[BMWE934me]

Originally Posted by JazStar740

BMWE934me, what are your thoughts on the SWS8's? I just installed mine today and I am tempted to put the BMW subs back in. Seems to me they do not play right around 500Hz. Yes they are a lot stronger than the factory subs and will drop pretty low, but it almost seems as though my system is not hitting as hard now since I am missing that mid bass. I guess I will leave them in for a few days to ensure there is not a break in period, but definitely looks like I will be adding a sub in the pass through.

Personally, I think they just want an amp feeding them more. I was prepared for that and bought the Logic7 harness from Technic. I'm trying to pick out an amp that will drive them and power the sub in the next step. I can't afford the space to install two amps. I figure I can use a 4 channel amp, use the front left and right to power the SWS-8's and bridge the rears to power the sub.
Mine are used, so they are broken in and I don't think you should expect much more out of them right now. Others will probably say you should get the BSW 8" speakers. I'm sticking to my plan though. I don't know if that helps you out any. Food for thought though.

Today I pulled the pass through and ski bag out so I can start measuring.
Attachment 987560

[taibanl]

Originally Posted by JazStar740

BMWE934me, what are your thoughts on the SWS8's? I just installed mine today and I am tempted to put the BMW subs back in. Seems to me they do not play right around 500Hz. Yes they are a lot stronger than the factory subs and will drop pretty low, but it almost seems as though my system is not hitting as hard now since I am missing that mid bass. I guess I will leave them in for a few days to ensure there is not a break in period, but definitely looks like I will be adding a sub in the pass through.

As the SWS are meant to be a in-lieu of a subwoofer, they are designed more to play sub-bass than mid-bass. (The OEM speakers are 'woofers' but not 'subwoofers' or 'subs' as you described them). Without heavy EQ, the SWS will not play mid bass frequencies. Note: if you are using OEM amplifier, the crossover point should be around 200hz, so if something is missing its either below that frequency or not the fault of the SWS.

[JazStar740]

Originally Posted by BMWE934me

Personally, I think they just want an amp feeding them more. I was prepared for that and bought the Logic7 harness from Technic. I'm trying to pick out an amp that will drive them and power the sub in the next step. I can't afford the space to install two amps. I figure I can use a 4 channel amp, use the front left and right to power the SWS-8's and bridge the rears to power the sub.

I have the harness from Technic and 2 Alpine mono block amps, one for the underseat subs and the other will be for the sub in the pass through.

Originally Posted by taibanl

As the SWS are meant to be a in-lieu of a subwoofer, they are designed more to play sub-bass than mid-bass. (The OEM speakers are 'woofers' but not 'subwoofers' or 'subs' as you described them). Without heavy EQ, the SWS will not play mid bass frequencies. Note: if you are using OEM amplifier, the crossover point should be around 200hz, so if something is missing its either below that frequency or not the fault of the SWS.

My problem with the SWS's is that I am missing that mid bass frequency, since I replaced the OEM woofers, that frequency is now gone. The system sounds good, but since I have listened to that system for a few years now, I am aware of the frequency missing. Maybe I need to do some tuning on my amp, but I have a feeling that the Earthquakes will not replicate that frequency.

[kaigoss69]

Originally Posted by JazStar740

BMWE934me, what are your thoughts on the SWS8's? I just installed mine today and I am tempted to put the BMW subs back in. Seems to me they do not play right around 500Hz. Yes they are a lot stronger than the factory subs and will drop pretty low, but it almost seems as though my system is not hitting as hard now since I am missing that mid bass. I guess I will leave them in for a few days to ensure there is not a break in period, but definitely looks like I will be adding a sub in the pass through.

Myself and many others have put out many warnings about the lack of mid-bass issue with the Earthquakes. I guess you are learning the hard way.

The frequency range for these in this application is about 30 to 200 Hz, and the mid-bass "hole" is anywhere north of 80Hz.

[BMWE934me]

Usually, I get in or around my car and my iphone feeds audio via bluetooth to the car stereo. It always sounded fine until I installed the SWS-8Xis speakers. Today I put a CD in and the SWS-8's woke up. With what I heard from the CD and even the radio today, I am going to add a 300x2 amp to them and determine if I like it like that or still want the IB. I think I need to wipe out my music library and make some low compression files for my iphone too.

[JazStar740]

Originally Posted by BMWE934me

Usually, I get in or around my car and my iphone feeds audio via bluetooth to the car stereo. It always sounded fine until I installed the SWS-8Xis speakers. Today I put a CD in and the SWS-8's woke up. With what I heard from the CD and even the radio today, I am going to add a 300x2 amp to them and determine if I like it like that or still want the IB. I think I need to wipe out my music library and make some low compression files for my iphone too.

I think I commented a little too quickly about the SWS8's also. I must say they sounded much better on the way home from work today and I have not made any adjustments to my amp yet.... I was frustrated after the install so I just parked the car and went back inside. I will wait till next week to make adjustments, therefore giving the SWS8's a chance to break-in be fore making adjustments. But I am a lot more happy than I was yesterday....

[BMWE934me]

I turned off L7 and re-tuned with a CD in it. It was like night and day. I also spoke with a friend last night and he told me that you can put polyfoam in the enclosure which will slow down the sound wave to make the woofer think it is a lager enclosure. He said that will help too. I pulled mine out again and will see if that helps. Next week the amp goes in and I'll let you know how the results turn out.

[JazStar740]

Originally Posted by BMWE934me

I turned off L7 and re-tuned with a CD in it. It was like night and day. I also spoke with a friend last night and he told me that you can put polyfoam in the enclosure which will slow down the sound wave to make the woofer think it is a lager enclosure. He said that will help too. I pulled mine out again and will see if that helps. Next week the amp goes in and I'll let you know how the results turn out.

Did you ever get the sound you were looking for? I am still not as thrilled as I should be with mine since replacing the underseat mid bass. I replaced my Alpine 500w monoblock amp with a Alpine 2 channel 320w amp. Still seems to be too much power for the earthquakes with gain all the way down. In process of building a box for my 10" JL W3 to see if I can get back the frequencies I am missing, tempted to put 2 JL 6W3's instead of the 10W3.

[BMWE934me]

Originally Posted by JazStar740

Did you ever get the sound you were looking for? I am still not as thrilled as I should be with mine since replacing the underseat mid bass. I replaced my Alpine 500w monoblock amp with a Alpine 2 channel 320w amp. Still seems to be too much power for the earthquakes with gain all the way down. In process of building a box for my 10" JL W3 to see if I can get back the frequencies I am missing, tempted to put 2 JL 6W3's instead of the 10W3.

The Earthquake has to go. It is a sub, not mid-bass. It's frequency range is 30hz. I'm looking at a Pioneer TS-SW841D and adding a sub in the ski pass or something. The bass is awesome from the earthquakes. I have been adjusting tone and eq settings. Some songs sound okay, but never as full as they did. I will change the mid-bases first and go from there.

[JazStar740]

feel you on that..... I think I will be removing mine also, but I will wait till after I add the pass through sub(s)

[JazStar740]

Originally Posted by BMWE934me

The Earthquake has to go. It is a sub, not mid-bass. It's frequency range is 30hz. I'm looking at a Pioneer TS-SW841D and adding a sub in the ski pass or something. The bass is awesome from the earthquakes. I have been adjusting tone and eq settings. Some songs sound okay, but never as full as they did. I will change the mid-bases first and go from there.

OK, Earthquakes are a keeper now.... After many adjustments one simple thing made a world of difference... I CHANGED the phase on 1 (only one!!!) of the speakers and it is a night and day difference..... Now it sounds like I wanted it to.... Need to Dynomat it like crazy to get rid of all the rattles but it is really sounding good now!!!! Give it a try, remember only change the phase on one of your subs and you should be very happy. Really no need for me to add the extra sub, but I already have the second amp mounted and pieces prepped for fiberglass.

[BMWE934me]

Originally Posted by JazStar740

OK, Earthquakes are a keeper now.... After many adjustments one simple thing made a world of difference... I CHANGED the phase on 1 (only one!!!) of the speakers and it is a night and day difference..... Now it sounds like I wanted it to.... Need to Dynomat it like crazy to get rid of all the rattles but it is really sounding good now!!!! Give it a try, remember only change the phase on one of your subs and you should be very happy. Really no need for me to add the extra sub, but I already have the second amp mounted and pieces prepped for fiberglass.

Dynomat the entire bottom and sides of the enclosure. I ended up taking out the rubber cushion out from under the enclosure. It is a real tight fit with the dynomat around it. I also put a bit of poly-fill inside the enclosure to slow down the sound waves so it works and sounds like a larger sub.

Since the speaker does not have the frequency range of a mid-bass speaker, how does changing the polarity of one speaker fill in the lest frequency ranges? What settings are your amp set to and your tone and eq settings? I may get a few songs to sound good, but some songs I just can't tune at all.

[JazStar740]

Originally Posted by BMWE934me

Dynomat the entire bottom and sides of the enclosure. I ended up taking out the rubber cushion out from under the enclosure. It is a real tight fit with the dynomat around it. I also put a bit of poly-fill inside the enclosure to slow down the sound waves so it works and sounds like a larger sub.

Since the speaker does not have the frequency range of a mid-bass speaker, how does changing the polarity of one speaker fill in the lest frequency ranges? What settings are your amp set to and your tone and eq settings? I may get a few songs to sound good, but some songs I just can't tune at all.

Trust me give it a try..... I was really surprised at the result..... I guess with both speakers phased correctly they are battling against one another and you are unable to hear the frequencies you wish to hear, once I changed the phased one differently, I was able to hear a broader range and I love it now....

My amps gain is set almost at lowest level while bass eq is up 3/4's of the way and crossover point is somewhere around 300. Bass for the idrive is set a four ticks below flat and treble set 6 clicks above flat. Logic7 on

[JazStar740]

Originally Posted by BMWE934me

Dynomat the entire bottom and sides of the enclosure. I ended up taking out the rubber cushion out from under the enclosure. It is a real tight fit with the dynomat around it. I also put a bit of poly-fill inside the enclosure to slow down the sound waves so it works and sounds like a larger sub.

Oh yes the entire bottom and sides of the enclosure is already dynomated, I did that when I installed the Earthquakes.... I am getting rattle from the other parts of the floor and doors

[BMWE934me]

Originally Posted by JazStar740

Oh yes the entire bottom and sides of the enclosure is already dynomated, I did that when I installed the Earthquakes.... I am getting rattle from the other parts of the floor and doors

My drivers side rocker panel vibrates pretty bad. I can't hear it inside at all. Everything else is pretty solid.

[BMWE934me]

Originally Posted by JazStar740

Trust me give it a try..... I was really surprised at the result..... I guess with both speakers phased correctly they are battling against one another and you are unable to hear the frequencies you wish to hear, once I changed the phased one differently, I was able to hear a broader range and I love it now....

My amps gain is set almost at lowest level while bass eq is up 3/4's of the way and crossover point is somewhere around 300. Bass for the idrive is set a four ticks below flat and treble set 6 clicks above flat. Logic7 on

Your settings are very similar to mine. I'll give it a try tomorrow and see.