lookitsakyauk

I have 2 questions. One question is what are setting that you guys use in regards to freq, volume, and gain? Another question is how long can you leave the stereo on with the basslink with the car off before draining the battery dead?

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

#1 depends on car, mounting location, & type of music. It can vary a great deal from 1 car to the next. There are no magical settings. Best thing is to play with the locations & settings. Spend an hour or 2.

#2 if your have the auto turn off set the unit will power down after 10 minutes. If you have the line level inputs used it will shut off with whatever source you ran a turn on/off lead to.
There's no battery draining going on unless you don't install correctly.

lookitsakyauk

I mean if I am just sitting in my car with the engine off and I still want to listen to music while im sitting there is there any specific amount of time I should not pass in terms of leaving the stereo on with the engine off.

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

Use general wisdom. I wouldn't do more then 1 hour. I've done this but I also have an optima battery. I would invest in a yellow top if you are going to do it often.

uncald4

iTrader: (3)

a RED top. Most people won't benefit from a yellow top Optima.

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

Optima website says yellow for deep cycle applications like listening to your stereo with the engine off.

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

My yellow top does wonders for demanding stereos

uncald4

iTrader: (3)

This is a common misconception with Optima batteries. Everybody started buying Optima yellow tops because all the competition cars had them as auxilary batteries. And the yellow top is a great auxilary battery. It is a DEEP CYCLE battery. It will keep up with consistant loads for a long time. But... a DEEP CYCLE battery needs a long time to charge. It is often the cause of burnt up alternators. It will cause your alternator to constantly charge.

A red top battery is for performance use. If you listen to your stereo loud and have subwoofers that require a large amount of current quickly.... the red top is the battery for this job. It allows stored power to be pulled quickly from it. It also charges quickly. It takes very little time to charge and saves your alternator life. The red top also helps out your vehicle performance. It provides instantanious power to your ignition system when you stomp on that pedal.

YELLOW TOP = slow charge, slow discharge... great for running your stereo at medium volume for hours with your car off.

RED TOP = quick charge, quick discharge... great for overall vehicle and audio system performance.

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

I haven't seen an alternator die with a yellow top yet.

But I do have a red top in my CL & my Explorer. Just cause I got them cheap on sale.

uncald4

iTrader: (3)

The salespeople at our shop don't know what the fuck they're doing and usually sell a yellow top to customers that don't need one. More than half of the time we're swapping out the battery or sending them to get a new alternator. This usually happens once every three or four weeks. The autoparts stores next to our shop love our salespeople!

This goes back to my favorite saying.....

"Salespeople lie almost as much as customers do."

uncald4

iTrader: (3)

Sorry for the HIJACK fella's.

You should be able to listen to music at a medium volume for a couple of hours without it running. Key in ACC position. If not... your battery is toast. Replacing your battery will fix your problem. Replacing it with an Optima battery will put you ahead of the game.

You can run a REDTOP Optima until it's completely dead. Let it sit for five minutes and your car will crank right up. You drive your car for over an hour with all the lights and the stereo on.... without an alternator. If you have an Optima battery. I know, because I've done it.

Rapmaster0

About how much does the yellow and red tops run?

uncald4

iTrader: (3)

A REDTOP Optima usually runs around $120. Costco and SAMS always has the best price. I've seen them at Costco for $100 bucks at times.

The YELLOWTOP Optima is usually around $150 to $180.

There are various "off brand" versions of the Optima batteries. Some of them are even made by Optima. But.... it might make sense to pay less now, but it'll cost you more dollars later!

Osmodious

I have a TSX and the BassLink works quite well for me...I had it from a previous car (Audi A4).

Basically, I mounted it to a board that I had covered with felt (matched A4 trunk carpet) so I could easily remove it if I needed the cargo space....it's secured on the bottom with heavy duty velcro that sticks to the carpet pretty well. Being that it is mounted to this board, I've been able to easily move it around the trunk to find the best location for both sound quality/loudness and convenience.

Basically, it is currently directly behind the driver's side rear seat, firing sideways (toward the right side of the car). This is the best compromise location, at least in the TSX. I also leave the rear armrest down...with it up there is a trifle less 'punch'. I actually got the best volume out of the thing when it was in the back right corner, firing left...this proved to be A) inconvenient if you need to use the trunk, B) ugly from a wiring perspective, C) TOO loud in some cases...also, the sound quality degraded significantly if anything (even a backpack) was put in the trunk.

In the current position (left side front of trunk), the sound is loud but not overpowering, there is decent punch and little boominess, and the sound quality is not really impacted by putting things in the back of the trunk (my golf clubs are back there now across the rear of the trunk...no impact to volume or SQ). If you put anything in the front of the trunk, next to the BassLink, it makes it very, very boomy (some people like their bass this way, it makes my eardrums vibrate and my stomach ache). For the rare occasions when I have to put something in that part of the trunk, I turn down the 'bass level' control for the BassLink that I installed in the armrest (ran the cable under the seat).

As to the settings on the unit itself...well, that's going to depend on which car you have, the stereo you have (stock speaker setup, etc.), what you are trying to achieve with the BassLink and your overall taste. In the case of the TSX, the rear deck speakers are already low pass filtered, so they kind of act as subs (not very low, though). I just disconnected them and ran their cables (using a Metra speaker adapter set) into the speaker-level inputs of the Basslink. I have the crossover turned all the way up to 120hz since I am asking the BassLink to replace those midbass speakers from the shelf. The gain setting is going to vary from car to car (and taste), so mine doesn't matter (right around the center, though)...and the boost setting I left right in the center (same caveats apply to this knob). The one I couldn't figure out was the 'Phase' switch...didn't seem to do much of anything, so I occasionally flip it around just to see if it sounds different (not really).

By the way, with the BassLink speaker level inputs, you don't need to worry about using the 'turn on signal' wire...it will sense the power on the speaker lines and turn itself on (and off, though there is a 1-3 minute delay on that, haven't timed it but it stays on for at least a minute after the car is off).

Oh, one final thing...if this IS a TSX, you will want to do a search for the 'amp & sub install' thread...good tips on how to get through the firewall. I used the large grommet just to the left of center of the firewall...it has a plastic base that you do NOT want to separate the grommet from (it's a #^%& to get back on)...try to cut the grommet in the very center and get the cable through the center of the plastic base (or, better yet, push on the side tabs and take the whole grommet/base out as a unit).

Overall I'm pleased with the enhancement from the BassLink. I appear to have lost a fairly significant amount of mid-bass, so this is a temporary solution for me (until I get better speakers...then I will either remove the BassLink or turn the crossover down to the more normal 30-50hz range). Most people think it sounds a LOT better, and the punch on well produced, bass-heavy recordings is fantastic (hard to believe it is only a single 10" sub...no doubt using the trunk as a 'box' helps here). Of course, my review mirror has dislodged 3 times during heavy duty Metallic or Chili Peppers listening sessions, but that's a small price to pay...

Hope this helps a bit...

Os.

lookitsakyauk

thats what i wanted to learn a bit more about. Thanks. As for battery I have a standard everlast and while not great it gets the job done. My main concern was if I left my stereo on for maybe 1/2 an hour and my battery would be drained but based on the comments here it seems like this will not be an issue.

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

1/2 hour isn't a problem. You could get 1 of those battery buddy things that will sense when you have only enough juice to start the car & shut off your battery load. You can pick one up on Ebay for $20