Clarion Phaze 1 Subwoofer

[preston_brown]

After debating for awhile whether or not I should get a separate subwoofer, I decided that my door and rear deck speakers simply weren't providing full enough sound, compared to my other cars. I don't need thumping bass, but I do like rich bass. I looked at the other small, powered subwoofers that have been commented on in the past, including the Kenwood KSC-WA62RC "wOOx", which is a 6 1/2" 60 watt system for $219, and the Infinity BassLink, which is a 10" 200 watt system for $299 (crutchfield).

The Clarion is a new system as far as I can tell. I don't see it for sale too many places, but I found it at http://www.sounddomain.com.

http://www.sounddomain.com/sku/CLASRV303

is the direct link. This system is somewhat between the other two. A 7" speaker is driven by a 64 watt amplifier (120 watts peak). Simple to hook up, you can use either speaker-level inputs or RCA line level inputs. Add a power, power-turn on signal, and ground, and you are done. Best of all, it fits underneath the passenger seat of the Carrera. The other two systems don't fit, according to my measurements and reading their dimensions.

I installed it this afternoon, running it off the Subwoofer output of my Harmon Kardon (Becker) TrafficPro. It sounds plenty loud. It was just what I needed. Best of all, the total price with shipping from SoundDomain was about $220. So if you are in the market for more bass, you are on a budget, and you don't want to take up much space, consider this system!

[Kemo]

might be cool if you had one under each seat.

[MPegler]

Man... THANKYOU!!! I've been trying to find that subwoofer. I found it one day using google with keywords, but never saved the info, and have been striking out since then.

I just ordered it from Etronics for, ... er, ... $139.95 (sorry)

Thanks again

[on-ramp]

if you fitted this under the passenger seat, where do you have the amplifier?

I'm doing a similar project

[preston_brown]

The system is an integrated amplifier/subwoofer combo. No need for a separate amplifier.

[on-ramp]

Originally posted by preston_brown
The system is an integrated amplifier/subwoofer combo. No need for a separate amplifier.

What are some of the advantages/disadvantages of having such an integrated system?

I've been looking at Amplifiers lately and the good ones go for $200-500 easy.
However, I see that this Clarion unit is only $140 PLUS it includes the sub-woofer.

So what's the catch?

I'm getting a Nakamichi cd/45z soon and I'm looking for a nice Amp to compliment it.
recommendations?

[Randy Webb]

The catch is low sound quality, and secondly the definition of "sub-woofer."

Some car audio companies call an 8" speaker a sub -- but the term is usually reserved for true low freqs., usually generated by 10" or 12" speakers in home systems.

In general, a custom or built-in amp for a sub can generate better quality sound as the desinger knows exactly what you are going to use with what. But the high end ones are spendy -- $2,000 and up.

a/d/s makes solid amps. If youar eputting in Nak level stuff, I would not put in things made by Clarion, things using terms like "Phaxer" Laxer" space slammer or whatever. What I would do is put a good pair of door speakers and maybe some others. Focal is what I have. Search for various threads on this.

My view is that 1. its a sports car so you don't want a lot of wt. and 2. it's a noisy 911, so 2a listen to that nose, and 2b it is not designed for audio so you will never have it as nice a Lexus.

[preston_brown]

Yes, we all know what is technically considered deep bass, and I am completely aware that components, separates, etc. produce cleaner sound. Yes, calling this set-up and other so called systems "integrated subwoofers" may be stretching things a bit.

Guess what? That doesn't change the fact that adding this system has added considerably to the bass output of my system, without considerably lightening my wallet. If you want that, you have nothing to lose. If you expect concert level sound, you will be disappointed, guaranteed. But I don't think you will be shopping for something like this if you are expecting audiophile sort of sound quality, because you already know you won't get it.

[}{arlequin]

keeping the low budget theme... does anyone have any suggestions for a budget cd player? I may be replacing mine (either IT is bad, or the wiring is shot, haven't figured it out yet) but I'm not going to be putting too much $ into sound. Just enough to play music when not making too much noise with the revs... preferably w/o all the lights and glitter

[SpeedracerIndy]

This thing sounds ideal for my car. I have a ROW model that came without rear deck speakers, and only 5 1/4" door speakers. They are component speakers, but there is only so much base that a 5 1/4" speaker can pump out. When I get out of my Mitsubishi with the 210 watt infinity system and go to my P-car, I am pretty disappointed. I would like to add a little bit of mid-base, in a well consealed place, and this sounds like the ticket.

Can those who have installed it tell me how it sounds under the passenger seat? Is is boomy, or thumpy? I don't want a vibrating cabin, just a fuller sound, and the ability to cut out the bass going to my puny 5 1/4" door speakers.

[preston_brown]

You have two knobs on the sub box: a gain knob (volume), and a range knob (to control the built-in crossover). This range knob will let you dial-in how much of the low-end you want amplified. You can include just the very low frequencies, or the mid range stuff as well. Your choice.

These controls are detachable, if you want. You can mount them to a long cord and put them on the dash or anywhere you want. For me, I just left them attached to the box under the seat. I would characterize the system as slightly boomy. You can't get really tight bass from a system of this size and configuration.

Again, better than nothing. It will still not sound like your mitsubishi, but it will be closer.

Oh and without an additional crossover, you will not be able to cut out the bass going to your normal speakers. You'll need some additional method of eliminating bass to those.

[SpeedracerIndy]

Thanks for the response Preston. I think I'm going to give this thing a try. Luckly my head unit (Alpine) has a built in cross over for a subwoofer. It cuts out bass going to the main speakers at a predetermined frequency. It sounds like this will work pretty well. The stereo may not sound as good as my other car, but the engine sure sounds better!

[eki912]

I fitted a KENWOOD KSC-WA62RC under my passenger seat. It is actually a 912E..... hope you don´t mind.

Fits nicely under the seat , notice that the seat is raised though.About 20 mm. Just to be safe.I am not sure if it needs to be raised or not.

Works really good.Ofcourse it does have its limitations.Being so small , you dont win any sound contests with it.But an improvement , and noticeable one.

eki

[JonT]

my gosh Eki--have you been polishing your seat brackets with a toothbrush!? Looks great! Nice creative sub idea too.

[eki912]

As I dont need a toothbrush myself I have to find new use for it.The cleaning of seatbrackets is one of them.....

I also added MB Quart door speakers.Two way separates , tweeter up high , woofer low in stock opening.No cutting needed. Looks good , relatively stock.And sounds A LOT better than the wimpy speakers I had there previously....

eki

[dillinger]

I bought this clarion sub today. $199.00 locally. I installed it in 30 minutes under my seat. It really is what I've been missing. If you have a normal head unit. 18-23w rms, 5 1/4 to 6.5' in front door, 4 x 6 in rear deck. This sub will fill out the sound perfect. Mind you this is no booming sub, but if you have a normal system, this will make it sound 10,000 times better!!

Don

[SpeedracerIndy]

A thread over on rennlist remided me of this sub and I went out and bought one. I just thought I would follow up here too in case anyone was interested.

It fit perfectly under the passenger seat with a little room to spare. Pretty impressive for such a small box. It's definitely not something that your going to go thumping around in downtown, but that's not what I was looking for. It will rattle the rear view mirror though. I spent quite a while trying to dial it in with my head unit and mains (Alpine with separate midrange/tweeter in the doors [no rear speakers]). If I turned it up too loud it would get muddy pretty quickly. I also had to limit anything over 80 Hz from going to the sub. If I sent anything over 80 Hz to it, it drown out my mains and sounded very tinny. I have the gain turned up about 1/2 and use the sub controls on my head unit to dial it in. For only $180, it's well worth trying out. And it comes with everything you need to mount it and hook it up. I didn't get to do much driving around with it though because it started raining and I had to run back to the garage. My car is pretty LOUD so it will be a good test when I get to go on a road trip.

[fastpat]

Thanks for firing up this thread. This is what I'm looking for.