I recently just put in an aftermarket HU by bypassing the Harman Kardon amp and rewiring all the speakers. The problem is, bass is basically non-existant now. The highs/mids sound very clear, but NO bass?!

I am not asking for loud thundering bass, but just enough.. like my stock system sound level was fine. Maybe a little louder.

My question is, will I achieve this by putting in a subwoofer? I would actually like the cheapest way out, since I'm not looking for anything brilliant. Just something simple.

Would a powered subwoofer (like a Bazooka) do the trick? Or an amplifier? Or an amp + sub?

Anyone with experience with this before I go to my local car audio guy?

Searched everywhere but couldn't find any results..

Clarion NZ500 installed:

 

How did you wire the rear speakers? They'd have the best chance of some bass, from the location, but maybe they're not wired correctly.

Also.If you don't properly get +/- correct on all speakers, then the bass from one speaker can cancel bass from another (sound waves cancel). To check for this, use balance and fade to drive only one speaker at a time. If there is bass from a single speaker but not from all, then you have canceling sound waves.

 

Hey, did you find a good way of running new wires to the doors? I just installed a new HU and new rear speakers, and I am putting a new 4-channel amp in next week. However im having difficulty figuring out which wires on the amp harness are the front wires. In the door panel of course there are 4 wires total on each side, but when im looking at the harnass i can't seem to find these wires anymore? any luck

 

HK Amp connections:
http://www.gbmini.net/downloads/HKconnections.pdf

 

Wow, Thanks alot Ian, that really helped me out. Now i can run the wires and just wait for the new amp rather than having my whole car taking apart :D

 

I did end up getting the problem fixed.

On another note, how are bazooka subs? I reckon with $300 installed it won't be nuts, but I just want a little more bass.