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Bazooka issue??

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Audio and Electronics' started by blaxer, Jul 22, 2005.

  1. blaxer

    blaxer New Member

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    I just finished the installation of a Bazooka BTA10200 in my pruis and I think there may be something wrong. I have owned bazookas before and had great experiences with them, in fact, in a previous vehicle I had a 100 watt model in a closed trunk (not a hatchback) and it was almost too loud. In the prius, this being a 200 watt model, it is very "soft". In fact, I have to turn up the stereo so loud to get the sub to do anything that my doors are rattling before I really hear anything meaningful out of the bazooka.

    I have option 6 and I wired the bazooka to the rear woofer outputs as a few posts suggested. I can move the balance to the back a bit but it doesn't sound too good when you go too far. I have the bass EQ set right in the middle, if I go any higher (around volume 45) my doors (or the speakers in them, can't tell) will seemingly rattle to pieces, if I go lower I can hardly hear the bazooka at all.

    Maybe I am just expecting too much? I mean I honestly don't want to be blown out of my car or anything, but having had these tubes before and having them be so powerful as to have to turn it down, it seems strange to me that I cannot turn this one up a little bit.

    Any help / ideas would be greatly appreciated!!!

    TIA...
    Blax....
     
    #1 blaxer, Jul 22, 2005
  2. priusenvy

    priusenvy Senior Member

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    There must be a "gain" or "level" control you adjust with a screwdriver.

    Maybe you never had to adjust it so you didn't know your old one had one, but there has to be a level adjustment. Bazooka has no idea how sensitive your existing speakers are, or how you might hook it up, so they have to give you a control to adjust the subwoofer level.
     
    #2 priusenvy, Jul 22, 2005
  3. V8Cobrakid

    V8Cobrakid Green Handyman

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    You're dealing with a lot more space. Maybe you are expecting too much. Anyone i know with a bazooka says it completes the sound. it doesn't give thump.

    Your doors rattle? so do mine. it's the arm rest plate. If you shim paper into it, it stops. Next thing to rattle may be your rear view mirror.

    BTW. system maxes out at 63. the speakers perform fine at this level... for crappy speakers.. even with eq up, they work fine at that level. It almost sounds as if they are at peak RMS. but... i think peak rms is somewehre around 57.
     
    #3 V8Cobrakid, Jul 22, 2005
  4. blaxer

    blaxer New Member

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    The level setting is all the way up and I have tried setting the x-over at all different places. This car is no bigger than my previous with the sealed trunk, in fact it's smaller. I will try to shim up the arm rests in the doors, maybe I can get it louder then although I would like to just have to sub a little bit louder, if it's at a 5 now I want it at 7. Has anyone measured the output of the jbl amp for the rear woofers to see if it's something "reasonable" ?
     
    #4 blaxer, Jul 23, 2005
  5. flareak

    flareak Fleet Captain

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    iits 200 watts compared to 100watts but where is that power going to come from? and also... speaker efficiency matters much more than how many watts you have...

    having a speaker with 93 db speaker efficiency is twice as loud as a speaker with only 87db speaker efficiency when they are running at the same amount of watts....

    fortunately i think bazookas have a pretty high speaker efficiency. does it have an amp for itself? cause if it doesn't, you'll probably want one
     
    #5 flareak, Jul 23, 2005
  6. GDH

    GDH Junior Member

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    Check out this topic :kenwood ksc-sw1 speaker input sensitivity.

    I had a similar fault with a Kenwood sub. Turns out I had a phase flip on one input, which caused the left and right channels to cancel at the sub.

    Maybe you have something similar.
     
    #6 GDH, Jul 23, 2005
  7. blaxer

    blaxer New Member

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    yes, the amp is built in... As for the phase, it almost seems like that could be the problem but I double checked everything and the wiring is ok. The manual says there is supposed to be a phase switch on the back of the bazooka but I can't seem to find it.
     
    #7 blaxer, Jul 23, 2005
  8. blaxer

    blaxer New Member

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    #8 blaxer, Jul 23, 2005
  9. priusenvy

    priusenvy Senior Member

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    I think GDH has it right.

    It's the phase of one channel that's wrong, not both. The "phase" switch changes absolute phase of the subwoofer itself (both input channels together). I think you've got one channel inverted and it's cancelling most of the output of the other channel. Try yanking one channel's input from the subwoofer, if the output suddenly increases by a lot, that's it.
     
    #9 priusenvy, Jul 23, 2005
  10. GDH

    GDH Junior Member

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    Another way to test for this without having to disconnect wires would be to go to the audio controls on the MFD and pan everything hard left or right. If you suddenly have a working sub, you know the two channels are cancelling and you have a phase flip on one of them.
     
    #10 GDH, Jul 24, 2005
  11. blaxer

    blaxer New Member

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    tried both, gets lower when I take ( or balance to ) one side off.
     
    #11 blaxer, Jul 24, 2005
  12. BitShifter01

    BitShifter01 New Member

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    I believe I have the same model installed in my car. I went ahead and had it professionally installed this time and I wasn't real impressed either. I'm use to having subs enclosed in my previous rides. The Bazooka does a good job filling in the bass where it was lacking. Mine hits good but nothing like I've experienced before. The more I listen to it the better it sounds. I just think I had high hopes too when I first had my Bazooka installed. If you search this forum you will see my post about my Bazooka. I would find it for you but it's bed time and I'm pressing my luck sending this message out :)

    Good luck and best to you,
    Ryan


    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(blaxer\";p=\"109301)</div>
     
    #12 BitShifter01, Jul 24, 2005
  13. Arroyo

    Arroyo Member

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    #13 Arroyo, Aug 5, 2005
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