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I know this has been probably done a million times. But long story short I purchased my V and the stock sub was missing. So i purchased a single 10 inch sub with an integrated amp / enclosure in hopes to just have a slight improvement over stock.
So far I am less than impressed, it seems the base "hits hard" on specific genre's like rap, but the bass quality is not that great. Maybe i wired it up wrong? I was hoping for a noticeable bass gain across the entire spectrum and was trying to avoid stupid amounts of brain rattling base. Just want something clean sounding.
Do i need some kind of high low adapter since I'm tapping into the stock deck? Maybe i just wired something wrong? I'll post the setup in the next post. I'm sure my install can be improved here.
I replaced the stock HU with a Kenwood 890 and have come to the conclusion that the stock HU from an audio perspective is garbage. The sound quality of my system with no other modifications is vastly improved.
I replaced the stock HU with a Kenwood 890 and have come to the conclusion that the stock HU from an audio perspective is garbage. The sound quality of my system with no other modifications is vastly improved.
I replaced the stock HU with a Kenwood 890 and have come to the conclusion that the stock HU from an audio perspective is garbage. The sound quality of my system with no other modifications is vastly improved.
There is a TON of DSP applied somewhere (either amp or HU). Too much IMO. Our cars have a few issues in the midbass area so Cadi decided to get rid of most of it
ls1247 did you keep the amp in your installation or use an external or one built into the HU? The reason I ask is I thought the processing was built into the amp but wasn't sure... IMO it will be tough to get the midbass correct if the stock DSP is left in the circuit. I tried a JL Audio Cleansweep at one time and was less than impressed. As a matter of fact I thought is was broken as I bought it used. I bought a new one and ended up with the same result. I know a lot of people say the cleansweep will work well in this car but that was not true in my case.
OP - most integrated amp/subs that I have come across are not my cup of tea. They typically offer a lot of boom and not much else. However, to get the most out of what you have I would do several things:
1.) check to see what inputs your integrated sub/amp accepts. Most now accept high and low level signals on the same inputs but some still require an adaptor.
2.) check the product to see if it has an integrated crossover. From memory, the stock system crosses over to the sub at 100hz or so. If you have the crossover set lower than that on your sub you may create a hole in the frequency response curve (usually a hole there would make the bass sound muddy and sloppy).
3.) listen to the system with the sub off and see what you find. Are the door speakers producing any bass? Are they trying to produce too much and distorting? If trying to produce too much bass and distorting you can use an appropriately sized capacitor to limit their bass response and clean up their output.
4.) swap the phase of the subwoofer and see if you get better sound. With multiple drivers in different locations playing different frequencies you can get into cancellation issues. About the only cheap fix is trying to flip/invert the phase of the sub or the mains.
Here's a quick vid of how everything is wired up. Essentially my RCA wires are spliced into the blue and green wires coming out of the factory amp. I'm not even sure if that is correct, but it seems to be working with mediocre sound quality.
What's odd is there are 2 wires for EACH RCA plug, making for a total of 4 wires i would somehow splice in?
There is a TON of DSP applied somewhere (either amp or HU). Too much IMO. Our cars have a few issues in the midbass area so Cadi decided to get rid of most of it
ls1247 did you keep the amp in your installation or use an external or one built into the HU? The reason I ask is I thought the processing was built into the amp but wasn't sure... IMO it will be tough to get the midbass correct if the stock DSP is left in the circuit. I tried a JL Audio Cleansweep at one time and was less than impressed. As a matter of fact I thought is was broken as I bought it used. I bought a new one and ended up with the same result. I know a lot of people say the cleansweep will work well in this car but that was not true in my case.
OP - most integrated amp/subs that I have come across are not my cup of tea. They typically offer a lot of boom and not much else. However, to get the most out of what you have I would do several things:
1.) check to see what inputs your integrated sub/amp accepts. Most now accept high and low level signals on the same inputs but some still require an adaptor.
2.) check the product to see if it has an integrated crossover. From memory, the stock system crosses over to the sub at 100hz or so. If you have the crossover set lower than that on your sub you may create a hole in the frequency response curve (usually a hole there would make the bass sound muddy and sloppy).
3.) listen to the system with the sub off and see what you find. Are the door speakers producing any bass? Are they trying to produce too much and distorting? If trying to produce too much bass and distorting you can use an appropriately sized capacitor to limit their bass response and clean up their output.
4.) swap the phase of the subwoofer and see if you get better sound. With multiple drivers in different locations playing different frequencies you can get into cancellation issues. About the only cheap fix is trying to flip/invert the phase of the sub or the mains.
Hope this helps.
Whoa that's alot of info. Thanks for stepping in. But yeah, im getting more "boom" than quality bass right now. That's a good way of describing it. Let me try to fill in:
1) my sub is a PWM110-JXWxv2. It appears it has 3 inputs. 1 weird looking connector for a high lvl input, 2x rca's for low level input, and 2x rca inputs called pre-out.
2) it seems i have an integrated crossover. Manual states "variable low-pass crossover (50-200 Hz, 12 dB/octave). Is this the dial on the amp? So i set it too 100hz?
3) My door speakers have virtually no bass. Rockford Fosgate R1525X2. They don't sound distorted even with the bass set high on the factory deck. They just produce alot of high sounds.
4) not sure how i can swap the phase? again, I'm a total beginner on audio. Sorry!
Last edited by itsdaveonline; 04-13-2015 at 12:00 PM.
ls1247 did you keep the amp in your installation or use an external or one built into the HU? The reason I ask is I thought the processing was built into the amp but wasn't sure...
Based on how crappy the system sounded with the stock setup, I anticipated replacing much of it but since replacing just the HU, I left all of the stock Bose stuff in place and am satisfied enough to have taken audio updates off of my list.
That being said, I don't listen to it extremely loud because my hearing is all but shot from 15 years spent in the entertainment industry.
What I do have is a buzzing rear deck. Dynamatting it is still on the list.
OK the JL stuff is typically good quality so you should be able to get this to sound pretty decent.
1.) You should NOT be using the RCA inputs. You need to be using the high level inputs. JL recommends you use a Y cable when you have a single input like we do. In my car it would be the Dark Blue/White stripe on BOTH positive inputs to the amp and the Light Green/Black stripe on BOTH negatives.
2.) I had hoped you could defeat the crossover as it would make things simpler but that is not the case. I would begin with it set at 200hz so that it doesn't really affect the filter the car amp is already applying.
3.) Yeah the filters on the stock amp are limiting their ability to produce bass (they are already crossed over at 100hz).
4.) Switching phase is pretty easy. A lot of amps have a button that will swap phase. Yours does not. So... you can just swap the + and - speaker wires that go TO THE SUB to swap phase (NOT the power wires to the amp).
A couple of other things to consider. Turn bass boost down to 0. If you have the remote gain **** plugged in then un-plug it. Once you get things sounding roughly like you want it you can play with both of these to fine tune things.
They will likely tell you that it doesn't matter that the JLs can take high level inputs into their RCA inputs. Some can. I own a few. However, that amp is a little on the entry level side (no offense) so I could not tell you conclusively that it would work the way you have it. I ASSUME that the high level inputs are on a separate harness for a reason. At the very worst you would be complying with the JL instructions if you did it the way I suggested.
They will likely tell you that it doesn't matter that the JLs can take high level inputs into their RCA inputs. Some can. I own a few. However, that amp is a little on the entry level side (no offense) so I could not tell you conclusively that it would work the way you have it. I ASSUME that the high level inputs are on a separate harness for a reason. At the very worst you would be complying with the JL instructions if you did it the way I suggested.
I stopped by the shop and gave them hell because they didn't give me the installation manual or the harness for the high level inputs. I didn't get any of this since my unit was a floor model. I got it wired up as you mentioned and the sub seems slightly louder overall, has a bit more bass "range". It's a decent improvement over before. It no longer "pops" when I switch radio stations too.
But for 400$ spent i feel like I'm still let down. I get a good amount of "boom" bass, but mid range seems to suffer.
I may look into sound proofing the trunk more, the borla stingers sound awesome but the drone around 1800 rpm is terrible and may be masking some of the bass i'm after.
I tried to do what you did but in the end i was not satisfied. I even went the rout of free air sub in stock location but still not happy. I ended up wit a solobaric 12 with an old amp i had. Changed the door speaker to morels with separate tweeters. They got their own amp as well. All being controlled by a 360.2 Now that made me happy. I think you will be making changes til you get something your happy with.
Single 15 in a sealed box with 1200w and a $10 line output converter from amazon sounds phenomenal just getting the signal from the stock sub speaker wires. All the sound is there just have to find a way to express it! line level **** wired in by shifter too so I can control the amount of bass
But for 400$ spent i feel like I'm still let down. I get a good amount of "boom" bass, but mid range seems to suffer.
I may look into sound proofing the trunk more, the borla stingers sound awesome but the drone around 1800 rpm is terrible and may be masking some of the bass i'm after.
I would be surprised if that helped much. Remember all of the DSP I was complaining about. It is still there in your system. If my suggestions didn't get you where you want to be you might want to replace the HU and bypass the stock amp. You will likely end up with a huge peak in your frequency response curve around 120hz and a dip at 60hz. A HU with parametric eq will let you tune most of it out but our cars are challenging to get right in these areas.
Last stupid question, can i somehow tap into the sub speaker wiring before the signal hits the factory amp? Or maybe the only sub wiring is after the amp...
Just want to make sure I've exhausted all of the wiring variants haha. Wonder if a component sub in the factory location will sound better.
I've been happy with my 10" Kicker in the stock position w/a lil Kicker 250w amp that supports tuning the bass via wired remote. I liked it. I would've liked to amp the Infinity Kappas in the doors for sure to really round it out.
The signal from the Bose is differential so you need to convert it to single ended
Heavy, many of the JLs take differential inputs.
ItsDaveOnline, check the amp owners manual to see if this one accepts differential inputs. If it does it will say so. However, I am not sure about the pinouts for the amp inputs. The stock HU is crap anyway (way outdated compared to todays models). The only thing you will ever miss is the DIC.
ItsDaveOnline, check the amp owners manual to see if this one accepts differential inputs. If it does it will say so. However, I am not sure about the pinouts for the amp inputs. The stock HU is crap anyway (way outdated compared to todays models). The only thing you will ever miss is the DIC.
It won't do you any good unless you can decode the classII from the Bose HU to amp as that is how they do volume control.
Gotcha. Now that you mention it, it seems like I remember reading this in one of your posts.
While I have the utmost respect for what you did with your unit are you glad you did or would you go another route knowing what you know today?
BTW - if you ever figure out the DIC message set I would be very interested. It would be nice to be able to use an arduino with some type of shield (CAN bus or otherwise) tied to whatever digital device a user chooses to decode those messages. To be honest I am surprised someone (like the MP3CAR guys) hasn't done it already. I would be willing to bet that GM uses some type of standard comms that would largely apply to most of their vehicles.
04-13-2015, 10:51 AM
Aftermarket sub and amp tied into factory deck 
