Hi, thanks to those that helped with my previous question about adding some cheap bass to my gs400 (98). I went with a 10" bazooka with built in amp, EL series, works great. I thought I would share how I did it. I bought the thing for $130 on ebay, with about $5 worth of wire and clips I was good to go. I'm no expert, but I'll share how I did it, do at your own risk! Its not the best sounding bass you'll ever hear, but if you were on a budget like me, and don't plan to keep the car forever (although I do have 100K miles and she runs like new), it is a way to add some bass on a budget and within a few hours or work. In retrospect, I think the 10" was a bit much, the 8" would probably be enough.

1. You need to have direct battery power in the trunk. I wont tell you how, becaause I'm not sure I did mine "right", so let somebody else tell you the "right" way to do it. Always go with the heaviest guage wire you can though!

2. The instructions with the manual of the tube are very clear on how to hook up power. just match + to + and - to - !!!

3. I just tapped into the existing sub, on my 98 gs400 the leads (and the back of the woofer) are accessable in my trunk. 3m sells some nice clips/taps you can use, so you don't have to cut/splice/solder anything. You want to use the high-level input wires on the bazooka to tap into. I wont mention colors because maybe they will change the colors someday, check the manual. What I did do is wind together the left and right inputs (main and trace), I don't know if this makes a difference, but it worked for me.

4. To mount, the manual says to mount in a corner. When I lift up the carpet over the spare, on the right side there is sort of a rail. It is hollow. So I marked off my holes for the mount, and predrilled, make sure you wear eye protection. Then you just screw in the mounts. I cut the carpet to fold it back, allowing the mounts to be exposed. Then just strap in as per instructions. You must mount a sub, otherwise it sounds like crap. It doesn't quite fit completely, but the rail was in a great spot and hollow (safe) so I used it. I was thinking about that little "cubby hole" right behind the back seats between the wheelwells, the sub fits, but I don't know whats under that plate, so I didn't want to risk drilling into it, and I also don't know how that affects acoustics.

Thats pretty much it. Thanks again for those that helped me by telling me it was ok to tap into the existing sub! If I decide to wire up a remote on/off or level switch, I'll let ya'll know.

Again this is just for ideas, if you blow yourself up or electrocute yourself, its not my fault.

 

I'm glad you like it ! I was thinking about going your route because my fiance would kill me if I tore up the rear deck and added a free-air sub . Let me ask you this, is there any rattling in the trunk? Also the EL series, thats the 10" that produces 150watts? Why did you say that the 10" is too much and rather switch to the 8"?

 

There is no rattle once you strap the tube down. I was concerned the first time I tested my wiring, because there was rattle. Once I screwed down the mounts and strapped the tube in, the rattle went away.

As far as the 10" vs. 8", I listen to many styles of music. I have the sub set to half power (yes it has the built in amp, but I think its only 100 watts), and most music sounds good, when the sub hits it is subtle, not overwhelming. For hip-hop and rap music, it hits hard, you feel it in your seat and steering wheel. Again, that's at half power on the sub's dial. Outside the car, you can tell there's something in the trunk. Of course that is just my taste, depends how ghetto you want to go ;-) On the other hand, I'm not sure if there wouldnt be distortion if I turned the power up, I'm also paranoid about blowing speakers out, so its not something I've played around with. For hip-hop/rap, the sound is not stellar, but if you pick the tube up used, its the most bang for the buck out there, imho. With a little tweaking of power level and the minimal eq. controld the stock head gives you, you can get things sounding "good". It does have a remote level control you can buy separate, also remote on off can be wired up too (otherwise it goes on and off depending on if it has sound input or not).

Don't get me wrong, I don't regret the 10", and its not much bigger than the 8", I just meant I'm sure the 8" is enough for most everyone and maybe cheaper new or used. There are a few on ebay, I paid $130+$20 shipping. New they are like $350, which in my mind starts to approach the "might as well spend more and get something really good" point.

If you need something to show her, let me know and I can take a picture so she can see how much trunk space is actually used. You might want to mount it in that "cubby hole" right behind the seats, just make sure theres nothing dangerous under there you wouldn't want to drill into, and the acoustics will still be OK.

Also if you buy used, make sure you get the molex connector, the mounts and the straps. Don't worry if previous owner lost the manual, you can download it from the bazooka website, search google to find it.

 

Please do post some pics, I am very interested on how it looks like and how you fitted into the trunk. My friend has two bazooka's in his maxima but its a mess, he didn't bolt it against the trunk and it rattles like crazy . I am planning on getting dynaudio speakers in early january and keeping my stock sub plus adding a bazooka.

Thanks !

 

I will take a pic tonite and post some links tomorrow. Yes, it rattles unless you mount it and strap it in. Unless of course there is something loose on the car that is doing the rattling. Also, alot of db is lost if you don't mount it. My guess is your friend would be willing to sell you one his tubes if he would actually mount one of them to get its full force. 2 of those things well mounted is sure to rattle the fillings in your teeth right out. I also kept the stock sub, I just tapped into the leads on it.

 

Please don't buy a component set the quality of Dynaudio and have a Bazooka and stock sub pick up the lower octaves. If you're looking for cheap and easy, there are other options. At the very least remove the stock sub and let the Bazooka handle the sub bass alone. Using multiple subs of different parameters is begging for problems...

 

I hear what you're saying. I was concerned about hooking up the sub in parallel with the stock, since I have no idea what the stock impedence is. the bazooka says 2ohms. but i did it, left it on for a few hours, no major problems.....yet. in parallel like I have it, the impact of an impedence mismatch should be minor, I was hoping the bazooka would have some "idiot proof" circuitry in it and keep relection of power back to the stock head or amp or whatever lexus gave me to a minimum. I made this assumption because it said "high level" input, versus low-level rca jack inputs it provides. They don't tell you what impedence levels they mean, unless within car-audio circles everyone knows what they mean (2 and 8 is my guess). maybe its getting hot somewhere, I guess I'm taking my chances. Also, I never really crank things up too loud, so my risk on destroying something is minimal.

as far as sound quality, maybe cutting the leads or removing the stock sub would sound better. but i'd rather not have the hassle of hooking it back up when I sell the car, plus I'm not really sure how to get it out...

As proud of my handiwork as I am, I will be the first to agree with you that just throwing in a bazooka doesn't give you great sound. It just helps you feel the bass, and rounds out the sound, but I must admit the system is not balanced, the bass overwhelms everything else on some kinds of music, although the remote level control may help that.

Personally, I was just looking for some "friday and saturday night" bass for a cheap price without having to tear the car apart to install everything, my goal was $200 and 2 hours of work max. I met both goals and the results exceeded my expectations. I have 100k on the car and don't know how much longer I'll keep it. When the time comes I'm thinking to get another gs400 or 430, maybe the IS300 (although I'd really LOVE to see an IS) and drop a few grand on a serious sound system, but not now, makes no sense.

Frankly, I know a lot of car-audio enthusiasts look down on what I did, and that's fine. I just posted to tell the other guys like me that it can be done and atleast I am happy with the results.

 

I'll have to agree with BabaBooey. It's not that you shouldn't get a Bazooka if that's what you're into. But pairing it with Dynaudio is a colossal waste of money. Conversely, if you are set on Dynaudio, then Bazooka is not the way to go.

As far as your impedance discussion goes, you not only have to be concerned about power and overloading your amp with an impedance that's too low, but also if you're concerned about sound quality, you need to watch out for distortion characteristics caused by a marginally low impedance (among other nasties, I'm just touching the surface here) - even though the power may not be excessive, especially with a stock amp not necessarily designed to produce higher power or drive low or overly complex impedances.

 

I agree completely. I would normally not have even tried this without detailed specs, but I had heard about people putting in the pre-amped bazooka on a stock system with no problems. I was very nervous the first time I turned it on, I knew there was some risk that that the impedence of the bazooka was too low relative to the stock, I had really had no idea. I also figured that the two subs might not work together acoustically, and at a minimum I'd have to snip the leads on the stock. perhaps they are cancelling eachother a little and I just don't know it. maybe my stock amp will end up fried soon, but I doubt it. but again, for $150 + a couple hours, and 100K on odometer.........

But yes, everyone should know that any audio system takes planning and you can damage components or even cause a fire by mismatching them.

 

Okay, I get the point of what you guys are saying. I asked a few of my friends and couple of installers, they say if I get the 240MKII up front and the MD160's in the rear and keep the stock sub, that is already good enough. They say with this setup without any additions of subwoofers, it should waste most car audio setup on the street today.


The problem for me is I can't take off the stock sub. I want to but I have a price to pay with my woman . Trust me, she wouldn't understand if I explain why a "Free-Air" sub is better . So I thought by adding a Bazooka it would wake up the low bass.