seeking advice from experienced mobile DJs and sound engineers

[SirReal]

There's no reason that your setup shouldn't work based on the provided documentation of the product and the way you say you've hooked it up. Did you move around the room when you experienced a lack of bass or stand in one spot? Keep in mind that low/sub frequency wave lengths are upwards of 30 feet in length. If you're in a small room you'll get all kinds on weird phase cancellation from the reflections. If you feel it lacking in bass try just moving one of the bass bins to a different angle or space from it's rear wall.

[Synaptic Flow]

Yeah I hate to just throw in the towel and start buying expensive stuff already. And the set up I have does sound good, but it's hard to describe. I guess pretty good without being very impressive. (if that makes any sense) And I might be expecting too much in this price range of cheap subs.

No, I really didn't move around the room all that much. I just stood maybe five feet in front of them a few times and that's about all. There were definitely reflections in that room though.

My family tells me that since absolutely nobody has complained about the SQ, I should take my time and not be in a rush to upgrade. I guess I'm being a perfectionist a little to, but I felt like I should be getting a lot better from an alleged 800 watts per sub.

I went into Guitar Center today and listened to an 18" Electro Voice sub that is rated at less watts (700) and that damn thing was easily five times louder than my subs. I suppose there could have been some trickery on Guitar Center's end? I run mine direct from my Denon MC-3000. They are obviously running through a mixer because they have a ton of speakers to audition. I don't know if buying a mixer would make much difference for me.

I can tell you one thing though; I cannot put enough volume into my subs to turn the clip/overload light on ever. My MC-3000 sounds plenty loud though on anyone else's system and through my tops, so I don't know what the factor is.

In a live situation, I have the powered tops turned all the way up and the subs turned about half way up. The MC-3000 is the master volume control. For the tops to be quite loud, I barely have to turn the MC-3000 vol up to like 20%.

[SlayForMoney]

Try hooking up the PA to somebody elses mixer/controller. That way you'll eliminate if you have a problem with the PA or the source (controller)

[muldrez]

Like SirReal says, the long wavelengths of low frequencies can do funny things, especially when you have 2 subs set apart from each other in a room. There will be areas of the room where the wavelengths cancel each other out, probably where you were listening from, and other areas where they sum together, where it will sound too bassy (probably where your brother was listening from).

If you can place the 2 subs right next to each other rather than as a left/right setup, you will probably avoid these issues to some extent, as the sound waves from each sub will be pretty much moving in the same direction no matter where you are in the room, and they should sum together to give a louder bass response than just one sub on its own (although it won't be twice as bassy unfortunately)

[frankle]

I'd say it's a phase thing, first of all I'd purchase a lead tester, something like the Behringer CT100, so you can make sure all of your cables are wired correctly. Without doing this first there is no point trying anything else.

I know that you've said they're all the same brand and all that but I've certainly seen pre-made leads wired wrong from the factory.

[Synaptic Flow]

I'd say it's a phase thing, first of all I'd purchase a lead tester, something like the Behringer CT100, so you can make sure all of your cables are wired correctly. Without doing this first there is no point trying anything else.

I know that you've said they're all the same brand and all that but I've certainly seen pre-made leads wired wrong from the factory.

Yes. I will. I've been looking at cable testers and that's the one I will probably get.

[elohyspoissonpilote]

Like SirReal says, the long wavelengths of low frequencies can do funny things, especially when you have 2 subs set apart from each other in a room. There will be areas of the room where the wavelengths cancel each other out, probably where you were listening from, and other areas where they sum together, where it will sound too bassy (probably where your brother was listening from).

If you can place the 2 subs right next to each other rather than as a left/right setup, you will probably avoid these issues to some extent, as the sound waves from each sub will be pretty much moving in the same direction no matter where you are in the room, and they should sum together to give a louder bass response than just one sub on its own (although it won't be twice as bassy unfortunately)

+1
First move around and sure you can find some differents area with different bass pressure fields; depending from baww wavelentgh, reflections, etc...
You can easily stack the 2 sub bass together in the center, bass waves are omnidirectionnal.

[loverocket]

sounds like Seismic probably wired one of the subs wrong at the factory.

Put them next to each other and if the bass sounds lower when both are on, then it's definitely out of phase.

If you put them back to back [>] [<] they will sound louder.

Open it up and reverse the wires.

If they are soldered, just snip, strip and twist and put some wire nuts on there.

http://img2-2.timeinc.net/toh/i/a/to...roblems-07.jpg

[Synaptic Flow]

Hey guys, I just noticed one more thing that I will test out tomorrow. It's too late to bother the neighbors right now.
My audio cables are all supposedly ("directional"???) I didn't know that and never paid attention until just now. They have a signal flow diagram on them. I don't see how that could really mean anything but I will try it with them properly inserted and report back tomorrow.

[loverocket]

Hey guys, I just noticed one more thing that I will test out tomorrow. It's too late to bother the neighbors right now.
My audio cables are all supposedly ("directional"???) I didn't know that and never paid attention until just now. They have a signal flow diagram on them. I don't see how that could really mean anything but I will try it with them properly inserted and report back tomorrow.

That's just a dumb marketing gimmick. It bullshit.