I received and installed the Sub last night. I do not claim to be any kind of audio expert, but I'll offer my opinion. I already have Polk 5-1/4" speakers in the front, and Blaupunkt 4" speakers in the rear. The reason for this choice is simple. It's what the Crutchfield rep had recommended at that time. Before the sub, I used to keep the treble in the middle, and the bass at Max, to get whatever bass the system could muster. This seemed, however, to take away some from the mids and highs.
Before installing the sub, of course, I "had" to open it up and see what it's "made of". Inside is a 5" speaker in an accoustical enclosure, something like you might expect from Bose, and a circuit board. There are two plastic screws on one end for adjustments. One is for volume, and the other for the high-cut. I installed it without any trouble. Because I have fog lights, I had to unplug them from the fuse panel, plug in the sub harness, and plug the fog light plug into a socket on the sub harness. This is outlined in the instructions. A 20 mm hole saw is not easy to come by in these parts, so I used a 3/4" hole saw, which is somewhat smaller than 20 mm, to cut the hole for the switch. I expected to have to do a lot of filing, but after just filing off the burr from the hole saw, the switch fit right in, nice and snug. I think a 20 mm hole saw would have made for a very loose fit. I put the panel on a cardboard box when I drilled, to provide a surface which would not scratch the front of the panel, and that would allow the hole saw to pass right through. It worked quite well.
I was surprised that the sub sticks out somewhat from the front of the seat. It actually overlaps the back edge of the front floor mat about an inch, which makes the mat even more of a pain to remove. Since I like the seat all the way back, it is very easy for me to accidentally kick the sub.
And now what you're waiting for...the sound.
I put the bass back to the middle, and turned it on. The two adjustment screws have no kind of calibration marked on them, and I just played with them until I had what I considered the best sound. I could have cranked up the volume on the sub, like most of the cars I hear when I go to Queens, but a more natural sound was what I was trying to achieve. Both adjustment screws ended up somewhere near the middle, which I assume is where they should be. It was nice to have some bass, and as expected, the mids and highs sound much better with the bass control back in the middle. But, in MHO, the bass sounded somewhat muddier than I had hoped. I think this is due to the somewhat small single speaker.
Well, I don't think any of us expected that this sub would turn the Ody stereo into any kind of audiophile system anyway. For me, it was worth it, because I don't want to put in an aftermarket system, and I was never expecting it to be perfect. It is a definite improvement over before, and having the switch on the dash panel is fun, because you can switch it off and hear an incredible difference.
Before installing the sub, of course, I "had" to open it up and see what it's "made of". Inside is a 5" speaker in an accoustical enclosure, something like you might expect from Bose, and a circuit board. There are two plastic screws on one end for adjustments. One is for volume, and the other for the high-cut. I installed it without any trouble. Because I have fog lights, I had to unplug them from the fuse panel, plug in the sub harness, and plug the fog light plug into a socket on the sub harness. This is outlined in the instructions. A 20 mm hole saw is not easy to come by in these parts, so I used a 3/4" hole saw, which is somewhat smaller than 20 mm, to cut the hole for the switch. I expected to have to do a lot of filing, but after just filing off the burr from the hole saw, the switch fit right in, nice and snug. I think a 20 mm hole saw would have made for a very loose fit. I put the panel on a cardboard box when I drilled, to provide a surface which would not scratch the front of the panel, and that would allow the hole saw to pass right through. It worked quite well.
I was surprised that the sub sticks out somewhat from the front of the seat. It actually overlaps the back edge of the front floor mat about an inch, which makes the mat even more of a pain to remove. Since I like the seat all the way back, it is very easy for me to accidentally kick the sub.
And now what you're waiting for...the sound.
I put the bass back to the middle, and turned it on. The two adjustment screws have no kind of calibration marked on them, and I just played with them until I had what I considered the best sound. I could have cranked up the volume on the sub, like most of the cars I hear when I go to Queens, but a more natural sound was what I was trying to achieve. Both adjustment screws ended up somewhere near the middle, which I assume is where they should be. It was nice to have some bass, and as expected, the mids and highs sound much better with the bass control back in the middle. But, in MHO, the bass sounded somewhat muddier than I had hoped. I think this is due to the somewhat small single speaker.
Well, I don't think any of us expected that this sub would turn the Ody stereo into any kind of audiophile system anyway. For me, it was worth it, because I don't want to put in an aftermarket system, and I was never expecting it to be perfect. It is a definite improvement over before, and having the switch on the dash panel is fun, because you can switch it off and hear an incredible difference.
