In regards to a self-powered sub, that is one with a built in amplifier. As for suggested models or types, alot of it will depend on the type of music you listen to, the volume level you like to listen to it, amount of space you are willing to give to it, and your budget.

Now, I don't necessarily need to know the answers to the 4 things above, as mostly what will turn out to be best for you will be a personal sound preference, which no one can really answer for you.

The bass tubes, are really only made by one company, Bazooka. There are other types of bass tubes though, but Bazooka has been doing it pretty much longer than anyone else in the tube style. By "tube" style I mean they are basically shaped like a tube, which means you will need to install them in a manner so they wont roll around (generally they have an oblong protrusion along one side for the port also). They come in powered or unpowered versions also. There is also the option of using a box style enclosure. To save space you can go with the type designed for pickup trucks, but personally I never liked the sound of them, but they are very narrow for space saving purposes.

In my opinion, for what it sounds like you are after, a powered subwoofer would probably be your best bet. They are a little easier to install, and are already properly paired, so the sub and amp are designed to work together well, with a crossover already built in. Of course they cost more than a subwoofer by itself, but are generally cheaper than buying a subwoofer, enclosure and amp separately. However, expect to pay around $180-$300 for a decent powered subwoofer.

Model suggestions can be a little difficult as there are many out there to choose from and what may or may not be available in your area can greatly limit what you have to look at or listen to prior to any considered purchase. One of the smallest versions (that works well) is probably the powered 6" Bazooka tube. I think they can be found on-line for around $180-$200. There is also the Infinity Basslink (also a Basslink II) which I dont know for sure if it is still being made but they can be had on Ebay (which is where I got mine). For more bass, MTX makes a couple, but that may be more bass and space than what you are after. For a stock powered system (thus all mids and tweeters powered by the head unit) I wouldnt really suggest a subwoofer over 8" or at maximum an efficient 10" that works well at lower volume. Anything larger and you will need a bigger amplifier to drive it well and will need to listen to music at louder volumes to compliment the music properly. Many retail stores tend not to carry many self-powered subwoofers, so you may find yourself left with having to read reviews and do a little research on them to find what may fit your needs the best. There are also even smaller powered subs, but they have very limited usefulness and are completely imcapable of working well at moderate to higher volume levels, and in my opinion are generally disappointing and a waste of money. Ebay can be a good place to look to help get an idea of the types of powered subs available and to get an idea of pricing. From there, I would then google for reviews of any types you find an interest in (Crutchfield generally has a bunch of good end user reviews as well, however do not always trust Crutchfield's installation advice about what items fit certain car makes and models, it isnt always correct, as what they said wouldnot fit in my car, fit perfectly well).

As for wiring one, you cannot use the CD changer wire for this. The amplifier will require much better wire than that has in it. Generally 12-8 gauge wire would be suggested for the power line from the battery. The remaining wires would be:
- ground wire (I usually use 12-10 gauge)
- remote power (16-12 gauge is fine)
- RCA cables (good ones that are shielded, not the cheapy kind you will find at wal-mart for $6...a good pair will cost around $25-$50).

All that really remains is making sure you install a fuse on the power wire next to the battery, and mounting the subwoofer in some manner so it wont move around or fall over. Some powered subs also come with a remote unit to control its gain level from up front, which will already have a wire for this purpose included (mine was basically like a telephone wire), but probably only about 20% or fewer powered subs will have this option typically, and it isnt necessary to use even if it does, but a nice option to have. Installation is pretty simple, but can take a little time to run the wires properly, with the power line from the battery usually being the most difficult as you have to find a place to bring the wire from the engine compartment into the cabin through the fire wall, which is different on every car. In an 850 there is a place you can bring it through with relative ease through the fuse box in the engine compartment.

Blakbyrd - thanks for your time and patience in answering my questions. You've been a great help...... now to digest all the useful information you have provided. Thanks again!

I'm back with more questions for Blakbyrd...... hope you don't mind.

Question No.1
The wiring from the car battery through the fuse-box area to power your Basslink Sub-woofer. From my understanding, with a direct connection to the car battery, that would mean that power is always supplied to the sub-woofer even if the car's ignition is off. Would that cause the car battery to drain or shorten the life-span of the subwoofer? I'm planning to route the sub-woofer power supply the same way as suggested in your earlier threads.

Question No.2
You have 2 ohm Infinities Kappas in the rear door without speakers in the rear D-pillar installed yet. Is that safe or recommended considering your headunit is 4 ohm rated. The reason I'm asking is that I am quite inclined to leave my rear D-pillar without speakers till budget allows and only install 2 ohm speakers in the rear doors. I've noticed that many 2 ohm speakers state on the box that the 2 ohm speakers are safe for all aftermarket headunits. I need some assurance so as not to cause damage or shorten the lifespan of my headunit and speakers. I don't listen to music at extremely loud volumes.

Question No.3
Are JBL speakers good? I am considering this JBL component speaker http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_7432_JBL+GTO507C.html
besides the Kappas. Only reservation with the JBL is the crossover box appears large and I may have difficulty finding space in the speaker wells to store it.
Appreciate your expert opinion on the speakers.

Thanks.

I'm back with more questions for Blakbyrd...... hope you don't mind.

Question No.1
The wiring from the car battery through the fuse-box area to power your Basslink Sub-woofer. From my understanding, with a direct connection to the car battery, that would mean that power is always supplied to the sub-woofer even if the car's ignition is off. Would that cause the car battery to drain or shorten the life-span of the subwoofer? I'm planning to route the sub-woofer power supply the same way as suggested in your earlier threads.

Question No.2
You have 2 ohm Infinities Kappas in the rear door without speakers in the rear D-pillar installed yet. Is that safe or recommended considering your headunit is 4 ohm rated. The reason I'm asking is that I am quite inclined to leave my rear D-pillar without speakers till budget allows and only install 2 ohm speakers in the rear doors. I've noticed that many 2 ohm speakers state on the box that the 2 ohm speakers are safe for all aftermarket headunits. I need some assurance so as not to cause damage or shorten the lifespan of my headunit and speakers. I don't listen to music at extremely loud volumes.

Question No.3
Are JBL speakers good? I am considering this JBL component speaker http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_7432_JBL+GTO507C.html
besides the Kappas. Only reservation with the JBL is the crossover box appears large and I may have difficulty finding space in the speaker wells to store it.
Appreciate your expert opinion on the speakers.

Thanks.

Sorry, had problems with my connection and posted the same thread twice.

holy shitsicles, I missed a lot this weekend. I will read this when its not 3:00 in the morning and my eyes are peeled back into my forehead and have no idea what this movie Munich is all about thats playing on the tv. "I'll be back."

For the most part the answers are somewhat straightforward on this one :)

1. The wiring for the subwoofer amp (or any external amplifier) will be the same, until you get into serious high powered systems. You will need a direct battery positive line to the amplifier (fused at the battery end). This supplies the main power to the amplifier, however the amplifier also has a switched power line as well, which only supplies a small amount of current (typically provided by the head unit or switched power lead from the ignition). Only when the power is turned on via the switched lead, will the amplifer actually turn on. So the main power lead from the battery should do nothing until the switched lead has power on it and allows the amplifier to pull power from the battery. Of course this means you can still use the amplifier with the car turned off (but the key in the ON position) and drain down the battery, but this takes a little time to happen, so it wont happen quickly if you use a good amplifier. As an example, I watch movies in my car (90-120 mins) with the amplifier running and the car not running) and it has never drained my battery enough to ever notice, and I only drive 2 miles to/from work so it doesnt have alot of time to recharge the battery. You should be fine here.

2. The 2 ohm speakers should be fine, but do not parallel wire in the 8 ohm rear pillar speakers, unhook them (or if you dont have any, dont worry about it). The purpose with good aftermarket speakers, being 2ohms, is to provide the sense of more power without more power. They will be louder than the original OEM speakers. As long as you are not cranking the system to full volume, you should be perfectly fine. However that is dependent upon your head unit. Mine is a double DIN unit with a fan, so it cools much better. Single DIN units generally do not have fans and are much more crowded, and as such not as capable of handling excess heat. Best way to test it is to simply run the radio at your normal listening volume (in a shaded area, with the car interior cool) for 20-30 mins and see if the faceplate of your headunit becomes excessively hot. If so, then the 2 ohm speakers may be too much for long term use. I cannot really say for certain whether one brand/model may be fine and others may not, there's just too many to choose from.

3. JBL is ok. Personally, I dont like them. However, my opinion here is somewhat biased, so take it how you like. I have not used any JBL speakers for many years, so they may be much better than they once were. JBL's real fame is not in car audio, but in larger systems (PA systems, concert speakers, etc). Their home and car speakers have always seemed a little cheap to me and I never cared much for their sound reproduction. Again that may have all changed. Now, for a basic car system that isnt going for high end equipment and is just for casual listening, they may be perfectly fine, and you may not be able to notice any real difference. My tastes are a little more picky than most so keep that in mind.
As for the crossover, it doesnt look all that much larger than the Infinity crossovers. I didnt have to do anything special to mount mine, actually they just slid in behind the door cover, out of the way of the speaker hole. I didnt even mount them, I just pushed them back out of the way. You have a little more room in the front doors for this than the rear doors, but I expect it will probably allow you to still push them out of the way. Being slightly larger may allow them to wedge into place more securely than my Infinities did.

Hope this helps some.

Thanks again for your replies, Blakbyrd.

Below are extracted from Infinity's website:-
http://www.infinityspeaker.com/car/product...Y&Region=EUROPE
"True Four Ohms— All Kappa speakers feature two ohm voice coils. Original factory-installed speaker wiring in many cars is 18-22 gauge. This wire, and heating in the voice coil when power is applied, increase the impedance “seen” by the amplifier or head unit. The impedance of Kappa Speakers has been adjusted to compensate for this increase and can be safely driven by any head unit".

"All Kappa Series speakers are “true
four-ohm” – they include reduced
voice-coil impedance designed to
extract the most power possible from
all amplifiers engineered to drive
loads of four ohms or less. Many
factory-installed systems incorporate
two-ohm speakers and include
amplifiers designed to drive those
loads. Replacing those reducedimpedance
speakers with four-ohm
models is hardly an upgrade, since
the power output from the amplifier
will be reduced. True-four-ohm
addresses this as well."

From my understanding, this resolves my concerns on running 2 ohm Kappas on my 4 ohm rated headunit. Do anyone think otherwise? Your opinions are greatly valued.
:liebe011: