I read on another site that if you fill the stock sub with polyfill, it would give better bass. Well, my cousin and I own Armadas and we put the polyfill theory to the test. I can honestly say that it works. The bass now is not as hallow and you can feel it better now. Now it is not better than going aftermarket, but it is better than having the stock with out the polyfill. I purchased a bag of polyfill at WalMart for a $1.57. so it is a great bang for the buck mod, worth doing in my opinion.

I read on another site that if you fill the stock sub with polyfill, it would give better bass. Well, my cousin and I own Armadas and we put the polyfill theory to the test. I can honestly say that it works. The bass now is not as hallow and you can feel it better now. Now it is not better than going aftermarket, but it is better than having the stock with out the polyfill. I purchased a bag of polyfill at WalMart for a $1.57. so it is a great bang for the buck mod, worth doing in my opinion.


Hmmm...this is a new one on me....but interesting. I may give this one a try -- did you just stuff the polyfill behind the cone??

Speaking of aftermarket speakers -- is anything really available?? I was under the impression that Bose had used a common ground for everything which makes swapping out the speakers difficult unless you're willing to run other wires.

We put the polyfill all over the place except for on top of the speaker. You don't want to force it in there just lay it in there. I don't know about adding other speakers. My wife drives the Armada so I am going to leave it stock. I just wanted to improve the dead bass it had.

Yes this is an old trick. It is a way to trick the sub into thinking it acutually has more room. This works well with subs in boxes that are not quite the size required.
M4ck

this is interesting!

excuse my ignorance, but can someone tell me exactly where and how i can get into my sub?! :o

tia

The sub is under the driver seat, you have to take your seat out to get to it. It does not take long though.

The sub is under the driver seat, you have to take your seat out to get to it. It does not take long though.

how many screws are there to the seat? and how difficult is it to take the seat out?

DIY?

It is cake to take the seat out, you don't even have to take the seat out of the car, just unbolt it, and then move it back far enough to give you access to the sub.

It is cake to take the seat out, you don't even have to take the seat out of the car, just unbolt it, and then move it back far enough to give you access to the sub.

Just to piggy back on that don't unplug anything if possible because I had to go to the dealer and get my Airbag light to reset since it starting blinking after I unplugged it (but that might be different with the drivers seat, I did the passenger seat)

I've done the aftermarket system and let me tell you, it was a *****. I ran all new cabling for all 4 doors, as well as power, ground and remote for the amp, wired up the crossovers, wired up the head unit, and I still have to wire up my XM satellite tuner, antenna, and SWI-X steering wheel audio controller. Dynamatted all 4 doors too.

It was much, much harder than my old Tahoe. Not for the faint of heart or inexperienced installers, that's for sure.

I'd say stick with the polyfill fix unless you're a huge music nut like me. The upside is it sounds bad ***! Now if I can just get rid of these damn rattles in my rear gate and dash it'll be all good.

I've done the aftermarket system and let me tell you, it was a *****. I ran all new cabling for all 4 doors, as well as power, ground and remote for the amp, wired up the crossovers, wired up the head unit, and I still have to wire up my XM satellite tuner, antenna, and SWI-X steering wheel audio controller. Dynamatted all 4 doors too.

It was much, much harder than my old Tahoe. Not for the faint of heart or inexperienced installers, that's for sure.

I'd say stick with the polyfill fix unless you're a huge music nut like me. The upside is it sounds bad ***! Now if I can just get rid of these damn rattles in my rear gate and dash it'll be all good.


That is why I am leaving it as is after this mod, plus my wife mostly drives it during the week. And on the weekends, we can't blast it when the kids are in the car so, I will just be happy with the AM system in my Silverado and the stock system in the Armada. I amd really glad they put an AUX port on the Armada though, nice going Nissan.

Are there any links to elaborate on this? I have never seen/heard about this so I would love more info.

Forget it, I found the info.

Noob here...Could someone post a link for this with more info and where is the sub at again?

OK, i have a lot of polyfill right now. How can I access my Sub? By just moving the seat fowards as far as it goes? Where do I put the polyfill? Do I have to unscrew anything on the Sub box enclosure thingy? I think i see a cone or w/e you call it, do I stuff it with polyfill? aahhh please help lol! if someone could post pics and give step-by-step instructions, I'll REALLY, REALLY appreciate it! thanks!

How about some info about what levels make the stock stereo sound the best. I know there is a post/thread on this somewhere...I've seen it before BUT I would like some others input.

How much Base, Treble, Mid combo for the BEST quality sound?

The levels are really personal preference because what sounds good to you may not to me. The type of music and even teh qualtiy of the recordnign can make a difference with the levels. to me the stock stereo sounds like crap, but that is because I haev always had aftermarket stereo's and once you aquire a taste for a hi-fi sound system, the stock stuff doesn't satisfy.

Noob here...Could someone post a link for this with more info and where is the sub at again?

Here is all the info you need I believe. (http://www.titantalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15011&highlight=polyfill)

I installed for a living for 3 years at a high end shop. We did mostly custom stuff for Mercs, Bimmers, etc. Adding polyfill as asserted earlier will trick the sub into acting like it is in a larger box. Larger box makes louder bass, but it looses its tightness in the process. Next would be a tuned ported box. You add a tube of a certain length and depth into the box and it heightens bass of a certain wavelength. But the port will also dramatically loosen up the bass and it will fart more than punch. This trick is how BOSE is able to get a lot of bass out of little boxes using $3 speakers and charging $1000 for the setup.

More volume usually equals flappier bass. There is a balance you go for. Stock makers usually make bass tight with sealed boxes for two reasons: Cheaper and won't blow as easily. Custom installs will usually pick a type of box Sealed or ported and then build from there. Certain aftermarket subs are made to work in one type of box or another. Polyfilll will probably not hurt the sub.

Before you go to the trouble, you must ask yourself what kind of music do you listen to and would tight or loose bass make more sense. Bass heavy music like Rap, Hip Hop, Modern Rock, etc. would probably benefit from this. Older Classic Rock, Country, Jazz, classical, etc. would loose out. Higher quality stuff will increase the bass output regardless of what type of box you have. I prefer a sealed box with high quality drivers to get a large amount of tight bass. Something like a JL 12W7 or similar woofer would work for me. ;)

I have been hesitant about posting anything about audio because I don't want to get in a lot of discussion about it. But I have done a lot of research over the years, have written a computer program to properly design speaker enclosures, and have designed and built a number of high end systems for home use. Never got into the car end too much, because quality is very important to me, and it is very hard to get a real quality car system. At least to my standards. I have been a judge in the past for car stereo contests, and my oldest son and I built a system for his car that won a lot of contests. He won first place in the Colorado Alpine state contest, and was supposed to go to the Nationals, but a job change got in the way of that.
I have attached some pictures of my music room in my house. When I built the house I built this room just for my audio system. I won't go into a lot of detail - the room is 13' X23'. The walls are 12" thick concrete. The shape of the room was selected to eliminate standing waves. The sub enclosure is 4'X8'X30". The angled ends cancel out standing waves inside. There are 9 12' drivers. I selected these drivers because the had the specs I wanted. I measure all specs on the bare drivers and put the data in my program to get the box design. This sub is a QB3 6th order ducted port design. The frequency response is flat to 17 Hz. I use my HP Function generator and my spectrum anaylizer to test the system. I won't go into the design of the other speakers, too much data to list here.
Amps are Soundcraftsmen Pro amps, CMOS-FET, 1600 watts.

Sounds good, do you have an AP?

how do i un-bolt the seat...lol!...i tried with a wrench but it is too tight...i really need some help...how can I loosen the boltsssss help me! haha thanks...also where do i put the polyfill?????????? do i have to take out the subwoofer and or unscrew anything on the subwoofer case? lol sorry for asking all these questions...i'm only 14 and i need some help :D

how do i un-bolt the seat...lol!...i tried with a wrench but it is too tight...i really need some help...how can I loosen the boltsssss help me! haha thanks...also where do i put the polyfill?????????? do i have to take out the subwoofer and or unscrew anything on the subwoofer case? lol sorry for asking all these questions...i'm only 14 and i need some help :DYeah you have to remove the Sub and then pack the inside of the encloser with the polyfil. As for the seat bolts go use a ratchet and socket to remove them.Make sure your tring to turn them the right way ! Counter clockwise ! Good luck !

Great posts by tripleblack and scr38. The stereo has never been a priority in a family hauler, but if simple upgrades can produce good results I'll do the work. Sounds, though, like my wife and I are better off with the stock for listening to acoustic and bluegrass - and the kids have never complained about how the Wiggles and Sesame Street sound in the back.

Poly-Fil... Check!
LocTite... Check!
Protective Eyewear... Check!
Torch... Check!

I am ready to do this... I will update!

Don't pack the polyfill in. Fill the box loosely, with no compression. Don't let the polyfill contact the speaker cone.

can sum1 take sum pics and step by step instructions? i'm lost...iunno where to put the pollyfill excatly..i'm a visual type person and if sum1 could take their sub out and take sum pics to show me it'll be aaaaaaaawwwweeesssoommeeeeee and i'll reeeaaalllyyyyy appreciate it :D plz? lol:o

don't leave my hangin'! sum1 helppp lol :P :o

don't leave my hangin'! sum1 helppp lol :P :o
Remove the front driver's seat. Pull speaker out of sub box, loosely fill the box. Replace speaker. Nothing too it. I don't know if you can do this without removing the seat. Probably could, but I haven't done it and don't really care to.
;)

Hey scr38,
When I'm ready to do my home theatre setup, I'm going to hit you up for some ideas. ;)

Just went out and stuffed the box full of polyfill about 30 min ago. I am baffled as to why it wasn't done in the first place but thats BLOSE for yeah. Anyway I have been involved with car audio for the better part of 14 years now and have never really had any decent results with polyfill. It is a like a bandaid to me. People put polyfill in their boxes to cover up little boo-boo's when they should have made there boxes a little bigger. With that being said, it did make a difference in the Armada. The bass is a little louder and drops down a little lower and the rattleing sound is gone. I was able to get the box out without removing the seat all the way. I pulled all of the bolts out and just tilted the seat forwards and then backwards to get to the last bolt holding the enclosure in and then pulled it out. Only took about half an hour to do......Very easy and hopefully will tide me over until I can get the time to upgrade to some better equipment.

I installed for a living for 3 years at a high end shop. We did mostly custom stuff for Mercs, Bimmers, etc. Adding polyfill as asserted earlier will trick the sub into acting like it is in a larger box. Larger box makes louder bass, but it looses its tightness in the process. Next would be a tuned ported box. You add a tube of a certain length and depth into the box and it heightens bass of a certain wavelength. But the port will also dramatically loosen up the bass and it will fart more than punch. This trick is how BOSE is able to get a lot of bass out of little boxes using $3 speakers and charging $1000 for the setup.

More volume usually equals flappier bass. There is a balance you go for. Stock makers usually make bass tight with sealed boxes for two reasons: Cheaper and won't blow as easily. Custom installs will usually pick a type of box Sealed or ported and then build from there. Certain aftermarket subs are made to work in one type of box or another. Polyfilll will probably not hurt the sub.

Before you go to the trouble, you must ask yourself what kind of music do you listen to and would tight or loose bass make more sense. Bass heavy music like Rap, Hip Hop, Modern Rock, etc. would probably benefit from this. Older Classic Rock, Country, Jazz, classical, etc. would loose out. Higher quality stuff will increase the bass output regardless of what type of box you have. I prefer a sealed box with high quality drivers to get a large amount of tight bass. Something like a JL 12W7 or similar woofer would work for me. ;)


FYI Triple, the BOSE enclosure in the Armada is a ported enclosure. And you can get just as tight of bass out of a ported enclosure as you can a sealed enclosure you just have to tune the box lower and used a small ported enclosure instead of a large one.

what is in the base se is there a sub in it and is it worth getting bose

FYI Triple, the BOSE enclosure in the Armada is a ported enclosure. And you can get just as tight of bass out of a ported enclosure as you can a sealed enclosure you just have to tune the box lower and used a small ported enclosure instead of a large one.
Yes. All BLOSE are ported. The port is tuned to over emphasize certain notes that are appealing to human ears, which distorts the music but makes people think it sounds good.
You can change the bass on a ported enclosure, but I doubt you can get as tight. A perfectly sealed box forms a suction on the rear of the driver when it pushes, pulling it back. A ported box won't pull back the driver. This makes it sound looser and not as tight. ;)

Yes. All BLOSE are ported. The port is tuned to over emphasize certain notes that are appealing to human ears, which distorts the music but makes people think it sounds good.
You can change the bass on a ported enclosure, but I doubt you can get as tight. A perfectly sealed box forms a suction on the rear of the driver when it pushes, pulling it back. A ported box won't pull back the driver. This makes it sound looser and not as tight. ;)


I will agree with you that a sealed box may sound tighter than a ported box, and that is only because you can play alot higher frequencies out of a sealed box. Frequencies up in the 80-130 hertz range can be played out of a sealed box with no problems and that is where the punchiness comes in these mid bass frequencies have no business being played out of a sub to begin with. I personally cross my subs over at around 50 with 60 being the highest, will my ported boxes play up to 80 hertz with-out sounding like a fart cannon.....hell no, but a good set of 6 1/2 inch components sealed up nicely in the door will play down to 60 real nice. And you are wrong about the sealed box pulling the driver back the motor along with the suspension pushes and pulls thee sub. :duh: In a perfectly sealed box if you push down on the sub it should spring back towards you immediately if the sub is staying inside the box and slowly coming back you have a small leak somewhere. If you push on a sub inside of a ported box it comes back just as quick because of the suspension of said sub.

I will agree with you that a sealed box may sound tighter than a ported box, and that is only because you can play alot higher frequencies out of a sealed box. Frequencies up in the 80-130 hertz range can be played out of a sealed box with no problems and that is where the punchiness comes in these mid bass frequencies have no business being played out of a sub to begin with. I personally cross my subs over at around 50 with 60 being the highest, will my ported boxes play up to 80 hertz with-out sounding like a fart cannon.....hell no, but a good set of 6 1/2 inch components sealed up nicely in the door will play down to 60 real nice. And you are wrong about the sealed box pulling the driver back the motor along with the suspension pushes and pulls thee sub. :duh: In a perfectly sealed box if you push down on the sub it should spring back towards you immediately if the sub is staying inside the box and slowly coming back you have a small leak somewhere. If you push on a sub inside of a ported box it comes back just as quick because of the suspension of said sub.
Correct. The sub at rest has equal pressure on either side in a sealed box. Push in and the pressure builds inside the box pushing it back to neutral.
Pull it out and the opposite happens. Double :duh: :duh:
As for crossing over that low, I don't. I usually cross a sub at 80-100 HZ and run it down to 25hz or maybe a little lower depending on power and the sub. ;)

Here are some facts about sealed boxes and vented boxs. If we use the exact same driver in all boxes, and the boxes are designed for that driver to produce a flat response curve this is what we will see:

The sealed box system will always have a system resonance higher than the free air resonance of the driver.

The vented box system will have a system resonance the same or lower than the driver free air resonance. This is determined by the type of vented box. My home sub is a QB7 design, so the system resonance is 17 Hz, 1/2 octave lower than the driver free air resonance.

The vented box is much more efficient than the sealed box. It is 3db more efficient, which means that it will require 1/2 the power that a sealed box (with the same driver) to produce the same sound level.

The vented box, compared with a sealed box with the same driver, is much larger in volume. That is the primary reason you see more sealed boxes in auto use than vented boxes.

The most important thing about any speaker box is that it must be designed around the driver that is going in it. The driver has several parameters that must be used in the proper design. These include the VAS, FS, DC resistance of the voice coil, impedence of the voice coil, QMS, QES, and QTS. Using all these parameters you calculate the proper box volume, and also the vent diameter and length for the vented box.

Correct. The sub at rest has equal pressure on either side in a sealed box. Push in and the pressure builds inside the box pushing it back to neutral.
Pull it out and the opposite happens. Double :duh: :duh:
As for crossing over that low, I don't. I usually cross a sub at 80-100 HZ and run it down to 25hz or maybe a little lower depending on power and the sub. ;)


Cool just making sure we are on the same page here. Crossing your sub over that high will drag your soundstage towards the rear but if you don't care about soundstage the "forgetaboutit" Crossing your subs over that high allows you to skimp out on the mid-bass a little though.

:goteam:

Here are some facts about sealed boxes and vented boxs. If we use the exact same driver in all boxes, and the boxes are designed for that driver to produce a flat response curve this is what we will see:

The sealed box system will always have a system resonance higher than the free air resonance of the driver.

The vented box system will have a system resonance the same or lower than the driver free air resonance. This is determined by the type of vented box. My home sub is a QB7 design, so the system resonance is 17 Hz, 1/2 octave lower than the driver free air resonance.

The vented box is much more efficient than the sealed box. It is 3db more efficient, which means that it will require 1/2 the power that a sealed box (with the same driver) to produce the same sound level.

The vented box, compared with a sealed box with the same driver, is much larger in volume. That is the primary reason you see more sealed boxes in auto use than vented boxes.

The most important thing about any speaker box is that it must be designed around the driver that is going in it. The driver has several parameters that must be used in the proper design. These include the VAS, FS, DC resistance of the voice coil, impedence of the voice coil, QMS, QES, and QTS. Using all these parameters you calculate the proper box volume, and also the vent diameter and length for the vented box.


Well said.

Hey scr38, how does you head feel at 17 cycles :) Can your sub reproduce this with much authority or decibels?

Anything below around 40hz is going to just sound like "mud" in a mix. 17hz is LOW. Most people's hearing ranges from around 15hz-17khz. Lower frequencies (like anything below 25-30hz) are more felt than heard.

Hey scr38, how does you head feel at 17 cycles :) Can your sub reproduce this with much authority or decibels?
Frequencies below 20 Hz are really felt rather than heard. These very low frequencies are very non-directional. Most of the time they sound as if they are coming from outside the room. My system is capable of producing high sound pressure levels at these low frequencies since the response of my sub is flat down to 17 Hz. There are not many recordings with frequencies this low, but I do have a couple of CDs with very low notes, such as "Pictures At An Exhibition" played on the Great Organ Of The Townhalle, in Zurich. There are some 16 Hz notes in that recording. Also there are some very low sounds in the CD "The Trinity Session" by the Cowboy Junkies. When listening to this you would swear that the sounds were coming from outside the room. I also have some test CDs I use with my RTA, such as the Soundcraftsmen system analysis disc and the Alpine Car Audio Nationals Reference CD.
At high volumn, these very low frequencies feel like something is hitting you in the chest!
I am running over 800 watts RMS to my sub, which is very efficient, so I don't have any problems in producing high sound levels at low frequencies.

Just wanted to find out if all the BOSE systems come with the sub. I read on the Titan website that it's a rockford Fosgate package? :confused:

Just wanted to find out if all the BOSE systems come with the sub. I read on the Titan website that it's a rockford Fosgate package? :confused:

I don't know if it is the same sub (I think it is) but the Bose system come with the Armadas and the fosgates come in the Titans.

I don't know if it is the same sub (I think it is) but the Bose system come with the Armadas and the fosgates come in the Titans.
So if I look under my drivers seat I should see a box there?

So if I look under my drivers seat I should see a box there?


I would think so.

Just wanted to find out if all the BOSE systems come with the sub. I read on the Titan website that it's a rockford Fosgate package? :confused:
Neither are made by Fosgate or BOSE. They, like all stereos from automakers, aren't made by the aftermarket companies, they are assembled by them to automaker specs. In effect, they are licensing the name. The "BOSE" deck for example is a Panasonic deck. I believe the subs are the same. Basically $3 POS. ;)

This really works! I purchased a huge bag of Polyfill at walmart. Something like $3.50 for a huge bag. (Size of a pillow).
I used 'maybe' two or three hand-fulls. Not much at all. Lightly pushed it in throughout the box. Pretty much anywhere my fat little hands could fit.

Wow... what a difference. I was happy with the Bose system before but I had a friend who work in the sound business say it 'sounded kind of tinny.' I never had a problem with it, but they could hear it.

Since I've installed the polyfill, wow. I can clearly hear the difference. The base is so much more.... well... solid. Now I know what they were talking about. The hollow bass is gone.

Now, the same friend who called my radio "Nice but tinny" says he "is really impressed and he can't believe it made that much difference."

I expected it to help a little but not this much. I think it doesn't work if you put too much or even too little.

Try it if you haven't. :D

I KNOW some people don't like bose. I know some people feel (and know) aftermarket is better... I know. I have the tech pack with navigation. Its not practical to change the unit. In fact, I wouldn't upgrade now even if it was easy. I love my 'new stereo'. :-)

Take care,
Tim

Ill have to give this a try.

I think I will try this too.. I have a JL 10w3v2 in a small sealed box in my Mustang, would this benefit from the poly too? Based on the descriptions above it sounds as if it might.

That was the cheapest, easiest and least time consuming thing that I've done to the mada! Those little screws that hold in the cone are nasty little beasts but all in all, I'm happy with the results. I'll probably never upgrade the speakers, so this was a good upgrade option! For those of you, like me, who aren't steriophyles, this is a good one. :)

I did this mod today, and I have to say, I really didnt notice a difference all that much. Maybe I didnt put enough polyfil? Did you guys fill the box all the way with polyfill? I just stuffed the poly inside the holes, and left under the speaker clean. Should I have put some polyfil underneath the speaker as well?

I did this mod today, and I have to say, I really didnt notice a difference all that much. Maybe I didnt put enough polyfil? Did you guys fill the box all the way with polyfill? I just stuffed the poly inside the holes, and left under the speaker clean. Should I have put some polyfil underneath the speaker as well?

Hi,
In my case, I filled all the box (in every direction). Make sure not to pack it too tight. Then, I put a couple of inches (very loose) under the speaker and screwed the speaker back down. Put just enough so its fluffy and just touching the rear of the speaker w/the magnet.
So yes, you would want to put it underneath the speaker - just make sure to not pack it too tight.

Good luck.
Tim

Hi,
In my case, I filled all the box (in every direction). Make sure not to pack it too tight. Then, I put a couple of inches (very loose) under the speaker and screwed the speaker back down. Put just enough so its fluffy and just touching the rear of the speaker w/the magnet.
So yes, you would want to put it underneath the speaker - just make sure to not pack it too tight.

Good luck.
Tim
Hmmm maybe I packed it too tight then. Ill try modifying it this weekend. Thanks for the tip.

Don't pack it any. Loose fill it, with no compression of the fiber. Be sure the fiber isn't in contact with the speaker cone.

Don't pack it any. Loose fill it, with no compression of the fiber. Be sure the fiber isn't in contact with the speaker cone.

Exactly!.
Sorry. I think my choice of words was poor. It does need to be loose.

Have a good weekend.
Tim

I Think I May Try That This Weekend Too. Razlee Just Motivated Me

I knew I had something to do this weekend...guess I'll do it next weekend or maybe tomorrow.

LOL. Same here, totally forgot about it.

Just did it and yes, it does souds better. It only took me 33 min.