How do I hook up a Bazooka Bass Tube

[MattStarr]

I have 97 xlt. I want to put some bass in the car but I want to keep my stock deck and speakers... I heard it is possible to hook up a bazooka bass tube to the existing stock system by tying it in with the speakers. If this is possible, please let me know. And what is the difficulty of this install? I know these tubes come with built in amps so i think this is the cheapest way to add bass to the truck... All input is welcome, escpecially if you have done this yourself... thanks alot.. MATT

 

[Cartman]

The bazooka tubes use speaker level inputs so you can tie it into your rear speakes. Have you listened to tube, I heard one and wasn't very impressed, for the $250 or so that this is costing you I think you can do better.

Here is what i'd do to get some bass, get a 2 channel amp, bridge it and a 10" sub in a small box. Should provide better sound and take up less space then the bazooka tube.

 

[MattStarr]

Ok, but I really didnt want to have to run a wire from the battery to the rear of the truck... I dont want to do alot of work under the hood.... I want something simple..... From my old car, I have 2 12's, 100 watt amp, and box... Is there anything i could use these for with keeping the factory headunit???? Thanks

 

[WoodysX]

A couple of new amps have speaker level imputs (that would allow you to keep your stock headunit, I think JBL makes 3 different amps $75-$600 but you still have to run a power wire to the battery. Its not that hard, to run the wire from the front to back (drilling might be required) takes 10 mins tops for a quick install. 20-30 if you wanna hide it under carpet and plastic.

 

[MattStarr]

I have a Rockford Fosgate 100z2 amp...... I dont want to shell out $40 for an amp kit though... i think that a bass tube would be the easiest b/c you dont have to run a wire to the battery, i think... are there any other threads on how to do this?

 

[Jason_25]

Your still going to have to run a wire to the battery to power the internal amp of the bass tube.

 

[Robb]

Are you looking at an amped Baz tube or a non-amped Baz tube? A non-amped version will basically be worthless to you without amping it some (which will require wiring). A amped version has an internal amp (which requires wiring). Basically, you are not going to achieve much without wiring in an amp of some sort.

Robb

 

[MattStarr]

Is there anyway to wire a powered tube without having to go all the way up through the firewall??? And how does a bass tube sound??? is it worth the money?

 

[Robb]

If you are looking for the easiest way to add some bass to your system, you may want to look into one of the pre-formed sub boxes for Explorers that fit into the right rear panel of the cargo area. You could prolly get away with wiring one of these with less than 200 watts and a 10 gauge wire run from a spare spot in your fuse box.

As far as Baz tubes........most people hate them. I have a pair of 10s in the trunk of my BMW and I love them for that application. The main problem with the tubes is that they NEED to be placed at a 45 degree angle close to a corner. This means they take up a lot of space. Just placing one in the cargo area of your X will suck up a great deal of your cargo area. I don't use my BMW for anything except "fun in the sun" driving and I never put anything in the trunk, so it is not a problem for me.

Basically, if you are planning on using your cargo area to carry ANYTHING, there are better alternatives to Baz tubes.

Robb

 

[aldive]

Running wire is no big deal' what do you have against doing it?

 

[MattStarr]

The only thing I have against running a bass tube is that my truck looks factory (the dash and everything).. and i dont want to loosen anything b/c i dont want the dash to rattle.. I just want to keep the original integrity of the truck. Is there any way to wire an amp into the rear windshield washer power...... I dont want alot of wires running the length of my truck.

 

[Jason_25]

I guarantee you the dash won't rattle at all after you do this. It doesn't even involve the dash. It just takes a little messing around with a grommet in the firewall to get to your battery. No big deal.

 

[aldive]

If you run the wires properly, you nor anyone else, will ever see them.

When it comes to car audio, the best way to do it is run new wire directly from the battery.

Further, you will never get good sound from the factory stuff.

 

[MattStarr]

How do you even get to the firewall.... is there any paneling you have to take off to reach it... and how do i tie it in with my rear speakers???

 

[Cartman]

If you pull back your floor mats up front on either side their are plugs with wires running thru them, just cut the grommet to run the wires thru the hole, you can then run the wire down along the door jamb, there is a little channel that you can use, It should only take 20 minutes to run the wire and it will look good and not rattle or anything.

For hooking up the speakers to the amp you need to splice into the wires and attach speaker wire to them then run this back into your amps speaker level inputs.

It is not hard to do, you really can and should do it yourself, but if you don't want to do it yourself most shops will install an amp for not to much money.