Subaru accessory subwoofer
 

I just installed the OEM subwoofer from Subaru into my 2017 BRZ. I thought I would take a minute to share my thoughts.

I was honestly pretty disappointed in the sound of the stock sound system. To the point where I was not going to be happy listening to it. I knew that I was going to have to do something, but was unsure what. My decision was made easier once I received a $500 coupon from Subaru to spend on parts or service (different story), so without having to risk much "out-of-pocket" money, I got the OEM subwoofer (cost after coupon was $34).

The parts/service department wanted $440 to install it though. They said it was a 3.5 hour job. Again, since there wasn't a whole lot of information about this sub out there, and I wasn't sure what I believed anyway, I really wasn't interested in spending that kind of money without knowing I would be happy. So, I had them order it, and figured I would try to install it myself even though I was quite intimidated about doing so.

So I picked up the sub yesterday. I thought it was somewhat ironic that the cardboard box it came in wouldn't fit in the car, and thus had to ride shotgun just to get it home. This morning I set out to install the thing.

Installation was pretty straightforward. I had to grab the installation instructions online (from here) since they were not included in the box. The instructions are quite detailed and have pictures for each step. I did have, and would definitely recommend having, a set of nylon trim tools, but other than that, a 10mm wrench and a screwdriver (a short one too) are all that is required. Installation took me approximately 4 hours or so including several breaks. It is something that I think pretty much anyone could do.

Now to the important stuff... the sound. Night and day. Simple as that. Is it the best sounding system I have ever heard? Not by a longshot, but it is sooooo much better than it was. One of the reviews I had read about this system spoke about the crossovers and how just having the stock speakers no longer trying to output the bass, cleans up the sound all around. I couldn't agree more. I mean the stock speakers are still not fantastic speakers, but the crossovers help a lot.

The overall sound is now much more balanced than it was. One of the things I was reading in reviews is how the bass is overwhelming with the addition of the sub. I can certainly see where someone could think that. However, another review mentioned that the sub is associated with the front speakers, so fading to the rear speakers quiets it down some. This is true. I moved the fader 2 notches to the rear, and that helps. I also messed with the EQ some to adjust the sound to my liking, but leaving it flat actually sounds really good. Based on some reviews I have read, I was halfway expecting to have to fade the sound almost all the way to the rear and EQ all the bass out, but that is just not the way it is. I think that with minimal tweaking, one could adjust the sound to their liking with ease.

Based on the research I did, it seemed like there are basically three options for someone interested in upgrading the sound. The OEM subwoofer, the OEM+ kit, and full-on custom. I have heard plenty of full-on custom systems, and if you do it right, and spend the right money, it will probably be the best sounding of the options. That was not what I was interested in doing. That left the two "kits" for me to choose between.

Since I haven't heard the OEM+ system, I couldn't comment on the difference between that system and what the system sounds like with the addition of the OEM subwoofer. I would speculate that the OEM+ system sounds much better. I really don't see how it couldn't since it replaces all the stock speakers. That said, it is also twice as expensive. The choice between the two systems would have been more difficult for me had I not had the coupon from Subaru, and to be honest, I still contemplated going the OEM+ route anyway.

All in all, I'm glad I got the sub that I did. It gave the stock system exactly what it needed to make it a decent system. Mind blowingly amazing? No. It would be hard to say that it was even great (although I could see some saying it is). But I would say that it is good. Certainly better than acceptable, and also enough to where I'm done with it now. I have no more desire to upgrade. This will do just fine.

I hope that maybe this information helps someone make a decision that I know I was torn with. If anyone has questions, I'm happy to try to answer them.

Almost forgot... for reference, I listen to all sorts of different genres. Mostly jazz and jazz fusion, but I was also listening to pop, rock, metal, and classical today. It all sounded good.

This was very helpful! I just got my 2017 PP Limited BRZ and im very disappointed with the stock sound system.

Now my question is, how long after buying the car you got the $500 coupon? Im definitely going to move forward with the oem but would like to save some bucks also.

I didn't know about the fader trick, I will have to try it. There are times I love the way the oem sub sounds, and times it just gives me a headache.

That's a boat load of work to put that in. Too bad the car wasn't pre wired.
I think that's what's keeping me from doing it. To much to take apart. Not that it's intimidating, just don't have the time to get into it....
But thanks for sharing your thoughts!

and for the link. that's a helpful doc to have for disassembly of components for other reasons.

wow, I had no idea it was so much work to put that thing in. I don't know why but I had the impression that you just plugged it into the amp and it was good to go. I've always been kinda interested in this option and if I came across a good deal, I think I'd be all over it. Thanks for posting your experience.

@FlipperBizkut

I bought one of these a few months back for $250 used but never installed it cause lazy. Glad to get this review to add the rest of the limited info out there. Now I'll take a Saturday to put it in.

I've heard a few OEMAudio+ systems and they sound phenomenal for the price but even the ones setup with more bass simply do not have the punch for Hip hop and Metal the way I like it. Dance tracks and Jazz sound great though. I think the OEM+ system runs into the physical limitations of air and an 8" driver. For that reason the 10" Kicker sub in the Subaru OEM system was appealing. Cheap, OEMish, and good enough quality for shitty streaming audio quality in a car with almost no sound deadening. I'm glad to hear that it can be toned down for other music styles while still being able to slap hard when needed. The front speakers can all be easily upgraded in time if my ears feel the need so this sounds like it should suit my needs perfectly.

Thanks for the review.


http://parts.cioccasubaru.com/images...ofer-shift.jpg

vs

http://oemaudioplus.com/wp-content/u...5/03/FRZ-2.jpg

It seems bizarre that the instructions have you remove the gauge cluster to run the wiring harness, this is not necessary.

Yeah, you can just route the wire harness through the bottom and up. I was wondering why they were removing the gauge cluster.

Did you replace your head unit at all? If so you may need to have the DSP amp recalibrated. I had to when I had my Kenwood installed and now it sounds phenomenal. I was able to go to OEM in person but they'll take the amp by mail and do it as well.

This is exactly how I feel. With my Perrin cat back (which isn't even all that loud) any music audio is pretty trashed anyway.

I had the Subaru OEM subwoofer installed when I purchased my Series.Yellow last month. I've been futzing with it ever since trying to get the boomy-ness to go away. On a trip recently I noticed less boom with luggage in the trunk and figured that the resonant frequency of the truck area led to some low frequencies overpowering everything else (i.e. boomy-ness).

I've spend a month, off and on, playing around with various settings of front-rear fader and equalizer and finally gave up and literally threw in the towel. I resorted to an old drummers trick to cut down on the low freq hum by folding a bath towel in half twice, then put that towel over the sub speaker and tucked it behind the sub to hold it in place temporarily. The size of the towel folded in half twice fits just about perfectly and covers the entire speaker opening.

The result? Much tighter bass and 90% of the resonant frequency buzz is gone! The subwoofer actually sounds really good like this. It’s tight, but not overpowering like it was, and you can still hear everything. It’s about as close to perfect as I think I’ll get without adding a variable resistor to the wiring harness to be able to adjust the overall sound volume of the sub alone. For the life of me I don’t know why they didn’t add an adjustment so we could set the loudness of the sub from the driver’s seat. They ran the wires right through there, would have made everything 100% better to do that.

Here are my settings for the equalizer. FYI, it’s not a true equalizer, if it was, turning the 5kHz setting up wouldn’t lower the base settings at all, but it does. It almost acts like an old school parametric equalizer where turning up one setting reduces the others as well.
60Hz: -3 (-4 for really thumpy music)
250Hz: +3 (which primarily reduces the low freq boom for some reason – like I said, it’s not a true equalizer)
820Hz: +2
1.6kHz: +2
5kHz: +2 (or +3, I can’t decide which I like better but I’m mostly sticking with +2)
16kHz: +4

Front/rear balance set to 1 rearward.

I have the bass expander setting turned OFF as it makes way more boomy-ness without actually making better sound. I also have the music restore/enhance setting turned off as well. All that seems to do is make the highs very harsh and tiring over time. I use the 16kHz +4 setting to compensate.

I use an old iphone in the glovebox as my mass storage. It works far better than a USB stick. I have it setup to connect to my current iphone when it has the personal hotspot turned on to steam Pandora. This way you get a wired connection for Pandora which sounds better and allows onscreen controls. Bluetooth sound is fine for podcasts, but isn’t as sharp as wired connections for music.

For the love of god Subaru, give us the ability to set the artist list view as default for ipods. The song default view is f’n useless!

i keep thinking of getting the OEM, but everywhere i look, it comes out as $750 for the 2017 model. :( I'd rather get an exhaust for that kind of money.

I've found there's an acoustic gap between what the sub does and what the front speakers do. When the sub is tamed it winds up cutting out some audio in the "woofer range." The whole package is a nice idea but I don't think anyone bothered to tune anything properly. One of these days I want to take it apart (I didn't install mine) and see what connectors they're using. Would be nice to make a kit that has an EQ and volume control for the sub that's plug and play.

Really excited to try the fader adjustment. First I've heard of that trick.

Upfront disclaimer: I don't not own one of these nor have I ever heard one in person.


A crossover gap is actually pretty common, it's useful for a couple of things including smoothing a large jump in dB between speakers, which is common in subwoofers as people (generally) like super loud bass that smoothly integrates with mid bass. Technically a full octave would in theory yield a straight response curve if the sub and the woofers are playing at the same dB from their respective amps, (edit: and the crossover slopes are the same). however with the OEM, IDK if its filtering the signal to the woofers as it sends signal to the sub, so take all this with a grain of salt.