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Easy way to add extra bass

MattFX4

Jetboaters Captain
Messages
1,797
Reaction score
1,619
Points
227
Location
Marietta, GA
Boat Make
Other
Year
2018
Boat Model
Other
Boat Length
24
Should be fine.
I prefer seperate components in case something goes wrong myself. But, specs are there and decent brand so certainly not gonna be a dud.
 
That is basically what I have in my boat. I have a Wetsounds WS12 in a sealed enclosure under the rear starboard seat, in front of the shower tank. It's the only sub I have in my boat and it thumps.
 
That is basically what I have in my boat. I have a Wetsounds WS12 in a sealed enclosure under the rear starboard seat, in front of the shower tank. It's the only sub I have in my boat and it thumps.

Bill, do you have any type of vent or opening under the seat? Curious how well the bass would travel if in a compartment under a seat like that.
 
Lol, my "vent" is a removable cup holder behind the existing one on the starboard side... You can barely see it in the far right of this picture.
throttles6-001.jpg
The bass radiates pretty well, but when you remove the seat you notice a huge difference. I know, it's a huge inefficiency, but I haven't found a sub setup that I like enough to commit to yet. For now, I just got bigger batteries. ;)
 
Don't get why people need openings for bass honestly. If you can't hear it then go bigger
 
A 10-inch subwoofer in one form will be similar to a 10-inch subwoofer in another form. With an IB direct-radiating subwoofer you have zero loss and zero filtering of the natural response. With a concealed (mounted inside a compartment) air-suspension (sm. sealed box) subwoofer, even with an exterior vent, you will have output losses, an altered response, and a phase delay to offset the modest increase in excursion that an air-suspension subwoofer provides. So one 10" to another 10" is not enough of an upgrade to make the change worthwhile. This is more of an option to consider when you are planning a new system.

Why you need an opening for bass? For more of a musical bass maker rather than an indiscriminant boat shaker.
 
Lol, my "vent" is a removable cup holder behind the existing one on the starboard side... You can barely see it in the far right of this picture.
View attachment 46501
The bass radiates pretty well, but when you remove the seat you notice a huge difference. I know, it's a huge inefficiency, but I haven't found a sub setup that I like enough to commit to yet. For now, I just got bigger batteries. ;)
Are you running this with your stock speakers? If so does it not overwhelm them?
 
No, I have 3 pairs of WetSounds XS650's in the boat too. They are all running off of a Sinister6 amplifier. My head unit has a sub woofer output that is adjustable also.
 
I should have clarified, mine is 80% boat shaker. But that suits me just fine. Like @David Analog said, you need to consider what you're looking for while setting up your system.
 
With my twin 10's, one on either side of the boat, listening to string and classical, it sounds SHARP! I do notice a difference in clarity with the hatches open obviously, but i don't listen to the super heavy bass terribly often. Behind the boat it all gets muddied anyways so the tower speakers are what was important for most of my boating trips.
Everyone has their own tastes and their own music in their own tuning of each system. Variety is the spice of life.
 
A 10-inch subwoofer in one form will be similar to a 10-inch subwoofer in another form. With an IB direct-radiating subwoofer you have zero loss and zero filtering of the natural response. With a concealed (mounted inside a compartment) air-suspension (sm. sealed box) subwoofer, even with an exterior vent, you will have output losses, an altered response, and a phase delay to offset the modest increase in excursion that an air-suspension subwoofer provides. So one 10" to another 10" is not enough of an upgrade to make the change worthwhile. This is more of an option to consider when you are planning a new system.

Why you need an opening for bass? For more of a musical bass maker rather than an indiscriminant boat shaker.

What about adding a concealed subwoofer to a system with an existing IB sub? So on one side of boat there is an IB sub, on the other a concealed sub under the bench seat. Would that make sense, or not sound right?
 
@MattFX4 - You will get thump from that but you won't get much heard bass. Would not sound bad but also not the best. Prefab sub/amp combos are aimed at the unskilled DIY types or people who don't want something permanent. I do believe you have to the skills to do it custom and have it come out nice.

I now have a 10 inch polk mm sub and have strengthened and sealed the location behind it. By removing the deflection and sealing it in I have made it much more efficient. Water will actually bounce out of bottles it hits so low and hard. It was a lot of work but the sound I have now was worth it. I have upgraded everything to the mm series and with the beefy starboard backing rings I made for everthing there is very little energy loss so even the front speakers sound like they have decent bass.

My hindsight is still the same in that I should have mounted two 10 inch subs under a seat and built a custom fiberglass box to seal right up to the existing boat structure behind the subs.
 
What about adding a concealed subwoofer to a system with an existing IB sub? So on one side of boat there is an IB sub, on the other a concealed sub under the bench seat. Would that make sense, or not sound right?
It all depends on your SQ tolerance. I wouldn't do this. But others will because it will net them plus bass.
Ever heard of a bass-reflex enclosure. Of course you have. One of the critical principles in the woofer and port working somewhat in phase when combining the front/rear output, is the phase delay of placing a transducer in a ported box. So when you conceal a woofer/box inside of a compartment/console (another box) you introduce a phase delay....but in this case, not a controlled function. Now the direct radiating IB sub and concealed air-suspension sub have two different phase/time responses.
The more articulate bass qualities are smeared and therefore more indiscriminant in their tonal construction.
A boat environment is unique as compared to our other typical listening environments (car & home). In a boat you don't get the sum of the transducer and reflected energy off the space boundaries. You only get the incidental energy. I would prefer that two bass sources are symmetrical in all aspects possible.
 
I still think if you are looking for crisp punchy bass on a boat the best way to go on our boats is mounting a through the fiberglass under one of the seats and builds a custom box behind that. I think this is the way I will go next time around. I have a JL 10 inch IB sub that I have not installed yet and this time around just plan to do the IB set up but may still change my mind but with the IB sub I think the box I will have to build behind it will just take up to much space.
 
Having spent the time at wide open throttle, and the stereo right on up there, I can tell you that a sealed enclosure direct radiating, JL 10 inch, compared to a JL 10 inch I'd be sub there is a difference. The more gain you put into it or volume, the more response from the sub. In terms of the sealed enclosure that is, as long as it's direct radiating and not just a vented port. And honestly, having had jails I have a sob in my previous boat, at levels under 50% it is perfect. But it does upper levels when you're trying to drown out the engine and wind noise, that sealed enclosure is the way to go.
 
I still think if you are looking for crisp punchy bass on a boat the best way to go on our boats is mounting a through the fiberglass under one of the seats and builds a custom box behind that. I think this is the way I will go next time around. I have a JL 10 inch IB sub that I have not installed yet and this time around just plan to do the IB set up but may still change my mind but with the IB sub I think the box I will have to build behind it will just take up to much space.

A subwoofer, to a degree, is a tuned resonator in itself. It is very application-specific. You are targeting a final loaded/system 'Qtc' of let's say around .85. An IB subwoofer begins with an unloaded 'Qts' of about that number and maintains that number once properly installed (in this case for the IB10) in an enclosure from 2.25 cu.ft. minimum to infinite (effectively being the same size of enclosure). This would be a displacement large enough so that the 'Q' is not altered and the subwoofer delivers a bandwidth and response curve, as originally and intentionally designed, that sounds true and musical. It's just not practical to convert an IB subwoofer into a small-sealed-box subwoofer.
In contrast, the appropriate subwoofer for a small sealed enclosure (say 1.0 cu.ft. net internal or smaller), begins with a much lower free-air 'Qts' and arrives at the targeted .85 'Qtc' once correctly loaded.
The two products just are not interchangeable.
A great subwoofer is an exercise in balanced design. You have the moving mass, motor strength, compliance, and damping. Much like a car with its weight, motion, coil springs and damping shock absorbers. Too much or too little of any good thing will ruin the entire ride. >Balance<.

I think Mel's comments about the performance difference are stated very well.
A true air/acoustic-suspension subwoofer has the advantage of a more linear form of suspension, greater excursion, which is capable of higher output levels under control. But a 10" is still a 10", and surface area still remains more important than excursion. If you are placing a superior air-suspension sub driver & enclosure within a concealed compartment, and giving up direct-radiation, then you are going backwards IMO.
 
Ok, so I want to learn about stereos systems in order to slightly improve mine so I forced myself to read this entire threat and I have come to one conclusion......... everyone here is talking in french because I didn't understand a single thing!!!
 
Ok, so I want to learn about stereos systems in order to slightly improve mine so I forced myself to read this entire threat and I have come to one conclusion......... everyone here is talking in french because I didn't understand a single thing!!!

lol no kidding.
 
A car or your home is a encapsulated environment. A boat is open air. Completely different. What you know about car audio, doesn't apply the same way to a boat. Bass being a low-frequency compared to highs in the mid range, just won't sound right if it hits at the wrong time. That's basically what people have been saying. So if you hide a bass box of any kind inside a compartment it takes time for it to get out through any kind of a vent. You lose both volume and that timing. If a drummer hits a drumbeat and it doesn't hit with the guitar lick it sounds funny. Some will tell you how they like that, they're just kidding themselves. Try and keep them qmatched, do the best you can, it's all a compromise. Hope this helps.
 
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