Lost my bass

[DigitalVortex]

03 Vibe with the 6 disc CD changer which I think was the M & T package (as I have a sunroof too). Initial problem was CDs would not eject at all. But the sound from the system was normal.My wife had the car into the dealer to take care of a problem with the exhaust and she mentioned this issue to them while it was there. They told her we pulled and put back in the fuse for the radio. Seems to work. And they were right...it worked, altho sluggishly. New problem suddenly surfaced - the bass response in the system is completely gone and we have to turn the volume up higher than normal to hear it at all.Obvious has been checked. I've messed with the tone settings to the extreme of setting the trebble and mid to -6 and the bass to +6. I still get no decent bass response. The battery has been replaced as well.What little I've been able to gather from at least one other before me is the potential of it being the amp. I didn't even know there was an amp in the car. There wasn't any resolution on that thread back in 2007 tho (so yeah, I made an effort to search for a solution first).Is there a way to test the existing amp to find out if it died on me? I imagine I may have to remove it from under the passenger seat. Any tips on doing that? -- I don't have a shop manual. From what I get out of the owner's manual, there is only one fuse for the audio system. That fuse is ok.I'd sincerely appreciate any guidance that can be offered. Thanks!

[lovemyraffe]

Kudos on searching old threads first. This will make others happy. My first thought would be the amp. It is either fried or not plugged in.

[DigitalVortex]

Thanks for the response! So am I correct in assuming that the only wiring and "box" I see under the passenger seat is the amp? I noticed there's a "box" with wiring under the driver's seat too and have no idea what that's for. I don't have power seats (not sure if it was an option).I imagine that the first easy step would be to check connections on the amp and clean contacts. If that fails to resolve it, I suppose it's a matter of finding a replacement. Is there any way to bench test an amp for functionality? I'm not afraid of mechanical and electrical work -- I'm just not familiar with specifics on audio amplifiers. Always ready and willing to learn.

[lovemyraffe]

My amp is under the driver's seat. I'm not sure what is under the passenger seat, but I'm not real familiar with the M&T package either. I'm not a sound genius, just my philosophy is start with the easiest/cheapest thing first.

[Sublimewind]

You have an amp under one seat and a module for something under the other seat... the sub should be in the back on the side of the cargo area.. IIRC... I would have to say the stock amp kicked the bucket.. It's hard to say from here though... If you look in the DIY section (I think that's where I put it) there is a post, by me, to a link to the factory service manual... it's online, so you don't even have to DL anything... It "may" help you troubleshoot, it may not..

[DigitalVortex]

Thanks much! I found the links in the Maintenance Bay part of the forum. I'll be checking stuff out tonight. From what I'm seeing they're for the Matrix. I take it that the Vibe is simply GM re-badging the Matrix? I have noticed looking under the hood in the past the various Toyota named parts....

[Sublimewind]

Yes, the Vibe and the Matrix are the same car..

[DigitalVortex]

It made sense to me that the amp could be bad. Found a "new-sed" (new to me, used item) amp with correct part number on eBay. Bought it, as to me, the $65 including shipping seemed reasonable.Anyway, I got it today, pulled the old one out, put the "new-sed" one in, tried the radio and.....still sounds like crap. When I adjust mid and treble there is an audible difference. When I adjust bass, I might as well be doing nothing...as that's the difference in the sound as I go from +6 to -6 on the scale.Am I correct in assuming that the wiring into/out of the amp takes care of any power and grounding needs? Or does the unit need to be bolted down to have a ground? As I write this, it's not a good time for me to go back out and work on it (gots kids to watch), but I didn't bolt the amp in place - it's wired up and laying under the seat.I don't see any wiring disconnected from harnesses under the dash. So is the only thing left, a problem with the head unit?

[Sublimewind]

it should have power and ground in the harness... sounds more like the sub died now, and or one or more of the stock mids..... sucky..

[DigitalVortex]

Appreciate the affirmation that grounding/power would come through the harness. It's really odd to me that any of the speakers themselves would fail -- only because neither the wife (primary driver) or I crank the sound high enough to blow anything. But anything is possible I suppose.Altho the manual is helpful, it shows nothing about a sub woofer. In my own continued effort to search for stuff before asking, I turned up this review http://www.epinions.com/review...88516 that suggests there was no sub on the '03. I've read several articles on this forum to indicate there is one as well as you describing a potential location. Up till this problem, I thought my bass was coming from the front and rear speakers on the doors, but it would seem I was wrong and my hearing sucks enough that a high end sound system would be wasted on me.So...where is the sub? In a previous post, you had said "the sub should be in the back on the side of the cargo area.. IIRC..." Could you be a little more specific with regard to where I should look? These things aren't usually tiny so it should be obvious. Is it hidden behind interior panels that need to be removed?Thanks again for the thoughts/guidance. I lack the funds to make the sound system all it can be (and more). I'd just like to get it listenable again.

[Sublimewind]

Hmm, I didn't think about the 03 NOT having the sub.. If it did, it would be in the hatch on the passenger side panel and would be easy enough to see as there would be a 8-10" hole in the panel for the sub to vent through.. or it would be under a front seat (I think, 2 different systems)I've not done much audio anything to my vibe, I have my "other" car for that... so in a lot of respects, i'm not that helpful...lol... I've done audio related things for the past 15yrs, including going to school for it, so I'm plenty qualified, it's just my knowledge of the Vibe stock audio is limited.. My Vibe has the basic system in it... no amp, no sub.. Are you getting sound from the 4 corners? I mean, have you put your head next to each one and confirmed sound?? Also, when doing this, have you confirmed that one or more speaker sounds bad...?? The stock system sucks.. period.. many have blown things without trying.. The manufacture uses as cheap of parts as possible to get by.. One way or another, we'll get to the bottom of it.. it could just take a little time..

[DigitalVortex]

Well, I think I'm considerably closer to a solution now. Not happy, but closer nonetheless. System layout includes head unit with integrated 6 disc changer, 2 tiny speakers on each door (inboard of side view mirrors), 2 speakers at lower front of front doors, and 2 speakers at lower front of back doors. There's an amp under the passenger seat and an inverter under the driver's seat. There is no visible speaker of any kind in the cargo area and I therefore surmise, no sub-woofer.I tested each speaker today. First the fronts by shifting the fader to nothing but the front. There was no audible bass on any of the 4 front speakers and moving the bass control up and down had no effect. There was no vibration.I shifted all sound output to the 2 back speakers. On these I heard a small difference between +6 and -6 bass. I even felt a little vibration on the speaker grills.I have a pair of old Pioneer shelf/deck 3-way speakers (they were great back in the day for a non-perm install in a classic car). I took one and connected the leads to the front right speaker wires. I had bass. So, it appears I have witnessed a set of speakers dying (bass response wise) without any crackling or other signs I've heard in the past. The bass just stopped! So with this in mind, it looks like my fix is a set of two new speakers for the front doors. I think the two tiny ones inboard of the side view mirrors are just tweeters with no bass response -- or am I wrong? And once I figure out what speakers to get, the hardest part will be drilling out the darned rivets (why the heck did GM do that?).Thanks for all the help. I'm feeling a little dumb now. Some day I may stop making things tougher than they have to be. But darn it...this is the first time I've "heard" a set fail in this way.

[Sublimewind]

No need to feel "dumb" you were just ignorant to the fact, and you know the nice thing about ignorance..... it's FIXABLE...!!! If you where stupid, there would be no hope for ya.. lol.. Yeah, stock simple sucks... they do the least they can to get by... the VERY least... You know a manufacture can save millions, by removing a strand of copper from a wire... If they need 10 million feet of it... so they will... Same goes for the audio.. Have a look at some of the other threads down the page... i've already made some good suggestions on nice replacement speakers...Yes, the little spaker high in the door is a tweeter, a very crappy on at best, too... If you DO get some new speakers, don't bother with them... it's most likely that you will get new tweeters of some sort with the new speaker and they will be 100x better anyway... One thing to consider is going with a component or coaxial... Components have the tweeter separate from the woofer, so if you want to mount them in the stock location, you can... A coaxial has the tweeters mounted in the center of the woofer, much like the 3ways you eluded to.. Coaxials usually don't have as nice of a passive crossover with them though (it passively splits the frequencies up and sends the highs to the tweeter and lows to the woofer) consider that... BUT, with a components set like the Phenix Gold RSD, they are all of 40-80$ depending on where you get them, and they get GREAT reviews.. (just something to consider)I told ya, we would get to the bottom of this...lol..

[DigitalVortex]

Ok...ref the Phoenix Gold RSD65CS component units, I have a couple questions:1. They have a depth of 2-7/8" from what I've been able to find. Will they fit depth-wise and/or would I need additional hardware to mount them such as some sort of stand off? I'd be mounting a new set in the front doors. Will eventually get new ones for the back doors, but don't need them right away.2. The component tweeter....would that replace the tweeter up at the side view mirror?My goals are to get a pair of speakers that are listenable (I'm not an audiophile) that have nice tonal response for primarily POP/Rock (that's what the wife listens to the most). Low cost is good. And ease of install would be a bonus, as I'm not overly experienced and I already know I'm going to have to drill out rivets in order to get the factory ones out.I'm going to look at other threads to see what others have already installed, but as you mentioned these specifically, I figured I'd ping you back on them. Sadly, most local specialty houses in my area have dried up over the years for lack of biz so I don't have to many options to "walk in and listen" either.

[Sublimewind]

Quote, originally posted by DigitalVortex »Ok...ref the Phoenix Gold RSD65CS component units, I have a couple questions:1. They have a depth of 2-7/8" from what I've been able to find. Will they fit depth-wise and/or would I need additional hardware to mount them such as some sort of stand off? I'd be mounting a new set in the front doors. Will eventually get new ones for the back doors, but don't need them right away.2. The component tweeter....would that replace the tweeter up at the side view mirror?My goals are to get a pair of speakers that are listenable (I'm not an audiophile) that have nice tonal response for primarily POP/Rock (that's what the wife listens to the most). Low cost is good. And ease of install would be a bonus, as I'm not overly experienced and I already know I'm going to have to drill out rivets in order to get the factory ones out.I'm going to look at other threads to see what others have already installed, but as you mentioned these specifically, I figured I'd ping you back on them. Sadly, most local specialty houses in my area have dried up over the years for lack of biz so I don't have to many options to "walk in and listen" either.Yeah, it's a shame what the internet and the big box stores have done to car audio "mom-n-pop" shops, these days... My issues is distance, I'd have to drive 20mi to hear "decent" gear, 40mi to hear better gear and who knows how far to hear the good stuff... so it's logistics for me.. So I read a lot and frequent audio sections like this, to both teach AND learn..I can't say what all you would need to install the RSD's in your vibe.. a spacer is usually needed... some modify the stock spacer, most come with spacers of some sort.. spacers CAN be made rather easily out of simple, cheap, plastic cutting boards, if you are crafty.. a jigsaw/rotoizip and drill is all that's really requiredIn my Subaru (the car I do most all of my work on) I've used and aftermarket spacer (white) and a modified stock spacer (black) to get those beasty mids in my doors... The Vibe is a FAR easier car to get speakers in... Send a IM to "Audiovibe" he's the resident Vibe audio guru IMHO.. he's doing an incredible sound quality install in his Vibe.. I'm sure he can offer pointers, better than I... The tweeters may or may not be able to fit the factory location, again, i'm just not sure on that point... the RSD component tweeters are rather large... (they are a GREAT tweeter from all i've read though)I will go out on a limb and say that the RSD is easily the best value priced component set available today.. I spend a LOT of time on the audio forums and they simply get rave reviews, especially for the money.. Do a search for PG RDS reviews and see what you dig up..

[DigitalVortex]

Thanks for all the help on this. I finally got around to tackling the project this weekend which went more smoothly than expected. Didn't take pics tho out of sheer laziness and just wanting to get it done.As unknown quantities bother me a little and I couldn't find the RSD65CSs at a real nice price at the time, I put a pair of Rockford Fosgate Punch P163Cs in (I have a similar Punch set in my Saturn and they're decent). So $50 plus my labor (removal of old, modifying the mount/standoffs) I have the new set installed and the system sounds good again. It'll sound better when the rears are replaced too.I'm either going to keep looking for the RSD65CSs, or find a comparable set of decent component speakers (that I can hopefully listen to) in the near future and swap them into the front doors; the Fosgates with find a final home in the back doors.I just can't believe that pretty much all of them went at the same time like the did...guess I have to though cuz it happened. Nuff said and this thread is complete with the solution.