Underseat subwoofer or amplifier for a bit more bass in my Honda City

I do not listen to music at very high volumes and I am not looking for glass-shattering bass which becomes uncomfortable for other passengers.

BHPian Akash.mathur recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello all,

I am a proud owner of a Honda City ZX MT (4th Gen), that I got myself in 2019. The car already came with a pretty good audio setup but once the warranty period crossed, I started to have an itch to upgrade.

Fast forward to today, my setup already consists of the following:

• HU : Blaupunkt San Andreas 970 (wireless AA + carplay)
• Speakers : JL C1 650 components (front + rear)
• Damping : Dual Dr. Artex 2mm damping done on all 4 doors.

I must say that the most significant impact on the audio quality (and overall noise reduction) happened only because of damping.

The JL C1 speakers on the other hand, while pretty good in themselves, are not much of a significant upgrade over the OEM speakers.

Now, I am looking to get a bit more bass output from this setup and I have tried to play around with the equalizer settings but I am not able to fulfil my desire.

Please note, that I do not listen to music at very high volumes and I am not looking for glass-shattering bass which becomes uncomfortable for other passengers since it's a family car, just a bit of an increase is what I am looking for.

I did some research online and on team-bhp and found an underseat subwoofer to be a viable option and talked to my usual guy, who told me that we cannot install an underseat subwoofer in Honda City as the space isn't enough under the seats.

He suggested me to install an amplifier instead since I am not looking for a substantial increase in the bass and suggested brands like Morel or Brazo 4 channel amplifier.

My doubt however is:

• Would an amplifier really give that incremental increase in the bass I am looking for?
• If the above is no, then what kind of options do I have? I am not keen to put a bass tube in the boot as I travel a lot and need that boot space.

Any help would be appreciated!

Thank you.

Here's what BHPian Mr.Boss had to say about the matter:

JL C1 is a very decent performer, I doubt the HU is the weak link here. Having experienced multiple Blaupunkt HUs, their output quality or the flexibility of tuning is very limited when compared with Alpine, Kenwood, Pioneer.

Try slim subwoofers like the Sony XS-AW8.

Or

Get a proper passive subwoofer installed with a custom enclosure that doesn't consume much of the boot space.

Here's what BHPian BeantownThinker had to say about the matter:

Just to tell you what is possible, there are plenty of under seat sub-woofers available in the market that can be installed under the driver's seat. These are of the same dimensions as a regular amplifier that is usually mounted below the seat.

I drive a 2015 Verna and have an under seat sub-woofer installed (make Blaupunkt, I do not know the model number). They have been performing wonderfully for the last 7 years. The advantage is that they do not need amplifiers or hi-lo converters to be installed.

For my listening needs, it is the perfect filler sub. By the way, my head unit and speakers are stock that came with the car.

Here's what BHPian greenhorn had to say about the matter:

Finding a shop with an XS Aw8 in stock should not be hard. Ask one to borrow and see if you can fit it under your seat - you can tell them the truth - that you are interested in buying one, but your usual shop declined your business saying that it wouldn't fit. I feel they should fit - My FIL's 4G City has amps under both seats - the AW8 size is similar.

Personally as the owner of not one, but TWO underseat subs, I find the XS AW8 underwhelming - it struggles to fill my Indica with deep bass - It sounds more like artificial DSP'd mid bass. I prefer the Blaupunkt XLF 200A I got second-hand in my Etios - It goes a lot lower. You should check out the Blaupunkt XLF10A - It's cheaper too.

Here's what BHPian akhil chandu had to say about the matter:

What a coincidence! I just installed an Alpine PWE 7700e-el underseat subwoofer under the driver seat in my Honda City ZX i-DTEC. It’s a new 7-inch model, compact and was a proper fit, just that the seat had to be raised slightly.

Previously I was using an Infinity Primus 12 inch subwoofer in the boot. Initially, I had planned for an underseat and I’ve tried many but due to the space issue under the seat, none of them could fit. Hence had to go for a proper boot subwoofer. But then somehow found the bass too heavy and boomy. Moreover, it was loud for people sitting at the back and there was significant loss by the time it hit the front passenger. Hence when I got to know about this underseat, took the plunge.

I would say it’s decent in delivering tight bass. But then due to the space issue, the subwoofer touches the seat and transmits lots of vibrations onto the seat and it gets uncomfortable at times. Consider this before proceeding. In my opinion, for Honda City, a proper boot subwoofer works the best. Get a small one if you don’t want heavy bass.

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