360 Review of Scuderia Audio “Subwoofer” upgrade kit

Well that isn't the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me (Ha ha couldn't resist!).
Seriously, thank you for the nice compliments!

There is a Thai restaurant near my house called "Beyond Thai". They hired a waitress who they promptly had to fire for pressuring customers into giving her big tips.
They wanted to let the customers know that they had taken care of the issue, so they posted a big note on the front door that said:

"IT IS NOT BEYOND THAI'S POLICY TO PRESSURE CUSTOMERS FOR TIPS"

Too funny!!

 

Mike is the best!

 

Yes, Mike makes great products and provides excellent support.

I'm 1000% satsified with his subwoofer.

Dan


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Mike is amazing, love his products!

 

Totally agree!! My new system is a significant improvement over stock and sounds great thanks to Mike!

 

Good read my sub literally just blew so I may pick up this.


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"My master audio technician"

That's what I am talking about! ;-)

 

Not "melted"...someone tried to fix that rotted speaker surround with black silicone RTV! Lol. Save them, both can be repaired if desired in the future...about $30 each. Shops will replace the speaker cone and surround.

 

This is a good idea in theory, but in this case, practically anything is better than OEM. Even if a repair shop replaced the cone and surround with better materials than OEM, you're still stuck with a tiny, crappy magnet and voice coil.

 

I have a question though Mike. My oem sub speakers were in perfect condition. But I noted in base heavy songs it was easy to bottom (popping noise) without turning up that loud. I switched to your system, and while it no longer bottoms or clips, I do notice it does not go as low in bass, or as loud (lower sensitivity). (I realize this is partly the limitation of the Becker Cascade 6112 radio) But I expected the bass to be equal or better to the stock system. Can you confirm the wiring polarity? I would like to make sure I don't have it mixed up, which would certainly cause an issue. I am just wondering if your system is optimized for the HiFi system, rather than the Scuderia system.

 

This is the first I've heard of a degradation in performance with the new min subs (and I've sold around 30 sets already). You may indeed have a polarity problem.
Run the blue wire to one of the speakers +, the black wire to the same speaker -, the red wire to the other speaker + and the yellow wire to that same speaker -.

That being said, there is no free lunch. Bass speakers that deliver more accurate sound are generally stiffer (for that very reason - so they don't pop) and require more power to drive them.
Note that the people who purchase the new super OEM amp along with the mini subs solve all their problems at once. You get way more bass, deeper bass, and much more music coming out of the midranges and tweeters. It is literally a night and day difference. And this is to be expected as you are going from a 60 Watt booster to 400 Watts of high end power. But this is relative. You'll get more bass, but drive them hard enough with 400 Watts and these will eventually start to pop as well. Replace these with an 8" subwoofer and the pop problem goes away. You'll get enough bass to make your hair move.
Regarding the 4" replacement subs, if I sold wimpy speakers as replacements, then the folks who paired them with the super OEM amp would blow them right out of the surrounds. That being said, I've had senior techs install my mini replacement subs and report a significant improvement in the sound, so it would be good to check the polarity.

You do make an excellent point. If purchasing more power is not an option, want to maintain the current driver efficiency at low volume levels and are willing to forego heavy bass songs (or put up with the popping until they destroy themselves) then perhaps it would be better to have the original speakers re coned. Just don't ever listen to a similar system with one of the super OEM amps, you'll never be able to go back.

 

Mike, I checked and I did not wire my speakers per your instructions above in post #13. BUT, it appears to sound worse with the change. I am going to swap back to the way I had it, to confirm in the next hour. But please note that I did the wiring based off the way the original dual voice coil speaker was wired. See this picture from a previous Fchat thread posted by someone else (I think the picture is originally from the Aldousvoice website). It shows blue+, yellow- on one voice coil and on the other voice coil red+ and black-
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Hi Mike, I confirmed that with the wiring set up you are recommending, I am getting some high frequency distortion. When I restored the wiring to match the above picture, it was much cleaner sounding, no distortion. Surprisingly the bass was the same with either set up...I guess since the polarity is correct. But it must be driving the amp weird.

BTW, I am sure your system works great with the HIFI set up in the 360/430. The 430 Scuderia is compromised by the Becker 6112 Cascade radio built in amplification.

 

Looks like this is for those with the optional system with amp and added rear enclosure....what does Scuderia (Mike) recommend for those with stock or other added systems in terms of amp and subwoofer(s locations? I already have an upgraded system (prior owner installed but I had to replace some components he wanted to keep and now I need new midranges and I not in love with the way it is setup - it has amp between seats where the subwoofer shown in these post here is and subwoofers in separate enclosures behind seats)

 

he has nice stuff, super happy with results

 

The OEM "hi-fi" system utilizes a "cradle" that mounts underneath the dash and holds a small booster. Scuderia Audio basically reverse engineered the cradle and developed a slightly larger version that sits in the same location but holds a high end 500 Watt amplifier. They also make a subwoofer enclosure that is similar to the OEM hi-fi offering except that this one holds a JL Audio 8" subwoofer. Regarding the midranges, Scuderia Audio has a kit that includes stainless steel, tig welded adapters that make swapping out the midrange and tweeters for higher end units a breeze. Check out their website at www.scuderiaaudio.com for the details.

 

Thks very much for the info - attached is a pic of my system which was installed by prior owner - sounds good but i dont love the way the woofers take up so much space/are behind seats - on the other hand the cupholders are nice - i had an issue with the midranges which i replaced in doors after my post so I think ill stick for now but will study the scuderiaaudio stuff for future ref