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Bazooka Tube Question

bonedog

bonedog

SM 2004
Full Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2003
Messages
3,056
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bloomfield,NJ
I did a search and found a few threads on this but now I am confused.

I bought a 8" DVC UnAmplified Tube yesterday. I want to mount it under the driverside rear seat. I saw that Punisher had to shim the seat with washers, I saw the Bluetruck just took the bottom off. What is correct..taking the bottom off or shimming? I am confused as to why one person had to shim and another got away with just removing the plastic. BTW mine is an 03 if that means anything.

I will be running this setup with an Alpine MDF-500 Digital Mono Amp. :eek: I know, I know waaayyyy to much power but that is the amp I already have so I will just turn the gain down. What are the correct wires to tap for the line converter for my RCA connection?

Thanks for your help everyone.

Bonedog
 
Hey Bonedog!

The reasoning behind shimming vs plastic removal is simply because one person found it easier to raise the seat and the other preferred to remove the plastic. If you won't miss the plastic, this will be the way to go.

As far as too much power for the bazooka, it'll be fine if you set up the system correctly. Keep in mind that your Alpine 500W amp is rated for 250W at 4ohms and 500W at 2ohms, if it is typical of other Alpine amp ratings. That will be the amps maximum output, so it's power output will be dynamic, changing with input voltage to meet the music's transients, rather than pumping out 500W constantly.

The gain isn't actually a volume knob, although it seems that 99% of installers out there treat it as such and will tell you that it changes the amount of output the generates. It's job is to increase or decrease the amps sensitivity to input voltage. This will allow you to control how much input the amp needs to generate its maximum output. Turning the gain down will result in needing more input voltage, so if your output converter can only put out half of the voltage the amp needs to generate max power, it'll produce far less than spec, making it seem as if the gain controled the volume.

Sorry if that got confusing, but I just thought I'd take the time to explain that since you took the time to ask. Good luck with it and let us know how it turns out! ;D
 
DS thanks.

What would you reccomend as the wireing setup..parellel or series?

Should I just adjust the gain, slope, and crossover like any other encloser and speaker setup? If so what would you recomend for the numbers. The amp is fully digital and I have the screen for it mounted on my centerconsol so it is very easy to adjust. If doing this in a PM would be easier please let me know.

Bonedog
 
Well, if you really want to play it safe regarding overpowering the sub, you could wire it series for an 8ohm load, thus reducing the amps output greatly. If that wasn't enough bass for you (I'll bet it's not ;)), wire it parallel and check it out.

As far as the crossover is concerned, it really depends upon personal preference and what else is in your system. If you have aftermarket 6.5" mid/woofers in the doors, you may be satisfied with your midbass response already. If so, cross the sub over lower. Using a high crossover point, ie 120, 150hz, will tend to make for a muddy midbass effect in many cases. As for slope, it depends as well, as each slope will provide a different sound quality that is noticable.

For the sake of giving you advice without knowing what you have, try an 80 or 100hz crossover point and 24db slope. If your amp is like the MRD501, you have a subsonic filter from 15-60hz. This will be the absolutely most important setting to make with the Bazooka tube. The sub simply won't handle nearly subsonic frequencies due to its design, so this filter will protect it mechanically from overexcursion. I'd try 30hz first and increase the dB level until you get a clean bottom end with no hint of distortion. It will produce low frequecies (it being the tube, sorry), but it will not produce them at concussion-inducing levels, so this filter is invaluable with smaller subs. I wish every mono sub amp included one, and I don't know why they don't honestly.
 
Sorry DS I should have told you. Bone stock BOSE system in the truck..just adding the tube for some low end bass.

The amp has the subsonic and all that. I might have mistyped I bought the Amp last year brand new so It is the one you probably typed MRD-501. I am at work and trying to do this off of memory from 9 months ago with part numbers.

I will try it at the settings you stated and go from there. Basically what you are saying is use the subsonic to clean up the low end and set the slope and crossover to work in conjunction with the factory stuff correct. Its been over a year since I tuned a system. Needed a refresher course.
 
The subsonic filter can basically be looked at as a high-pass crossover for the low end of your sub range, if you want to think about it like that. It is just limiting the subs output at the frequency that you specify so that the sub isn't trying to reproduce 20hz notes at full power, which it won't do due to its mechanical limits. It will reproduce low frequencies, but not to the extent that it can produce the frequencies near its tuned area.

As for the crossover point......you'll probably be happy in the 120-80hz range. It really just depends on how satisfied you are with the Bose output now in the upper bass area. If you feel like you're getting enough upper bass punch from the Bose already, try 80hz for the sub to provide more low end grunt. If you want more upper bass punch in your system, go for 100 or 120 hz and see how you like it. This will depend solely on your tastes and music that you listen to. Play with it and set it where it sounds best to you and enjoy.



 
Thanks for all your help. I will let everyone know how it sounds later today or tomarrow and what settings I did with the amp.
 
WOW this little tube hits. I didn't relize how much low end I didn't have.

DS... I am still playing with the amp settings but so far I like what I hear.

Subsonic filter- 20hz
Low Pass Filter- 71hz
Parametric EQ- OFF
Input- -5db
Level- 6 out of 12
Channel Inputs- CH1+CH2
Phase- 0
Wired- Parallel (+ to +/ - to -)

this setup makes the tube cover the lower end of the stock system's bass response plus fills the low end. I tuned the system to rock music then fine tuned to Robert Mille's CHILDREN followed with some tweeking listening to Classical. Sounds wierd way of tuning the amp but gives me the broadest range of music frequencies with the stock system and tweek the tube to cover just the lower end of the mid-bass and fully cover the lows to about 20hz before it doesn't make a sound. I wanted to make sure that the tube wasn't covering too much mid bass because it started to sound muddy when voices were talking or singing in the lower range(Barry White) I tried to get the crossover to cut out just before the range of that but still add some punch to the stock BOSE in the mids. Highs and mids are now covered by the stock system. I actually tuned the door speakers with the HU (bass +2 /treble -1) which mades the system sound fuller and more dynamic now.
If I can get my hands on one I would love to tune it with an IASCA cd to make sure I am covering all my bases.

Bonedog

P.S: looks like its time for door speakers and another amp.
 
DS is correct BoneDog. i wanted to shim the seat because i did not want to deface the seat by removing the hard plastic bottom. in the end i still think i made the right decision.
i think a 10 inch tube would be too much for an under the AV seat application size wise. there is a bit of a difference circumference wise when comparing the two tubes. check this out for specs on the different tube sizes...
http://www.bazooka.com/pdf/current/EL_passive_manual.pdf.

i had one of these tubes before. they are pretty cool. good sound from the Bazooka products. although they will never duplicate the sound from a setup like Enkei has in his AV. althought they will definitely fill the void of bass in your vehicle very nicely.
 
Bonedog,

I have (2) of the powered 8'' bazooka tubes underneath my seats. I just unscrewed the plastic thing under the seats and the tubes fit perfectly!!! I just wanted to fill the void of the missing bass also, and the tubes work fine. I don't really have a problem with the midgate being down, there is a slight angle, but nothing too drastic. Let me know if you have any questions, I will try to help you if I can can.
 
Oh yes, PICS PLEASE!!! The wheels are turning in my head again with ideas (never a good thing >:D)... If 8" Tubes will fit... OH YES!!! I bet I can design some fibergalss boxes to put under there with some JL 8's and then have the two under the rear seat!!!! OH DAMN!!! That sheyot would pound, JL 8's are sweet in pairs but, four of them!?!!?! Look out, here comes the bass...
 
PUNISHER said:
DS is correct BoneDog. i wanted to shim the seat because i did not want to deface the seat by removing the hard plastic bottom. in the end i still think i made the right decision.
i think a 10 inch tube would be too much for an under the AV seat application size wise. there is a bit of a difference circumference wise when comparing the two tubes. check this out for specs on the different tube sizes...
http://www.bazooka.com/pdf/current/EL_passive_manual.pdf.

i had one of these tubes before. they are pretty cool. good sound from the Bazooka products. although they will never duplicate the sound from a setup like Enkei has in his AV. althought they will definitely fill the void of bass in your vehicle very nicely.
Click to expand...

Speaking of Enkie....who I think is one the road...or maybe not...what does he have in his AV. He's done a wonderful job at providing others with Sound Enhancement, but I don't think I've ever come across a post where he displayed his system? Does it pound?
 
If you are considering an amplified tube, an easy way to get a little more sound out of it is to wire it up using the line level input instead of RCA's it will give you a noticable difference in output.
 
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