# Help me to get rid of the boomy bass.....



## Aquahallic (Oct 8, 2019)

My setup;

*2nd gen Toyota Sequoia*


 stock JBL Navi HU
 JL LoC-22
 JL 500/1V2


gain set slightly below the 9 o'clock position
Infrasonic freq is set to 25Hz
Q is set to 1.6
Center freq is set to 45Hz
Slope is set to 24dB
LPF is set to 80Hz

JL 12W3V3-4
 Ported enclosure (LAB OEM-Spec™ 1.75 ft^3 Ported MDF Enclosure for Single JL Audio 12W3v3 Subwoofer)
 

I was looking to add a single 12" to get that tight punch thump bass I can feel at low / moderate volume. While I got bass, it's more boomy than punchy even at low volume. I don't know how else to explain it other than I hear the bass booming in my ears more than I feel the punch in my body if that makes sense. I had a band pass box back in the early 2000s and this is what it reminds me of. Just boomy obnoxious bass for the sake of loudness. From the sound of the boominess you would think you would feel the bass just as hard but you don't. It's very annoying!

I've tried adjusting the amps settings up and down and tried adjusting the LOCs gain but nothing has helped. I even used the front speakers instead of the rears for the LOC but it didn't change a thing. I tried lowering the HUs bass and it helps with the boominess but the overall bass disappears too and you wouldn't even know I had a 12" sub in the back which defeats the purpose of this project!? 

The factory HU volume goes up to 62 and starts to clip at 55-56. I set the gain on the LOC with a 0dB 50Hz test tone and I set the amp's gain with a -10dB 50Hz test tone with the HU's volume on 47 because the loudest I usually listen to is around 30-40 depending on the song and if the windows are down. I found clipping and with the gain set how it is now the sub is no where near clipping, I have headroom to spare. If I turn the volume up to 40-45 I can feel the bass but the boominess also go up too and the volume of the words is really too loud to be enjoyable at that level. I'm looking to feel the bass at low to moderate listening levels. 

I know this is not a fair comparison but I have a 400w RMS 15" sub in a ported box for my HT and playing the same songs on my phone the bass sounds so perfect, not overly boomy but you can feel the bass in your body. The bass thumps and goes to the next note, it doesn't hang like an echo reverberating. I don't have to turn the volume up overly loud to accomplish that either. It will shake all the windows in my house and everything on the walls and the kitchen cabinets but the bass does not sound overly boomy at all.

I'm at a loss. I've had several setups over the years from a band pass box to a few sealed enclosures (all single 12" and 1 dual 8" setup) and the enclosures were always in the trunk but I never experienced this before. Is it because the enclosure is not in a trunk and the open air from the SUVs cabin is making it reverberate like this? I don't want to start throwing good money after bad money but If I went with a sealed box with JLs specs would that give me the bass I'm looking for or is this boomy bass just the nature of a large SUV interior?


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## Hillbilly SQ (Jan 26, 2007)

Sounds to me like cabin gain is your issue. I bet you have a big natural peak in the 40hz range caused by the SUV cabin which is where the boomy bass lives. Only fix for this is to cut that frequency range. Just for an experiment see if you can plug the port of that box and see if the boomy bass is as bad. The port tuning of that box might be in a range where it just helps the boomy cabin gain worse.


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## PaperLion (Aug 15, 2019)

You mention your LPF is set to 80Hz 24db/octave. Is there a corresponding HPF set on the rest of the system? Typical starting point for SQ builds with 24db slope filters is to separate LPF and HPF with a half octave in between to allow the crossovers to align correctly. So, if the HPF is set to 80Hz, the LPF on the sub should be around 60Hz.

Idk if this is your issue or not, it sounds like the placement and application of your enclosure, port tuning etc may also be contributing to your experience.


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## dcfis (Sep 9, 2016)

PaperLion said:


> You mention your LPF is set to 80Hz 24db/octave. Is there a corresponding HPF set on the rest of the system? Typical starting point for SQ builds with 24db slope filters is to separate LPF and HPF with a half octave in between to allow the crossovers to align correctly. So, if the HPF is set to 80Hz, the LPF on the sub should be around 60Hz.
> 
> Idk if this is your issue or not, it sounds like the placement and application of your enclosure, port tuning etc may also be contributing to your experience.


Wait, are you saying to align 24db crossovers if a sub is set to 80hz low pass the mind should be at 120hz?
Do you do the same for mids to tweets? Like 2500hz low pass for mid tweet should be at 3750 to align?


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## Aquahallic (Oct 8, 2019)

Hillbilly SQ said:


> Sounds to me like cabin gain is your issue. I bet you have a big natural peak in the 40hz range caused by the SUV cabin which is where the boomy bass lives. Only fix for this is to cut that frequency range. Just for an experiment see if you can plug the port of that box and see if the boomy bass is as bad. The port tuning of that box might be in a range where it just helps the boomy cabin gain worse.


I don't know why I didn't think to plug the port. I just plugged it and you can tell a difference. It still has a little boominess but not as bad as ported. BUT it's still lacking that punch I'm looking for though? 

By covering the port, the box is still larger than JLs specs for a sealed enclosure. At this point would going with a smaller sealed enclosure even do me any good? If not I'm tempted to just go back to the stock system.

To put it in perspective.....I was expecting a nice throaty sounding full exhaust system, what I got was a universal muffler swap fart can sounding system. 





PaperLion said:


> You mention your LPF is set to 80Hz 24db/octave. Is there a corresponding HPF set on the rest of the system? Typical starting point for SQ builds with 24db slope filters is to separate LPF and HPF with a half octave in between to allow the crossovers to align correctly. So, if the HPF is set to 80Hz, the LPF on the sub should be around 60Hz.
> 
> Idk if this is your issue or not, it sounds like the placement and application of your enclosure, port tuning etc may also be contributing to your experience.


With the stock HU there's only treble / mid / bass adjustments. I tried switching the slope to 12dB and completely off and I didn't notice any difference. 

As far as placement, I've tried the box facing the rear window, I've tried the box facing the front window, I've lowered the 3rd row seats and gave the box the entire 3rd row space and I raised the 3rd row seats where it had very little room from the back of the seats to the rear door. Nothing made a noticeable difference to me. 

The only way I haven't tried is with the sub facing up but the terminals on the back of the box overhang just a bit and I don't want to bend them and potentially crack the plastic housing from the weight of the box resting on them.


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## JCsAudio (Jun 16, 2014)

This is why you need to take a measurement of the frequency response. I’m assuming you don’t have a microphone and REW so maybe a $5 phone app RTA will be better than nothing. My guess is the same as Hillbilly in that cabin gain is causing it. I also think your subsonic filter is a little high at 25 Hz if the box tuning frequency is really 30 Hz. 

Try Signal Gen and run a low volume tone through the subwoofer while placing your finger gently on the cone and feeling for movement. As you sweep the signal from 25 Hz on up, note the point where the cone moves the least. That will be the true tuning frequency or fb of the box. Knowing this will help you tune the box better like setting the subsonic filter. I wouldn’t be surprised if the true tuning frequency is more like 37 Hz - 40Hz.


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## PaperLion (Aug 15, 2019)

dcfis said:


> PaperLion said:
> 
> 
> > You mention your LPF is set to 80Hz 24db/octave. Is there a corresponding HPF set on the rest of the system? Typical starting point for SQ builds with 24db slope filters is to separate LPF and HPF with a half octave in between to allow the crossovers to align correctly. So, if the HPF is set to 80Hz, the LPF on the sub should be around 60Hz.
> ...


No, just the sub. It's because everyone boosts the bass in cars and that moves the actual crossover point. For 80Hz sub LPF you would maybe want the midbass crossed at about 106Hz. You take any frequency and divide by 2 and that's 1 octave lower. Then split the difference to get a half octave. 



Aquahallic said:


> With the stock HU there's only treble / mid / bass adjustments. I tried switching the slope to 12dB and completely off and I didn't notice any difference.


If you dont have a crossover for the rest of the system, that's okay, but it will probably just contribute to boomy bass but not be the major cause. 24db per octave is the right setting for your sub, crossover at 12db per octave at 80Hz or off will just make the sub try to produce frequencies it's not great at or designed to play.

The main problem I think is the head unit. It is probably changing the bass output and roll off to protect the speakers at high volume and even at moderate volume, it's not putting out much in the range you're hoping to boost. So you are getting boom at the frequencies you can hear and the amplifier isnt getting much lower frequencies to amplify. You'd need like a JL fix or something similar to de-equalize the signal you're getting from the head unit.


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## dwhyte91 (Sep 30, 2019)

Get the remote gain knob for that amp. I’m using my oem HU and have to adjust the amp for different volumes. There’s no “set it and forget it”.


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## syc0path (Jan 23, 2013)

U have a stock HU and that dumps signal directly into an LOC. Most stock HUs don't offer a clean signal -- they try to use psycho-acoustical tricks to make the bass sound louder than it really is, becuz that's cheaper than creating a system that can produce "real" bass (ie, good impact and low-freq extension). To the average person, loud=good sound, so these tricks will satisfy most people looking to buy this car.

But when u take that signal and feed it to a system capable of producing real bass, it sounds exactly like what u describe -- all boom and no impact. Not only that, but the level of this effect generally varies with volume. As volume increases, the real bass freqs get a little louder, but the "fake" bass gets much louder. Hence dwhyte91's suggestion to get a remote knob so u can change the bass level whenever u adjust the volume.

This is why products like JL's CleanSweep exist -- to undo the factory processing. Of course, those products can also be expensive. To make the most of what u have, lower the LPF to maybe 60Hz or so. Lower the center freq to maybe 35Hz and lower the Q as well. Hopefully that will boost the lower freqs while taming the higher freqs.


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## gijoe (Mar 25, 2008)

I think your issues have been covered. You have a box that's probably tuned too high, and combined with cabin gain you're getting an extra boost at the frequencies you don't want. You also have the signal from the OEM head unit, which likely has plenty of processing in the bass region, it may even have a HPF cutting the low frequencies so your sub isn't even getting a signal below your massive peak in the frequency response. Some frequency response measurements will help answer the questions, but I think the head unit is a big part of the problem. You can test for a HPF by downloading some test tones in the sub region, and putting a meter on the speaker wires. That won't tell you the whole story, but it could be helpful.


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## FattyBoomBoom (Sep 22, 2019)

Keep in mind that plugging the port on your enclosure doesn’t represent what a sealed enclosure would sound like in your truck. A sealed box for that sub would be much smaller.


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## SkizeR (Apr 19, 2011)

FattyBoomBoom said:


> Keep in mind that plugging the port on your enclosure doesn’t represent what a sealed enclosure would sound like in your truck. A sealed box for that sub would be much smaller.


To go off of this, plugging a port doesnt exactly turn it into a sealed box unless you plug it on the inside of the enclosure where the port starts. There is still a resonant mass that will, well, resonate

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk


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## Aquahallic (Oct 8, 2019)

Thanks everyone for the help so far!

I was messing around with it this morning and as crazy as this sounds I got it to where I can feel the bass and it's not overly boomy. I raised the LPF to 3 ticks above 100Hz and I lowered the amps gain completely and lowered the LOC slightly too.

I was playing a song earlier this afternoon at volume 35 and the HU bass to -1 and on certain bass notes it would make my noise feel weird when breathing in and out. LOL I can finally hear AND feel the bass and at low volumes I can hear the bass but it's not boomy at all. I had a bass knob from my old 250/1V2 that's hook up but I don't really need it. Even with the gain all the way down on certain songs I'll had to lower the HU bass another 1 or 2 notches. 

How or why would lowering the gain help? 



I have $63 in ebucks that I need to use by 11/2. I was thinking of buying a sealed box;
https://www.ebay.com/itm/JL-Audio-1...570842?hash=item2620a6f8da:g:zTIAAOSw7k9dFsGK

Would that get the bass even tighter and give it more punch?


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## JMikeK (Jan 2, 2019)

Usually boom is a spike in output, so you stopped that by turning it down. Bringing up the LPF gives you that midbass punch (another decent antidote to boom).

I wouldn't really try sealed personally unless I had a box laying around. Just IMO.


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## Aquahallic (Oct 8, 2019)

I was messing around with it again and decided to just unhook the 12" and get a bassline from the stock system to go off of. I turned up the volume to 35 with the same song and I felt a lot of the same bass as earlier?? That's because I forgot to unplug my factory sub.

So I unplugged the factory sub and plugged back in the 12W3 and the bass was seriously lacking. I knew turning the gain all the way down was odd. I turned up the gain on the amp to mix with the music and I'm back to the f'ing reverberation again!!


*Needless to say this box isn't going to work so I'm going to return the 12W3 and just start all over.* Someone mentioned the box I have could be tuned higher but the box I bought was made exactly to JLs specs so how could the box be tuned higher? Maybe I'm looking at the wrong specs. You need a degree to figure this **** out, I just want some nice deep crisp bass!! JL lists the FB @ 30Hz and the F3 @ 36Hz. So to get rid of the boominess should I be looking at lower FB or the F3?

I'm tempted to try a 12" HO JL box. but I'd hate to spend even more money and be in the same situation I am now with boomy bass. 
https://www.jlaudio.com/ho112-w6v3-car-audio-h-o-wedge-subwoofer-systems-93315

I don't have the time, patience or skills to build a ported box so I would need to buy a prefabbed. Any ideas on a nice 500w single 12" setup?


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## Jeffdachefz (Sep 14, 2016)

its a cookie cutter space saver box, not the optimal sound quality box. Prefabs are junk in general my good man. Get with a good box builder with audio measurement tools. Consider adding a DSP so you can control the bass response and cut unwanted frequencies would be good along with cleaning up that garbage factory signal thats fking up your bass response. Yes factory signal is garbage and the LOC is just now giving you louder garbage.


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## Jeffdachefz (Sep 14, 2016)

listing some songs that absolutely annoy you would help us out in seeing what kind of boominess you are talking about and we can nail down the specific frequency. With a DSP you can apply cuts to those specific frequencies. Otherwise it'll come down to proper enclosure building specific to the acoustics of your vehicle and your sub's parameters, yes you can tune your box specifically mellow out your cabin gain which is causing the huge spike in the boomy frequencies you are having.

not sure if its been talked about before but if you are using any kind of bass boost aka that center frequency at 45hz you mentioned, turn all that sh*t off.


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## jrwalte (Mar 27, 2008)

without a DSP or taking the time to build the right ported box, I think you'd be best off with a sealed enclosure. It will require more power and you may not be able to get as loud, but you won't get that reverb/chuffing. You could even go with 2x12s without taking much more space than the single ported box.


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## Aquahallic (Oct 8, 2019)

Jeffdachefz said:


> its a cookie cutter space saver box, not the optimal sound quality box. Prefabs are junk in general my good man. Get with a good box builder with audio measurement tools. Consider adding a DSP so you can control the bass response and cut unwanted frequencies would be good along with cleaning up that garbage factory signal thats fking up your bass response. Yes factory signal is garbage and the LOC is just now giving you louder garbage.


I figured as much. 

Unfortunately I haven't seen any Sequoia owners on the Toyotas forums that have done this. They either have the non-JBL and switch everything out since it's easier or they have the JBL and try to replace the factory sub and get frustrated because they can't find one that fits with the correct ohm.

Before I bought the JL LoC-22, mostly everyone else was going with the AudioControl LC2i because it had bass correction. Would getting that help me? I doubt it....

If not I found this for Toyotas;
https://tacotunes.com/shop/toyota-t...to-your-stock-toyota-tundra-stereo-head-unit/

Some give it good review others not so much but they don't even list the Sequoia so I sent a support ticket asking if it'll even work.

To be honest I'm not trying to sink a lot of money into this project, I just wanted a little bit more punch with the factory system. I'm not looking to rattle the next car 4 lanes over or make my windows flex. 




Jeffdachefz said:


> listing some songs that absolutely annoy you would help us out in seeing what kind of boominess you are talking about and we can nail down the specific frequency. With a DSP you can apply cuts to those specific frequencies. Otherwise it'll come down to proper enclosure building specific to the acoustics of your vehicle and your sub's parameters, yes you can tune your box specifically mellow out your cabin gain which is causing the huge spike in the boomy frequencies you are having.
> 
> not sure if its been talked about before but if you are using any kind of bass boost aka that center frequency at 45hz you mentioned, turn all that sh*t off.


No, I'm not using any bass boost. I have the bass knob connected but it's at 0. I originally wanted to use it to turn the bass down but JL said they had a different knob for that purpose so it's hooked up but not being used. 

As far as music, I mainly listen to 80/90/early 2000 hiphop, some older rock, old R&B. Take LL around the way girl, that's overly boomy. I listen to old Outkast, Jazzy Belle is boomy, Myintrotoletuknow is boomy. My daughter and her friends think they're the first to discover AF1s so to tease her and her friends I played Jeezy AF1s and I can't even hear the words over the bass. But when I play those same songs on my HT system they're perfect sounding. 




jrwalte said:


> without a DSP or taking the time to build the right ported box, I think you'd be best off with a sealed enclosure. It will require more power and you may not be able to get as loud, but you won't get that reverb/chuffing. You could even go with 2x12s without taking much more space than the single ported box.


I might just try the sealed box before I start dumping more money on DSPs and different setups.


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## diy.phil (May 23, 2011)

Can you post/show a pink noise RTA graph?


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## Helyani (Aug 9, 2019)

It's might be a cabin gain is your issue


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## LBaudio (Jan 9, 2009)

Aquahallic said:


> I was messing around with it again and decided to just unhook the 12" and get a bassline from the stock system to go off of. I turned up the volume to 35 with the same song and I felt a lot of the same bass as earlier?? That's because I forgot to unplug my factory sub.
> 
> So I unplugged the factory sub and plugged back in the 12W3 and the bass was seriously lacking. I knew turning the gain all the way down was odd. I turned up the gain on the amp to mix with the music and I'm back to the f'ing reverberation again!!
> 
> ...


If you are able to fab a simple sealed enclosure, I just dont see why you wouldnt be able to fab a ported box....just one additional hole for port and a few pieces of foam on the sides,.....than you can try two extremes...very low tuned box and mid 30-40Hz tuning and then decide which way to go.....


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## dwhyte91 (Sep 30, 2019)

Use the gain control knob. I’m using a factory HU with a loc to a JL 12TW3 with the JX500/1 amp AND the gain controller but also a Dayton dsp to turn UP the sub at higher volumes. Use the gain controller to turn DOWN the sub at lower volumes and UP at higher volumes. The factory HU pulls bass signals at high volume so when you set your amp up with the volume at 3/4, or whatever high volume you use, as soon as you change the volume to regular listening levels the HU ADDS bass making it boomy and **** sounding. Use the gain controller to turn it down. 

If you already have the equipment, try it before you start screwing around with boxes and different porting and worrying about cabin gain and the rest of it. It’s a 2 second experiment.

This is what you want
https://www.jlaudio.ca/rbc-1-car-audio-amplifier-accessories-98015


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## syc0path (Jan 23, 2013)

Turn on JUST the sub amp and nothing else (u may have to reconfigure the remote activation wire). Then run a signal from a separate source (like your phone) to get a clean signal. If it the bass sounds good, then u can eliminate the box and its location as problems. 

Then u will know the problem is w/ the signal from the factory HU and/or phasing issues w/ the stock sub and/or mids, and we can focus our advice accordingly.


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## mumbles (Jul 26, 2010)

If you are able to move the sub box, try changing it's position and see if the quality of bass changes. In other words, if its currently up against the rear seats firing towards the rear, move it to the rear and fire it towards the front. This won't cost you anything, but may help narrow down whether you have a cabin gain issue or a box issue.


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## Aquahallic (Oct 8, 2019)

dwhyte91 said:


> Use the gain control knob. I’m using a factory HU with a loc to a JL 12TW3 with the JX500/1 amp AND the gain controller but also a Dayton dsp to turn UP the sub at higher volumes. Use the gain controller to turn DOWN the sub at lower volumes and UP at higher volumes. The factory HU pulls bass signals at high volume so when you set your amp up with the volume at 3/4, or whatever high volume you use, as soon as you change the volume to regular listening levels the HU ADDS bass making it boomy and **** sounding. Use the gain controller to turn it down.
> 
> If you already have the equipment, try it before you start screwing around with boxes and different porting and worrying about cabin gain and the rest of it. It’s a 2 second experiment.
> 
> ...


If you mean the bass control knob, I already have that and it only adjust the bass not the gain. JL said I needed this knob to adjust the gain;
https://www.jlaudio.com/cl-rlc-car-audio-system-expansion-98117

And I've tried manually adjusting the gain even at lower listening levels with same boomy result.




syc0path said:


> Turn on JUST the sub amp and nothing else (u may have to reconfigure the remote activation wire). Then run a signal from a separate source (like your phone) to get a clean signal. If it the bass sounds good, then u can eliminate the box and its location as problems.
> 
> Then u will know the problem is w/ the signal from the factory HU and/or phasing issues w/ the stock sub and/or mids, and we can focus our advice accordingly.


I have no clue what you mean. Bear with me.....

1.) How would I only turn on the amp and nothing else? This is a stock system with 14 speakers. I would have to remove almost every panel inside the cabin to get to the speakers to unplug them.

2.) What do you mean run a signal from a separate source? I'm currently using my phone now through my stock system to play music.



I was thinking of buying a AudioControl DQ-61 but I don't even know anymore.
https://www.audiocontrol.com/car-audio/factory-system-upgrade/dq-61/

I read this in a thread here today and it's sounds like what I'm dealing with now. 
Post #2 ---> https://www.diymobileaudio.com/foru...ecide-jl-audio-12w3v3-4-sundown-sa-12-d4.html

*"the jl has a bump in frequency response, done for marketing reasons, to make it appear louder. it makes the bass from it unprocessed sound boomy, but processed it does sound very good and is built well."*


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## syc0path (Jan 23, 2013)

Aquahallic said:


> I have no clue what you mean. Bear with me.....
> 
> 1.) How would I only turn on the amp and nothing else? This is a stock system with 14 speakers. I would have to remove almost every panel inside the cabin to get to the speakers to unplug them.
> 
> 2.) What do you mean run a signal from a separate source? I'm currently using my phone now through my stock system to play music.


I was under the impression that the JL sub was powered by an aftermarket amp. Are u saying that the JL sub runs off a factory amp? If that's the case, then my suggestions work won't.

By running a signal from your phone, I meant to use an adapter that would plug into the headphone jack on your phone on 1 end and would connect to RCA jacks on the other. That way, u could run the signal from your phone directly into the aftermarket amp and bypass all of the factory processing. That would tell u if the problem was w/ the sub, the enclosure, or the settings on the amp rather than a problem w/ the factory processing and/or a phase issue w/ the other speakers in the car. But again, if u don't have an aftermarket amp for the sub, this idea won't work.


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## princo (Mar 10, 2019)

What year is the Sequoia? Where are you tapping the signal for the sub?
Did you leave the OEM sub running in parallel with the new one? 

Don't own a Sequoia, but have a 4Runner that came with the JBL system that exhibited the same boomy muddy bass problem. Some (not sure if all) of Toyotas that come with the JBL have variable volume bass boost (and treble) built into the amplifier. The lower the volume, the more bass boost is added. This is done in the amplifier and there's nothing you can do to stop it from happening. That's probably were you said some people use the audio control devices to correct bass. However, the correction will be valid for a specific volume. A lot of the boomyness was also coming from the 6x9 in the doors. If what the thread linked above says about JL boosting their frequencies is true, coupled with the JBL amp doing their own boosting, you end up with the mess you are in. So after wasting time trying to put lipstick on a pig, I ended up replacing it.


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## Aquahallic (Oct 8, 2019)

syc0path said:


> I was under the impression that the JL sub was powered by an aftermarket amp. Are u saying that the JL sub runs off a factory amp? If that's the case, then my suggestions work won't.
> 
> By running a signal from your phone, I meant to use an adapter that would plug into the headphone jack on your phone on 1 end and would connect to RCA jacks on the other. That way, u could run the signal from your phone directly into the aftermarket amp and bypass all of the factory processing. That would tell u if the problem was w/ the sub, the enclosure, or the settings on the amp rather than a problem w/ the factory processing and/or a phase issue w/ the other speakers in the car. But again, if u don't have an aftermarket amp for the sub, this idea won't work.


No it's not running off of the factory amp, it's running off of a JL 500/1V2 amp.

I didn't even know there was such a thing. I just ordered it (rca to 3.5mm plug adapter) on Amazon. Thanks!





princo said:


> What year is the Sequoia? Where are you tapping the signal for the sub?
> Did you leave the OEM sub running in parallel with the new one?
> 
> Don't own a Sequoia, but have a 4Runner that came with the JBL system that exhibited the same boomy muddy bass problem. Some (not sure if all) of Toyotas that come with the JBL have variable volume bass boost (and treble) built into the amplifier. The lower the volume, the more bass boost is added. This is done in the amplifier and there's nothing you can do to stop it from happening. That's probably were you said some people use the audio control devices to correct bass. However, the correction will be valid for a specific volume. A lot of the boomyness was also coming from the 6x9 in the doors. If what the thread linked above says about JL boosting their frequencies is true, coupled with the JBL amp doing their own boosting, you end up with the mess you are in. So after wasting time trying to put lipstick on a pig, I ended up replacing it.


I tapped the LoC after the amp to the rear door speakers. I also tried the front speakers to see if that made a difference but it didn't.

I was thinking of going with the LC2i for bass correction but JL said the same thing you did, that it will only work at whatever volume I set it at, which would be 75% and I don't listen to the volume at 75% so that's why I went with JLs LOC.

But there's plenty of Tundra guys that have kept the stock JBL HU and added the LC2i and didn't have these issues so I'm thinking it's either the 12W3V3 itself (like the other member mention the JL being boomy unprocessed) so I ended up returning it to rule that out.....or it's the ported box and or the cabin of the Sequoia in which case I'll need that AudioControl DQ-61 to adjust certain sub frequencies. It has adjustments for;
31Hz, 40Hz, 50Hz, 63Hz, 80Hz, 100Hz & 125Hz.









I'm assuming the DQ-61 is what I need???? This has speaker inputs that will work with a factory HU. Most DSPs don't have speaker inputs, they have RCAs to use with aftermarket HUs. 

If the next sub is still boomy my next step would be to buy the DQ-61? If it's still boomy after that I'm going back with the stock system until somebody on the Toyota forums can find a sub that fits without having to mod anything. 




So can anyone recommend a 12" sub with around the same ported specs (1.75cu ft.) as the 12W3V3?

And thanks to EVERYONE so far with the help! I thought this was going to be an easy install but it's turning into a headache.


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## princo (Mar 10, 2019)

Aquahallic said:


> I'm assuming the DQ-61 is what I need????


For the $300 that the DQ-61 cost, I would instead get a calibrated microphone (minidsp UMIK), a Line output converter (Kicker 46KiSLOC ?), and a DSP (Dayton DSP or MiniDSP).

It would go: Wire tap>>LOC>>DSP>>Amp>>Sub. Then use the mic and REW to tune.

Also, figure out how to turn off the existing OEM sub to avoid potential frequency cancellations.


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## Aquahallic (Oct 8, 2019)

Forgot to mention, when opening the rear cargo door when the bass comes into my garage and house, I don't hear the boominess at all?? Once I sit in the drivers seat and close the rear cargo door the bass sounds fine until it completely closes and then the boooooom starts.

Does that mean it's the cabin causing it? If so would a sealed box stop that from happening?


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## jrwalte (Mar 27, 2008)

Yes that is cabin gain. A sealed box will probably do it less. It has less of a hump in the frequency range than ported but your cabin can still boost to undesirable level. You can try moving the box away from the the rear hatch or any corners. Try firing it up or forward. Any of these will typically make cabin gain be less.


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## JMikeK (Jan 2, 2019)

If zero boom is your goal, I've always been a fan of IDQs in bigger sealed boxes.


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## audiocholic (Dec 5, 2016)

JMikeK said:


> If zero boom is your goal, I've always been a fan of IDQs in bigger sealed boxes.


but how can you assure that the sealed idq wont have a peak due to cabin gain?

I'am not %100 sure but believe just because its sealed or just because its idq doesnt really mean the car wont have a cabin gain causing a peak= boomyness


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## LBaudio (Jan 9, 2009)

cabin gain is unavoidable thing....no matter what sub you use... The only thing you get for free in car audio.

Try different enclosure orientation and position in the trunk (loading)
Try to solve boominess with X-over settings and EQ, lower gain on SW,...


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## audiocholic (Dec 5, 2016)

LBaudio said:


> cabin gain is unavoidable thing....no matter what sub you use... The only thing you get for free in car audio.
> 
> Try different enclosure orientation and position in the trunk (loading)
> Try to solve boominess with X-over settings and EQ, lower gain on SW,...




exactly mate, this what I was trying to state to the other member/friend.


please correct me if my method is wrong but I have been doing the following:


1) get a mic and place it near head rest
2) get a SPL measurement with this mic via a rta or rta app 
3) play sinewaves each at a time measuring spl rating starting from 35-40-45-50-55 all the upto 100hz

then simply compare the results and check for odd peaks for me in my car which was a renault clio4 I had a huge bump of roughly 4-5db in the area of 45hz-50hz vs its neighbour frequencies(odd as my 10inch should normally have a hardtime in this frequency but just shows how effective cabin gain really is) 


simple eq tuning after I got this peak to flatten and everything sounded soo much smoother and better


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## dwhyte91 (Sep 30, 2019)

After you turn the HU bass down it gets rid of the ”boominess” can you then turn up the sub via the control knob to compensate? I was playing around with my similar setup and found this made the biggest change. Get a dsp as well, once I added the Dayton dsp I could turn the bass down on the HU (which sacrifices mids unfortunately) and separately turn the volume up on the sub. Before this I had the same problems, no bass or too much at low volumes.


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## audiocholic (Dec 5, 2016)

dwhyte91 said:


> Have you tried turning the bass down on the HU? It’s going to mess with your mids but I’ve found it helps bring down the over boosted frequencies that cause a lot of the “boominess” in my truck using a LOC.




the issue is what frequency is the HU's bass slide actually focused on?
40hz? 50hz? 70? 

how does that align with the problem, are we reducing heavily on 60hz that the HU is adjusted to in order to reduce a peak at 45hz caused by cabin gain?

you might get really lucky and indeed hit bang on but this is just gambling ,worth giving it a shot as its free but chances are you will get a better result focusing on the dsp and tune


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## dwhyte91 (Sep 30, 2019)

audiocholic said:


> the issue is what frequency is the HU's bass slide actually focused on?
> 40hz? 50hz? 70?
> 
> how does that align with the problem, are we reducing heavily on 60hz that the HU is adjusted to in order to reduce a peak at 45hz caused by cabin gain?
> ...


I went back and read his first post and it’s very similar to what I was trying and going through but I forgot he didn’t have a dsp and I added mine after being unsuccessful with just the remote knob. Definitely need a dsp when adding a LOC to these stock units or you end up with the “boom” on low volume and no “boom” when you turn it up.


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