Blau-puke audio question

[mb7756]

I just picked up my G8 gt last week, and I am very disappointed with the bass (I'm a techno fan). Does the Blaupunkt system work with aftermarket amps and boxes easily (such as having a preamp audio out from the head unit), or will I need to gut my entire system and speakers as I have been told in the past with my Bose system in my traded in 350z? I don't need anything crazy, just a decent amp for say, a single 12" sub and crossover, with the rest of the system left intact.

Thank you :)

[NIevo]

Have you already turned up the gain on the amp? Makes a huge difference with the bass level.

[mb7756]

Hi NIevo, thanks for the response. If you are referring to settings in the head unit, yes, I have tried using manual and preconfigured loudness and bass settings. I'm not a certified "car audio enthusiast" or one of those people who likes to disturb folks next to me or "show off" (never had a box in any of my cars), but I seem to hear the rear speakers going past their limit with bass rattling/distortion even if I have the volume at 17 (of 100?) for some songs. I am basically looking for a decent quality, cost effective solution for bass that will allow me to turn up the volume if I want to once in a while on the highway (since I am a windows down guy and wind noise requrires it), and not hear speakers rattling or sounding like I am tearing the paper cones, which I assmume they are. My Z had a factory sub behind the seat, and even though that seemed to not handle the power the system was putting out, it had more umph than the system I am now using. My guess is that the cheapest way out would be to use a pre-amp out if it existed, and just buy a box and amp. I'm looking to spend $500ish on the job, which kind of rules out replacing the entire system. Thanks!

[NIevo]

No I wasn't referring to the head-unit. There is a separate amp that runs the subs in the rear deck. It is located in the trunk on the drivers side right in front of the battery. You have to pull back the carpet a little, then find a little knob, I believe it was on the top and turn it clockwise till it stops. That boosts the amps output to the subs and greatly increases the bass. The bass level in the head-unit should only be at +1 max or you are just pushing the other speakers to hard and they will distort.

[mb7756]

Subs? Hmm, I thought the only bass my car offered came form the 6x9-ish speakers on the rear deck pointing at the rear glass. I should have performed more research, I thought I only had speakers in the dash, front doors, rear doors, and the 6x9's (if that is what they are, i'm using this size as a generic value) pointing at the glass. Yeah, I had the bass at +4, treble at +4, and recently I tried using "Jazz" with gain +2 and the preprogrammed bass+4/treble +4. Each configuration seemed to stress my speakers above the 15-ish volume level with techno. Thank you so much, I will go ahead and give your suggestion a shot. I appreciate your help.

[mb7756]

"There is a separate amp that runs the subs in the rear deck" - are you referring to the speakers pointing at the rear glass? Maybe i'm confused. Those are the speakers that seemed to strain with my +4 bass setting, thus my looking into a better solution.

[mb7756]

Sorry, I guess I don't really know what I have...but using the head unit settings produced bass that sounded like it was stressing the speakers at highway speed volumes unless I left it at 0.

[NIevo]

Set the treble at 3 or 4 and the bass at 0 or 1 at the most. Adjust the knob all the way clockwise and you will notice a huge improvement.

[mb7756]

I don't by any means play my music excessively loud, I was just looking for sound that was decent at a reasonable volume that didn't sound like it was hurting my speakers with the volume at 20% of the max.

[mb7756]

Thank you, I shall give this a shot first thing in the morning. Once again, I appreciate your help :) take care.

[mb7756]

Quick question- I just noticed your mods in your signature. The car I bought last week came with an intake, slp mufflers, and a tune..On a hot, humid day, I got 322 to the wheels. Do you think underdrive pulley is worth it? Do you experience any electrical/AC problems?

Thanks

[mb7756]

Here is the dyno (for some reason the date was wrong on the printout they gave me)12126

[MoonPie]

I just picked up my G8 gt last week, and I am very disappointed with the bass (I'm a techno fan)...

There's your cause. That's why the noise coming from the radio sounds like shit. Ohhh, I'm here al week. Be sure to tip your waitress.








Busting your balls

[I12XLR8]

Here is the free bass mod http://www.forum.grrrr8.net/showthread.php?p=64514#post64514 they have been talking about.

Well played, Moonpie, well played.

[J Wikoff]

Things other than the speakers might be rattling in the back. There's wires running over the metal under the rear shelf cover. And my high mount brake light cover would rattle too. I stuck little pieces of Damplifier Pro between the edges and the glass. You can use anything sticky, really. Can't see it either because of the blacked out portions of the rear window.

The stock subs of the uplevel stereo (with the big color screen that looks like it should be a touchscreen, but isn't) are 8".

Here's my thread on what I did:

http://www.g8board.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46526&highlight=

Had I found the rattling 3rd brake light cover earlier, I might not have put in the 10" sub and bigger amp.

[Eidolon]

The two speakers in the rear decks are 8" circular-cone subwoofers powered by a 50-watt amp in the trunk that is fed by a line-level tap on the rear door speakers. The four door speakers are 6.5" circular speakers, not 6x9's. The rear doors are two-way (meaning woofer and tweeter) while the front doors are woofer only because the tweeters are in the dash. The center speaker is a 4" woofer-only speaker.

What NIevo is talking about here is physically turning the gain knob on the amp in the trunk. You cannot access this from a menu on your head unit. See the "Bass mod" thread for more. Note that this will only increase the amount of volume the little 50-watt amp is providing to the two 8" subs in the rear deck, though, and those speakers are rather inadequate for techno. Your rear deck will also rattle like crazy. So if you want to really enjoy your techno, you'll need an aftermarket sub, unfortunately.

From one techno fan to another, the stock system is rather inadequate for the job. In fact, it seems like they didn't tune the system for the car, so certain heavy bass beats can actually get lost before they reach the front seats, and all you hear is the off-beat reverb. It's really annoying on some songs.

[Seattle09GT]

Have you already turned up the gain on the amp? Makes a huge difference with the bass level.

Do a search for the bass bias mod. There is a single amp in the G8 for the upgraded stereo system (there is a base stereo system in the V6 G8). The amp is located in the trunk, forward of the battery on the driver side. You'll need to remove the trim panel on the driver side (easily done) to access. The amp is installed at an angle, at the bottom of the amp between the amp itself and the floor of the trunk is a gain adjustment for the bass on the stereo. A lot of G8s went out of the factory with the gain set wrong, basically turned all the way down. With the stereo playing and your bass and treble set at zero, and loudness turned off, turn the knob until the bass is improved - you'll be a lot happier.

You can then use the settings on your factory head unit to tweak further. Be aware that the default settings (Jazz, Rock, Country, etc. etc.) are absolute garbage. Just adjust your bass and treble as you see fit, I have Bass +4 and Treble +3, but my hearing sucks so don't mean much.

You can also do a search for "bass bias mod" for more information on adjusting the gain on the amp.

[Panzer Leader]

Might want to look at the dash center speaker mod as well.

[dandragonrage]

Turning up the stock amp is not going to change the fact that the stock speakers are total garbage - all of them. It will give you a bit more bass but it will also make it much more likely to blow those speakers.

It is not too difficult to integrate other components into the G8 system, and I highly recommend you put a at least a 12" subwoofer in. If you'd like to do that, I can give you some recommendations for equipment if given a budget and more detailed goal of what you're looking for.