Originally Posted by Vykn (Post 676137)

Hello, I'm fairly new to the art of car audio. First off I'd like to announce that I know there's always a better system out there than mine; and also millions of opinions.
I'd rather keep the riff-raff of 'Use this, it's better, I hate yours.' out, please. I used what I could by means of hand-me-downs or pure luck.

You won't find much of that here. We keep a tight knit community ;)

I have a couple of questions that I haven't been able to get a hold of, but before that, here's some background.

I have a '96 Chevrolet Camaro, which is a hatchback that dips near the rear at a slope. I have a JVC headunit, two Pioneer 6x9s, two 12' Kicker Comps and a Sony Xplod 1000w amp.

First question: my headunit is fairly new, bought from Bestbuy along with my 6x9s two years back. Yet under the menu option, along with LPF/HPF, doesn't allow me to substitute a crossover. All frequency ranges go through each and every speaker, without a way to filter them.

1. My HPF doesn't seem to have a wide variety of variables; on & off. If I turn HPF on, it reduces the bass distorting my 6x9's by a LOT. Yet my Subs seem to only crank up to a certain volume. Bass will raise from volume 1-30 but sound the same from them between 30-50. Is there a way to remove my unwanted freqs from each set of speakers that I'm not seeing on the headunit? I'll find a model if necessary.

This honestly completely went against what you just said above. Some models of head units will only have a single frequency to set. This could be the case. As for the sub not getting any louder, it is possible the amplifier is starting to distort/clip. Usually when this happens it will try to get louder when it can't. If this is the case you risk damaging your subs.

2. My amplifier doesn't come with the gain, bass or other knobs to adjust on itself. It comes with only one adjustable feature, the volts. Is this uncommon? Any alternatives other than a new amplifier?

The 'volts' likely is the gain on the amplifier. It's sometimes called input sensitivity (measured in volts), sometimes called gain. This is 'designed' to match up with the output voltage of your head unit's RCA preouts.

3. I'm into heavy bass and as such have done some internet snooping, finding ported boxes would suit be better than my sealed. I did not take into account the specs of area that the subs would need to play correctly as stated by Kicker. Does this make a significant difference, and should I make a new ported box to achieve 'boomier' bass?

A proper ported enclosure will have a good amount more output than a sealed. The trade off is the size of the enclosure, and can have the 'boomy' sound that you actually desire, but some people wont. That part is preference

4. My speakers are all basic speaker wire to connector. I've noticed that most crossovers are RCA only. I've also read that speaker wire to RCA is a big N-O due to the type of line or whatnot. My Subs have metal prongs for crimping speaker wire boots to connect, no RCA's in sight except from the headunit to my amp. Is there an alternative to this as well?

RCA from the head unit to the amp is all you need. Why are you looking at crossovers? They're generally used between a head unit and an amplifier.

5. I've seen and heard about 'Bass-blockers', but I'm still a tad skeptical. My fathers an electrician by trade, the idea of capacitors don't go over my head, it's the idea that it's such a cheap work-around. Has anyone had long-term success with these?

This would be the alternative to a proper crossover. Not the best way to go, but it works.

Any help or suggestions would be IMMENSELY appreciated.
Thanks.

Originally Posted by wasted911 (Post 676139)

See my answers above

The best thing to change if you find necessary, would be adding an amplifier to the speakers. This will give you an adjustable crossover (any decent amp will have one), and get you extra power.

Originally Posted by Vykn (Post 676140)

I have an amp hooked up to all my speakers, it's a Sony Xplod 1000w.
But it doesn't seem to have many adjustable options on the amp itself or the head unit.