[funko]

After tolerating the stock stereo for the past several months I decided to upgrade the stereo.

I had originally planned for Infinity Kappa component replacements and an under seat sub, but my car audio guy said it wouldn't be worth it, and let me demo a car with Kappas all around, and while it sounded better, it wasn't $300 better.

He advised me to just add the sub, . And after researching between the Kicker, JBL, and Alpine options, I decided on the JBL for the musicality of it.

So after having the JBL BassPro SL in my car for the past few days, I'm satisfied with the audio to not upgrade it anymore for now. While, I don't care for the stock tweeters much, they can be EQed to not be obnoxious.

I was worried about taking away the foot space for someone sitting behind the seat with the sub, but it turns out to be perfectly fine, and you can maintain having 4 adults fit in the car, or even a 5th one in the back in a pinch, and of course I kept all my cargo space in the trunk.

I recommend it to anyone looking for a job intrusive way to fill out the sound.

In terms of output, it can still get to hearing loss inducing levels with the thump of upper bass, and with the in unit volume control and bass boost, it has enough control to tweak the sound to my liking.

I'm in my thirties so I don't need headache inducing levels of bass, but this can give it. So I don't see why anyone would Ned more bass output than this with my gain/level knob being less than 60% on the.dial and the bass boost at minimum to 30% raised on the dial with my EQ flat on the stock head unit. Your ear drums can easily get pulsed at these levels.

My source is subscription level Google Play music at high bitrate.

I've attached some pictures.

Posted this because everyone and their mom suggests getting an actual subwoofer with decent volume for proper bass output, and that these are anemic, but I find this option leagues better than the upgrade stereo sub and, when adjusted.for.my hearing tastes, just as good, if not better than bigger trunk options

 

[MFKiaNiro]

Did your audio guy do anything special to cut some low end out of the stock speakers?

 

[funko]

Did your audio guy do anything special to cut some low end out of the stock speakers?

Yes but only the front's I believe, he got it so that the crossover on the sub, works on the sub, as well as the stock speakers to unload the lower frequency load on them, thats mostly the reason why i paid the $100 to install the sub, since it seemed too annoying to do myself, as I am lazy.

 

[MFKiaNiro]

Not lazy.......smart to have a pro do it. My experience with a number of vehicles is to have the pros do it. I’ve had the same audio guy for 30+ years?. Hasn’t failed me yet. Thanks for the post!

 

[charlesH]

After tolerating the stock stereo for the past several months I decided to upgrade the stereo.

I had originally planned for Infinity Kappa component replacements and an under seat sub, but my car audio guy said it wouldn't be worth it, and let me demo a car with Kappas all around, and while it sounded better, it wasn't $300 better.

He advised me to just add the sub, . And after researching between the Kicker, JBL, and Alpine options, I decided on the JBL for the musicality of it.

So after having the JBL BassPro SL in my car for the past few days, I'm satisfied with the audio to not upgrade it anymore for now. While, I don't care for the stock tweeters much, they can be EQed to not be obnoxious.

I was worried about taking away the foot space for someone sitting behind the seat with the sub, but it turns out to be perfectly fine, and you can maintain having 4 adults fit in the car, or even a 5th one in the back in a pinch, and of course I kept all my cargo space in the trunk.

I recommend it to anyone looking for a job intrusive way to fill out the sound.

In terms of output, it can still get to hearing loss inducing levels with the thump of upper bass, and with the in unit volume control and bass boost, it has enough control to tweak the sound to my liking.

I'm in my thirties so I don't need headache inducing levels of bass, but this can give it. So I don't see why anyone would Ned more bass output than this with my gain/level knob being less than 60% on the.dial and the bass boost at minimum to 30% raised on the dial with my EQ flat on the stock head unit. Your ear drums can easily get pulsed at these levels.

My source is subscription level Google Play music at high bitrate.

I've attached some pictures.

Posted this because everyone and their mom suggests getting an actual subwoofer with decent volume for proper bass output, and that these are anemic, but I find this option leagues better than the upgrade stereo sub and, when adjusted.for.my hearing tastes, just as good, if not better than bigger trunk options

what do you think your before and after low end frequently response is?

 

[funko]

what do you think your before and after low end frequently response is?

Hmm, I'm afraid i'm going to have to pain you a picture with the precision of crayons with my left hand:

Short Answer: its in a different league, before it was upper bass output that was pretty good with no mid or low bass filling, but now I have enough -amount- of bass, while the clarity isn't audiophile clear, it is very quick and responsive with very fast decay, and the gain + sub-bass boost known allow enough tweaking to overpower the rest of the frequency spectrum at normal listening volumes

Long answer:

Stock stereo had a roll off somewhere in the vicinity of 100hz, but still had some output below 60 hz enough to have certain kick drums punch, and synth sounds to be audible to maybe around 50hz ish

I am relatively treble averse and my stock EQ was +1/0/-2 bass/mid/high

after the BassPro SL:

Listening to tracks from Jamiroquai, RHCP, Linkin Park, there is a bass bloom around the 40-80hz range that can blend into the low mids and cost you resolution, but in trade, it gives you ear drum pressuring thump with the settings mentioned in my original post. Head unit EQ settings 0/0/-2

The dedicated bass boost knob on the sub lets you dial in that "boom" that car bassheads seem to like, but you won't be impressing anyone more than one car length away at the traffic lights. It is relatively tight, and the decay is nice and quick for good musicality, but the resolution of the bass is average, nothing great, but not bad. You won't be picking out the nuances of that analog 80's Korg synth just by adding this thing.

My car shop guy had it maxed on bass boost and gain, and also +3 on the head unit and it starts to break up and clip the woofer in the sub once you go above 33% on the stereo volume with the biggest EDM bass hits, so there is a definite limit to the volume output.

Of note, my sub is screwed to the carpet below the seat, but the carpet is not glued to the frame of the car or anything, so maybe some people can improve the sound a bit there, but I don't feel the need.

i don't have a frequency analyzer or anything, but for reference my home and portable audio experience:

Old school DIY 15" subwoofer for home theater using Adire Tempest subwoofer driver in a ported, filled, deadened enclosure

Headphones: Sony XB1000s, and BGVP DM6 IEMs

The overall sound is much more bassy than lets say the Grado sound profile of headphones, and more akin to closed back Sony XB's without as much head rattling sub bass below 50 hz,

In the end the stock speaker clarity and tone is still there, and i would give the door speakers a B-/B rating, but addition of the sub brings everything up to a B+/A- rating as long as i'm not critically listening to anything.

It's no miracle maker, but I just don't see how people would call this anemic, as I think it is capable of doing a good job for 95% of people without being pushed.

 

[funko]

what do you think your before and after low end frequently response is?

So I had some spare time. It seems like tasting a bit with bass test videos on YouTube, my hearing hears pretty even response.down to 60Hz

A peak in the upper 50s that sounds boosted, maybe from the rears? Then with a rapid roll off below 50Hz and nothing worth mentioning below 45 but you can hear it trying.to.reproduce something.in the 30s but it is either very quiet or.my ears cannot hear. But the thump is there in the 30s.

The bass boost seems to affect the 55-200 range broadly

 

[Dave]

Thanks for the very informative post! I am likely to copy this approach exactly...

 

[Mr. B]

You won't be picking out the nuances of that analog 80's Korg synth just by adding this thing.

This statement shows that you understand music well and came from the right era!!!

Excellent post by the way. Can you tell us where the installer connected the power wire and took the audio signal from? Also, most people say there is a need to use a frequency compensation device like an Audio Control LC unit to prevent low frequency output reduction caused by the factory head unit (used to protect factory speakers from being blown out at high volumes). Have you found this to be an issue?