Sub.Warning!!!!

Just wanted to let any of you know who might be planning to get the factory sub woofer that it is a piece of junk. I just got back from the dealer after taking just over two hours to install it. There is not much of a difference over the regular speakers that come with the car. For those of you who might not know what it looks like it is a flat panasonic speaker (in a flat rectangle box) that sits underneath the driver seat.

In order to even really recgonize the slight bass difference it requires you to increase your bass setting all the way to +6 then turn the volume up to at least 21 you'll hear a little extra bass yes... but at the cost of your factory speakers sounding like the trunk of a honda civic with a 12 trying to kick the license plate off. Alls I got to say is LOL what a joke.

Whats Subaru trying to do? Ruin my life and make me look like a friggan idiot?

The bottom line. Dont waste your money. Save and get some nice speakers from Circuit City or Best Buy some nice Pioneers or Kickers should set you right for slightly more than Subarus Panasonic sub.

Oh easy fix, you need a screw driver and need to physcially adjust the settings on the Sub itself by turning the screw knobs with the screw driver.

- Mike

I'm going to have to voice a different opinion here. Mine came with the factory sub already installed and I only have to increase the base to about +1 or +2 to notice a difference at nearly all volume levels. Could you have a defective unit? I have definitely heard more powerful and cleaner sounding subs but this one is not all that bad...in my opinion anyway.

Chris

What do you expect from such a small enclosure????

It's filler bass not real low bass

There are physcial controls on the subwoofer unit itself, you need to adjust them.

- Mike

What do you expect from such a small enclosure????

It's filler bass not real low bass

I expected at least as much as what comes out of the same style speaker that is in my Nissan Titan.... that thing kicks... guess I'm just disappointed.. I will try the screw driver trick to adjust settings... thanks for the advise

guess I'm just disappointed.. I will try the screw driver trick to adjust settings... thanks for the advise

That should work, may a big difference on mine, at first I was disappointed, then turn it all the way up on the sub, then had to turn it down because I turned it up too much and the bass was drowning everything else out.

- Mike

That should work, may a big difference on mine, at first I was disappointed, then turn it all the way up on the sub, then had to turn it down because I turned it up too much and the bass was drowning everything else out.

 

- Mike

Thanks for the info Mike. I didn't even know it was adjustable.

Chris

There are two knobs on it that you can adjust. I forgot what they were, one of volume and the other was something else.

- Mike

Yeah, sub makes a HUGE improvement.

Moved to Interior/Audio

Oh easy fix, you need a screw driver and need to physcially adjust the settings on the Sub itself by turning the screw knobs with the screw driver.

 

- Mike

Mike, I just went out and checked at lunch for those adjustment knobs you were talking about. I believe I've found them but help me out if I'm wrong. Are they located next to the the wiring that comes out of the sub? My speaker was placed in w/ the wires facing front of the seat and I can barely get my hand between the seat and the floor to even feel around... and thats w/ the seat placed at its highest setting and as far back as possible. They're just little black inset knobs right?

Mike, I just went out and checked at lunch for those adjustment knobs you were talking about. I believe I've found them but help me out if I'm wrong. Are they located next to the the wiring that comes out of the sub? My speaker was placed in w/ the wires facing front of the seat and I can barely get my hand between the seat and the floor to even feel around... and thats w/ the seat placed at its highest setting and as far back as possible. They're just little black inset knobs right?

That's it, one is for crossover and the other is for level. I uninstalled mine to make adjustments.

That's it, one is for crossover and the other is for level. I uninstalled mine to make adjustments.

Dang.... I dont know how I'm even going to get to them. I'm not taking the seat out of the car to adjust the settings. I'll need a screw driver that has a 90 degree angle in it to get to the knobs.

Dang.... I dont know how I'm even going to get to them. I'm not taking the seat out of the car to adjust the settings. I'll need a screw driver that has a 90 degree angle in it to get to the knobs.

All you need to do is remove the bolt the subwoofer harness is attached to and pull it out.

stiff- what did you set your gain and cutoff to?

I have the gain maxed and the cutoff is not even a 1/4 turn. I listened to talk radio to determine the cutoff, when the voices started to distorted I stopped turning it up. Some may disagree about maxing out gain, but the sub does not put out a ton of bass and having it maxed does not make it boomy in the least, I tested my settings on Tribe called quest's "low end theory" arguably one of the bassiest rap cd's ever, and my settings sound fine. In the end sound is subjective so just tweak to your taste. Also my headunit is set to 0 for bass.

The "subwoofer" is really more of a midbass extender. A car (and I know that they work all sorts of tricks with tubes, etc...) isn't really a suitable environment for "real" bass, which needs space for its waves to propagate.

The Subaru sub does a lovely job, in tandem with the stock audio system, of playing music for the occupant of the car. Mind you, not the people in the car next to you, or bumpin' the bass in any way. It's a very nice system for what it is. Those seeking more volume, more "bass," etc, should probably look to the aftermarket.

Kevin

Fair enough, thanks. I'm usually set at -2 on the headunit so I wasn't sure what the optimal setting would be on the sub itself.

I'll try it out this weekend.

The "subwoofer" is really more of a midbass extender. A car (and I know that they work all sorts of tricks with tubes, etc...) isn't really a suitable environment for "real" bass, which needs space for its waves to propagate.

 

The Subaru sub does a lovely job, in tandem with the stock audio system, of playing music for the occupant of the car. Mind you, not the people in the car next to you, or bumpin' the bass in any way. It's a very nice system for what it is. Those seeking more volume, more "bass," etc, should probably look to the aftermarket.

 

Kevin

Gotta agree with you Kevin, it's a nice system once you tweak it and get the settings right. I really enjoy how it sounds.

- Mike