# Subwoofer Opinions



## Larry King's Shoes (Oct 15, 2009)

Greetings!

I am curious about adding a bigger subwoofer to the system in a 2004 GTO. It sounds like there are a few owners that are not very impressed with that aspect of their Goats.

I do not have the GTO yet; I'm going to save for a few more months and buy a used one this spring. Assuming that the stock system doesn't sound like what I want, I would like to install my current amp and woofer. It sounds pretty good in my current car and I'd love to keep it in use.

My main complaint is that my car rattles a lot when there are big surges of bass. I am worried that the GTO will also suffer from a slight rattle. To be honest, though, my car isn't the sturdiest thing ever built. It's a 1999 Sunfire SE with 222,000 miles on it.  Hopefully the GTOs are able to handle it without much noise.

What are your experiences with larger subwoofers in GTOs? I could always have the trunk and doors covered in Dynomat if it is a subtle shake.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I appreciate any suggestions or opinions.


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## kevinh430 (Oct 1, 2009)

the only problem u might have is the limited amount of trunk space in the goat. other than that u should have no problem, if anything dynomat the trunk and u will b fine


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## stealth gray goat (Sep 11, 2009)

I have a rockford fosgate shallow p3 12'' in the trunk of my 05 goat the rating that they give them is like 800 watts and the amp is just a cheap 1200 watt sony, but it thumps pretty good and the only thing that rattles is the third brake light in the spoiler simple fix just haven't and thats all the rest sounds great.


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## keebler28 (Oct 16, 2009)

Larry Kings Shoes,

Its good to see another guy on here saving for his dream car. I'm hoping to hit the highway with a new set of horns in the near future too! 

Here's the deal. I typed out a very decently sized message explaining my take on your situation, and of course, as I was concluding the message I bumped the mouse and the window closed. So, sh!t. :/ Anyway, here is the abridged version...

The great thing about new cars (especially those of GTO class which were crafted to be perfect) is that they are tight; there really shouldn't be a whole lot to rattle. I drive a 1999 Mustang GT, (which by no means can be considered "new", but definitely has not been put through the motions of 222,000 miles ) and I find that my few "rattle" issues are caused by small things such as my sun-visor or speaker covers. Easy fixes. If you ever get the chance to test-drive a GTO, I'd suggest you burn a CD with some nice bass lines, simply crank the bass up a bit, and watch for any trouble areas. I'm assuming you are looking to install something a WEE bit larger than the factory speakers  but this little trick should at least give you an idea of what to expect. Keep in mind that the stock system may distort at a certain level simply because it's not made to run with the bass clocked at 10; ignore the speakers as best you can and listen to the car. As far as the actual installation goes, I'd definitely consider having a professional take a look at it. A guy with the user name Larry Kings Shoes obviously knows his stuff  but if you're wanting the perfect tones for the perfect ride, might as well pay the extra buck to know its done right. Just make sure the enclosure gets bolted down and the trunk stays clean of any debris that might vibrate and contribute to the rattle. 

As far as Dynomat goes, it can never hurt. A friend of mine, ironically driving a car similar to yours, installed a MASSIVE watting sub in his older car. I mean really, this thing is a beast. Yes, it still rattled the car (and several cars around it) due to its age, but the Dynomat definitely added some shape to the low tones, allowing you to FEEL the bass, without overpowering the vocals, guitar, key-tar, whatever .

Save that money, buy that GOAT, and make it bark.  Good Luck!


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## Larry King's Shoes (Oct 15, 2009)

Thanks for the feedback, guys! You have really put my concerns at ease. 

I feel that my current sub and amp will do the job quite nicely. It will come at the cost of reduced trunk space but it's worth it, in my opinion.


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## jpalamar (Jul 22, 2008)

We got a future 50 Cent out there looking for a GTO. Sorry I had to.

We have stock subs built in. Just get a slightly bigger amp and some better speakers, how load do you honestly need it to be. Plus the GTO trunk is far from spacious so why take more from it.


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## rextheracer (Jul 3, 2008)

personally, i think the stock radio is fine...and good luck with a sub box...GM decided to put the gas tank in the back....haha. That i can reccommend is that you pay to upgrade the speakers. i use the exhaust as my radio, but thats just me...


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## HP11 (Apr 11, 2009)

rextheracer said:


> personally, i think the stock radio is fine...


You're kidding, right? You just might be the only person I've ever heard to say that! Even though I have no desire for a amp/subwoofer setup, for me, the stock radio fails on so many levels. It has no aux input, no USB or memory card slot, won't play MP3's, no RDS or ID3 tags, no pre amp output, etc., etc. Pretty acrhaic even by 2005 standards. My wife's HHR radio is head and shoulders above the GTO stock radio. It was one of the first things I changed. (After the skip shift.)


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## keebler28 (Oct 16, 2009)

jpalamar said:


> We got a future 50 Cent out there looking for a GTO. Sorry I had to.
> 
> We have stock subs built in. Just get a slightly bigger amp and some better speakers, how load do you honestly need it to be. Plus the GTO trunk is far from spacious so why take more from it.


He asked a simple question. There's no need to be a **** about it.


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## HP11 (Apr 11, 2009)

keebler28 said:


> He asked a simple question. There's no need to be a **** about it.


Roll with it Mr. '4 posts up to this point'. The comment was followed by 'Sorry I had to' which says, at least to me, that it was tongue-in-cheek rather than something for you to pass your misguided judgement on. And then, he answered the 'simple' question with his opinion. If the OP has a problem with it, and I doubt he does, let him voice it. Let's get back to talking GTO's.:cheers


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## rj91049 (Oct 9, 2009)

HP11 said:


> Roll with it Mr. '4 posts up to this point'. The comment was followed by 'Sorry I had to' which says, at least to me, that it was tongue-in-cheek rather than something for you to pass your misguided judgement on. And then, he answered the 'simple' question with his opinion. If the OP has a problem with it, and I doubt he does, let him voice it. Let's get back to talking GTO's.:cheers


+ 1


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## GTO_06 (Sep 12, 2009)

jpalamar said:


> We got a future 50 Cent out there looking for a GTO. Sorry I had to.
> 
> We have stock subs built in. Just get a slightly bigger amp and some better speakers, how load do you honestly need it to be. Plus the GTO trunk is far from spacious so why take more from it.



:lol: yea thats funny but hey i got a system in tha max but i would never put one in my GTO theres no point. maybe a indash thats it but if u want i would do 1 L5 or L7 kicker with kenwood amp heres a link to a cheap site onlinecarstereo.com


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## 1 small GoaT (Oct 27, 2009)

I have a JLW7 in the rear of the trunk along with a Memphis Mojo Amp. the two of them run me about 1500.00 bucks. i drilled three holes into the bars that hold the gas tank in place and have my Amp hanging from those bars. Amp doesnt move at all. Then i have the Bad A$$ W7 right behind it. If you like Music and you can go about your business without lugging around some extra junk, then install your Music. I do not carry anything in my car at all, other than myself and my radio. maybe a passanger once in a while 
good luck with finding cars and keep us posted!


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## jpalamar (Jul 22, 2008)

I head that a few people have actually removed their spaire and mounted the sub and amp in there, then just made a custom floorboard for the trunk. That way you atleast same the few cubes they call a trunk.

Question about this though, is a system worth being stranded on the side of the road?



keebler28 said:


> He asked a simple question. There's no need to be a **** about it.


And get the sand out of your vag. It's a forum. In life you will never agree with everything, thats what makes it so interesting. And I didn't mean anything negative by my previous comment.


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## batmans (Aug 16, 2007)

CDTaudio.com makes one of the best woofers on the market that are OEM location replacement for the 6" ones in the GTO.

This way u don't have to worry about a box in the trunk taking up valuable real estate and adding weight.


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## jpalamar (Jul 22, 2008)

batmans said:


> CDTaudio.com makes one of the best woofers on the market that are OEM location replacement for the 6" ones in the GTO.
> 
> This way u don't have to worry about a box in the trunk taking up valuable real estate and adding weight.


I'm assuming that you would need a stronger amp then too? And could the amp be placed where the stocker is without overheating?


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## batmans (Aug 16, 2007)

jpalamar said:


> I'm assuming that you would need a stronger amp then too? And could the amp be placed where the stocker is without overheating?


I don't know if u can run aftermarket speakers on our GTO stock audio.

I know with Bose it's a closed loop system. All Bose or nothing.

Does anyone know if you can replace GTO speakers with off the shelf ones like the Polk SR series?


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## 1 small GoaT (Oct 27, 2009)

jpalamar said:


> Question about this though, is a system worth being stranded on the side of the road?



that is a great question and thats up to everyone to answer. thus that is the reason i did not take out my spare... due to the fact that i do not have alot of money and i do not know how to do fiberglass...and if i did have the money, i def would not want to deal with that sh!t.  i have researched how to do it and its a pain in my opinion. i also do not have a lot of money and i buy used tires from a reliable shop. tend to have about 50-70percent tread left. actually bought one and it blew out on me and ended up getting a flat. unfortuantely i had to remove a 60 pound box and later i found out that i needed to take out my amp (which was hanging from the bars holding in the gas tank) because the spare tire would not clear the amp.... HAHA. Biggest pain in the butt, especially when its cold out.. NEEDLESS TO SAY i got AAA real quick. paid 90 bucks and they provide me with 4 free services per year. 

LUCKILY i had my spare = moral of story.

LUCKY i had a flat head screw driver to take out Amp = Dumb Luck


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## 1 small GoaT (Oct 27, 2009)

batmans said:


> I don't know if u can run aftermarket speakers on our GTO stock audio.
> 
> I know with Bose it's a closed loop system. All Bose or nothing.
> 
> Does anyone know if you can replace GTO speakers with off the shelf ones like the Polk SR series?


i hate to bash on Bose, but i would not recommend their products for in car audio set ups. they really only have one big speaker, and that was 10-15 years ago and it was used for in home theather systems, and it ran upwards to 1,000.00...your paying for that name

as for your question, yes you can install aftermarket speakers. i do not know much about the Polk SR series.. try a fitment guide on the website that sells those speakers. 

when i installed my 6.5" speakers into the original 6.5" speakers i had to shave some of the housing that held the speaker in the door becuase my speakers were just a tad to big. 

and for the first question, yes you can run aftermarket speakers off your stock head unit. i would suggest purchasing an AMP prior to buying your speakers, bc if you buy speakers and run them off your stock head unit your not going to get the clarity that you are looking for out of them. the speakers will just be able to handle more abuse and will only be slightly higher in volume.

i would suggest getting a 4 channel Amp that runs 75rms to each speaker(1 channel for each speaker= 4 speakers=4 channel amp) and only buy 2 speakers and put em up front and screw the ones in the back and just bridge the speakers up front so you can run 150 rms to each speaker. so your not wasting money on 2 extra speakers.... down the road you can buy 2more speakers and run each one at 75rms but you cant really tell the diff in the sound quality at that point. 

Get amp first.  you will be surprised at how much better your stock speakers sound with an amp in the trunk of your car.


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## HP11 (Apr 11, 2009)

batmans said:


> I know with Bose it's a closed loop system. All Bose or nothing.


Not sure what you mean by that. I have an aftermarket head unit with the stock speakers and I've seen GTOs with the stock *Blaupunkt* unit with aftermarket speakers. If it truly was Bose then the statement would make sense to me having been through that with the Bose system in my wife's Infiniti.


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## MJGTOWISH (Jun 15, 2006)

*You can swap out speakers however to add any external amplification you would have to gut the whole stock system, And you guys do realize are radio is a Blaupunkt not Bose right? But make sure id you swap speakers that you have an equivalent or higher rated ohm speaker.

As far as subs the right thing would be to put the gas tank in the proper place(under the car) and make a false floor.....

Honestly though, a 12 sub in a truck box is prefect in the corner of the trunk not to mention the goat has AWESOME cabin gain *


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## HP11 (Apr 11, 2009)

Thanks for the Bose/Blaupunkt correction, I missed that too.


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## MJGTOWISH (Jun 15, 2006)

1 small GoaT said:


> i hate to bash on Bose, but i would not recommend their products for in car audio set ups. they really only have one big speaker, and that was 10-15 years ago and it was used for in home theather systems, and it ran upwards to 1,000.00...your paying for that name
> 
> as for your question, yes you can install aftermarket speakers. i do not know much about the Polk SR series.. try a fitment guide on the website that sells those speakers.
> 
> ...


*Noob.....

First before buying the amp, make sure that is even bridgeable, Next, you can get a 2-ch amp that is rated @ 150rms, in fact I suggest a 2 ch. amp per set of speakers for seprate gain control and by doing so you have the ability to run your speakers active I.E. Crossover points before amplification.

Next you are right on just focusing on the front sound stage. Rear speakers are useless in a good system and besides you want sound coming from the front not behind, and unless you are trying to make your car a rolling cinema it is again pointless because music is only 2.ch.

UP next is getting rid of the HU an alpine 9887 will do nicely  it also has time alignment. which will delay key speakers so that they will all play at the same time.

Next is proper speakers, I tend to stray away from the walking whore called car audio speakers (there are exceptions) but the truth of the matter is a speaker is a speaker if you pick one that can work with a large enclosure(you door) then it will do fine.

I could go on but I have to leave right now, anyway if any of you want real help piecing toghter a system PM me and I would be glad to help *


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## HP11 (Apr 11, 2009)

1 small GoaT's elaborations didn't really need to be given much creedence here since they don't really address the initial question and and then add further confusion by answering a question about Bose which took the thread somewhat off track. I was just thanking you (MJ) for the correction as I did also say 'Bose' when I meant 'Blaupunkt' based on that misinformation and subsequent rambling about buying an amp, etc. Simple answer if you're not building a complete system but rather just changing the speakers or head unit: Blaupunkt systems are considerably less proprietary than Bose systems. Blaupunkt units will work with other speakers and other brand units will work with Blaupunkt speakers. Bose? Not so much.


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## MJGTOWISH (Jun 15, 2006)

HP11 said:


> 1 small GoaT's elaborations didn't really need to be given much creedence here since they don't really address the initial question and and then add further confusion by answering a question about Bose which took the thread somewhat off track. I was just thanking you (MJ) for the correction as I did also say 'Bose' when I meant 'Blaupunkt' based on that misinformation and subsequent rambling about buying an amp, etc. Simple answer if you're not building a complete system but rather just changing the speakers or head unit: Blaupunkt systems are considerably less proprietary than Bose systems. Blaupunkt units will work with other speakers and other brand units will work with Blaupunkt speakers. Bose? Not so much.


*I really wasn't talking to yo lol, you just happened to post when i was making my next post. I'm not mad at you just the damn flu bug called misinformation... hope we can be :cool*

*I have to admit I'm still vary confused where Bose came from when it says Blaupunkt in white letters in your car LOL, bose can be a hit or a miss I would rather just gut stock Bose system than try to integrate, You want complicated mess with a monsoon  use the wrong ohm speakers and POOF goes that ch.
And all threads get Off topic at some point ...... My bad
*


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## HP11 (Apr 11, 2009)

I knew you weren't talking to me and I didn't think you were mad. I was responding to the guy who 'bashed on Bose' (his words). I thanked you for reminding us that OEM was Blaupunkt rather than Bose. You weren't the one who took us off on that tangent. I removed the Blaupunkt about 3 days after I bought the GTO so the brand name wasn't clear in my mind. A couple of years ago, I had dealt with problems with a Bose system during an upgrade on my wifes Infiniti J30 so I had crossed up the names.


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## 1 small GoaT (Oct 27, 2009)

batmans said:


> I don't know if u can run aftermarket speakers on our GTO stock audio.
> 
> I know with Bose it's a closed loop system. All Bose or nothing.
> 
> Does anyone know if you can replace GTO speakers with off the shelf ones like the Polk SR series?




THIS IS WHERE THE BOSE SPEAKERS COME INTO PLAY... FYI


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## HP11 (Apr 11, 2009)

1 small GoaT said:


> THIS IS WHERE THE BOSE SPEAKERS COME INTO PLAY... FYI


Thanks for the info (which I didn't ask for, by the way). I know where it came into play. If you go back, you'll note that I actually quoted that (and questioned the poster) in one of my responses. You, however, are the one who took the 'Bose' thing and ran with it (I hate to bash on Bose, I believe were your words) so you really need to chill out on the all caps.....


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## batmans (Aug 16, 2007)

HP11 said:


> Not sure what you mean by that. I have an aftermarket head unit with the stock speakers and I've seen GTOs with the stock *Blaupunkt* unit with aftermarket speakers. If it truly was Bose then the statement would make sense to me having been through that with the Bose system in my wife's Infiniti.


NSX and RX7 both have Bose.

Every shop that I took it too said that Bose did something to the Ohms where most aftermarket speakers won't work.

Also the speakers and amp are part of a pair.


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## HP11 (Apr 11, 2009)

This is the last thing I'll say about this since there is such misunderstandig going in this thread. 2004-2006 GTOs don't have a Bose system. I only mentioned my wife's car because Bose was mentioned. The OP wanted to install a better subwoofer. He can do that. He has said 'thank you' and moved on. We need to do the same. All of the rest of this superfluous 'expertise' is really unnecessary.....


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## MJGTOWISH (Jun 15, 2006)

batmans said:


> NSX and RX7 both have Bose.
> 
> Every shop that I took it too said that Bose did something to the Ohms where most aftermarket speakers won't work.
> 
> Also the speakers and amp are part of a pair.


Then they lied, all you have to do is match the ohm load or go higher, NEVER LOWER. But bose sucks it's not really that effective to use aftermarket speakers on a factory bose amp.


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## batmans (Aug 16, 2007)

we tried that on the RX7 and it was too high pitch sounding.

I couldn't get the treble turned down far enough.

As long as I can just swap out the factory speakers in the GTO to SR series Polks and CDT woofers, I'm good to go.......


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