No bass in magnum RT

[WagnumRT]

I have a '05 magnum RT with what i think is a totally stock system. It has the nav from that year and satellite radio that is not turned on. I have the bass turned up to 9 and still have no bass at all. I've even turned the mids and highs into the negative range (-5 and -2 respectively) so i can give it more volume to try to get some bass in the mix. I start to get some bass response at about 20 on the volume but the mids and highs are so loud at that point it's unbearable. I've never had such a weak bass response in any car I've owned. It's almost like all 6 speakers have a high pass crossover on them. Is this normal for the '05 magnum with nav or am I missing a setting somewhere?

[oldschool]

My 2006 with Boston Acoustics is actually pretty decent for stock radios...I have the 6 CD REC Nav one. Is this the system you are talking about?

[boggart]

I bet a prior owner changed out the door speakers.

[marksw59]

"I bet a prior owner changed out the door speakers."


That may be true, but I'll bet it's not the entire issue. When I replaced my fronts with the Kicker front setup, I was going to add another tweeter on the door, but I quickly found out that there is no real high frequency coming through the factory wires. So no extra tweeter without running an extra wire which I still have not done a year later.

I have some high frequency hearing loss from years of too loud and distorted music so I needed the high end boost. The low end in the front with the Kicker upgrade, amp and speakers, is really pretty good unless you want to rattle your neighbor's house. The "rear fill" sucks though...

The bottom line is that the previous owner could easily changed out the speakers, and there is fairly good chance that they may have gotten one of the door speakers out of phase. That would absolutely KILL the bass. The easiest way to check is to turn the balance either all the way to the left, or all the way to the right and see if the bass improves. If it does then that is definitely your problem. The solution is to switch the backward connection.

[WagnumRT]

I think it's the same as the '06 unit but i'm not sure. It's not a phase issue. There is little to no sound below about 100Hz. I can adjust the bass up and down in the EQ and hear a difference so there is some sound down low but you can't even feel the door panel shake like in 99% of systems with door speakers (stock). This just must be the worse factory system ever put in a car. I'd like to start swapping speakers but if the factory amp is this poor I don't think it will drive anything I would buy.

[boggart]

Have you looked at the speakers?

[WagnumRT]

I haven't pulled the doors off yet. I was thinking someone may have put "bass blockers" inline to the speakers if they had a sub in the car at some point. I just need to start pulling panels and checking wiring.

[marksw59]

I think it's the same as the '06 unit but i'm not sure. It's not a phase issue. There is little to no sound below about 100Hz. I can adjust the bass up and down in the EQ and hear a difference so there is some sound down low but you can't even feel the door panel shake like in 99% of systems with door speakers (stock). This just must be the worse factory system ever put in a car. I'd like to start swapping speakers but if the factory amp is this poor I don't think it will drive anything I would buy.

Who has an '06? You said it's not a phase issue, so I'm gonna presume you did the "balance check"? If not, I would do that very easy test before I pulled any panels. My door speakers have a goodly amount of bass, but I did change them out for the Kicker upgrade and upgraded the factory amp as well...

[IES99]

"No bass in magnum RT"

I thought this was a fishing thread. Oops.

[WagnumRT]

"No bass in magnum RT"

I thought this was a fishing thread. Oops.

That works on so many levels...

Moving the balance all the way to one side or the other doesn't make a difference as far as I can tell. I was really hoping there was an adjustment on the amp or in the head unit that I was missing but I guess not. Opening the passenger side door while im sitting in the drivers seat does yield some extra low end sound. I thought that was kind of strange when i noticed it this morning. Anyone else notice this with a stock unit?

Has anyone swapped in some decent 6x9's in the doors with the factory amp? How's it sound? I had the mach460 in my mustang and got used to a decent factory unit which broke my car stereo habit. I guess I'm gonna have to get back into car stereo stuff so I can get some decent sound out of this car. My wife is gonna kill me...

[ZeGuru]

"No bass in magnum RT"

I thought this was a fishing thread. Oops.

LOL, that's how I read it first too. Must be all of these damn ice houses I keep seeing...

[marksw59]

My wife is gonna kill me...

D'oh!

[WagnumRT]

Fixed, sort of. There were a pair of 6x9's in the front from a 1980's home stereo system! These things are 10 ohm pieces of crap. In the back I found some pioneer 6x9's (TS-A6981R) which didn't sound too bad but don't meet my meager standards. I moved the pioneers to the front spots with the use of a half inch spacer and left empty holes in the back for now. It's not great by any means but at least it sounds better than the wifes stock lancer with the base stereo.

I have the bug now... My plan is to replace the 3.5's in the dash and the 6x9's in the rear and leave them on the stock amp for now. I'd like to get some 6.5 or 8" subs in the doors if I can find some that are shallow enough. I'll amp the subs in the doors for a little more kick. That should hold off the itch for a few months...

Here are some pics of the crap I pulled outta the doors.

[marksw59]

Keep in mind there are no mid or high frequencies going to the doors through the factory system, at least from my minimal experience with those connections. So putting anything other than a woofer in the door and hooking it up to the factory wires is probably pointless.

Looks like you discovered a major part of the problem though... at 10ohm those could have been some OEM GM replacements....

[boggart]

I KNEW someone had to have changed the stock door speakers out.

There has to be someone near you in Orlando that's changed out their speakers that would give you their old stock BA's.