Powered sub's

[Bob Barker]

Anybody have any experience with this type of powered sub? I want something like this, think it will mount well some where in the corner of the VX. Looking for people who have had experiences with this or maybe a bazooka tube. Like sound quality and strength of casing. I have a few large dogs that like to flop around in the back when we take them out and don't want one crushing the unit!

I'm not looking for something with a massive amount of bass, just enough to compliment the rest of the speakers I have.

http://www.crutchfield.com/s_108BASSLIN/Infinity-Basslink.html?tp=114

That thing there, the prices are all over the place from $169 to over $300! And crutchfield and best buy are both sold out.

[RamAirZ]

One of my friend's ran one awhile back. Sounded pretty good. The new ones use a square sub and I think are better, Amazon has em' for $240.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000A6GK4E/ref=asc_df_B000A6GK4E1519134?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395093&creativeASIN=B000A6GK4E

[Bob Barker]

I've read a ton of positive reviews, and one person who was still happy with it but said the amp went out after 6 years. I'd be happy with 6 years from a sub/amp!

They sell the 200watt system for $70 less. I'll probably go for that one.

[MeowMix]

These are great little premade sub&amp-in-a-box type setups...relatively cheap, effective, and decent sound quality. It is true, the new Basslink II has a square woofer...and as a side note: due to the physics of sound, a round woofer is going to produce more quality of sound than a square is, as any shape that isn't a round will have some sort of distortion penalties (though squares incorporate more surface area on the cone and thus produce higher SPL than the same size and power in a round). Just depends on where your preferences are. I used to have a 15" L7 square...but then again, I competed in SPL competitions...back in the day when SQ wasn't a big deal to me, lol. ;Dy;

The Basslink is, as you know 200W RMS vs. the II is 250W RMS, both 10" woofers. They're pretty tough little things too, so I doubt your dogs would be able to destroy one on accident, unless they specifically attack it...then that's a whole 'nother story. Be mindful of how you route the wires, as the dogs can easily chew them. I sold the original Basslink for some time, and installed a couple of them as well; it sounds fantastic if all you're looking for is a little more kick to your sound system, no major bass. I can't say I've had any personal experience with the Basslink II though...

Oh, and Amazon has some of both the original Basslink and the II in stock :yesy:

[technocoy]

I have one of these in my VX, had it for about 6 years myself. Couldn't ask for a better sound from such a small space with low cost. It's not going to wake up the neighborhood, but you will feel it and it's got great range.

It's also extremely tough. I have mine mounted facing up into the ceiling as it seemed too "loose" bass-wise pointing into the side. The grill is heavy duty and I've tossed all manner of stuff on top of it and never had an issue.

It's well worth the money as an easy, self-powered and tough solution.

[etlsport]

pioneer used to make one that was round and meant to fit inside of a spare tire. I remember talking to someone about putting one in a VX, but don't think it ever happened. That would be nice and out of the way, and then the dogs couldnt even get to it. Only down side to that is you have to run wires through the loom in the door, but it is possible. Right now I have 2 pairs of 12ga speaker wire, a set of RCA cables and 2 16ga wires run through mine

[Bob Barker]

Thanks for all the input! I'm gonna order the 200w version and I'm thinking of a "neat-o" way to mount it. I would love to be able to cut a hole in the floor of the back and mount it hanging sort of above the rear axle with just the speaker showing through the floor. Buuuut that's a big problem if I ever decided to sell it!

[RamAirZ]

lol ya I would avoid doing that ;)

[Bob Barker]

Ordered!

Free 2 day shipping with Amazon is coooool.

Still mulling it over about putting it through the floor board!

[RamAirZ]

don't do it! lol

[Gussie2000]

Ordered!

Free 2 day shipping with Amazon is coooool.

Still mulling it over about putting it through the floor board!

Bob you gonna hook up that sub to a amp ?

If so which amp ( brand,specs,etc ) ?

[RamAirZ]

Bob you gonna hook up that sub to a amp ?

If so which amp ( brand,specs,etc ) ?

It has a built-in amp

[Bob Barker]

It's built with an amp included in the unit. 200w yadda yadda yadda something or another.

Being an all in one package is what I wanted, it is something like a bazooka tube, but supposed to be better and takeup a little less space.

[Gussie2000]

It's built with an amp included in the unit. 200w yadda yadda yadda something or another.

Being an all in one package is what I wanted, it is something like a bazooka tube, but supposed to be better and takeup a little less space.


Okie dokie

[VXD959]

Heyyyy! I bought one on Ebay for $80 bucks years ago (used)..just missing the base that I got for $15 bucks again on ebay...it sounded great!

There is one that you might get cheap here (http://cgi.ebay.com/Infinity-BassLink-Car-subwoofer-200-Watt-W-Brackets-/190527415781?pt=Car_Speakers&hash=item2c5c51a5e5)

[technocoy]

You won't be disappointed.

I had two bazookas over my span of car stereo enthusiasm and I can tell you they are much sloppier than the Infinity. It's much more precise and less "boomy" than the tubes. They are not as accurate since they attempt to amplify by bouncing it around.

I've been really close to having my spare cover modified a few times with space being so limited, but I can't bring my self to cut my baby up without knowing that there really would be a big benefit.

Do yourself a favor though and swap out your components too. You just won't be able to put the volume to the infinity with the stock paper crappers in there.

If not now, just as soon as you can afford it.

[Bob Barker]

Thanks for the link, but I already ordered a new one. I've got a hang up about used electronics. I always like new. It's mostly because I have no knowledge of how to repair anything electronic if it were broken!

[Bob Barker]

You won't be disappointed.

I had two bazookas over my span of car stereo enthusiasm and I can tell you they are much sloppier than the Infinity. It's much more precise and less "boomy" than the tubes. They are not as accurate since they attempt to amplify by bouncing it around.

I've been really close to having my spare cover modified a few times with space being so limited, but I can't bring my self to cut my baby up without knowing that there really would be a big benefit.

Do yourself a favor though and swap out your components too. You just won't be able to put the volume to the infinity with the stock paper crappers in there.

If not now, just as soon as you can afford it.

I've actually got the Polk Audio Dxi 6500 component speaker in the front doors and some poineer 6 1/2" 3way speakers in the back. I need/want a small amp for the front Polk speakers, but got this instead. Should work well enough with the factory head unit for my taste.

[technocoy]

Oh yeaaah, you're good to go then. I haven't had a huge problem with my Alpine being under powered. I'm a big proponent of amplifying the components too, but these newer head units are actually fairly well done power wise. You won't be winning any SPL competitions, but if you're like me you just want it to sound crisp and clear with the windows down ;-)

[Grif]

Ive looked at these Basslink units before for my other car. In the end the price/performance ratio was not up to par IMHO. They sound good but at the time I think they were selling new for about $400 or so which was far too much. Now you can get them much cheaper, so for a moderate system upgrade I'd say thumbs up.

[Bob Barker]

For $400 I'd pass it up without question. But shipped (and 2 day free shipping) for under $180 it's a great upgrade! Heck that's cheaper than the front Polk speakers I did, and it will be easier to install as well!

Who here knows how much/what will be involved in wiring it to the factory head unit? Which from the factory stereo should I use for a signal wire to the sub, what gauge wire should I use for power? Any tips?

[Grif]

Its been a while but as i recall the Basslink has speaker level inputs as well as line level. So the easy way would be to tap your signal off of the rear speakers to the speaker level inputs of the Basslink. (and mind your polarity! essential!)

The *BEST* as in audiophile way would be to get your signal from the head unit line level outs if it has any. I'm not sure if the factory unit has any line level outs.

As far as the power cable goes, it prolly ok to just use what wiring is included in the package. Its not a huge amp as far as power consumption goes and the cable run is not far at all.

*edit*

Oh and dont bother with the cheap speaker level to line level converters that are out there. They get you no signal quality improvement at all and are only intended for use when the installation requires hooking speaker level outs to an amp that only has line level inputs. They work, but they dont work as well as hooking it up properly and for the extra money, they bring nothing to the quality of audio. In fact, they prolly degrade it further.

[RamAirZ]

The Basslink should come with a wiring diagram for ya. Here's the owners manual:

http://manuals.harman.com/INF/CAR/Owner%27s%20Manual/BassLink%20om.pdf

I think 8 gauge would be plenty for it, could probably get by with 10-12 gauge honestly. I have an MTX Thunderform in my truck with a built in amp and it came with wiring and I think its 10 gauge.

[Bob Barker]

your link is broken!


Thanks for the input on the signal wire from the back speakers. If that's all it needs then I'll have this thing done in no time!

[RamAirZ]

go to inifinity's website and pull up the owners manual, I just copied the link from there

[Grif]

See attached .pdf file Bob.

[Bob Barker]

Thanks Grif. One question, that shows I should use at least both rear speaker level inputs. I can't get away with just one speaker level input? It's a PITA to get to those rear speakers!

[RamAirZ]

I think you could get away with just one, but with using them all it would work with the fade/balance features and supposedly give better all around sound but I doubt it.

[Bob Barker]

Meh, I don't mess with the fade and balance enough to go through all that trouble. I'll settle with one and see what that gets me for sound. If I'm not happy I'll try for both rear speakers, after that I'll just get a new head unit that has line level outputs!

[Grif]

Thanks Grif. One question, that shows I should use at least both rear speaker level inputs. I can't get away with just one speaker level input? It's a PITA to get to those rear speakers!

I know its a PITA to get to the rears. You could tap the fronts with nearly the same results tho, just a longer signal cable run. Fronts are easier to get to, but the cables will be harder to run.

It really is imperative to get inputs from both the left and right tho. Its just wrong to get all yer bass from just one channel. Even tho bass is largely non-directional, there are bass frequencies coming from both left and right channels that must be fed to the sub. Not only that your sub output would suffer by 50%, your front speakers will be imbalanced, interior phase of of the bass will be off, etc... its just wrong to try to feed it from one speaker level input. Don't even think about it.

[RamAirZ]

I wasn't even thinking about the different signals per side. I'm just used to running on RCA's. As for output being cut, why would that be? and why would the front speakers suffer, because of the "power" getting fed in multiple directions.

[Grif]

I wasn't even thinking about the different signals per side. I'm just used to running on RCA's. As for output being cut, why would that be? and why would the front speakers suffer, because of the "power" getting fed in multiple directions.

Ohms law.

[RamAirZ]

Ya but why would output be cut? Power is coming from the amp, signal is coming from the speaker inputs. I understand Ohms law but signal shouldn't effect the actual power output, unless I'm missing something (which very well could be)

[Bob Barker]

:_wtf:

[tom4bren]

V=IR (Voltage = Current times Resistance).

P=VI or substitue the above equation and P=I2*R (sorry, can't superscript the 2, that's current squared).

The point of the math lesson is that power is directly proportional to resistance. If you tap into the rear speaker wires, you will change the resistance. If the powered amp has an effective resistance equal to the resistance of the rear speakers, then you will only get 1/2 of the power coming out of the rear speakers. Since it's a powered sub, you'll be able to recover the deep base but the midrange & tweet in the rear will still be lower than in the front. You can compensate for that with your fader but what you don't want to do is dork up the balance by only connecting to one rear speaker. You'll never be able to find a proper setting for balance & fader that will get the sound properly distributed.

All this theoretical minutia is happily provided by your tone deaf EE with severe tinitis. A kick arse stereo is completely wasted on me. As long as Brooks & Dunn comes in without a lot of static, I'm happy.

[Bob Barker]

I'll take your word on it and do the hard work for both speaker wires.

Thanks!

[RamAirZ]

I'll just take your word on it too because I'm looking at it from an RCA stand point. RCA's send the audio signal to the amp, the amp provides the power based on it and the subs resistance etc. Changing RCA cables wouldn't increase the power output, might get you a clearer signal path but measured output should be the same either way. In this instance I'm looking at it this way, the rear speakers output might be cut by 50% but why would the subs output be cut since it is only using those speaker wires to get audio signal and not power?

[tom4bren]

BINGO

The rear speakers will only be getting 1/2 the power that you were getting before. The powered subs will boost the power back up for it's own need ... but ... subs suck at pumping out mid to high range. You'll be getting plenty of base but you'll prolly hafta tweek up the treble a bit to compensate.

Are you starting to see why sound engineers get paid so much out in Hollyweird?

BTW, I'm not sure what you mean by RCA cables. Typically audio signals are on wires with RCA connectors and line signals are on wires with mini-phono jacks. The connectors make very little difference on resistance until you get up into VHF & UHF (i.e., shielded cables).

[etlsport]

the way this sub will have to be wired to a factory head unit is using line level input. tapping off of both rear speakers to provide a signal only, the actual power being drawn will be minimal.

normally an aftermarket head unit would have RCA terminals to provide a signal for the sole purpose of a subwoofer and the amplifier in the basslink should have rca inputs.

using line level inputs will give you sound just fine, but any distortion picked up by the factory speaker wires will be amplified too. RCA wires are shielded so they deliver a cleaner signal.

It doesnt take much power to get the signal though, most RCA signals are delivered 2v or 3v.. occasionally 5v on some nicer head units, so I don't think you are going to have a huge effect on the sound quality of the rear speakers. IIRC i think that the basslink has crossovers built in anyway, so the sub will produce NO highs or mids

[tom4bren]

RCA wires are shielded so they deliver a cleaner signal.

Not always. I've seen them as shielded, twisted pair, & twin conductor (speaker wire).

Be careful when you get a set to make sure it is shielded.

[RamAirZ]

the way this sub will have to be wired to a factory head unit is using line level input. tapping off of both rear speakers to provide a signal only, the actual power being drawn will be minimal.

normally an aftermarket head unit would have RCA terminals to provide a signal for the sole purpose of a subwoofer and the amplifier in the basslink should have rca inputs.

using line level inputs will give you sound just fine, but any distortion picked up by the factory speaker wires will be amplified too. RCA wires are shielded so they deliver a cleaner signal.

It doesnt take much power to get the signal though, most RCA signals are delivered 2v or 3v.. occasionally 5v on some nicer head units, so I don't think you are going to have a huge effect on the sound quality of the rear speakers. IIRC i think that the basslink has crossovers built in anyway, so the sub will produce NO highs or mids

exactly! That's what I was getting at. I can understand the theory of the rear speakers losing power but if they lost any it's minimal because the sub isn't using any of it technically, basically just making a longer path for the power to travel to the speakers. And yes the Basslink does have a crossover built in.

[etlsport]

Not always. I've seen them as shielded, twisted pair, & twin conductor (speaker wire).

Be careful when you get a set to make sure it is shielded.

true.. GOOD RCA cables are shielded ;Db;

[tom4bren]

exactly! That's what I was getting at. I can understand the theory of the rear speakers losing power but if they lost any it's minimal because the sub isn't using any of it technically, basically just making a longer path for the power to travel to the speakers. And yes the Basslink does have a crossover built in.

You can't think of 'lectricity in that way. It travels the path of least resistance. The amount of power lost by the rear speakers is proportional to the input impedance of the power amp. If it's designed properly, it should have a very high impedance which will minimize the amount of loss to the rear speakers.

I'll refer back to my last comment in post #35 now & shut up.

BTW Eric - just rattlin yer cage Dude. Since yer so young, I didn't expect you to remember the old days when RCA connectors came on nuthin but twin conductor. Nowadays you can even drive video through "good" RCA cables.

[Ldub]

You can't think of 'lectricity in that way. It travels the path of least resistance. The amount of power lost by the rear speakers is proportional to the input impedance of the power amp. If it's designed properly, it should have a very high impedance which will minimize the amount of loss to the rear speakers.

Says the man with lightning bolts in his shorts...:rotate:

[RamAirZ]

You can't think of 'lectricity in that way. It travels the path of least resistance. The amount of power lost by the rear speakers is proportional to the input impedance of the power amp. If it's designed properly, it should have a very high impedance which will minimize the amount of loss to the rear speakers.

Yes I know this, but the path would still go to the rear speakers. I'm looking at it from my experience, I never lost much if any off my interior speakers when i ran line-level converters off the rear speakers to run subs with a factory head unit.

[tom4bren]

Says the man with lightning bolts is his shorts...:rotate:

I have no response to that.


Yes I know this, but the path would still go to the rear speakers. I'm looking at it from my experience, I never lost much if any off my interior speakers when i ran line-level converters off the rear speakers to run subs with a factory head unit.

I stand corrected then :)

Actually not - you just kinda proved my point. You either got lucky or were kinda picky & bought decent quality products. Did you ever make your purchase decision based upon input impedance?

Just rattlin yer cage now.:)

[RamAirZ]

I have no response to that.



I stand corrected then :)

Actually not - you just kinda proved my point. You either got lucky or were kinda picky & bought decent quality products. Did you ever make your purchase decision based upon input impedance?

Just rattlin yer cage now.:)

lol first what's this lightning bolt thing, second, yes. I always choose an amp and sub combo that will run at a certain impedance and power. I think the thing we need to know here is the impedance of the signal input on the amp when using the line-level converter or the inputs like on the Basslink. I'm sure the resistance is very high to not allow the power to actually funnel through. A typical set of Pioneer 6x9's has an 4-8ohm impedance.

[eternal21]

Only down side to that is you have to run wires through the loom in the door, but it is possible. Right now I have 2 pairs of 12ga speaker wire, a set of RCA cables and 2 16ga wires run through mine

How'd you get the RCAs through the door loom?

[tom4bren]

lol first what's this lightning bolt thing,

Never ever, ever piss of Zeus. He'll drop a lightning bolt down your shorts.

It's an old discussion we had about the power savings by converting to an electric fan. Comments about a 0.1% increase in throttle response come from that same discussion.

[etlsport]

How'd you get the RCAs through the door loom?

it sucked a whole lot! I pulled the two strands apart as far as possible so the connectors could be fed through one at a time. then i just inched them through. it makes it easier to remove both sides of the loom so you can pull it out a bit.

what i have done since then for additional speaker wire and such is get a 5-6" piece of thin wall pipe barely large enough for my wires to pass through and push that through the loom, feed the wires through the pipe then remove the pipe in the direction you fed the wires. this method is super easy, should work for an rca cable too

[RamAirZ]

Never ever, ever piss of Zeus. He'll drop a lightning bolt down your shorts.

It's an old discussion we had about the power savings by converting to an electric fan. Comments about a 0.1% increase in throttle response come from that same discussion.

ahh, makes sense now

[eternal21]

it sucked a whole lot! I pulled the two strands apart as far as possible so the connectors could be fed through one at a time. then i just inched them through. it makes it easier to remove both sides of the loom so you can pull it out a bit.

what i have done since then for additional speaker wire and such is get a 5-6" piece of thin wall pipe barely large enough for my wires to pass through and push that through the loom, feed the wires through the pipe then remove the pipe in the direction you fed the wires. this method is super easy, should work for an rca cable too

Thank you. I'd like to see if I can get 1 set of RCAs, 1 4G, and 4 pairs of 12g speaker wire through there....:D

[Bob Barker]

Sure you can, just spit on it first!


and on an up note for me: I was preparing the truck for the sub to get here tomorrow to make it a bit faster/easier by possibly removing the back plastics, or at least loosening both sides some. When I pulled the jack door and looked inside I could see the speaker wire excess from when I upgraded the rear speakers. Left about a foot or so of wire that loops out to juuuust enough that I could reach it and have enough to splice into, and passenger side was just the same! So no need to remove all the back seat plastic!!! Yay!

[Junster]

Somebody needs to make a fiberglass replacement for the rear door plastic. Then a sub could be easily mounted there. A 8" quality sub would be plenty of bump with a 250w amp.

[Grif]

Somebody needs to make a fiberglass replacement for the rear door plastic. Then a sub could be easily mounted there. A 8" quality sub would be plenty of bump with a 250w amp.

I have a 10 inch high excursion sub back in mine, mounted in an acoustic suspension (sealed) enclosure for tight, loud, not boomy bass. Used copious amounts of dacron filling (walmart) to stuff any gaps between the body, enclosure, and stock spare cover to dampen any unwanted resonance. Of course multiple holes were drilled in the spare tire cover in a circular pattern to allow the sub to speak. Then affixed some very high density foam packing rubber to space the the plastic spare cover from the enclosure and tighten the fit even more.

Its a very, very tight fit back in there, but it rocks very hard without any unwanted rattles or resonance. The entire interior was dampened with Dyna-mat Extreme by the PO.

Full disclosure, I did not design or mount the enclosure itself, tho I did contribute to it as loudspeaker design has been another hobby of mine since my college years.

The sub is driven by a two channel 700W amp, and the front and rear JBL 6.5 inch component speakers are driven by a 400W 4ch amp. Its all fed signal via an Eclipse head unit with its incredible 8v line level outputs. Power is distributed with a gold plated power block up front @ the battery using 10 and 8 gauge copper.

There are no massive capacitors, no signal converters, combiners, splitters or other such mojo. Its very straight forward, by the book. As such it works very, very well.

Its not a ghetto rattlebox. Its not meant to thump from a block away. From the outside it does not sound like its shaking every metal fitting on the vehicle apart. On the inside its amazing. All my friends who's tastes range from country to hip-hop to techno or blues ask to "hear it in the VX".

Thats good enuff for me.

[etlsport]

A sub mounted in the rear door is awesome. I have a rockford fosgate 12" stage 3 shallow mount in a sealed enclosure. Amp is mounted under the drivers seat so there is no real loss of storage space and with a metal cage over it I dont have to worry about cargo shifting and damaging it. And it will BOOM.. Think I got the sub on amazon for 99 bucks a while back, and built the enclosure myself and covered it in vinyl to give a clean look

[Gussie2000]

I never liked the idea of using the head unit to power the speakers and/or subs.

Instead i ran a entire new and high quality wiring and left untouched the factory wiring.

I purchase four good ( and expensive,though ) RCA wires to hook up the head unit to the digital EQ,then connected the amps with the EQ.
The results : better,quality sound.

Both,speakers and subs are all powered by the two four-channels amps,one for the speakers and the other exclusively for the subs (@ 4 ohms )
Thanks to the digital EQ I can squeeze better sound from the head unit instead of relaying only on the built-in EQ.

[Bob Barker]

So it's all installed and looking nice. The most pain was running the power line from battery to back. I LOVE the sound it's making and it's almost perfect. BUT I can't get it to stop that "popping" sound on higher/louder bass. I followed the instructions in the book to turn the dials until is sounds good and the servo light blinks but when I do get the light to just blink it makes a popping noise, so for now I've just turned it down to where it sounds best to me and doesn't pop, but does still BOOM very well! I'm still happy with it, but need some tuning tips if anyone has some to share.

It's mounted in the rear passenger side corner facing out to the drivers side corner.

Thanks peeps!

[Junster]

Bob, you went with the Infinity right? I think there are two hookups for input. If your using the leads to your rear speakers to provide the input you must use the inputs on the infinity that are for line signal. Otherwise you can goto a stereo shop and get a set of line converters. They convert line signal to a preamp level. I'm just guessing here of course but it sounds like you have line output going to a preamp type input.

[Bob Barker]

It's got inputs specific for line level jacks from the head unit and speaker level input that I spliced into the rear speakers to utilize. It's sounding better now, I think when I tried to tune it following the instructions I didn't have the head unit turned up enough to push the speaker into lighting up the servo light. It's blinking now with the beats when I've got it turned up enough to aggrivate the passengers!

[Triathlete]

Somebody needs to make a fiberglass replacement for the rear door plastic. Then a sub could be easily mounted there. A 8" quality sub would be plenty of bump with a 250w amp.

You mean something like THIS (http://www.vehicross.info/forums/showthread.php?t=8188&highlight=rear+door+box)

[Junster]

Very cool glad you got it thumping, and wow Tri nice link. Where there's a will there's a way

[etlsport]

You mean something like THIS (http://www.vehicross.info/forums/showthread.php?t=8188&highlight=rear+door+box)

his sub box was the inspiration for mine..

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/medium/sub_box_build_005.jpg (http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=15949)

old pic, its now got 4 chromed steel bars that cross the front of it for protection

[Bob Barker]

I may look into figuring a way to mount it in the spare tire cover this weekend. But gots a big busy weekend planned already so it will probably not happen for a while!