Im finally looking into gettin a woofer, went to my local car audio shop, they explained that in order to get some thump in the back, ill not only have to buy the woofer and amp, but also a new HU... the reason behind the HU is that as the volume goes up, the EQ automatically lowers the bass, to protect the speakers from blowing out (i believe...). HENCE, gettin a woofer but keeping the stock HU would do me little good... is that true?? anyone out there runnin a woofer from the stock HU?? any info on this would be dope, thanks

 

Sounds like someone is trying to take your money. I have 300watt RMS amp powering two 12" subs with the stock HU and I get plenty of bass. I think what the guy ment to tell you that the scion HU come with automatic sound leveling (ASL) which turns the overal volume up and down depending on noise. But that can be turned off via a menu on the HU. I think some other people can confirm this but I could be wrong, I say wait till someother people post before you buy a new HU.

 

no i know about ASL, but it is true, if you listen to some bass-heavy music at about 35-40 volume level, ASL turned off, the bass is proportionate to the rest of the levels. but, turn it up to 50 or more, i notice the bass stays about the same level as at 40... im in an xb with the feel SSP on if that makes much difference. anyone else have any ideas???

 

I just put a sub in my car using a subplug2 from Norcal. I can relate to the OP. I don't know whether it's the amp cutting back to keep from distorting, or the actual bass level is going down, but at higher volumes the bass does diminish. Or you could say it reaches a peak and doesn't get any louder/stronger. I have a handheld sub controller and above a certain volume, raising the gain past about 1/3 on the controller has no effect. I don't remember this phenomenon with my last HU and same sub in a different car. That HU had built-in sub controls.
My SSP is set on hear. I didn't notice too much of a difference between hear and feel, at least before I put in the sub. I don't think I've changed it since.
I suppose the easiest way around it is to raise the bass level at higher volumes to try and offset the effect.

 

mmm hmmm.... im gonna give it a shot, keep the stock HU and see how it sounds. anyone else out there runnin just an amp and woofer through the original radio???

 

I am. I just have a Alpine Type S 10' with a power acoustik amp. I just have a line output converter connected to the rear speakers, and run the rcas from that to the amp. It works fine, I don't notice any bass problems.

 

ive done the same thing in someones xb for them and there were no problems and it didnt decrease in volume as you turned it up

 

I added 2 10's and a sony amp and I didn't have any problems. I actually didn't need to turn my stereo volume up as loud as I did before I added them. Just do like most recomend and add the RCA converter to the back speakers. I usually run my stereo at ASL off and the SSP at feel. My amp is tuned so that usually run the bass set at -5 then if I want more I turn it up to 0. It hits so hard at +5 that it sounds like the car will fall apart.