Jensen Enclosed Subwoofer

We have a 2011 LSV with the stock system. MB Quart head unit, 6 spkrs inside boat, 2 speakers on V2 tower and 2 kicker amps. One amp powers the 6 spkrs in the boat, the other amp powers the tower speakers. It sounds fine for our family but its lacking bass. I dont want a big massive thumping sub, just something to give us a little more bass. I saw an enclosed Jensen powered subwoofer online. Its fairly cheap and would be very easy to install. Has anyone used one of these and if so, how did it work? I know it will be nothing like a 10 or 12" sub in a box but I"m not looking for much improvement. Any comments on this???

Jensen MXA6BA 6" Amplified Marine Subwoofer

Bass is going to be determined by surface area and enclosure displacment and power. The woofer is no larger than your fullrange speakers. The enclosure is extremely compact. The power rating has no reference to any standard or reality for that matter.

As an example, this would be good to use in a compact mini pickup truck cabin fit tightly behind the seat and rear wall. It would make a functional contribution to two small fullrange speakers that are driven off the source unit power. That would be balanced with the fullrange speakers, the environment and with your expectations.

But in an open air environment trying to balance with amplifier-driven fullrange speakers, it will be in overdrive (distortion) before it can adequately compete or contribute.

This product application is situational and you have the wrong situation.

You want enough of a subwoofer that it will fill in the bottom octave or two and operate conservative enough that it makes an improvement rather than a distraction.

You could accomplish this with a sealed 10-inch subwoofer and a very moderate amplifier. And you would be happy in the long term.

David

David,

Thanks for your answer, that makes sense and I was afraid that was the answer I was going to get. When I bought the boat it came with a 10" kicker sub, carpeted sub box and a 1000 watt Boss amp. The previous owner was going to replace the smaller kicker amp with this Boss amp and add the sub to it. I just cant find a spot to put this monster sub enclosure where my kicks wont ruin it. I'm a big guy so I cant see putting it under the steering wheel, I hardly have enough space for my feet as it is. Any suggestions?

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Originally Posted by klemmy

David,

Thanks for your answer, that makes sense and I was afraid that was the answer I was going to get. When I bought the boat it came with a 10" kicker sub, carpeted sub box and a 1000 watt Boss amp. The previous owner was going to replace the smaller kicker amp with this Boss amp and add the sub to it. I just cant find a spot to put this monster sub enclosure where my kicks wont ruin it. I'm a big guy so I cant see putting it under the steering wheel, I hardly have enough space for my feet as it is. Any suggestions?

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That's where I keep my 10" sub in a full size box. I don't drive the boat like a car with my legs all stretched out and I'm 6'2". You should be able to do the same.

You can get a 10" sub on top of the hump (or in front of it) and keep all your leg room.

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Originally Posted by brain_rinse

You can get a 10" sub on top of the hump (or in front of it) and keep all your leg room.

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All true. You will need no more than a 0.675 cu.ft. internal gross displacement for the right 10-inch sub. Some need even less. With .625" construction material, that is a tiny box. It gets tight in some Moomba models but it will go atop the floor hump. Just make sure there is adequate space between a side-firing woofer under excursion and any cables/hoses/wires in its path.

David

This guy said something about cutting down this box? Do you use a full size box for the sub or would you cut it down to make it fit better? Sorry for the simpleton questions, but I am a novice to this audio stuff.

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Originally Posted by klemmy

This guy said something about cutting down this box? Do you use a full size box for the sub or would you cut it down to make it fit better? Sorry for the simpleton questions, but I am a novice to this audio stuff.

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Okay, think of a subwoofer enclosure as a finely tuned resonant chamber for a particualr woofer. Too large and it's flat and lifeless. Too small and it has a higher resonance with less deep bass (not exactly the direction you want for a subwoofer).
So you are after that target tuning relationship between a given woofer and a given enclosure. Don't put a bass fiddle string on a violin body. Don't do random. Do it right. It costs the same. If you already own a Kicker 10-inch then most work admirably in a compact enclosure. If you have a model number, Phil with Kicker will give you an exact enclosure size to mate with that model based on the woofer's Thiele/Small parameters (in order words, the woofer's personal I.D. code). Any manufacturer or dealer will provide this same data on their product. You'll thank me later for stressing precision on this.

David

David is right; if it is worth doing, it is worth doing right.

If you want the simplicity of a single packaged units, I would feel more comfortable buying a Bazooka brand unit. Crutchfield sells Bazooka powered marine subwoofer units in a 8" and a 10", although it looks like the 8" has the better amp. These are fairly compact and simple to wire, but kind of pricey. The MBTA8250D sells for $399, which is twice the Jensen unit.

David is also right on with the advice about the enclosure being very important. My boat had a 8" JL Microsub in it when I bought it, and it was amazing that much sounds came from such a small speaker. JL had engineered that enclosure to optimize the sound of that sub.

Also, make sure to read the fine print. I don't know what amp you have, but the Boss MR1000 "1000 watt" amp, is really only a 400 watt amp. If you have any questions about products or specs, feel free to post them here and we can help you sort out all the numbers.