I've been trying and trying to get more midbass out of my front stage, but to no avail.

I'm running some Hertz HSK 165's with 75wrms at full range using the provided crossover, so the amp isn't cutting out any frequencies, nor is the headunit.

The doors are fully sound deadened with Dynamat inside and out and sealed, with a focal acoustic tile behind the speaker.

I'm still using the factory plastic baffle, however it has a hell of alot of Dynamat plastered all over it.

And after all this, I still have NO midbass... there is just a huge gap between my highs and my sub, which makes the system sound pretty crap as the sub just doesn't have anything to blend with and takes away alot of the 'warmth' from all the music.

I'm completely stumped as to why this could be... the HSK's are supposedly known for their bassy sound. I've taken it to two different car audio shops, Tonkins and a less commercial, more specialised dealer, and both had no idea why. One suggested that the other Magna's they have done installs in also seemed to lack midbass with other drivers they have placed in the doors. Unfortunatelty the latter didn't have any spare 6.5" drivers to swap over and have a listen to, to see if it is the driver or the install causing the problem.

I'm wondering if anyone else here has any more ideas as to what I can do to fix this? DO the Hertz's need more power to get them moving? Or do I need to look at getting an MDF baffle made up to replace the plastic one? Please? HELP!?!

Have you tried running them without the passive crossover? I have no information about these speakers or the cross over points but you could try that?

i also lack mid-bass, i have nothing from about >80Hz, i investing in a pair of focal 270v3, hopefully to fix the problem, is your kicks in a sealed encloser? sounds like you just lacking compression somewhere, maybe there is a leak.

1 - check your phase - Swap the polarity of 1 mid (neg to pos - pos to neg)
If that sounds worse swap it back ( you will notice a lack of midbass and no centre image, you will be able to notice the sound coming from the speakers rather than the stage if it is out of phase)

2 - Dont run them full range, High pass them at 50 hz - 70 hz. You will be able to turn them up more to compete with your sub. What slope are your crossover points at? You would want 12-24 db nice and steep for tight bass.

3 - Turn your sub down a tad, play around with crossover points for your sub. I would start at around 80 hz

4 - Try removing the acoustic tile, these have been known to reduce midbass as they cut out the rear wave.

5 - Make a baffle out of 12mm mdf, simply trace around the stock baffle, use a big drill bit to sink the holes for the stock screws to go in, or use new screws.

But yeah let us know your crossover slopes and points, (sub lowpass and midbass highpass) are they set at the headunit or amp?

Cheers

what xover point do the stock xovers run at?
are you using time alignment?
are the speakers out of phase with each other?

most likely suspect is a crap xover point of the stock passives, even a badly out of phase system should reveal midbass, just not to the extent it would when properly aligned.

i know they're pretty basic questions that you likely covered 50 times already but its always worth suggesting them in case you had a quick lapse of memory and forgot something..

make sure the amp us running full range, not on a HPF.

Follow tims adivce, he pretty much covers everything.

Its important to run a lowpass crossover on them, i would say somewhere between 60and 80hz. But just to clear things up, what excatly are you missing. Midbass is from about 100hz up, whereas anything below that is more subbass.

I would also install your speakers onto a solid mdf baffle (with dynamat).

I dont think magnas have a lack of midbass, as I currently have a fair bit.

Just do what Tim did and put 9" drivers in there :P.

Strange that you're lacking midbass, i wouldn't say i have the best mids around, but i definitely hear it (jaycar splits). Play around with your headunit settings, i found just by changing the high/low passes it would affect the mid-bass ALOT.

I've got the same set of speakers, HSK165, they are running off 150rms each channel through the passive crossovers, typically I don't use over 50rms from the amp and I find the mid-bass is in-line with the volume - it's noticable.

Doors fully deadened w/ Dynamat & service openings filled with 3mm MDF. With Dynamat the speakers are clearer in general and less muffled by the bass - as it sounds more controlled.

Prior to Dynamat the bass was still there, slightly louder, but a bit muffled. - From that I think it's your drivers... or crossovers... or song selection or whatever Eq you have, it's not the Magna's doors.

somethings up, it sounds most likely that as tim said it could be the phase. I just got a set for my bro and mounted them in his mirage. No sound deadening but mounted in 12mm MDF there is plently of mid bass off the soundstream 2x80wrms that is powering them. With no filtering of the bass it is pretty good but can not go very loud without distorting. Add a 65 / 70Hz HPF @ 12db/oct and everything is much much better!

Easiest thing I can think of is go to the xover and change one of the woofers phase around. Find a channel and phase track if you can to test.

Ok, the 2W.20 crossovers that come with the HSK 165 system have a 'cut-off frequency' of 3.3 kHz, with a slope of 12-12 dB/Oct. I am running the HPF from the headunit at 55 Hz, but have been playing around by switching it from full range - 55 - 80 - 125 Hz at the headunit, and each increment has very little difference to the amount of midbass. Today I inspected the installation done by Tonkins - I asked for them to install Focal plin chant tiles behind, which I read from Poita made a difference in his setup, however found that I still had the foam tiles from Jaycar that I stuck there. The sealing up of the service holes they did was simply a layer of Dynamat - no MDF used. So I'm looking through my receipts, because I'm sure they charged me for those tiles. Should the fact that the service holes have no MDF behind the Dynamat make a difference? As long as it's sealed it should be fine I would think...
I ripped out the foam tile on the drivers side today and checked and double checked all the +ves and -ves were going to the right parts. Tomorrow is the passenger side. I found that removing the tile made no difference.
I didn't look what LPF the sub is set at today, as all the testing I'm doing has the sub turned to 0 volume. I'll check it tomorrow though.
Nope, no time alignment on my HU unfortunately, just balance/fader set a bit to the front and to the passenger side, just to pull the center of the music a bit more to the middle of the dash for me.

Have you tried fading to only speaker and listening for the mid-bass?

When I had the magna i just put S/D over the holes without MDF. In the bora is it fully sealed from factory :bowrofl:

Ok, the 2W.20 crossovers that come with the HSK 165 system have a 'cut-off frequency' of 3.3 kHz, with a slope of 12-12 dB/Oct. I am running the HPF from the headunit at 55 Hz, but have been playing around by switching it from full range - 55 - 80 - 125 Hz at the headunit, and each increment has very little difference to the amount of midbass. Today I inspected the installation done by Tonkins - I asked for them to install Focal plin chant tiles behind, which I read from Poita made a difference in his setup, however found that I still had the foam tiles from Jaycar that I stuck there. The sealing up of the service holes they did was simply a layer of Dynamat - no MDF used. So I'm looking through my receipts, because I'm sure they charged me for those tiles. Should the fact that the service holes have no MDF behind the Dynamat make a difference? As long as it's sealed it should be fine I would think...
I ripped out the foam tile on the drivers side today and checked and double checked all the +ves and -ves were going to the right parts. Tomorrow is the passenger side. I found that removing the tile made no difference.
I didn't look what LPF the sub is set at today, as all the testing I'm doing has the sub turned to 0 volume. I'll check it tomorrow though.
Nope, no time alignment on my HU unfortunately, just balance/fader set a bit to the front and to the passenger side, just to pull the center of the music a bit more to the middle of the dash for me.
Yes that is the slope / cutoff between the tweeter and midbass, can you tell me the highpass for the mids? (what slope is it at the headunit) 55 hz 12 db? 55hz 18db?
And the lowpass for the sub what slope/cutoff is it (from the headunit I presume)

Service holes should have MDF and not just dynamat, dynamat alone wont do that much, just flex with each bass note possibly taking away some midbass

Did u try actually swapping the polarity of one of the mids? Just to check.