Struggling with Sound Quality (component system and subwoofer questions)

[LarryKingsShoes]

Howdy,I've been listening to music in my Vibe and have been slowly becoming unhappy with certain aspects of the sound.My current system is noted in my signature (Kenwood head unit, Polk Audio coaxial speakers, a sealed 12" sub and amp). While I am mostly happy with the sound, I just know that it could be better. I'd like to explore my options and try to resolve some of the issues I'm encountering.My biggest complaint is that my subwoofer seems to struggle on upper bass notes. There is a frequency sweep in a Ludacris song and neither my door speakers nor my subwoofer seem to recreate it in a pleasing manner. Once the sweep gets down to the really low notes, the sub sounds fantastic. Before that, it sounds like it's barely capable of producing the frequencies.This leads me to my other concern: my db651s don't put out a satisfying amount of low mids. There is a fairly broad range of frequencies that aren't being represented very well by the system. I had no expectation of solid lows coming from a budget pair of 6.5" speakers, but I did expect something to slightly bridge the gab between the sub and the mids.Another final complaint I have about the Polk Audio db651s is that the highs and mids aren't as smooth as I would like. For the cost of buying these, they're great, but now I want to upgrade to something more refined. I don't want to judge these too harshly because they sound good in a setup with a subwoofer, but I also don't have them powered off of an external amp. Perhaps that would help but I can't convince myself that it would solve the problem.I'm going to take my door panels off and check to make sure that everything is installed well. With any luck, that will help to resolve the lack of lower frequencies, at least (I can dream; I don't expect any miracles). In the meantime, I've been shopping around for component setups.Does it seem reasonable to think that a higher end speaker system would be more capable of producing the lower mids that seem to be missing from my setup? Since a lot of component systems can handle more power, I'd likely add a solid amp into the equation. I've seen a number of different component systems that seem like good choices but one that's stood out has been the Polk Audio MM6501. I've also seem some Focal setups that would be cool.Finally, is there any calibration technique I could try to balance out my current system? I've turned off the bass boosts on my sub amp and set the crossover to about 80hz in hopes of keeping it from making the notes that it can't seem to handle. While it has helped with that aspect, it has taken a great deal of thickness way from the overall sound signature.I apologize for the lengthy post. I'll probably end up posting this on a dedicated car audio forum but I figured there is a chance that someone here may have some advice. Heck, even if the only advice you have is on a particular component system, I'd love to hear it. I'm having a heck of a time choosing (though I'm not in a hurry to purchase so putting extra thought into it is a good thing).Thank you for your time!Best,Justin

[audiovibe]

Sounds top me like you are wanteing some solid midbass.IMO I would seal up the doors, Get some sheetmetal to seal up the big holes and deaden the entire door inside and out to stiffen up the metal. Adding an amp will help also but without sealing up the door you will just be wasteing energy.Higher end components can make a difference because generaly they are made with better components and you can feed them more power.When I first did the system when I had the Vibe all I craved was midbass, it took deadened doors beefy 6.5" midbass and 360 watts rms per door to satisfy me.http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=37070Here is a link to my build log with what I did to my doors, you probably dont need to go that deep to get that great of results but the Vibe doors are thin.Aron

[LarryKingsShoes]

Awesome, thanks for the link and info!I ordered some eDead v3 to start deadening the door panels. I'll eventually add some mat for more mass. Elemental Designs makes some affordable options, one of which (v4) is apparently good for reducing road noise. I'm hoping that will serve as a good start in getting the doors solidified appropriately.As I've been researching component speakers, I've been paying attention to what people have been saying about mid bass. Apparently Focal makes some good sets. The Polk Audio MM6501 have had some good feedback in that area, as well.My brother and I went to Best Buy today to demo some speaker systems. It was hard to judge them in that environment but I really liked the clarity offered by some of the tweeters used. They didn't have the MM6501s but there are some of the DXi sets (a step down from the MM series). I'm thinking that a better speaker, paired with good treatment, will help a lot.I hadn't considered closing off the big openings in the door panels but I'll definitely try to find a way to do that, once I get the inside deadened as much as I can. I saw one guy doing that in another car and it didn't look like it would take too much effort. I'm sure that the results are worth whatever time it takes to get it done.I bought some rope caulk at Menards today to better seal the speaker mount to the door frame, as well as some weather stripping to help the door panel seal over the speaker. It was about $4 in materials but hopefully they'll make some difference.Thanks again for the reply. I'm really looking forward to improving the audio quality. It is fun to shop for these things and it'll be even more fun to get to work with the deadening materials (hopefully).

[jayman2009]

ive had polk speakers in the past and they where good. i find there newer gear just plane sucks. you just dont get the nice sound you use to.

[audiovibe]

Yes if you get a chance get the openings closed up, it will be one of the biggest improvements!

[Serj22]

I sealed the doors as mentioned, and it helped. Another thing you can do is run a seperate amp in lead with the subwoofer amp that runs a small 6.5 or 8" subwoofer. I did that in my old car, and it was fairly effective at recreating midbass.

[LarryKingsShoes]

That is something my brother mentioned as being an option. I would consider it but I was worried that the sound would seem like it was coming from behind, whereas a sub can be tuned to sound like it's coming from everywhere.I wish that I could hear the end result of all of these things without having to dump so much money into it.I ordered the deadening on Sunday night and I didn't get a shipping confirmation until Tuesday. Unfortunately, the tracking number has been useless. FedEx still hasn't acknowledged having picked up the package. I was hoping to get the package by Tuesday or Wednesday but now it looks like I'll be lucky to get it by next Monday.