I'm looking to get more bass out of mini's sound system and my friend is selling his bazooka 6inch powered bass tube, I've listened to it and I like how it sounds I just have no idea how to install it considering how complex the Minis stock head unit is. So does anyone had any experience with this sort of thing?

 

I've had Bazooka's in the past. You're gonna need to tap into the rear speakers (high level) in order to get the signal to the bass tube. Normally you would use RCA's, but in this case, you're gonna need the rear speakers as your signal provider. You're still gonna need to run power to the battery and find yourself a good ground in the rear.

This should help you -----> http://www.bazooka.com/tech/wiring-diagrams/BTAxx250D

 

Is that all I need to do? Just run the wires from the tube to the rear speakers and then one more to the battery

 

You also need to pick one of the four listed options for "remote turn on"...this is what sends a signal to turn on/off the bass tube.

 

What stereo do you have? The base 'boost' stereo sends full range sound to the tiny front speakers and a bass limited signal to the rear. So you'd want to tap the front speaker signal at the connector in the driver footwell

 

Idk it's just the stock one and it's not the Harmon kardon

 

Did this on my Clubman along with the speaker channel swap.

Grabbed power from the rear 12v power connector. Ran signal wires to the high level outputs at the x56874467534 whatever connector in the kick panel.

Sounds good, the key is to swap the channels and then put the sub on the "fronts" (that is, now the rear!), so they get the stronger bass signal.

It's worth it to do both. The base radio really sounds sooooo much better.

 

Search for the front/rear channel swap thread, go to radio shack and get the pin popper tool. Then do what danjreed said

 

I'd have to disagree slightly here. If you are adding a subwoofer, I would not do the front/rear swap. The benefit of the swap is that you are sending the full range, non-filtered signal to the rears, which have better low frequency response than the fronts. If you are adding a subwoofer, it will be handling the low-frequencies, so you don't need to do the swap, and you avoid the negatives of the swap.

Additionally, most aftermarket powered subs are going to end up giving you a big hump in response, likely centered near or around where the notch filter is in the rears.

None of this is ideal, but you are marginally better off leaving the front/rear swap alone if you are adding a sub.

The red line below is what the rear channel output (from HU) looks like in the standard 6 speaker system:

 

I do respect your opinion and knowledge, Kevin. I used my sub to beef up the 30-50hz range using a single band parametric eq with remote gain control. With the channels swapped the midbass comes from the stock rear speakers. I leave the headunit bass/treble on zero, as they don't do anything good in my opinion, and adjust the subwoofer dial to suit what's playing.

I do like how the notch filter 'protects' the front speakers in that even with the head unit bass control maxed out they don't distort due to bass.

 

No way I'd use the 12v from rear power connector, too small a power wire, needs to be atleast 12G , I'm installing the 8" 250W bazooka as it fits behind the drivers seat ( I need all my cargo space ) and using IA adaptor and using RCA as that is what IA uses for their sub. And running a 8G wire to battery.

Plan to start install next week.

 

Kevin, thanks for posting that. However.. after doing the swap (first).. I thought the fronts got less bass - which made them sound less muddy... If I swap the channels back won't I have that issue again?

 

I think it's bad to have more than one speaker playing the same frequencies, causes weird sound technical issues things. Hopefully I'm right here: that was what Kevin was kindly objecting to (rear speakers producing same frequencies as aftermarket sub). The factory speakers are so crappy that really a full replace with proper crossovers are what's needed, but (in my opinion) the mini is such a terrible critical audio listening environment that replacing everything is a little overkill. Since the channel swap is a cheap way to get the intentional sound crappifying notch filter to apply to the teeny front speakers I agree that is a good idea regardless of what else you are changing. Filtering the midbass from the rears when adding a sub is a good idea. I cheaped out and used my sub to take over where the stockers give up (30-50 hz) and love the throb (with the windows down, anyway).

 

I used these in place of my original 6X9s.. and added a little sub amp. I think for 6X9s these sound great!

 

I should also add that I have the HK system. I honestly am more then shocked how much bass I get out of these. This worked for me while giving me a little bump in the boot..lol

 

Link? Brand? My 6x9's still sound like garbage.

 

The brand of these are CDT Audio ES0690 6X9 Carbon Fiber Subs.. I bought my pair off of ebay. But note these are not full range. I used these as subs only

 

danjreed, Are you looking for more of full range or more sub only? CDT makes a wide range of 6X9s.. check them out!

 

anyone have any info on running the power wire to the battery through the firewall? Can't seem to locate a good grommet for it. How did you guys run your power wire through the firewall?

 

IA instructions for installing their kit had all
The info on installing systems

 

Its easy, its right behind the battery area on the R56 cars.

 

More range, I get decent "sub" with the Bazooka deal. At least its good enough for me. I feel like the car is lacking in mid and high range.

Right now my bass is -4, and the treble is +10, fader/balance +1 rear... Sub somewhere in the middle doing most of the grunt work of the low end. I have the low-end head unit deal.. factory speakers.. Not looking to make a super sound stage.. right now its pretty good... but I know for $150 and new 6x9's I feel like it could be better..

I guess I could try swapping the channels back like IA/Kevin said.. I mean its free..

 

I know what you mean. A decent set of 6X9s should help. I know a lot of people do swap out all the speakers to gain a bit better sound. But you can do that in stages if you ever want to go down that road. I did run a pair of polk audio 6X9s full range type in my last MINI and they really helped. In my current MINI I do have the HK system. But now have switched out the rear 6x9s for those CDT 6x9 subs. Plus added a little sub amp to them. My bass is set -2 at head unit and my treble is set at 0.. It has very nice highs and mids. And now the 6x9s are my subs. More then enough from what I thought was possible. Even when my dealer heard it they asked me how did you get it to sound so good!

 

Try reversing the swap and let us know. Replacing the rear speakers for increased highs seems counter-intuitive to me, if that is what you want to try. I like my music to sound as coming from in front of me rather than behind. And the rear speakers seem a teeny bit harder to change out than the fronts in terms of access. But I'm lazy.

Edit: also, what is your Xover freq for the sub? You can try turning it to a lower frequency so that the midbass isn't so loud as this makes your mids/highs sound lacking (it's all relative, remember, so less bass=more highs). Compounding this its the fact that the headunit artificially boosts the midbass to trick your ears into thinking the stock system has bass response which it doesn't (HK system a little better since the rears aren't notch filtered).

 

IA instructions?...


ok, cool... I'll check to see if the same exists on the Paceman... Thank you!