I've been poking around looking at improving my sound system recently and would really appreciate some advice or suggestions from experienced people here.
I've done a bit of work on it thus far and have a couple of options for where to go next. First the background (apologies in advance for the essay!):I bought my 2 in October 2010 and despite it being a model with the premium sound system, the sound from the stereo was incredibly tinny.
One of the previous owners had fitted an aftermarket head unit, and as far as I could tell had only connected it to the front components and rear speakers, with no output going to the rear subs (the headunit only had two sets of RCA outputs anyway). They had done what looked like a bit of a bodge on the wiring and connected the head unit via RCAs labelled 'front left', 'front right', 'rear left' and 'rear right'. The system was still running on the stock amps and speakers. I didn't bother investigating the subwoofer situation much further, but made wholesale changes to the setup, putting a 2 channel amp in the front, new 6.5 inch components in the doors, completely seperate wiring, and sound proofing the doors. I figured a decent set of components and the soundproofing would provide the punch I was looking for - I'm not interested in sounding like a mobile disco just decent quality sound that I can hear over the engine on motorway runs with a decent low/middle end.I've had the setup for about a year and am pretty happy with it, however the bass from the components creates vibrations through the door card particularly in the hand grip/bin and window electrics which are noisy and pretty irritating, so I'm coming back to the idea of introducing a subwoofer in to the system to handle the bass and running a high pass filter either at the amp or from the head unit to the components to stop the vibrations through the door.
This is where my question comes in.
Over the weekend I had a dig around behind the seats and verified that the subwoofers are still very much in existence in the car, and still wired into something. However, despite extensive searching behind the head unit, I can't find any RCA plugs which my research on this site and others suggests should exist for connecting the subs too. I don't know if something happened to these when the previous owner messed around with the system, but they're not around anywhere I can see! I want to keep the stock look of the car and like having the space behind the seats free to store the roof, so I'm thinking about either reintroducing the existing subs into my current setup, or taking them out and using the space to mount my own ones. The options as I see it are as follows:1
- Try and use the stock wiring to integrate the stock subs into my new system. This removes the hassle of having to purchase another amp and run wires back through the car. However I will have to trace the existing wiring to see what has happenned to the connections for the subs, and I'm concerned that if I run the stock amps which are now only connected to subs and no other speakers, they may blow due to there not being enough resistance in the circuit. I have a Pioneer head unit with the 'Auto EQ' microphone and dedicated RCA sub outputs so if this setup was possible, running the calibration on that should avoid having to worry about balancing the sound in with the existing setup. It's also the cheapest option - basically free!2
- Use the existing subs but buy another amp (I don't think my current 600 watt 2 Channel InPhase amp would provide enough juice for the components and the subs), and wire the amp myself into the subs - there is a connector on each sub with colour coded wires and I have a wiring diagram so could piggy back my own wiring onto this but would need to know the rated power output/impendence of the subs so I buy a suitable amp and don't blow the system, but it has the advantage of not messing around with the pretty much now redundant stock wiring. I should be able to get a reasonable amp for this job for under £100, so not TOO pricey...3
- Pull the old subs out and mount new ones in their place - removes having to work with any of the old kit in the car but probably the most expensive option! Also likely to require making a mount which would be new territory for me, and is the most expensive option.I know that was an enormous post, so many thanks just for making it to the end! If you have any ideas as to where I could go with this I'd be really keen to hear them.
This has been my first foray into the world of ICE so I'm not too experienced but a pretty quick learner - I've done all of the stuff thus far myself except for getting a professional in to fit the soundproofing and safety check my wiring (better safe than sorry!)Cheers
Simon
