[MajorTranq]

Picked up a set of 8" ghost subs on sale, $100 off, just what I'd been waiting for. The Stage 1 speaker upgrade has suited me very well for a few months. The loose, muddy bass got annoying. Something had to be done.

Ordered the speakers Thursday. They arrived today. Not bad. I dove right in after work. Install was estimated at 90 mins or less.

Right off the bat, there was no T50 bit in the handy Bavsound tool kit. Was already sweaty and swearing like a sailor with Tourette's Syndrome. A quick trip to the hardware store cured that. The rest of the install was easy, just warm (90F).

The bass is better. It's tighter, louder and less distorted. However, it's not OH MY GOD better as hoped. The bass still distorts at higher volumes where the other speakers just start to shine. It sounds better but not great. The speakers need to break in a bit, and I need to spend more time listening. A new amp is still on my to-do list. Think I'll be happy with the upgrade, but it hasn't made me instantly happy, much less $400 happy. Fingers crossed...

 

[stonex1]

Cool, how did the install go? I assume you replaced the stock ones underneath the seats?

 

[MajorTranq]

Cool, how did the install go? I assume you replaced the stock ones underneath the seats?

yup. It was super easy, just bolts and screws, no trim panels to mess with.

 

[themishmosh]

If it's bass you want, there is no way around getting an add-on aftermarket subwoofer. Even a 10" sub is better than the low-profile 8" subs in a pair.

If I were you, I'd return the Bavsound and get the proper harness, LOC, amp, sub and sub box. The battery, and electronics are all in the back of our cars so it makes install a lot easier.

Of course, everyone is different and you may not want to sacrifice the limited space in the back for a sub. In which case, what you did is a pretty good option.

 

[MajorTranq]

I wasn't wanting to add bass so much as eliminate bad bass. I want all rear storage space. It sounds better today.

 

[MajorTranq]

All things considered, with speakers broken in, everything sounds pretty good. I'm not a fan of big, booming, artificial bass. More interested in accurate sound reproduction. My music library consists of a variety of quality files, from cd's ripped in Apple lossless and downloaded flac to who knows what. Seems the lower bit rate stuff sounds better to me bass-wise. Call me crazy. Too much bass with my setup sounds unnatural, like flatulence. I attribute this not so much to the speakers but more to the plastic woofer enclosures. Not sure if that's true but any "bad" bass I encounter sounds kinda like the speaker is in a gallon milk jug. Whatever the case, the sound is infinitely better than the stock speakers. Mid-bass response is great for drums, vocals, etc. hopefully the Bimmertech amp with advanced DSP will clean up the remaining muck and eliminate what I can only describe as brown noise.

 

[MajorTranq]

Well shoot. It's just not right. Read the faq and it sounds like I got the wrong speakers. They offer 4Ohm for standard hi fi, 8 Ohm for top hi fi. Coulda sworn there was standard and HK, so ordered standard 4Ohm. The preponderance of bass suggests I might need the 8Ohm speakers. They'll let me know tomorrow.

 

[vstolpner]

Wouldn't the best way to check be to test the old subwoofer with a multimeter?

 

[MajorTranq]

Wouldn't the best way to check be to test the old subwoofer with a multimeter?

uh...yes. Thanks

 

[MajorTranq]

Well, totally forgot about EQ settings on the iPod. Disabled that and it sounds amazing so far.