maxima2k2

finished the installation today, bypassed all the stock amps and installed the aftermarket speakers. I have 6x9 420w max, 80 rms for the rears and 4" 100w max, 20 rms for the fronts. The sound is great but im very dissapointed in the bass, in my opinion, the stock BOSE system produced a lot more bass than my aftermarket one. I dont wanna spend anymore on the system but i want a little bit more bass. If i add an amp to the rear speakers, will that do anything? How will it sound afterwords? I dont know anything about amps or subs....

usmanasif

Did you adjust the sound spectrum on your new HU? Factory settings have the "LOUDNESS" function turned off, as well as the equalizer. Turn them on if you haven't already. Your HU has to be providing at least 20w RMS. That should be sufficient for good bass.

greggie195

iTrader: (1)

who makes the HU and speakers? Adding a small amp to the rears should help.

maxima2k2

"loudness" is turned on, and i turned the bass all they way to maximum, which is 8, and i have treble on 0.

i installed the Kenwood KDC-128 MOS-FET 45x4, and pioneer speakers all around. On the box, it says the HU have 22x4 rms.

greggie195

iTrader: (1)

I dont know what you consider not a lot of bass. Maybe your expecting more than caould be pumped out. Only thing I could think of is to check that you did not invert pos and neg wires on the speakers. Other than that if you really want bass you're going to need a sub. or at the very least an amp to power the 6x9's. As a side note, I installed a Pioneer HU (50X4 mosfet...22rms) and put in 4" pioneers on the doors and kept the original Bose 6x9's, bypassing the amps. Which I know is a strain for the HU but they sound great and this is why Im reluctant to replace them.

maxima2k2

to give you an example of how much bass is being produced from the speakers, think of when listening to music videos on a regular tv with built in speakers, and when it hits the bass notes...it basically sounds like that, not alot of umph. I really did think these speakers were gonna produce bass like a subwoofer. Maybe im expecting way to much from the rear speakers, since they are 4 way and 420w max. I'm not gonna buy a sub cuz its way to much work, what about a bazooka tube, is that fairly easy to install? what do you have to do to install it?

maximapitko

the bose was producing more bass in the back because the membrane is "closed"-no holes through which tweeters pop up or whatever. As a rule, most of the aftermarket speakers can't touch the old school ones(like the bose in our cars, or delco in gm cars) in the bass dept. cause of that reason. Everything else(mids,highs) of course is much better.

greggie195

iTrader: (1)

It may be bcause of the 4 way, Im not sure. Again, you should test (with a voltmeter) that you do not have pos and neg inverted.

A "bazooka" tube is basically an amp attached to a box. All this does is make it nice and neat. You won't have to hook the amp up to the speaker (2wires) but you will still have to run a 12V constant (from battery), an accessory 12 volt (12v only when turned on) which comes from the radio along with wire to get sound to the amp (RCA). You will also need a GOOD ground or else you will get that damn whizzing sound.

Jbr8k

iTrader: (8)

I think you should bite the bullet and buy a 4ch amp new or used to run those speakers.(check the audio section)
The headunit's amp will not do a good job especially if you're looking
for low end.

maxima2k2

the rear speaker came with 2 sets of wires gray, gray/white stripe and white, white/black stripe, does it matter which pair of wires goes to which speaker?

greggie195

iTrader: (1)

if I remember correctly, and someone could help me out here, the stripe is positive. The small connection (I think) should be the poitive one.

usmanasif

Speakers don't "come" with any wires. Are you talking about the factory blue speaker harness? If so, the red and black wires in it are power and ground respectively, and the other two are +ve and -ve ones.

Did you get my PM yesterday? I guess you did not choose to buy the CC harness adapters. Did you splice the wires and connect according to Craig's directions on his site I sent you the link to?

Bass is a highly subjective area. What seems sufficient to me may seem insufficient to you. Without listening to your system, it is impossible to pass judgement on whether anything is even wrong with it.

MrGone

iTrader: (30)

The left and right wires matter in terms of having the balance and image be correct. Artists generally put effects and such in songs that will only come on the left or right speakers and it is just more accurate to wire it properly.

The actual wires in each pair will determine the speakers phase. You may be running it out of phase, but I doubt that is even an issue considering your equipment. I used to have a Kenwood KDC-316 (iirc) and it was ok, however it didn't allow much control for you to manipulate the sound. You might want to setup up to a higher quality unit with more controls. Personally I have an Eclipse 5423 now and it can produce more bass than the stock Bose could (where with the kenwood adding subs was the only solution). Everything else has stayed the same, Infinity Reference 6.5"s up front and Reference 6x9's in the rear.

Cliff Clavin

iTrader: (11)

Another thing to remember is that Bose is designed to produce lower notes. It isn't actually "louder" but the bass notes are lower.

It's also possible that the Bose are designed as "free air" speakers, while your new speakers would require some kind of enclosure to produce significant bass. I have heard some 6x9s that put out decent bass, but they were mounted with enclosures. You might also want to try and seal up the speaker to the bottom surface of the rear shelf better.

As far as mounting a Bazooka tube, or some other kind of powered sub (Infinity BassLink is much better) all you need to do is run a power, a remote, a ground and a set of RCAs from the subwoofer outputs on your HU.

I had a Kenwood subwoofer in my old Pathfinder that sounded really good:

Kenwood powered sub

I think I paid about $250 installed (it was more expensive than the listed price when I bought mine several years ago). It sounded really clean and was nice because it has a dial you can mount up front to adjust the bass levels.

maxima2k2

im talking about when you buy aftermarket speakers, it comes with the wires with prongs because you cant use the stock prongs. Yeah i recieved your email but i already had the HU installed in my car, so thats why i didnt respond.

AscendantMax

iTrader: (7)

i would have gotten some mounts from james92se so you can fit 6.5s in the front doors. 6.5s have a better bass response when compared to the smaller 4" drivers. plus, the front speakers are more important than the rear, since most of the sound you'll hear will be coming up front. but you can try to amp them if you wish.

as for bass, there are a lot of options like people have mentioned above. all depends on your wallet and ears.

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

yeah, james mounts are a very good deal.
shame I can't afford them right now

nelledge

iTrader: (6)

Quick aside: 5,000,000 watt speakers don't mean too much if they don't have the correct amount of power driving them. It could actually hurt your sound performance by not allowing the speaker to power to its nominal range. Without an amp, you shouldn't need more than the deck puts out.
Also, don't use Peak Watt Power Ratings to define your speakers. It's the RMS Ratings you should look at. 50X4 usually equates closer to 28-35 watt RMS.

James has a great thing going with those pods. You'll end up spending the same amount for the 6.5"s and have a broader frequency range to boot. You can't be serious about front stage performance with 4" speakers. A 4" midrange just won't be able to match a 6.5" midrange for bass. Get advice from someone who has a decent setup. There are tons of us with powerful music in our cars from quality installs. Not all will win SPL competitions, but it doesn't sound like that's what you are looking for. The mind can be just as powerful as the checkbook... use them together and you'll be pleased with the results.