DYohn wrote:
A "mini amplifier"? Not a good idea. The factory sub uses a factory amp and should not have any sort of power booster applied to it. Go back and have them remove the "little red box" thingy. If you insist on using the factory speakers, you will have to live with the quality trade offs that implies. If I was you, I'd replace of them all as soon as you can afford to do so. |
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Ok I was being a little 'coy' --
It is a Power Driver to be specific. It slightly increases the voltage on the signal going to the Sub.
I am not removing the Driver for a number of reasons.
The Alpine head unit does not put out the voltage to the pre-out channel for the sub that the factory unit did. Lexus pushes their speakers hard,.. especially the IB subs. The voltage from the Alpine was between 1-2v lower than what the factory unit utilized. So the Power driver was put in place.
You have to understand, with the factory head unit in.. The sub and speakers sounded great, and the sub was powerful.
When the alpine unit went in, the 4 speaker channels were great.. the sub was very underpowered due to this voltage.
With the correct voltage increase the sub, once again, performed to its capability. It of course, sounds better with the alpine unit due to the digital processing and digital content I am able to run through it as opposed to the factory unit.
I do, intend on replacing all of the speakers in the car as time and money allows. For now the headunit was first priority. Which is why I went with a 9886 , a unit very capable of handling a very hefty 'sound system'.. expandable and so on.
You also should realize that not all factory speakers are the same. -- Factory speakers generally equivalate to utter crap. In the case of the LS series with their Pioneer and Nakamichi synergy, the Lexus factory speakers are not bad. They are not two 12's with 800 watts... but they are much better than average. -- Again though, I still intend on replacing them within the next 6months or so, sub/amp first, followed by doors.
I am very happy with the sound I have achieved with this setup. The alpine unit has taken the factory speakers beyond the factory sound. Which, again, was not bad. The sub has independent control and crossover built into the 9886, as such I can adjust the sound to the music and the setup.
The only quality 'trade-off' involved here was the Alpine unit not being designed to run a 'factory amplified sub' at X voltage. This was corrected. However the trade off I will have to live with is in order to correct the voltage difference there is a 'pop' when turning off the ignition... until I replace the factory sub with an aftermarket IB design amped at about 300Watts.
I asked this question mainly because it does not occur when the unit is turned off manually. It also does not occur when the car is turned on. Only when the ignition is turned completely off. So I thought there might be something to adjust this sudden 'power loss/build up' or whatever it might be.
I asked the installer, and he .. said.. mine does the same thing.. nothing you can do about it unless you want to remove the power driver. -- As an aside: he also was rushing on the job using unnecessary force trying to figure out how things came apart, as I was watching him prying part of the console apart he was cracking plastic and he slipped and his little pry rig went up to the side of my leather seat. He ripped about a 3 inch hole into it. I wasn't happy, but just walked away. --He said "Well thats not cool." However they are going to pay the bill on that. I got an estimate and for a 2-3inch slit it is going to be $85 at the cheapest place I could find so far. (Still looking for someone cheaper)--
This was unnecessary because it was in the middle of the day and they had no customers .. no other customers had come in the entire time. As long as they foot the bill for the repair it doesn' t bother me though.. Though essentially they lost on their markup for the sale by the mistake.
I will probably install all pieces from here on out myself,.. it might take me 'longer', but I won't be tearing anything up because I will be 'careful' and it is my property thus it will be , obviously, respected.
I went to Soundsgreat,.. what can I expect? -- Though at a more 'custom' shop they are even worse. It is really hard to find a spot that you can trust the installers to be 'good' and take their time *If you don't have the luxury of knowing anyone personally there. I might have ended up with better luck at bestbuy. :)
Thanks for the replies.
-Neofate