Well the sub is in. The box fits beautifully. Now for the initial impressions.
- Very very accurate and tight, just like everyone who reviewed it before me, its great sq. im not an expert by any means, but it seems to blend in very well with my components, like one big seamless stream of music, and its very very tight.

Now a couple concerns

-it doesnt have the low end extension the Alpha had. I have to admit its only been in the car for 30 minutes, and I have not tuned it yet, but thats my initial reaction.
right now i have it crossed over at 50 hz with a 6 db slope drop off, still have to work on this to find the sweet spot. The alpha also hit harder, when the notes played, this could just be that the Lotus is brand new.
- I dont know if the alphasonik was much more sensitive, but I really had to crank up the gains to get this sub moving, this really concerned me. also had to use the amps bass eq as well. In the head unit's sub volume, im running at +1 (scale ranges from -6 to +6). Im running 500 watts to the sub, and its rated for 400 watts rms, so this really stunned me. I know before in the past that NFR has told me that SQ oriented subs have a certain sound to them that most people dont like. Im not sure if what I am experiencing is what he was referring to?

Now im not sure if this is a function of the sub or the new amp. I was pretty much basing this off my prior set up of a sound stream van gogh with the alphasonik psw 810. I dont recall having the gains that high, and I do clearly remember running the sub at -5 most of the time on the head units sub volume. Im using the same headunit as before.

I will update this in the next couple days once I've had time to familiarize myself with the sub. Like I said before, I am no expert, any comments or suggestions are welcomed!!!!!

 

What was the crossover setting in the prior setup? How many cubic feet do you have for the subwoofer?

What amp do you have? 500wrms at 4ohm must be a pretty strong amp

 

I dont recall the prior set up's cross over point.
.80 cubic feet as recommended by MR ASDF.
I got an Alpine MRV 545 with the rear channels bridged. Per the specs 500 watts at 4 ohms bridged, probably even more since the amp is under rated.

Now that I think of it, the ALphasonik's Box was almost .20 cubic feet smaller at .60, so if I remember correctly, a larger box needs more power to move the sub right?

Anyways, I went back and looked everything over, and now im confused about something with this amp, it has an input channel selector switch.
3 different choices, the two that Im concerned about are below, these apply to my situation.

setting 1 this is exactly what the manual says "set to have the inputs of channels 3 and 4 accept independent input signals. an example of this application would be the use of a head unit with dual pre amp outputs".

setting 2 "this setting will sum the channel 1 and channel 3 inputs and send it to channel 3, while the channel 2 and channel 4 inputs are summed and sent to channel 4".

I have mine set on the first setting, but in the book it shows a diagram of a three way system and indicates to use setting 2. Thing is if I run setting 2 the sub barely puts out any bass, like it cuts the output in half. I used setting one as well as i have dual pre amps on my headunit (actually triple preamp's )

Im so confused, I wish I never sold my old VAN GOGH!!!!

I really dont want to damage the sub, but something does not sound right. I checked all the connections, everything is hooked up correctly.

 

what is the third option on the amp?

 

setting 3 - "this will send the signal at the inputs of channel 1 and channel 2 to channel 3 and channel 4 of the amp. This eliminates the need for a "Y" adapator when using a head unit with a single pair of pre amp output. "

 

The reason why it doesn't hit has hard is because of the low pass filter. A 50hz @ 6db will lower 75hz by 3db and 100hz by 6db. This "hard" hitting bass you feel is actually in the upper bass and lower midbass region, generally around 80hz. Try 80hz with a 12db slope instead. Turn down the gain and re-adjust the crossover, then play with the gain again.

 

WEll i know for sure I did not have my Alpha set that high on the cross over, but let me try it. Any idea on the gains situation?

 

Not sure about the gain. Is it one of those digital display alpine amps? If so, I have no clue. I hate working with those .

 

Yeah its a digital read out amp. The gains are set thru the lcd screen. Its a pain.

Im going to test the amp out now, just to make sure its not the amp. going to switch the rca's to use the front channels which i now work to power the sub. I really really really hope its not the amp. That will suck big time, taking it out and shipping it back. Looks like last night in the course of installing the sub, i dented the sub's face, im so pissed. The cone is aluminum, and i put a small ding in it. Like a car ding. CRAP. HMM the way I am (picky), i might sell it and get an Alphasonik now that they are readily available.

 

What kind/size components do you have in front? Most 6 1/2" midbass drivers will rolloff at around 80Hz unless they are in an enclosure. With your LP set to 50 you might have a bit of a hole there.

Peter