kenwood woox subwoofer for 04GT

[TElantra]

I am looking to put a powered sub in my 04 Elantra GT Hatchback. I dont want to win any awards, I really just need to get some bass from the bass laim kenwood system that came in this model. I have read some great things about the kenwood WooX and was wondering if anyone else has used it, and if so, where they mounted it. I havent bought anything yet, so if there are other suggestions that would be better, I sure would appreciate what you know. thanks so much.

[kylemorg]

I don't know about the Kenwood WooX, but I've heard good things about the Infinity Basslink powered sub; a friend of mine had one in his Mustang and it sounded pretty good.

[Kenshin]

I haven't heard Kenwood's WooX, but I know that Bazooka powered tubes are an easy, space-efficient add-on that sound pretty good. Infinity's BassLink is also very nice.

[hyunelan2]

I also haven't heard of the WooX, but have heard Bazooka Powered bass tubes in several cars. I have 2 8" Bazooka self-powered bass tubes in my car (EL8A). They are more than enough to make the rear-view unusable and compliment the lows very nicely. I would recommend bazooka products for sure.

[04Elantra]

I heard of the woox....it gives a good "shot in the arm" with bass...but if you want something more noticeable and powerful...the Infinity Basslink or Basslink T are the way to go.

[Roydjt]

http://www.kenwoodusa.com/product/product.jsp?productTypeId=46&sortBy=price&productId=742

Looks apright to me, I just wonder how much sound that little thing really can put out. I'm skeptical until I can hear one, but it might be worth a shot. It should give you the low end you are looking for, taking the stress off your mains and giving you a fuller, richer sound. Plus, you still get to use most of your trunk space!

-Roy

[TElantra]

I was looking at the basslink, im sure it would be fantastic, but its also much more expensive, and a lot bigger. also, I would like to avoid putting any holes in my car for mounting, does anyone have any options that work? or am I stuck with drilling?

I was also thinking that using the basslink might be overkill. that bad boy is 200 watts, and im adding this woofer to the factory kenwood system, which isnt that powerful. I would probably be running the basslink at 1/3 of its capabilities. any thoughts?

[SWortham]

Well, I don't think I'd get anything that small. It kinda defeats the purpose of having a sub. Anything that small won't be able to produce the deep bass everyone loves. The Infinity BassLink would be a little nicer since it at least has a 10" subwoofer.

Check out this comparison:
http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/ISEO-rgbtcspd/reviews/20040413/bass_reviews.html

[pauloncall]

The basslink will give you more accurate bass than 2 of the Kenwood's put together. The WOOX have gotten lots of positive reviews - Clarion just came out with the SRV303. It's similar in size to the WOOX but a lot sexier imho. I haven't found any reviews for it. Crutchfield has some info on it:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-fRLZOSztQrC/cgi-bin/prodview.asp?i=020SRV303&g=51000&search=clarion

[th003g]

you mean this...?!
the basslink is the best alternative to a big boxy setup...it ebays for about $200..gives great bass for those that want to fill out the system and maybe want some boom...as you can see I still have use of my trunk for the most part... and it has an internal amp with crossover and level control..etc...
mine is bolted to the trunk floor...which is recommended for safety reasons...bazooka tubes have issues with excessive distortion at high levels which the infinity takes care of because it is electronically controlled and can limit distortion... I looked at woox when i got the basslink... small yes... but for the money the basslink gives better bass by way of its 10" woofer vs the smaller one on the woox...

[DocRxGLS]

My wife's younger brother has a basslink (I recommended it) just because of the size, and it being self powered. When he finally got it, I was rather shocked at how much sound it put out. Depending on how much he cranked it up, it could give my single IMPP 10" in a bandpass a run for its money.

[TElantra]

mine is bolted to the trunk floor...which is recommended for safety reasons....

Did you instal the sub yourself? or did you have it installed? I am quickly being swayed to the basslink. your comments and instal pic really helped me a lot. Do you have to keep your trunk pretty clear of stuff to keep the sub sounding its best? I almost always have all kinds of stuff in mine. Im a newbie at this sub thing. I really appreciate yours, and everyones comments.

[southpawboston]

i can also vouch for the quality of the basslink. it is a 10" sub, so it puts out decent bass. i have heard them personally and i think they are a great value, considering what you can pick them up for on ebay. as for keeping the trunk clear, it's not really an issue. you don't want things banging around back there, but just having stuff in the trunk won't stifle the bass noticeably. however, if you have a sedan, the rear seat does block a lot of the bass (since the seat backs have thick metal plates embedded in them). for hatchbacks, this is not an issue, since the bass travels freely through the hatch cover.

[th003g]

my trunk currently looks worse than my room...( I work late evening to early morning and temp difference forces me to wear sweatshirts that I discard into trunk when I leave work)..to minimize possible cosmetic damage to grille you should clear the trunk but otherwise it does not matter... I had mine installed by sound shop that did my system...but its pretty easy if you know what your doing...the infinty is capaple of quite a good back massage for those in the back seat of my car .....
bass control can go to either side of steering wheel by your knee... i had it hooked into my head unit (xcelon 659) which has controls for NF Bass level and crossover....

[TElantra]

ok, I have been sold on the basslink. im just looking for instal prices at this point. how much did you all pay for your basslink instal? How much is fair? And, where did you mount the wired bass control in the cabin?

[Doohickie]

Currently I have a Pioneer DEH-P3700MP CD/MP3 Head Unit (http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/product/detail/0,,2076_4039_149245002,00.html) and CDX-P686 6-disc changer (http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/product/detail/0,,2076_4049_70228257,00.html) in my Elantra hatch and thus far have not upgraded my speakers from stock.

I'm thinking of upgrading at some point. I'm an Old Guy (TM), and don't need enough bass to rattle the neighbor's windows, but a little more base would be nice and an improvement on the high-end wouldn't be bad either. I guess I'm looking for some advice: Should I just upgrade to better speakers, such as Pioneer TS-A1780R 6-3/4" 4-Ways (http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/product/detail/0,,2076_4073_64850177,00.html)? (Will those even fit? Crutchfield doesn't list them as fitting Elantra.)

I might be interested in a small, self-powered subwoofer (which is what attracted me to this thread). In addition to those discussed in the thread, there are several other choices (http://www.crutchfield.com/S-EC9Rfs0gg9H/cgi-bin/ProdGroup.asp?g=51000&avf=Y) available, including Bazooka tubes. Remember, I'm not trying to win any contests, just trying to provide a nice bass foundation for the rock and jazz I usually listen to.

Any advice? Should I just upgrade the speakers and see if that does it for me, or should I jump to a self-powered sub and keep the stock speakers for now?

One last thing: My Pioneer head unit has FIE (Front Image Enhancement) which essentially drives the rear speakers more like subwoofers. In my old Ford Aspire, that greatly improved the sound, but it seems like when I try to use that feature in my Elantra, I loose all my high end; I think most of the high end I hear must be coming from the rear speakers, then? So if I cheap out and only buy one pair of upgraded speakers, should I put them in the back since that's where the high end is coming from? The object here is the get the best bang for the least buck in terms of sound quality.

[chaos GT]

best bang for the buck system to me would be something along the line of:

decent set of component speakers for the front, small sub in the trunk/hatch, and a 4 channel amp to power the whole thing. you could probably do all that with wiring and whatnot in the $300-400 range if you do some smart shopping.

that being said, if you only were to do one of those 3 things, i'd get the components over anything else. you can find a nice set for $100 or less. they won't perform their best off of head unit power, but they'll still sound better than a good deal of coaxial speakers.

one last bit to add. 3 and 4 way speakers really don't add much to the mix over a good set of 2 ways. without a dedicated crossover network between the seperate drivers, a lot of the potential that may be there goes to waste anyway.

[Doohickie]

Thanks for the advice.

[southpawboston]

i'd say if you have the stock front tweeters (was your OEM head unit cassette or CD? -- if CD, then you have the stock tweeters) then keep them. if not, spend $150 on a decent set of components, spend $100 on a dedicated amp for them (use the pioneer's built-in amp to power the rears), and $200 for an infinity basslink. you will be *extremely* pleased with the results you'll get with that $450 expenditure.

i would recommend:

a/d/s 236is components for the front, they sell for $200 but i know a guy on ebay who will sell you a pair for $150.

any 2-channel amp that puts out 50-100WPC, clean. expect to pay anywhere from $75-100. i could recommend a few old-school used amps on ebay for even less than that that will perform stellarly.

basslink... <$200 on ebay.

keep your stock rears for rear fill.

your system will be loud and *clean*. PM me for details if you like.

[Doohickie]

Excuse my ignorance, but what's the deal with "components"? Does that mean they are separat speakers? (btw, I had the cassette stock). Also, if I were to build this a step at a time, would it be: speakers, then amp, then sub?

[Vampyrate]

kind of leeching off of what doohickie just posted, would a 4 channel amp have enough power to run my 6x9s and a 10" sub... say an alpine 360w 4ch. i have the alpine type s all around and am about to buy the type s 10" so i want to limit the number of amps that i have

[th003g]

let me take a stab at this...
component speakers... speakers with separate woofers for midrange and highs(tweeter) thus separating the sound spectrum (bass, Mids, treble) into different speakers by way of a crossover.... giving each range (frequency) its own dedicated speaker and thus better sound and ability to create a better soundstage...XD's with cd's came with tweeters in the doorpanel above the switches for the windows... good spot... another popular spot is the triangle for the outside rearview mirror, or the middle of the a-pillar..
speakers-amp-sub-headunit.... if I had to go step by step....I went and did it alll at once....yet I dont have a huge box like what is popular with people nowadays...I like my trunk to be usefull....

[Vampyrate]

i need my trunk space as well, and i dont know of any alpine tubes (otherwise i woudl get those... im trying to stick all with one company)

[southpawboston]

let me take a stab at this...
component speakers... speakers with separate woofers for midrange and highs(tweeter) thus separating the sound spectrum (bass, Mids, treble) into different speakers by way of a crossover.... giving each range (frequency) its own dedicated speaker and thus better sound and ability to create a better soundstage...XD's with cd's came with tweeters in the doorpanel above the switches for the windows... good spot... another popular spot is the triangle for the outside rearview mirror, or the middle of the a-pillar..
speakers-amp-sub-headunit.... if I had to go step by step....I went and did it alll at once....yet I dont have a huge box like what is popular with people nowadays...I like my trunk to be usefull....

well put!!

vampyrate, a 4-channel amp should work fine for your 6x9s and subs, provided it has an internal crossover for the sub channels and provided it also doesn't put out too much power for the 6x9s.


doohickie, if you did this one step at a time, add the basslink. it will fill out the bottom end of the system very well and only improve upon what you have. it will have no ill-effect.

if you add an amp first, it will drive your front speakers too hard and they will eventually blow. if you add the front components first with no amp, they will be underpowered by the stock deck (components usually need a lot more power to sound good; the crossovers have resistors, capacitors and inductors in them to filter out frequencies and balance out the sound levels between the tweeter and the woofer to create as flat a frequency response as possible). when components are underpowered, they don't sound as good as they can and they don't play as loudly (not as efficient) as the stock speakers (which don't have crossovers wasting energy).

so definitely, basslink first. then front components and an amp later. remember that the front components with their own amp won't really add significantly more bass than what you have now, but will create a really nice soundstage, from which you hear 75% of the sound anyway. if this is more important to you over enhancing the bass, then do the components and amp first, then basslink. that's actually how i built my system...sub came last. but most people are happier and most impressed initially with first keeping the stock setup and having the bass rounded out with something like the basslink than the other way around. then later when you're ready to take it to the next level, work on the sound quality with the components and amp.

[Vampyrate]

seriously southpaw.. what do you do for a living? it seems you know damn near everything for our cars... did you help build th first one or somehng?.. j/k

[th003g]

get really good front components and dont worry too much about the rears... they're just "fill" dang i joined in may of 04 and only 210 posts... hahah
I LOVE MY BASSLINK

[Vampyrate]

yeah, joined about 6months ago... check out the post whorage...
anyway... SPB, thanks for the info, ill keep that in mind when im looking for an amp and sub setup.

[southpawboston]

i'm not really an expert, i just play one on TV :)