Awful sounding stereo problem solved!!

[Diesel 924]

Everyone who has a W123 knows how hard it is to get good sound from a stereo in this chassis. The speakers that fit in it are just too small to get good bass from. I was looking through Crutchfield's catalog and I came across a small powered sub-woofer by Kenwood, the KSC-WA62RC. It measures 15 1/8"wX4 3/8"hX8 3/16"D. It was $219 from Crutchfield not including shipping which I thought was a little steep so I tried Ebay. A guy going by the handle of Covetrading had them brand new up for auction. He also is from the Connecticut Valley. I e-mailed him and asked him if I won could I pick up the sub, he said sure. Saved $20. I ended up winning the auction for $157 plus tax. Installation took a few hours. Running the wires from the stereo, the fuse box and the remote control was a trick. I used the path that the vacuum lines take to the rear deck from the front. The sub can't be seen in your rear-view mirror when it's mounted next to the first aid kit, which is nice.



The remote control mounts nicely with a strip of velcro to the center console and has settings for volume, frequency and phase.



It does not make your car sound like one of those juvenile morons with their windows rattling(although it is powerful enough to be uncomfortable). What it does is make your stereo sound the way it's supposed to. It's amazing what a difference this little unit makes. Anyone wanting a demonstration before buying is welcome to listen at the next GTG.

[ned2683]

nice set up. i was looking into that and was thinking about it for a while. but my decision leans a lil towards the infinity bass link. which is a lil more expensive. i haven't heard those yet, but the bass link sounds pretty good.

do you get the low low downs with that sub? or does it fill the mids? i was a lil skeptical of what a 8" and a passive radiator can do. oh and if you wouldn't mind can you tell me where and how you run the wires?

watch out one thing with having something like that in the back deck- it is easy for people to see, and might get stolen. speaking from experience here

[leathermang]

Those pictures are really pretty... and the installation is slick,,,
But if you are going to have it sitting up in sight... had you thought about rotating it 90 degrees and pointing it towards the people... rather than immediately bouncing the sound off the rear glass ?

Looks good

I am sure that you can get the music louder than the engine now, and it will sound clear

[ned2683]

Originally posted by leathermang
Those pictures are really pretty... and the installation is slick,,,
But if you are going to have it sitting up in sight... had you thought about rotating it 90 degrees and pointing it towards the people... rather than immediately bouncing the sound off the rear glass ?

actually i think it is helping a lil by bouncing off the rear glass. in SPL set up they often do this in Hatchbacks, generally there is a couple decibel gain. or thats what i've heard.

[Diesel 924]

Well, if you had it standing up, you'd be able to see it in the rear view mirror. The Infinity unit doesn't fit anywhere in the car. I ran the wires through the back deck, around the fuel tank and followed the vacuum harness behind the rear seat, down the floor and up into the console. I got battery power from the junction at the left front fender, and fuses it with a waterproof fuse(it came with an exposed blade-type fuse). And yes, this unit gets the REALLY low notes! It sounds great!

I assume you needed an amplifier for that sub...and if you did not use one, how did your head unit adequatly power the subwoofer and the non stock speakers I assume you have in there?

I have MB Quarts that need 40-70 watts per channels, the MB splitter splits into two channels so eighy watts per front and back channel, thats 160 watts! And my headunit only provides 180...how you work that if you didn't use a amp?

[Diesel 924]

It is a powered sub, it has it's own amp in it. I have a 50 watt Pioneer CD/receiever and Boston Acoustic speakers, 3 1/2" in the front and 5 1/2" in the rear. They cost almost $200 at Tweeter.

Really nice! Provides it's own power, so no need for annoying wiring. I must have missed that!

I have a Blaupunkt Santa Fe CD 32, 45 watts per channel, and in the rear MB Quart DKD 146's (4x6), and at front MB Quart DKD 110 (4" round)