Bad Rattle from Rear Seat Area from music?

[AvaGT]

I've noticed like 95% of my songs cause an annoying vibration/rattle by my rear seats. I've folded them down and it stops so I assume it's something with my 401 subwoofer in the trunk. Any fixes or ideas?

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[Grimmer]

Better music? ;-)

But seriously... if it stops when you fold down the seats I would look at the latching mechanisms and any contact points. Could also be sound reverberating on the backs of the seats and when they are down they don't catch as much sound energy. Could also check the backs of the seats. Does the noise stop or decrease if only one seat is folded down? Does it still vibrate when the trunk is open and the seats are up in their normal position? Or does it only vibrate when it is a closed "sound box". If it buzzes when the "sound box" is open then perhaps you can reach in and press on the different surfaces until you find (hopefully) which ones are buzzing. Could also be the deck between the seats and the base of the rear window.

I'm not really a car audio expert, just thinking of ways to find the buzzing. I would expect that the noise is caused by two materials vibrating against each other or a single material resonating with the sound frequency (or both). Unfortunately, most of the panels in cars these days are just snapped in place and are generally free to shake rattle and roll...

Try to identify exactly which part of one of the songs induces the buzz and then make a looping mp3 of that section and start poking around back there as it plays...

 

[Grimmer]

Certain frequencies seem to buzz more than others, or are at least really annoying to me. Those tend to be around the 120Hz range. I prefer to cut those frequencies as much as possible either with an equalizer or by lowering the crossover frequency, but I don't think either of those options are available with the 401a equipment.

I haven't noticed much in my own car (401a) regarding unexpected buzzing, but I also don't drive the system that loud. Once the speakers start to sound over driven I back it off (this is right about where the rear and side view mirrors are shaking enough to blur the image). About 12 to 14 on the volume knob depending on the source/song.

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