http://www.orionwarrior.com/files/cts1.jpg

OBJECTIVE: Improve "Old People" Bass


Part 1: Setup...

1. A clean slate ($0):
http://www.orionwarrior.com/files/trunk1.jpg

2. Factory Bose amp ($0 - if you have this option):
http://www.orionwarrior.com/files/bossamp.jpg

3. FatMat Megafatpak ($70):
http://www.orionwarrior.com/files/fatmat.jpg

4. Infinity Basslink ($200) with PAC OEM-2 ($25):
http://www.orionwarrior.com/files/basslink.jpg

5. Remote Potentiometer (included):
http://www.orionwarrior.com/files/pot.jpg

... I was real happy that the Basslink came with the remote pot. It's nice to be able to adjust the bass right from the driver's seat. The basslink I previously owned didn't have this feature...
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

I will be installing this weekend... stay tuned for more pics. I'm going the pic up 8 gauge amp install kit and hopefully some Delphi weatherpak connectors... My goal is to be able to unplug and remove the unit in less than a minute if I need the trunk space.

This is EXACTLY what I want to do. I have the basslink and the oem-2 will arrive on Monday. This will save me a ton of troubleshooting if it works out ok. Please document everything you can, especially the oem-2 hookup. The only difference is that I have the base radio.

Stage 2: Completed install

Here's some pics of the completed install. I made it so all I have is one cable for power then two RCA cables. I can take it out of my trunk in about 15 seconds for more space... I also ran enough cable so I can leave it plugged in and set the unit outside the trunk on the ground... if I had the inkling to do that.

It works great... but I still have to "tune" it. Stay tuned for all the install info... wiring, cable runs, hardware, etc,... I'll post all the technical details... right now I'm too tired.

:rolleyes:

http://www.orionwarrior.com/files/after1.jpg

http://www.orionwarrior.com/files/after2.jpg

http://www.orionwarrior.com/files/after3.jpg

http://www.orionwarrior.com/files/after4.jpg

http://www.orionwarrior.com/files/after5.jpg

http://www.orionwarrior.com/files/after6.jpg

http://www.orionwarrior.com/files/after7.jpg

Please hurry with the details. I just received my OEM2 today and it seems a little complicated to wire. Your idea on making the basslink removeable is great. How did you attach the unit to the floor of the trunk? Also, the plug and extension wire is cool. I need info on this, too. Same goes for that RCA connector plate. The more info the better. I want to do this correct the first time. Thanks for doing the dirty work.

Here's the electric details:

This is the OEM-2 spec instruction sheet:

PAC OEM-2 pdf (http://www.orionwarrior.com/files/oem2instr.pdf)

Here's the right connector (blue) on the bottom right side of the bose factory amp when you are looking at it (courtesy of CTSOWNERS.COM). This is the only factory connector you need to tap into:

http://www.orionwarrior.com/files/pin1.jpg

Here's the connector I used... it's a trolling motor plug you can buy at West Marine for about $30. It's rated for 30amps... plenty of current capability.

http://www.orionwarrior.com/files/connector.jpg

Here's the connection diagram that I made... I tried to make it easy...

http://www.orionwarrior.com/files/connect.jpg

I went to West Marine and purchased the connector. It's rated for greater than the circuit requirements and it's actually weather and shock proof... and extra bonus. :)

The RCA terminal board I got at Radio Shack. It was under $5. You will have to solder the connections on the back... then I put heat shrink over it also.

First thing I did was line the trunk with Fatmat... it's basically the same thing as Dynamat (butyl roofing insulation) but a little cheaper. If you really want to go EL-Cheapo... you could get something similar at Home Depot. FatMat is kindof of pain to deal with, but not too bad. It's extremely tacky... but yet doesn't stay stick the greatest upside down, like on the rear deck underside. The adhesive also will discolor your trunk if you decide to pull it back up... so make sure you want it there before you do this. It does cut down on road noise and therefor your sound will be better. It's also best to heat the surface you are laying it on with a heat gun... it molds easier that way. I did about 80% of the trunk with this.

THIS IS NOT THE ONLY WAY TO DO THIS. However.... it does work and sounds great.

I connected into the factory amp to the PAC OEM-2 with the diagram above... don't worry about all the other leads... you don't need them. I used the OEM-2 as an isolation circuit and filter. It isolates the two circuits and prevents noise between them.

The factory amp has no remote turn on... but the Digital Data Bus cuts on the input signal to the amp... that's the B11 connection on the pin diagram. It's about 5.5-6v and sufficient to provide turn on power for the Basslink. Don't even connect that thru the OEM-2... I just wired it to the plug.

I mounted the plug connector and RCA connector to the trunk shell... then made all the connections. The plug is really easy to hook up... you just need wire strippers and a screw driver. The back side of the RCA connector is solder and heat shrink.

The part I dreaded the most was running the battery cable... and for good reason. Although it sucked... it actually only took about 45 minutes. I ran the cable through the large fire wall gromment at the driver's shin level... to the left of the steering column. I actually came in through the other side. If you lay down on the driver's side you can reach your hand up through a hole just behind the wheel well. That goes straight up to the boot on the engine compartment side of the firewall. I made a slit with a razor blade on the bottom then pushed the 8 gauge wire through into the cavity. This really sucks... especially if you don't have small hands. Then I used a bent needle nose plier and fish hooked the wire through to the cabin side (as you see in the picture above)

I used a 8 gauge amp install kit, 20 amp inline fuse, replacement GM battery post with amp connecting point and matching power line connecter... all pictured above. You can get those at Pep Boys or Sound Advice.

I assume you have some electrical/electronic background and can handle the basics... connecting to battery properly, making electrical connections, double and triple checking your wiring before power on, etc...

Hmmm... can't think of anything else. Just let me know if you want more details. Good luck. It is some work but I'm real happy with the results. Oh yeah... You don't have to mount the Basslink... it just sits fine by it's own weight and the supplied stands. I'm actually going to mount it on it's side with the other stands... it's sounds better that way too.

Ok now a couple of questions.

Did you hook to bose sub back up?

Which rca jacks did you hook the sub up to front or rear?

Most of all how does it sound?

Oh yeah... if everything is working correctly... the red light power indicator will be lit. That works with the databus... so it turns on and off with the bus... not the radio sound. It will turn on when you open the door and turn off a few minutes after you leave.

It's probably safest to unplug the unit when the red light is off. I don't think it would harm anything... but you are unplugging the the battery voltage, ground, and remote turn on at the same time... and if the remote turn on is still powered, it could possibly cause a transient to the Basslink circuitry. This is just the safest thing to do.

Ok now a couple of questions.

Did you hook to bose sub back up?

Which rca jacks did you hook the sub up to front or rear?

Most of all how does it sound?


The bose sub I didn't touch at all... it's still there and I didn't touch any connections. Just tapped into the connections above.

I used both front and rear inputs into the Basslink. This is the best way to get good non-fading base in all radio situations.

I'm very pleased with the sound. I owned a basslink before and knew what to expect. IT IS NOT COMPETITION BASE THOUGH. If you are looking for that.. don't do this setup. It does provide great loud low base but not hard punch. It does sounds like how I wish my radio would have sounded when I bought it. All the lows are there now. The bose system actually captures the highs and mids very well... now I have the lows I want.

This setup provides absolutely no noise, speaker whine, etc. This is largely due to the OEM-2. The Basslink sound integrates seemlessly with the Bose. It's completely adjustable from the finger screws on the unit and comes with a remote level pot too. I haven't installed that yet but plan on putting it in the glove compartment.

The nice thing is it's movable inside the trunk and just sits where you put it. I'm still trying to tune it to the optimum placement and settings for the best bass. Stay tuned.

ALL in all... I spent under $500 and got the bass and flexibility that I wanted.

Good job man... congrats.

An idea which I have not had time to check....does not the Bose amp turn on and off with the radio? If so could you not use that power source for the remote turn on?

All sounds great. The wiring diagram is very good. One problem: I have the base not bose system. I am not even sure where the base amp is located. Is it in the same location? Would I go to miscreants site to find the corresponding connection points for that amp? I just want to avoid any problems.

One more thing, doesn't the OEM2 have a remote sensing circuit that you connect to a speaker wire to use to turn on the new amp?

Steven-H... the Bose amp does not use a remote turn on lead. I think it might turn on and off by a signal sensing circuit that sensing if an audio input signal. This audio input is controlled by a Data bus.

Nitany... I'm not sure about the location of the non-Bose amp... you can find the connectors here:

Connectors (http://www.ctsowners.com/?page=04connectors)

The "U66" are for the non-Bose.

UPDATE!

I noticed today a hum when the amp turns off. It lasts for about 2 seconds. This wasn't there when I tested it before. After the car turns off... the radio is off but there still is an audio input voltage at pin B11 (where I hooked my remote on/off power. This goes away in a few seconds when the data bus turns it off... then the red light goes out on the Basslink. It's right before the light goes out that I'm getting the humm. :hmm:

At first, I thought it might be a ground loop problem because of the length of ground wire I used. I have some ground loop isolators... so I put them on the input and the problem was still there.

It's not a main power problem because the unit doesn't do it when the input RCA cables aren't connected...

Therefore, it should be the remote turn on power source that's causing the problem. Originally, I wired the unit to be as simple as possible... but the best answer here I think is to use the low voltage trigger of the OEM-2 to be the remote turn on the Basslink... like NitanyCTS said.

I think this problem is not serious and the OEM-2 low voltage trigger will fix it. Nitany... if you haven't started wiring yet, I'd wire it this way... or just wait for me to do it and I'll let you know how it works out.

My work week is tight during the week... but I'll get it done within a few days.

Nothing started yet. Still getting my plans together. It's good that you are getting the bugs out for us interested parties. Saves a lot of headaches. I still have to buy parts and the power wire.

I have another question and that is how did you route the power cable after entering the firewall. Pull up door sills and if so how? Also where did you pick up a ground?

Sorry for the delay... busy right now... :banghead:

Steven-H: yep... I put the power cable inside a cable protector and tucked it right under that sill... very easy and very nice fit. I used the solid cable protector for straight runs and used the snake wrap in the trunk where the cable bends more. I pulled out the back seat (also easy to do... just pull at two places on the bottom from part of cushion) and routed the cable through a hole where the factory amp cable run goes behind driver side rear shoulder cushion.

There is a great ground connection to the left of the Bose AMP that works well and minimizes the amount of ground wire.

-------------------------------------

Ok... fixed the speaker hum... it had to do with using the remote connection on pin B-11 right to the Basslink as wired previously. Right before the databus turned this off... the voltage would drop near 5 volts. This is the required voltage of the Basslink and would cause it too hum because the voltage was too low.

I added the red switched power wire to battery, black to ground, then ran B-11 to the blue w/white input of the OEM-2, then the OEM-2 blue w/white output to the basslink via the plug.

Now the OEM-2 provides a clean 12v turn on power when there is an input on B-11.

I haven't had any humming or noise... I'm pretty much done now. :D

http://www.orionwarrior.com/files/wiring.jpg

Here's an Excel file if it helps(right click, save target as...):
Excel connection diagram (http://www.orionwarrior.com/files/connect.xls)
-------------------------------

Another note... you don't need the Infinity remote bass potentiometer with this hook up. It works directly with the bass control on the factory radio.

Thanks for all your help. Just waiting for all the parts to arrive!

:bouncy: Just finished my install and I am very pleased. In fact it is better than anticipated.

Great job :thumbsup:

Glad to hear you are happy too. I'm quite pleased with my sound system now. Did you do anything different in your install?

Great job :thumbsup:

Glad to hear you are happy too. I'm quite pleased with my sound system now. Did you do anything different in your install?

Not really. Rather then get under car for power run, I ran a piece of coax RG-6 from inside car through grommet and pulled power wire in. In the rear rather than use the 4 female rca strip I just ran rca cables under side panel. This way I just have power connector in side panel. Easer to explain at trade in!

OK, I just finished my operation basslink. I followed all the directions on running the power wire but the wiring on the OEM-2 was different since I have a non-Bose radio. The amplifier is in the same location as the Bose so that wasn't a problem. I ran my wires under the side panel instead of the plugs. The Basslink works great with deep bass. Here's how I wired the OEM-2:

Non Bose OEM-2 Amp Output wiring
Plug

OK, I just finished my operation basslink. I followed all the directions on running the power wire but the wiring on the OEM-2 was different since I have a non-Bose radio. The amplifier is in the same location as the Bose so that wasn't a problem. I ran my wires under the side panel instead of the plugs. PepBoys had a neat gold plated battery side amp adapter that looked good. The Basslink works great with deep bass. On the OEM2 output, I just used the plugs for front and back and plugged them into the Basslink.
Here's how I wired the OEM-2:

Non Bose OEM-2 Amp Output wiring
Plug Color OEM2 In OEM2 Out
A1 Purp gray/blk gray/blk Right Front -
A2 Lt grn grey grey Right Front +
A3 Tan White White Left Front +
A4 Yellow Wht/Blk Whit/Blk Left Front -
A5 Drk Blue Blue/white Blue/white Remote turn on
A7 Dblue/wht Green green Left Rear (sub1)+
A8 Ltgrn/blk Green/blk Green/blk Left Rear (sub1)-
A9 Dk grn Violet Violet Right Rear (Sub2)+
A10 Ltbl/blk Violet/blk Violet/blk Right Rear (Sub2)-
Power Red Red
Ground Black Black

Non Bose (U66) http://www.cadillacfaq.com/faq/answers/connector/index.html#tab2

Thanks again, smuook, for doing all the groundwork on this. You made it a very easy mod.

NP... glad it worked for you too. I'm really happy with the sound now. Everytime I show someone I get very positive comments. Congrats. :thumbsup:

Now I have to figure out what to do about everything vibrating. Sitting in the backseat feels a little strange with the seat vibrating. Very strong bass. Also, what does that fatmat/dynamat lining you put in the trunk supposed to do? Stop vibrations or keep the bass from going outside the vehicle? I didn't put any in.

Well, it's kinda hard to say about the fatmat because I changed 2 things at once... by adding the basslink and fatmat. So my base sounds alot better from both effects.

The fatmat does cut the road noise from the trunk... no doubt about that. I notice that if the radio is off. But... the CTS is already a very quiet car. So don't expect a huge change.

On most other cars... the fatmat/dynamat is probably a HUGE deal because of the road noise reduction. I think it helped with my car and all-in-all I'd install it again.

Hope that helps.

Anyone still have the photos? I just ordered my OEM2.

Can you guys recommend an online vendor that sells the PAC OEM-2?

Oops...nevermind. I found it at Crutchfield. They didn't put it on the page with all their other line output converters. :cookoo:

Now I have to figure out what to do about everything vibrating. Sitting in the backseat feels a little strange with the seat vibrating. Very strong bass. Also, what does that fatmat/dynamat lining you put in the trunk supposed to do? Stop vibrations or keep the bass from going outside the vehicle? I didn't put any in.
It does reduce rattling by killing vibration. To read a really good explanation, go to their website and search for the tutorial.

Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I ran into something that needs to go here.

I have a non bose radio. When I went to Crutchfield to buy the PAC OEM 2 interface I got an automated message which states that "This item is NOT recommended for your vehicle". I contacted Crutchfield to see what they would say about it and got back:

"Thanks for your e-mail, and for shopping the Crutchfield web site.

I will be happy to help with your question on the Infinity Basslink. The PAC
OEM-2 is an interface used to integrate a new in-dash stereo into certain
vehicles. Since you aren’t replacing your stereo, this adapter isn’t needed. The
only extra wiring you need is power and ground wire. I recommend purchasing a
kit with all the wiring you need, fuse holders, fuses, and all. Use this link to
view one that would work:

http://www.crutchfield.com/I-rsemc019/cgi-bin/Prodview.asp?i=211PS10R (javascript:ol('http://www.crutchfield.com/I-rsemc019/cgi-bin/Prodview.asp?i=211PS10R');) "

I am going to go ahead and order the part sinceit seems that everyone used it regardless of the radio type, but I wondered what you guys would make of that.

Thanks for the link, keep us updated.

I had my Basslink installed today using the Pac 2 OEM and it works perfectly.

One thing I can say to anyone planning to do this. In my opinion taking out the rear sub should be mandatory. I haven't done that part yet and when I have the armrest up with the emergency flap thing closed I can barely hear any difference. However, with that part open allowing a port for sound to pass through the bass is very much improved and I am quite satisfied with it.

My installer suggested going ahead and taking the factory sub out but I told him I wanted to see how it would sound if he left it in. Needless to say, I will be returning soon to have it removed unless anyone has any alternative suggestions. :bulb:

My installer suggested going ahead and taking the factory sub out
That is what I have suggested over and over again. The difference is huge.

Okay, so we took the sub out, but now the basslink won't turn on right away. It takes the basslink anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes to come on after you start the car. The installer says that the sub needs to go back in for the basslink to work correctly.

What is going on here? :rant2:

run the speaker wires for the rca adapter off one of the other speakers and there wont be a problem

Okay, he wired straight into the amp and it works fine now. :thumbsup:

I have another question. I am thinking about buying a used basslink unit on ebay and wiring it up to the existing basslink unit that is in the car now, just for a little (should be a lot) more bass.

One thing I don't know is if the rotary knob that I have attached to unit 1 will also control the volume on unit 2 simultaneously or if I would need two rotary knobs; one for each unit. The units without a rotary control obviously cost less, plus I'm not sure if I would want two controllers.

What do you guys think?

I got a second Basslink unit and had it installed today. The unit came with a controller, but my installer was able to just splice the second unit's control wire into the first. So, they both work simultaneously on the single controller!

very cool

The pics don't show up, could you post again or email them to me.
Thanks

Wow...talk about raising an old thread...the pics were posted back in 2004...the website doesn't exist anymore...sorry!

Finished Basslink install in my 02 ETC and boy it really adds to the music !
Thanks to all for advice.

Question! Went out to look at basslink install this morning and noticed the red light on, does this mean the basslink did not shut off all night? Connected directly to speakers in rear for line level inputs. I have a bose system and the people at crutchfield said this would auto sense when the stereos on and enable the basslink. But the basslink stays on even when I unplug the speaker level inputs to it, thats not right is it?

Thanks

For those of you with one (or even two) Basslinks - I understand that the bass isn't rattling windows or setting off alarms, but with the windows opened - can the bass be heard from a distance outside your car/truck? I'm just trying to get an idea how these things sound...

Iono bout the basslink...but my shyt I was told by some friends they heard me coming down the street for a lil bit when they were in the stands at HS football game .... that's over a band, cheerleaders, crowd and football players noise lol.

Got the thing working! The problem was the Bose amps on the rear speakers was keeping the Basslink turned on because they never completely shut off. And when you disconnect them from the Basslink it takes 15 min for the basslink to shut off, there in lies the confusion. Ran a seperate enable line to the basslink and all is well now. And no, it won't set off alarms but thats not what I wanted I wanted something to add low end bass to an otherwise great sounding system at moderate listening levels. It is realativly compact for it's performance level(don't loose a lot of trunk space), I can easily remove it when I trade cars, and it was only 200 buckeroos on Ebay so I have no complaints. + the technical department was very helpful!

Thanks to all for the replys

...can the bass be heard from outside your vehicle?

Yes, pretty well if you have it turned up!

Well, that's all I needed to hear. I don't need to rattle windows or set off alarms - I just want bass strong enough to be heard from outside the vehicle - and "pretty well" sounds fine. Not that I need to have people outside the vehicle hear my music - that's just as loud as I like it inside...

I'll probably get two...

Thank you..