My neighbor on occasion plays his car audio and all I can hear is the distortion of the subs, whether I'm in his car (while he'* showing it off to me) or at a distance. Now I know that it sounds worse outside the car rather than in, but what I don't understand is.......it'* all about the loud sound of the subs. I just don't get it....... I told him straight out that it ruins the song. Folks, it was so loud and distorted that I couldn't even make out the lyrics and he was lov'in it. If he could get it louder and more distorted he would. What gives? I told him that I like my music loud, BUT, I want it to sound as if I were hearing them live. I wanted to identify the symbols, the bass drum, and the sound of the 6 string guitar.

I have another neighbor where you can hear the sound of his subs when he starts to turn the corner at the end of the street (1/4 mile away). You can tell he'* close by when the picture in our house are starting to vibrate on the walls.

I remember coming back from the US a couple of weeks ago and while waiting at the boarder crossing, we could hear the sound of subs like it was in our car. The only way to identify which car it was coming from was to try to find the car that had a trunk that was vibrating so bad you though the trunk was about to pop off, and to boot the car was about 8 car length away.

I find with a lot of teenagers today, and I'm trying not to stereo type, it'* not about how clean the sound is...........it'* about how loud it is..........who cares about how clean it is.

What am I missing Folks?????

yea i dont get it either. so many people around me do the same thing

When i do car audio.. i go for Quality.. Then loudness.

and they all seem to have the same CD playing

Yeah, I'm not much for playing music so loud I can't hear anything. Once in a while I like to blast a good song on a nice summer day though, but even then I'm not about to crank it up so loud that all you hear is crackling.

Add me to the club of old guys posting here.

I like somethings loud..however if you can't tell what song you are cranking..why bother?

Most people start with loud=cool but slowly learn that sound quality is cooler.

As for the people in your neighborhood and traffic on the road. I HATE those types of people. They give everyone who is into car audio a bad rep. I almost always turn my system down before I enter any residential area (especially after dark) and unless I am pissed off I turn it down at redlights too. It'* just respectful. Not to mention the more you **** off your neighbors the greater the chance of your system getting stolen or car vandalized.

Sub-bass frequency carries much better than your higher range of frequencies. Additionally, to produce any audible amount of sub-bass frequency you need a lot of power. Distorting subs is terrible for them..... I do regret that it carries so well. I love my stereo... If I could sound proof my car so that no one else could hear it, I would(in a realistic manner). I like the way it sounds, and I looooooove the way it feels. I'm not a teen though, so I guess I would just skew your portrayl. Keep in mind, many teens are on a very tight budget, and are very excited and proud to show off toys, and will do so without mercy when they don't understand what they are doing. Distortion in subs in a no-no. Too little power can cause over excursion which can damage the voice coil(*). I learned that the hard way once. Now all of the gains on my amps are turned down, bass level is set to -7 on the deck. Because of that change, I still have two Planet Audio subs that have survived since high school(I am pretty sure they are that old).

End of my rambling....

(I also disapprove of a person who distorts the high range because they don't know how to adjust the amp properly...)


*edit* Corvettecrazy is also correct on when you turn it down(and the quality over quantity part, and I say that even though I have poor quality ). If no one is around, give 'er hell. But FFS turn the damn thing down/off in residential areas when sitting at a light, or at night(I wait until about 9pm if I'm ever out that late). NEVER NEVER NEVER run your stereo in an annoying manner when you are near home. My stereo is turned off before I even turn onto the street I live on. */edit*

i love my music loud,,, but its gotta be clean.
I enjoy the massage from the subs , but again I have decent components.
im a long way from a teenager but I know where your coming from.
I hear alot of these stereo'* in my area that sound like ___________ !
you fill in the blank.

18 years old...guess that makes me a teenager...by the way your rite all my friends with subs pump it so all you can hear is distortion...this is all 100% true. To be honest i hate it. But nobody in my group of friends could ever beat my amazing sound qaulity. I love clear sound.

Resident Old Guy, reporting in.

First of all, when I had youth and was in my teens/early 20s, I played my music plenty loud - but I never amped it more than my cheap speakers could take and not distort the sound. Loud is normal for kids (and many adults). Distorted is wrong.

Second, high amplitude low wavelength sound (i.e. bass) is destructive to hearing. Our youth will be wearing hearing aids when they hit their 40s.

And now to **** some people off (sorry). Part of the reason kids crank up the bass to the point of distortion is so they don't have to listen to the crap they're told is music. It'* full of violence & profanity. WTF?? Who wants to listen to that? Subconsciously kids don't want to hear it either so they crank the sub tones to mask it. (I'm not a phsyciatrist, but I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express last night).
Ted Nugent...Alice Cooper...REO Speedwagon...ahhh, now THAT'* music.

Flame on, I'm ready. stan---> <---you hosers
Hey Bill, you're right - stirring up the pot is fun!