Adding Bass to stock system?

[Ashikabi]

Ok so I'm noiby as fuck with audio... I have the zypr head unit...if I wanted to add a powered sub... what else do I need. A wiring kit I suppose. Do I need some kind of controller to divide up the frequencies or will the head unit do that for me? Anything else I need?

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by finch1750

I may have to check your set-up out one day. I have been listening to more bass heavy music lately and it's really lacking.

Sure thing, the next time we're at a meet at the same time.

Let's just put it this way, I tried listening to "Bass I Love You" by Bassotronics, and the factory woofers couldn't produce any of the bass notes. So I skipped that song every time it came on. With the basstube, I can actually hear, feel, and see (rear mirror) the bass. Granted, it's nowhere near the 10" Type R, but like I said, sufficient enough for a low cost way to fill in the lows.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by Ashikabi

Ok so I'm noiby as fuck with audio... I have the zypr head unit...if I wanted to add a powered sub... what else do I need. A wiring kit I suppose. Do I need some kind of controller to divide up the frequencies or will the head unit do that for me? Anything else I need?

You'll need what ever appropriate wiring kit for the powered sub if it does not come with one already.

And when you say divide up the frequencies, are you talking about a high-pass filter, or equalizer settings?

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by YamahaR86

Same here.

If I switch the settings on the HU, the doors will have too much and it'll cause rattle (I've tried for 2 days now to reduce it following guides and videos).

Figure if I get a sub I can leave it on mids and highs and let the sub do all the work so no door rattles.

The basstube drowns out the door rattle, but then you'll have the rear mirror rattle, along with the rear deck (some).

[Ashikabi]

Originally Posted by Kaotic Lazagna

You'll need what ever appropriate wiring kit for the powered sub if it does not come with one already.

And when you say divide up the frequencies, are you talking about a high-pass filter, or equalizer settings?

I dunno that's why I'm asking

[Chimera]

You'll need a wiring kit, which should come with rcas. The aftermarket hu should be able to set your passes.
Idk about anyone else, but for me I have an aftermarket hu, and have the front crossed at 100hz -6db and the rear at 125 -12db. I have my sub set up at 80hz with -12db lpf

For those without an aftermarket hu, a similar set could be done with hardware without too much work. From the factory amp you could wire in a loc to the amp input lines, and 2 caps on the output lines.

With the metra male and female kits, you don't even have to touch stock wires even

[sly]

Originally Posted by TOOSTUBBORN2FAIL

Intermodulation distortion is caused when a speaker is playing two different frequencies at one time. It is not caused by running an amplifier without enough power. As long as you don't run the amp into clipping, underpowering a speaker can not cause distortion.

Another way to think about this. If underpowering a speaker without clipping the amp caused distortion, then your speakers would distort more and more as you turned down the volume.

Under powering a subwoofer almost always causes clipping because the lower powered amp doesn't have enough headroom to satisfy dynamic peaks. A subwoofer has a large moving mass and therefore generally takes much more power to produce the same SPL as smaller speakers. If you tune your system VERY carefully so that you never clip, you will probably find that you are having to turn your entire system down so much that it isn't listenable.


Article referring to dynamic headroom:

So if you are using an amplifier with an unclipped power output capability of 100w, and you are listening to music with a crest factor of 20db then the average output you would be able to obtain from the amplifier and avoid clipping the dynamic peaks is 1w. The same amplifier with a crest factor of 10db, the average output would be 10w.

What happens if we want to listen to our 20db crest factor music at a higher average level than just 1w of output on our 100w amplifier? Well, you certainly can.....but you will end up clipping the dynamic peaks. Going back to what we said before about the nature of music, it's very transient. Those large peaks will occur over very short durations of time and change rapidly. Due to various reasons our brain can handle some amount of clipping without negative audible effects. But it is also possible, depending on the amount of clipping, original crest factor of the music and frequency regions involved, etc, that this clipping could result in harsh or compressed sounding dynamics at higher output listening levels. This is because of the increase in distortion as a result of clipping, and due to the forced reduction of the level of the dynamic peak compared to the average level of the music. An undesirable result indeed.



---https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/dynamic-headroom

Another thing... because a subwoofer has a lot of moving mass, an amp must be able to provide enough current to pull the cone back. True, while turning down a high powered amplifier decreases the wattage output, it does not decrease the amp's headroom capability. While an underpowered amp may be pushed close to clipping, the properly sized amp will be able to push the subwoofer and have enough reserves to account for any dynamic peaks. The underpowered amp will almost always go into clipping under certain transients and this clipping will cause distortion to the output signal.


Can you run a sub off an underpowered amp? Yes. Will it damage the sub? Not unless you clip so badly that you overheat the voice coil. Will it produce accurate waves, equal to the source of the audio? Not always. Depending upon how underpowered you are, you will have to reduce the gains of the overall system to avoid clipping the signal. You may end up turning the entire system down so much that it is no longer enjoyable to listen to. Eventually, as always, someone will turn up the gains to get the volume they want and clip the amp. It's better to just buy the properly sized amplifier from the beginning. You can always turn a powerful amp down while keeping all your headroom. You can't turn an underpowered amp up though...

[sly]

Originally Posted by Ashikabi

Ok so I'm noiby as fuck with audio... I have the zypr head unit...if I wanted to add a powered sub... what else do I need. A wiring kit I suppose. Do I need some kind of controller to divide up the frequencies or will the head unit do that for me? Anything else I need?

You need a set or RCA cables long enough to go from your head unit back to your powered sub. You need a red power cable long enough to go from your battery to your sub. I don't know what wattage your amp has, but the higher the wattage, the larger cable diameter you need. For most systems and 8 gauge red multistrand copper wire will suffice. You also need a black ground wire of the same gauge. You don't have to run it back to the battery. You can just connect it to an existing spot on the frame. Take a bolt out, attach the ground wire and put the bolt back in. You need a fuse or a circuit breaker connected to the red wire and mounted at the battery. Also, you need a wire to turn on your amp whenever you turn on your head unit. Typically a 16 gauge wire running from your head unit back to your amp will work. It doesn't carry any real current so you can just use whatever wire size you want. You will have to tie it to your head unit's remote turn on lead. This outputs 12 volts whenever your head unit is on. This signal then tells the amp to turn on.


Most of the tuning can be done by your head unit. It should have subwoofer outputs. I'm not familiar with the Scion head unit but most have settings for the crossover. You will probably set it to low pass around 80Hz for the subwoofer and high pass around the same for the rest of the speakers. Send 80Hz and below to the sub and send 80Hz and above to the rest of the speakers.


You can buy an amp wiring kit from Crutchfield. This would be the easiest solution. It comes with the amp wires, remote wire, fuse and remote wire. They have several to choose from. Just pick one that comes with the RCA cables if you don't already have any, fuse and holder, power and ground wires and a remote wire. http://www.crutchfield.com/g_711/Sin...ts.html?tp=635


Here's a subwoofer installation guide: http://www.crutchfield.com/learn/lea....html?pg=2&c=3

[Ashikabi]

Originally Posted by sly

You need a set or RCA cables long enough to go from your head unit back to your powered sub. You need a red power cable long enough to go from your battery to your sub. I don't know what wattage your amp has, but the higher the wattage, the larger cable diameter you need. For most systems and 8 gauge red multistrand copper wire will suffice. You also need a black ground wire of the same gauge. You don't have to run it back to the battery. You can just connect it to an existing spot on the frame. Take a bolt out, attach the ground wire and put the bolt back in. You need a fuse or a circuit breaker connected to the red wire and mounted at the battery. Also, you need a wire to turn on your amp whenever you turn on your head unit. Typically a 16 gauge wire running from your head unit back to your amp will work. It doesn't carry any real current so you can just use whatever wire size you want. You will have to tie it to your head unit's remote turn on lead. This outputs 12 volts whenever your head unit is on. This signal then tells the amp to turn on.


Most of the tuning can be done by your head unit. It should have subwoofer outputs. I'm not familiar with the Scion head unit but most have settings for the crossover. You will probably set it to low pass around 80Hz for the subwoofer and high pass around the same for the rest of the speakers. Send 80Hz and below to the sub and send 80Hz and above to the rest of the speakers.


You can buy an amp wiring kit from Crutchfield. This would be the easiest solution. It comes with the amp wires, remote wire, fuse and remote wire. They have several to choose from. Just pick one that comes with the RCA cables if you don't already have any, fuse and holder, power and ground wires and a remote wire. http://www.crutchfield.com/g_711/Sin...ts.html?tp=635


Here's a subwoofer installation guide: http://www.crutchfield.com/learn/lea....html?pg=2&c=3

Thank you kindly sir

[ryoma]

so from what I understand after reading that sub installation guide, I want a powered subwoofer if I don't want to run wires from the battery to the subwoofer? but regardless of that, I still have to run cables from the back of the headunit to the subwoofer, and possibly wires from the amp (aftermarket or OEM) to the subwoofer? I am a complete novice to sound systems so sorry if this sounds like basic information lol

[Ashikabi]

Originally Posted by ryoma

so from what I understand after reading that sub installation guide, I want a powered subwoofer if I don't want to run wires from the battery to the subwoofer?

I haven't read it yet but it sends like you'd still have to.. gotta get power from somewhere right?

[ryoma]

Originally Posted by Ashikabi

I haven't read it yet but it sends like you'd still have to.. gotta get power from somewhere right?

I assumed that the powered subwoofer gets the power from the amp... but I have no idea lol. the only experience I have with a subwoofer is for my TV setup but that subwoofer only connects to the receiver with no separate power plug. I am assuming the receiver in a home theater setup acts similar to an amp in a car. I am a complete novice in this area if you haven't noticed lol.

[Ashikabi]

Originally Posted by ryoma

I assumed that the powered subwoofer gets the power from the amp... but I have no idea lol. the only experience I have with a subwoofer is for my TV setup but that subwoofer only connects to the receiver with no separate power plug. I am assuming the receiver in a home theater setup acts similar to an amp in a car. I am a complete novice in this area if you haven't noticed lol.

the sub gets power from the internal amp but the amp still has to get power

[ryoma]

Originally Posted by Ashikabi

the sub gets power from the internal amp but the amp still has to get power

I mean from the OEM or aftermarket amp in the car, which connects to the subwoofer to supply power.