POWER12.1 12" Inch 30cm Subwoofer
Unit With Integrated 12v Power
Amplifier 650w RMS
Instruction manual
Thank you for choosing Bassface. From the simplest connector to our top of the range
amplifier - every element of these products has been designed to give you the best possible
performance for your money. Please take the time to read these instructions carefully as
they contain useful and important information. Modern high power audio systems can
generate voltages at the speaker similar to mains operated equipment – for some reason
everyone seems to ignore or forget this. Your wiring needs to be good to be safe. Please
remember this and take your time. Please exercise caution when setting volume levels –
powerful audio equipment can easily produce enough sound to permanently damage
hearing. Remember that audio competitors use ear protection when operating and
competing. Do remember that incorrect installation or abuse is not covered under warranty
– please make sure that your installation and any partnered product is suitable and
compatible. If you are unsure please seek qualified advice before proceeding. Always use
appropriate hand and eye protection when working with tools, and always work within your
capabilties as an installer. We offer a 12 month manufacturer warranty via your distributor
or retailer. Please retain your purchase receipt as proof of purchase. Please note that
Bassface operates a policy of continuous product development and we reserve the right to
change specification without prior notice. You can follow our process on our website by
reviewing the version history information.
Please note that we sometimes include information inside these manuals which we feel is of
potential value to the client on related subjects such as conversion charts, capacitance
values or wiring diagrams. Please feel free to copy any of this information since it is in the
public domain.
Begin by disconnecting the car battery, taking note of any required precautions suggested
by the vehicle manufacturer such as alarm or radio codes, or on board computer or AGM
battery requirements.
For vehicles with front mounted batteries find a suitable point on the firewall/bulkhead to
run the power wire through. Where the cable passes through the metal it is absolutely vital
that a rubber grommet be fitted to prevent the cable from chafing through the insulation as
this would be a major fire risk. The positive wire needs to go to the + positive terminal on
the battery. A fuse of appropriate size to protect the cable needs to be fitted in line no more
than 18” from the battery.
Once you have the power cable in the car, run it back to the bass box. When you do this, be
aware that you will need to run the remote turn on cable and the RCA signal cable from the
head unit back to the amp too. If you intend to use the high level speaker inputs rather
than the RCA cable then at this point run these in too by tapping into the cables from one
left and one right speaker. Ensure that your taps are well insulated and safe. Our Power 8.2
Active box has the facility to use “auto turn on” which senses the music on the cables and
switches the unit on and off as appropriate. In this case you could choose not to run the
remote switching lead. Note that the auto switching function only works with the high level
inputs – not the RCA inputs.
If the wires you are running have to run over or go alongside other looms of the car, try to
cross them at right angles to avoid unwanted interference in the signal, and try not to run
them parallel with other cables either. If you can, run the power and the signal cables down
opposite sides of the car. This isn’t essential but if you do get any interference once the job
is complete the first thing to look at will be separating these wires so if you can do it first it
makes a lot of sense!
The absolutely most important aspect of the power install is the earth wire. This wants to
be very securely bolted to the chassis of the car. We recommend drilling a hole (take care
not to drill through your spare tyre, brake lines or anything else) in the boot floor and sand
off any paint to the bare metal where the wire will be connected. A bad earth is a very
common flaw in installation and can cause a number of headaches later down the line so be
sure to take care in doing this. Do not use a self tapping screw to secure the earth down, as
it will probably soon come loose and impair performance. Other common disasters include
trying to earth to rear light mounting bolts, boot lock mountings and other ways to “trap”
the cable in the hope you might get a good earth. For every volt the amplifier doesn’t see it
requires twice the power to create the same output which means poor performance and a
possible broken amplifier. Once the work is complete neatly repaint the over the finished
bolted connector and chassis of the car with some primer to prevent corrosion.
Once your power cable, RCA/high level cables and remote lead (as appropriate) are all
securely running through the car and the earth wire is fastened securely it is time to lay on
some power. Connect the earth first. Then 12V power, then remote. Then connect in the
RCA cables and you can move onto setting up the gain and sound controls on the amplifier.
If you are not using RCA connections then connect in the high level inputs to the Molex plug
provided. Take care to make sure you get positive and negative the right way round. If you
get one side wrong then you’re not going to get much output at all from the unit. One good
tip here is to connect in one side, get the subwoofer working and then test connect the
other side. As you do that you will hear that when connected one way round you get LESS
output than you did with only one side connected. With it connected the correct way round
you will of course get slightly MORE output than with only one side connected. If you are
using auto turn on on the Power 8.2 unit make sure the “auto turn on” button is set
correctly (ie “off” if you are using a hardwired remote turn on cable or “on” if not.)
Where appropriate set the phase button to 0 degrees. You’ll leave the phase button at 0
degrees until everything else is done. At that point you might want to switch to 180
degrees just to try it. When listening from the drivers seat you may notice a difference in
output level with the 0/180 setting.
Setting the “Gain” or “level” on the amp is a crucial aspect and needs to be done with care,
otherwise you can easily damage your equipment. Before we move onto this we need to be
sure the crossover settings are right for the application. Make sure the bass boost control
knob is set to minimum (0). Next, set the crossover (low pass) knob to approximately
100Hz as a starting point. Set the subsonic filter if applicable to about 35Hz
The first step is to work out just how loud the rest of your system can go. It is likely that
previously you have had just your head unit (car radio) and standard speakers. In this
configuration the limiting factor has been the car radio amplifier, which has a restricted
amount of ability to produce bass notes cleanly. The first job, then, is to turn up the radio
with the subwoofer OFF (pop a fuse out) and have a listen. First set the bass and treble to 0
or flat – no adjustment, and ensure any loudness controls are off. You will notice that as the
level climbs up to around half way or just over (the more modern cars are better!) you
begin to hear distortion. Go into the head unit menu and reduce the bass setting to a
negative value and re-try. What you will begin to learn is that as you reduce the bass, the
rest of the sound can be played cleanly at a louder level, and that it sounds sweeter. You
can also try nudging in some extra treble at this point to get the sound exactly as you want
it. Try to ignore the fact that you now have a thin and tinny sound. You’re going to fix that
in a moment! Take a note of the new maximum volume level that you can play to cleanly,
and average that across 2 or 3 different songs (to take account of different recording levels)
– you want to know for sure that at the level you agree on in your head you know that your
system is totally clean regardless of the song you listen to. We are going to call this your
SET POINT.
Now, disconnect all other speakers and power up the subwoofer by reinstalling the fuse.
Next, turn the level on the bass box all the way down. Set the remote knob to a point
somewhere in the middle of the range.
Before we do this please learn to hear distortion from a woofer, because it is slightly
different from a conventional speaker. On a woofer, distortion makes itself known as an
unclean bass note – you may hear a cracking, a metallic slapping sound or a rattle. It is
different for each setup and song but to do this setup properly you will need to learn how to
detect it. As you work it is acceptable to swing on the controls and let the system distort for
a second or so as you learn to recognize the sound as it goes bad. Don’t be too scared of
this – but as soon as you hear those bad sounds just make sure you immediately back off
into normal operation. If you do not understand how an unhappy woofer sounds then you
risk damaging the speaker as you listen to it.
Now, go to your head unit and gradually turn up the volume until either you begin to hear
distortion from the woofer or you reach the set point. If you hit distortion first, then keep
turning down the remote bass knob on the woofer until you can get to the set point cleanly.
If this is the case then you are done here – your woofer is set up. This is unlikely – what will
most likely happen is that you will reach the set point and you won’t be getting that much
out of the woofer….
Now, with the head unit at the set point turn up the level control on the woofer until it
begins to distort. Then back the level off a bit to a point at which the bass sounds clean and
tidy no matter what song you throw at it. You can now reconnect the rest of your speakers
and have a listen.
It will likely be the case that with your setup done in this way the integration and balance of
the amount of bass vs the rest of the sound is not perfect right away. The way to deal with
this is to fine tune the levels now. If you have too much bass, it is a simple matter to turn
down the woofer on the dashboard knob. If you have too much midrange and treble then
you need to lower your set point and turn up the woofer on the dashboard knob, being
careful to re-check the output at this lower set-point in the same way as before. If you
choose a lower set point and are happy with that lower output level than your head unit is
capable of then you will be able to put back some of the bass that you took out of the head
unit previously which will be helpful.
You will notice that earlier in the text we set the bass boost to off. This is because more
often than not this EQ control is misunderstood and can cause damage. The bass boost
control ramps a range of frequencies in the bass region that will cause more bass to be
created than the signal coming in from the head unit expects. It will also consume more
power and can push a system into distortion if the settings are not made carefully. An
example of a valid use of bass boost might be where your car/woofer combination has an
uneven response – as you turn up the gain the upper region of the output becomes strained
and begins to distort but yet with low frequencies you are able to turn up the bass without
distortion. In this case, you would go back to the beginning of the setup instructions, get
the woofer playing at a modest level and then swing in some bass boost until the distortion
happens at the same volume level, regardless of the music you are playing. Then, you
would set the gain with the bass boost control in that position – to take account of that level
of boost. You should not increase the bass boost once you have already set the gain level –
you’ll overdrive the amplifier and burn something out.
For the physical installation we recommend that suitable luggage straps (not supplied) be
used to secure the unit to the luggage strap mounting points in the vehicle. It is very
important that the vehicle is not driven unless the enclosure is mounted safely.
In the case of our under seat models the unit car be mounted using other methods but in
any event it should be secure and safe. If you are installing the unit under a seat then
obviously the woofer will be close to the seat above it – this will create some acoustic
loading on the unit which will help to add to the cone control.
If you are installing in another location such as the boot, then before you commit to
fastening the unit in please give consideration to facing the woofer into a solid surface such
as a boot floor or corner. As an initial starting point, allow approximately 3” clearance
between the woofer and the side of the vehicle. After the installation is complete you can
experiment with moving the woofer closer and further away from the side. As you do this,
you MUST be listening sat in the driver’s seat as you won’t hear the effects of phase change
if you are stood over the unit. If you cannot hear any difference or you can’t “load” the box
in this way then don’t worry – it will work fine “free field” in the boot.
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