down. You'll notice a huge difference in the way the car sounds.

[ZachFools]

Yeah i did that and even rolled the back windows up and down,its ridiculous how bad of a ripple effect it creates when there down,but hopefully something can be figured out

[Chevyderek72]

Mine is better with the back seats down but it really isn't too bad at all. There isn't too much of a difference for me to want to drop them. At 8ohms how much power is the amp outputting to the sub? The only thing I can think of is that the sub isn't receiving full potential or the frequency of the box is possibly at the perfectly wrong frequency.

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[rpcraft]

8 ohms will only put roughly half the rated load that the 4 ohm rating is per channel unless you are running the amp bridged, at which point if it is a 2 channel amp it is seeing a 4 ohm load and is giving you what the rated line wattage is (approximately). You'd definitely be better off with a second or even an 4 ohm speaker to but I'd be hard pressed to say if it is good or bad to mix the two. Honestly until this moment I have never really considered the option.

[XtremeRevolution]

I've installed a system with the stock stereo.Here are my specs:

Boss D800.2 1600 watt amp
1 12' Kicker 4ohm DVC Crv12 sub w/ ported box (Port facing front with sub)
Hooked up in series and bridged to amp (8ohm load)
Using a cheap lil Line out converter.
Installed 2 crappy vr3 6x9's in rear harness to get by with hooking up the line out converter,6x9s hooked in with door speakers as well.
Ok,so those are the basics..
I have everything adjusted to my likings, (with what I got to work with.) and it sounds fine when your right in front of it.
But heres my problem..

I have the sub centered in my trunk facing the back of the car,with the port in the same direction,if your in the front seats with the backseats down,with what I have to work with,you can hear it somewhat fairly.
HOWEVER,the moment you lift the back seats up,it immediately basically cuts off what bass I have,unless its a real low note or your in the backseat..

So basically what Im asking here is,how to I get it to sound the same as with the seats down if I want the seats up?I havnt had this problem in my previous sedans with the seats up.Cruze's are really freakin' compact I must say.Any help/advice would be appreciated,thanks.

PS:when I get my taxes back,I do plan on getting another exact kicker CRV with a double ported box,so maybe that will help out.

You are not giving the sub enough power. You are severely under-powering it in fact. I would say that at best, you are giving it 100W RMS of clean power. Boss amps are junk.

You might be running the sub out of phase with the rear 6x9s, which will cause bass cancellation. Try reversing the wires on the sub at the amp.

You will never get it to sound the same with the seats up and seats down. obermd basically told you why. The rear seats are an excellent sound blocking medium. If you want more volume with the seats up, you need more power.

My recommendation: sell the sub, sub box, and amp. The amp is junk and is under-powering the sub and the sub is horribly inefficient. Then, talk to me and I can help you get a proper system set up.

8 ohms will only put roughly half the rated load that the 4 ohm rating is per channel unless you are running the amp bridged, at which point if it is a 2 channel amp it is seeing a 4 ohm load and is giving you what the rated line wattage is (approximately). You'd definitely be better off with a second or even an 4 ohm speaker to but I'd be hard pressed to say if it is good or bad to mix the two. Honestly until this moment I have never really considered the option.

You cannot wire two different subs with each having a different impedance on the same channel. You can wire another sub on the second channel, but it will be a poorly designed system.

[ZachFools]

You are not giving the sub enough power. You are severely under-powering it in fact. I would say that at best, you are giving it 100W RMS of clean power. Boss amps are junk.

I kind of figured that,but with it this way its the cleanest and doesnt have distortion.

You might be running the sub out of phase with the rear 6x9s, which will cause bass cancellation. Try reversing the wires on the sub at the amp.

Yeah,i switched them to the proper wiring based on sound.

It will never get it to sound the same with the seats up and seats down. obermd basically told you why. The rear seats are an excellent sound blocking medium. If you want more volume with the seats up, you need more power.

Thats crazy how sealed off it makes it,makes me wonder if I added more power,it would just vibrate my trunk off and when im up in the front seat,it just gets by par,lol.

My recommendation: sell the sub, sub box, and amp. The amp is junk and is under-powering the sub and the sub is horribly inefficient. Then, talk to me and I can help you get a proper system set up.

End of the month (When I get my refund) I plan on upgrading.
New amp,yes.New box,yes.
New sub?No.Its a kicker CRV12 4dvc.I was just thinking about getting a second one and doing it that way, because the CRV series is beast and I know they can hit like crazy with the right box and amp.

So I guess alls I really need is to figure out which amp I'm going to get?I've already got a double ported box in mind.

[XtremeRevolution]

I kind of figured that,but with it this way its the cleanest and doesnt have distortion.



Yeah,i switched them to the proper wiring based on sound.



Thats crazy how sealed off it makes it,makes me wonder if I added more power,it would just vibrate my trunk off and when im up in the front seat,it just gets by par,lol.



End of the month (When I get my refund) I plan on upgrading.
New amp,yes.New box,yes.
New sub?No.Its a kicker CRV12 4dvc.I was just thinking about getting a second one and doing it that way, because the CRV series is beast and I know they can hit like crazy with the right box and amp.

So I guess alls I really need is to figure out which amp I'm going to get?I've already got a double ported box in mind.

I don't want to bust your bubble, and I'm not trying to be a snob, but nothing Kicker makes is worth the money. Seriously. There are better products out there by most companies that will give you far better performance AND sound quality simultaneously than a Kicker sub will. Their speakers are complete crap, and the only products they make that is of high quality are their amplifiers. I meant every word when I recommended that you sell the CVR12. Kicker subs are only really designed to impress people who don't have any exposure past retail products.

Remember, you have two things working against you here. First, you are underpowering the sub, and second, the sub is horribly inefficient by design. I can produce over 10x more sound per watt of power with my IDQ15 subwoofer than your CVR12 can. Low power and an ineffiicent sub are a very bad combination.

If you want to get loud on a budget, two SSA Dcon 15s in sealed boxes will blow you away in a respectably small boxe and will make a CVR12 look like a child's toy. Cone area is king.

Then again, this is my advice, having designed a few hundred subwoofer boxes.

Check out the audio articles on my website and let me know if you have any questions.

Home & Mobile Audio - The Xtreme Revolution

[ZachFools]

I don't want to bust your bubble, and I'm not trying to be a snob, but nothing Kicker makes is worth the money. Seriously. There are better products out there by most companies that will give you far better performance AND sound quality simultaneously than a Kicker sub will. Their speakers are complete crap, and the only products they make that is of high quality are their amplifiers. I meant every word when I recommended that you sell the CVR12. Kicker subs are only really designed to impress people who don't have any exposure past retail products.

Hmmm...Interesting.I started out with two 10' kenwoods,and thats when I upped to the one 12' kicker.And yea I figured bridgeing it and what not would kill the power to it,I tried hooking it up parellel with a 4ohm load unbridged,but I was only getting output from one side of my speakers,so it didnt really do me any good since the other side wasnt sending to the sub.

[XtremeRevolution]

Hmmm...Interesting.I started out with two 10' kenwoods,and thats when I upped to the one 12' kicker.And yea I figured bridgeing it and what not would kill the power to it,I tried hooking it up parellel with a 4ohm load unbridged,but I was only getting output from one side of my speakers,so it didnt really do me any good since the other side wasnt sending to the sub.

You need to get your mind away from retail products. There are a few exceptions such as Alpine and JBL, but that's the extent of it.

SSA Dcon 12: DCON 12 Sound Solutions Audio 12" 300W DCON Series Subwoofer - SSA STORE
SSA Dcon 15: DCON 15 Sound Solutions Audio 15" 300W DCON Series Subwoofer - SSA STORE

Let me know when you're ready to get a proper system built and we can talk about parts then.