QuestionQUESTION: Hi Brian, it's me again! Let me start by thanking you yet again for your past advice, you've been extremely helpful! Ok, here goes, I'm trying to upgrade again to try for a competition type sound, I'd recently purchased a refurbished 15" kicker l5 in a vented 3.2cu. ft. box and am running it in my 02' trailblazer with the lanzar 256 amp I had. This thing pounds hard as hell!!! BUT, it's just a little bit shy of what I'm looking for. I was thinking about moving it into my 02' grand am gt, but in the same token with that I'll probably suffer a loss in some of the bass cause of the trunk rattle and all. I've been doing some research and it seems that after the subs sensitivity rating,( I think is 87.5 or something) to gain 3db you have to double the power. Which brings me to my question, would a line driver/ bass booster be a good way to go to pull off those extra decibels to mess with my breathing and stuff? And second,can I run a line driver off of a high-low converter.Any suggestions? Thank you very much!
ANSWER: Hi Jesse,
I have to admit, extreme high-SPL systems have never been something that's interested me--I prefer a bass output that's balanced with the rest of the audio range, not an overpowering bass. But that's just me.
Don't assume that the system in the Grand Am won't be as loud or even louder than the same system in the Trailblazer. Enclosing a subwoofer into a trunk can do some surprising things to the bass output. You might consider applying damping material, like Dynamat, in the trunk--it can help with the rattle, but it also can improve your system's output level. The energy that would have been expended on making the sheet metal vibrate can be applied to producing sound waves instead.
To answer your question: in most cases, adding a line driver will result in any extra power output from the amplifier. Basically, a line driver increases the signal voltage in the amplifier's RCA inputs. However, that doesn't change the amplifier's power rating--a 400 watt amplifier is still a 400-watt amplifier, whether it's getting a 2-volt input or an 8-volt input. The function of the amplifier's gain control is to compensate for different input voltages; so if you increase the input level, you'd probably just need to turn down the gain control. There are reasons why this can be helpful, but increasing the amp's power output isn't one of them.
The only way that a line driver would give you more power would be if the existing input level was so low that the amplifier wasn't able to achieve its full rated output even with the gain all the way up. I doubt that's the case in your system--your amplifier is designed for an input voltage as low as 250mV. Even an entry-level head unit will usually have at least a 500mV output; and a line output converter will often give you a higher output voltage than many head units.
You can use a line driver with a line output converter, but I don't think it would add anything to your system.
Hope this helps!
Brian
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QUESTION: Hi again, sorry to bother you once more. If a line driver boosts the signal going to the amp, does an epicenter do the same thing? If possible, can you give a quick explanation of what an epicenter does? THANK YOU VERY MUCH ONCE AGAIN!!!!
ANSWER: Hi Jesse,
For some reason I missed this follow-up question when you first posted it. Sorry it's taken me so long to get to it.
An Epicenter is a signal processor that's designed to restore bass content that's lost in the recording or storage format. (I should note that I've never used an Epicenter; my information on it comes from the manufacturer's literature). For example, a piece of music stored in an MP3 file may have lost some of the original bass content due to the compression of the file format, or a CD may be produced with some of the bass of the original recording filtered out. The Epicenter is designed to analyze the music, looking for harmonics of the original bass. From the harmonics present among the higher frequencies, it can determine if any bass has been removed, and restore it.
I do not know whether it can also act as a line driver, increasing the overall voltage of the pre-amplified audio signal. If so, it's certainly not the primary function of the Epicenter. It should change the tonal balance of some music, increasing the bass content. Like a line driver, though, it can't increase the output power rating of your amplifier; so the absolute maximum volume of your subwoofer system won't be changed.
Sorry again about the delay!
Brian
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Hi, me again. Sorry, I'm a pain in the neck! You've recommended sound dampening, I was considering that before you'd mentioned it, but since you have, does it really do what they claim in the description? Well, I was looking at a product called fatmat. They claim that it is the best out even though its the cheapest, have you ever had any experience using this product? I was gonna try it out in the trunk along with a spray-on called dei boom mat to try and coat some of the awkward corners and the metal poles on the underside of the rear deck, would this be worth my time, money, and effort? THANK YOU YET AGAIN!!!!!!
AnswerHi Jesse,
Unfortunately, I don't have any personal experience with Fatmat, though I've heard of it. You might try checking some car audio forums to see if you can find some people who've tried it. The main trouble with some of the less expensive damping material is that it might peel off or run over time, especially if it's exposed to high temperatures. In my experience, Dynamat Extreme has always performed very well if it's properly applied, but that doesn't mean that there aren't other good products out there.
The purpose of a damping material is just to keep a panel from resonating. It does this by adding mass to the panel, which changes the metal's natural resonant frequency. It helps a lot with large, flat panels which are most likely to resonate with the sound waves from a subwoofer. The corners, where sheets of metal come together, aren't as likely to vibrate. Personally, I think I'd stick with sheet-type damping material and not worry about the spray-on type unless it becomes necessary.
Hope this helps!
Brian
