Audio Upgrade: Infinity Basslink

Since installing my cheapo Crutchfield head unit to replace the Porsche stereo (and delete that stupid DSP unit), I've been hankering for some better bass. Since the option of installing a new amp and all new speakers (the conventional route for improving bass) is more than I want to spend, I decided to add an old Infinity Basslink unit I had in the garage from a previous audio project. I pulled the rear carpet panel off and removed the relay panels to see if I could find easy access through the firewall to tap into the + jumper block in the engine bay, but I didn't find an obvious route. Instead, I tapped the + battery terminal, ran the wire through the firewall grommet behind the battery tray under the center-tunnel carpet to the driver-side back seat. This is a close-up of the firewall grommet; it's hugely useful when routing wiring from the front trunk into the cabin. I pulled the rear driver-side speaker out, soldered on a 3-foot length of speaker wire, and ran it behind the trim to the Basslink's high-level jacks. The Basslink can be set to power on automatically when it detects speaker-level input. When situated in this orientation, the Basslink unit fits pretty nicely in the seatwell. Here's what the proof-of-concept install looks like: To do: Move the ground to somewhere hidden (currently using the center anchor for the deleted rear seats), trim and reroute the positive lead, and reroute the speaker-level wiring so it's all hidden behind carpeting. The speaker wire runs from the back of the speaker down to the bottom of the plastic trim, but I need to pull it under the carpet and back up in the seat area so it will be completely hidden by the enclosure. I hate visible wiring. There's also a wired remote I need to situate; I'll probably run it up and situate the remote next to the driver's right knee for easy access with the least visibility... I'll post up a couple of pictures once I get the finalize installation. Even a small (not that 10" is tiny, but in the world of subwoofers it's dainty) powered subwoofer in a car the size of the 996 makes a huge difference; I'm VERY happy with the sound upgrade.

I'm there are a lot of street ladies that would love to sit on it while you turn up the bass! haha! Serious... cool upgrade man!

Nice upgrade and it looks like a simple install. Not the nicest looking device, though.

No, it's not exactly subtle, but I don't think it looks any worse than the other powered subwoofer units out there. I'll put up with the weird rounded box in the back. At least it's not a baby seat.

Forgive me if this has been asked before but how does the Bose factory sub sound? If a good used one can be found, can it be wired into an aftermarket head unit?

I don't know how well the Bose sub for the 996 sounds. I had the Bose "parcel shelf" subwoofer in my 986, and it was terrible. Granted, generating bass in a convertible is no small task, but I have not been impressed with any of the Bose gear in the 986 or 996. A thread in the 996 Turbo forum described the 996 sub as "lousy." I think the reviewer was being generous. To answer your question in a less deliberately obtuse manner: I believe the Bose is designed to be run in series with the door speakers; I do not believe the impedance would be correct without rewiring the enclosure, and the sound quality of the enclosure with the factory drivers isn't good enough to warrant the work. If I was going to use the Bose box, I would definitely update it with better drivers, but the depth of the unit limits speaker choices. I struggled with the factory equipment and Byzantine wiring harness for far too long with the 986; I won't repeat that mistake with the 996.

I figured as much. Not a lot of room for a sub in this car. The aftermarket Pioneer head unit and the Hertz 163.3 speakers sound pretty good. Think I'm gonna just leave it as is. Don't want to give up the back seats, grandkids love it back there, and other options seem to take too much room from the passenger footwell. I wish there was room for one of those "under seat" units but I'm told there is not. Sighhhhhh.

The Bose "Shelf" sub unit is a "band pass" unit that contains two 5/14" (IINM) drivers. They come from the factory running at one ohm each, wired in parallel. Most power amps have a two ohm sub-woofer output. If you wire them in series to a decent power amp, that problem ias solved and, if you have a power amp and head unit that allow effective equalization, you can get decent bass from them. There is nothing inherently bad about them, plus the unit isn't fugly.

I'm all for people trying to improve the stock audio. Thankfully, I was not blessed with the parcel-shelf Bose unit in my 996; I've been there once. I spent far too much money on a 2-ohm stable amp to power my 986's upgraded drivers, including a modified rear shelf sub box. "Decent bass" is just as subjective as "fugly;" I would never burn that much time or money again on a 986/996 factory bass enclosure. The Bose units were criminally poor considering they were installed in $80-$100K high-end sports cars. The factory setup in my $40K '96 Corvette absolutely destroys the sound quality of the non-MOST system in my '99 and the MOST system in my '03. To each his own; I won't own another one of those subs.

Based on these comments I think I'm just going to leave it as is and listen to the flat six behind me! That's the REAL music.

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I don't blame you. I installed a nice Blaupunkt HU and amp system and fortunately, the original owner purchased the "HiFi digital sound" upgrade which meant 10 speaker/6 channel system including bass enclosures in the doors. I EQ'd the sub bass audio signal to route to those bass speakers and when I took my daughter for a ride, I had to pull over because the bass was giving me a headache from all of her funky monkey music she likes to listen to. Literally the bass will rattle your teeth and muddy up the mid and high freq. Pointless in my opinion. I ended up turning down the bass and boosting the mids to make the music pop out from the motor noise and such. Now, I can even drive at highway speeds and listen to talk radio clearly. Yay!

Yup. Gonna stop looking now, my head hurts!

Thanks for posting the pic. I didn't know the dimension of the infinity basslink, that gives me a better perspective. I saw one on sale and thought about it.