So this weekend I acquired one of those bazooka bass tubes for 50 bucks (used). It is in great shape, but technically its the smallest one made (BTA6100). I'm ok with that, because hell... it was 50 bucks... AND it will have a tiny footprint in the trunk.

I already ran power and ground for the tube and have the remote tapped into the rear 12V plug.

Experiment:
I then hooked up the RCA's to the line out of my mp3 player (iRiver).
I was pleasantly surprised at just how much thump it had. What is truely amazing is the fact that it puts out so much bass with a power wire that has a 7.5 amp in-line fuse. I mean...that's seriously low power consumption for what it does.
The experiment was really just to make sure it actually worked and to test my power/ground connections.
/Experiment

I bought a Navone 2 channel LOC from another member a while back with the hope of one day using it in my car. It appears the time has finally come.

I spent the entire weekend searching and reading about where to tap those wires......some say before the bose amplifier, some say after.....

If using a LOC, it appears that you can do either (before or after amp).

It seems like most people feel it is safer to tap AFTER the amp, but there are some who claim BEFORE the amp is more desirable because you won't get any weirdness w/the signal because of the amp.

So what would you guys suggest that I do since I already have LOC...Tap before the amp or after? Since the internal amp in the tube isn't super strong, I'd lean towards tapping after the amp because I won't have to adjust the gain to the maximum level before getting decent output.

If you say after the amp, where do you guys typically tap the wires...right at the speaker connection or some place closer to the amp?

I spent some time breaking my back this evening while looking up at the underside of the speakers...it seems that whichever way I go, some of those vampire taps or quick splices are definitely going to be used lol.


Just FYI, my previous vehicle was a jeep grand cherokee with 2 12" kicker subs in a sealed enclosure. I realize that this "system" is barely even a system at all, so understand that I'm simply looking for a bit more bass than the Bose system is delivering...

 

So should I assume nobody here knows anything about LOC's and where to put them?

 

Personally I would put it before the Bose amp. I have heard that the amp does some weird things to the signal which is something you don't want to deal with. I don't have the bose so I have no way of confirming this. If you do it before the amp, you will be getting the purest signal, straight from the source (i.e. headunit).

 

OK, so after that overwhelming amount of feedback, I tapped the signal AFTER the bose amp and near the speaker connections. A post I had read earlier suggested that using a LOC makes the most sense on high level signals, so that's what I did.

All is well and it sounds awesome all things considered (it is a bass tube after all). My gain is not maxed and I can nearly make the tube inaudible by lowering the HU's bass setting.


Thanks go out to the one guy who actually responded to my thread. Thanks Juice.

 

LOCs are "pre-amp" units designed to connect speaker level outputs of factory decks.. not the boosted level from an amp. hence my vote "before the Bose amp"


edit: however, what you have is NOT an LOC, you are probably talking about the 2 CHANNEL HIGH-Q LINE ADAPTER? in which case it should be connected DIRECTLY to the speaker terminals, and therefore what you have done is correct

 

When I had my sub in my 8 I used my 4 channel navone http://www.davidnavone.com/cart.asp?24&cat=5 hooked in after the amp, no problems.

 

LOCs are actually post amp units designed to reduce the high voltage of speaker level output to that of a pre-amp signal.

Pre amp signals can just be inputted directly into another amp or whatever you are trying to feed.

 

i will have to defend my stand that LOCs (line output converter) are pre-amp

here is my link: http://www.davidnavone.com/cart.asp?24&cat=7

however, Navone Engineering also made a 2Ch Hi-Q Line Drive Adapter, this device i believe is the post-amp,
which must be directly connected to the speakers

 

I have done both with different types of LOCs in multiple 8's. From what I have found, if you're using a powered LOC, such as the Audiocontrol LC6i, tap before the Bose amp. If you are using an unpowered LOC such as the $30 ones from CC or WalMart, tap after the Bose amp. I have attempted to use these before the Bose amp and could not get near the signal strength needed into the RCAs into the aftermarket amp. Unsoldered it and tapped in after the amp, and problem solved. Twice the bump.

In my personal 8, I have the LC6i before the amp. Been working awesome for over a year now.

EDIT: And superdon2, LOC in general are obviously for post amp applications. Your navone website link continuously states the "pre-amp inputs" of other equipment. Meaning the RCA out from the LOC would go into the pre-amp inputs of an EQ or aftermarket amp. An amplifier of some kind is needed to power any speaker in any application. You're tapping into the speaker wire itself.... so you tell me.... is that going to be before or after any amps?

 

firedude,

I read in another thread that you can tap into the wires before the bose amp and they are already "line-level", therefore my impression was you dont need a LOC. Is that true?

 

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Hi 416

THanks for the reply. I am not sure if its a high-level input I have. (Due to my lack of knowledge). I have a powered bazooka that used to be hooked upto my pioneer stereo by a sub-out from the stereo. So i am assuming its not a speaker level input.

 

Line output converters take a post amp, speaker level output, (usually from your head unit, but any speaker level signal will do), and converts that signal into a Pre-amp level signal, suitable for driving an amplifier. If you have a pre-amp level signal, there is no need for a LOC, you'd plug it directly into your amp. A signal PROCESSOR, such as an equalizer, usually has to be plugged into a pre-amp level signal, and outputs a pre-amp level signal.

But things get even murkier when you start looking at devices like the audiocontrol DQL-8, which is both a line output converter and a signal processor. Many amps also have speaker level inputs. The best thing to do is assume nothing and read your equipments manual.

The RX-8 head unit (Bose and non Bose) produces speaker level outputs which are perfect for being tapped by a LOC. The speaker level output of the head unit is then piped into the Bose amplifier, which is also a signal processor. The bose unit tweaks the EQ of the signal to make their crap speakers sound good, then outputs a speaker level signal to the component speakers.

Using a LOC, you can safely tap the wires before or after the Bose amp. If you tap the signal before the Bose amp, you will be getting a signal that is free of the EQ applied by the Bose amplifier. This can reduce distortion when playing your music really loud, but if you're not planning on replacing all the speakers in the car, I don't think tapping after the Bose amp will be a big deal.

You can learn a lot about this car's audio system by reading the stickies.

 

Don't do this. The output of the RX-8 head unit is differential, speaker level outputs. Without a LOC you will fry either your head unit, or your amplifier. The wires before the bose amp contain a signal that is free from the EQ curve that the Bose amp applies, thats all.

 

That makes perfect and very clear! Thank you so much for clearing it all up for me. I am planing to put the bazooka in the trunk and then replace the OEM rear speakers with a set of 3 way pioneers I have from the previous car which matches the size. Hope it all works out and increases the sound quality a bit, for a bose this system absolutely sucks!

 

Just to offer some feedback, I had no problems hooking up my tube the way I described earlier.

When the car was off and I turned up the radio, it sounded pretty good. The problem I found was that once I was on the interstate and my Greddy SP2 was purring, I would have to turn up the radio more to hear the bass. The problem with that, was as I turned up the radio more and more, the sound characteristics of the tube were readily apparent.

I did have the smallest tube they offered, so I'm not sure how the 10" or 12" inch ones would do. I wound up selling the tube to my brother-in-law. I installed it in his Jeep Wrangler and it was a great upgrade for him.

 

My father has the 100W 10" in his Audi S4. PLENTY of bass. Sound quality is easily acceptable. They offer a 200W version too. I'd vote for that.

 

Don't get me wrong..... mine was the 6.5" sub w/50 watts RMS.

When I played rap, I was blown away at hour much bass it could produce - not to mention it did it all on < 7.5 amps of current.

Audi's are typically well built cars which have a good quiet ride to them. Adding a subwoofer to a car like the S4 would probably sound great.

 

Hi Guys,

So I hooked up my powered bazooka today. It has both line level inputs and speaker level inputs, so I can do either (line level with a loc)

As suggested by the site, I hooked up the bazooka speaker level inputs to the car's system before the rear bose amp, but I got nothing out of the sub.

Then I hooked up the LOC to these wired and fed it into the sub through it's line level inputs, and I can barely get some sound at very high volumes.

So what am I doing wrong? Should I be hooking up the speaker level after the amp? or should I be hooking up the LOC after the amp?

I have a feeling the signal is just not strong enough before the amp.

And the LOC I am using is a 4way $30 regular one from Circit City

Please advice, all advice is much much appreciated

 

If you are using a non-powered LOC (such as the one you have) you must connect it after the amp.

Check my post in the middle of this thread..... why does nobody listen to me? You think I come on here to make up stories about actually experiencing the difference and doing installs on many-a-8's?

 

Thanks firedude. I must have missed that post in my hurry to read all of things in this forum. I will listen and change the wiring tomorow.

Do you think I should use a LOC or use the high level inputs in the bazooka and hook up after the amp as you advised?

Thanks again

 

Firedude,

One more thing,

Would you belive it's better to go off of a powered LOC than the one I bought sound quality wise? I am only planing to hook up my powered sub and nothing else

 

I hooked up my tube with a non-powered LOC (2 channel Navone unit) AFTER THE BOSE AMP and used RCAs to feed signal to the tube. Sound quality was great for me.

 

Hi everyone. I got my bazooka hooked up just the way Bizron and Firedude advised. I did not use a LOC because the Bazooka had hi-level inputs and I also tried the low level with a LOC but there was no difference in sound quality. I did hook it up after the amp and it works great.

Only issue is I am using the remote turn on in the bookza for the amp to switch on and it detects the signal on the inputs to power on. But it takes a while and I wonder if the sub only switches on when there is alot of volume, because I felt that the bass I was hearing is mostly from the factory unit.

Can someone tell me if this auto remote on feature on a bazooka is not reliable and if it drains the battery when the car is not running?

THanks again to everyone on the thread for their valuable comments and input which helped this work smoothly

 

Hey ZoomZoomRx-8

Can I just carify something? When you had the Bazooka wired via High Level inputs before the Bose amp, you said you got nothing out of the sub. But do you just mean that the bass output was low?

After you wired the High Levels after the Bose Amp did the Bazooka come alive?

I've got a BTA10100 and it's wired before the Bose amp and I'm very dissappointed in the bass output. The gain is set all the way up and it's still not loud enough to really even shake the rear view. Will I see improvement with wiring the High Levels right at the speakers (after the amp)?

As for the auto power on feature of the Bazooka sub. I noticed that it does not turn on when the volume is low. I have to get to around 10 before the Bazooka powers up. So I wired the remote into the cigarette lighter and I didn't like it cause whenever I turned on the car my Bazooka would "thump" on. Can you think what I can do to stop this?