sithscripter

A few days ago I ordered a "Bazooka Interface Connector" (model 70-71-1761) from Crutchfield in the hope that it would be compatible with the stock Scion head unit. Today it arrived and I'm left wondering: "Could this really be so simple?"

Unfortunately my Web hosting provider is still having major DNS problems so I don't have a reliable place to host photos. (One more day of this and I'm signing up with another service.)

The harness has three main connectors. Two are for a 10-pin "pass thru" that hooks to the factory radio wiring harness and to the stock head unit. The third is for a 14-pin plug that hooks to a Bazooka powered subwoofer.

There are also two loose wires. One is a ground wire on the subwoofer end. The other is a red wire crimped to the same pin as the 12V constant (yellow) wire on the pass-thru. The instructions say nothing about the red wire (OF COURSE) but ... CORRECTION: I just called Bazooka and their tech said it's not for power after all, and that nothing should be connected to that wire. (I guess I'll trust in the Fuse God to double-check my work.)

The six wires that run to the back appear to be:

12V constant power
Power antenna? (blue w/white stripe)
Left and right high-level inputs, + and -

Don't worry, the harness is more than long enough for the job ... about 16 feet long.

So far I don't see any obvious reason why this won't work. Now all I need is the Bazooka sub itself :D

bBted

good luck! keep us updated

sithscripter

Original post updated: I just called Bazooka and they said the unexplained red wire "that's just chillin'" isn't for power after all. According to them nothing should be hooked up to it except in certain special situations where the 12V power supply wire doesn't actually supply power.

Moral of the story: Don't trust everything you read on the Bazooka.com forums ... or this forum :oops:

sithscripter

I know ... this thread is worthless w/o pics:

http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4287776461

highend

Do you already have a bazooka sub?

quadraphonic

The question is.. can this power other subs?? And what is the RMS output to the sub?

160 watts out to 6.1 channels isn't a whole lot..

sithscripter

One step at a time ... I thought I'd start with the least expensive part first (hee hee). Now that I'm reasonably sure this will be a straightforward DIY project I'll pick up the sub.

sithscripter

You seem to know more about this than I do ... My not-very-informed opinion is that tapping the 12V power from the factory radio harness is marginal even for a small powered subwoofer like the Bazookas. If I ever upgrade to anything bigger I'll run real power wires through the firewall or run the risk of making a burnt offering to the Fuse God.

rotarycolt

The Bazooka subwoofer that comes with the Scion is Powered. It is not powered by the head unit, the signal (Speaker Level) is coming through the harness... as is the remote turn on, and the power and ground to connect to the POWERED unit in the hatch.

You cannot use a Passive subwoofer with this harness.

sithscripter

Nice footnote to this phase of the project:

I posted some technical questions to the sasbazooka.com support forums. Some days went by without an answer, so I assumed Bazooka was under some NDA or agreement with Scion to push the "official" option.

As it turned out, the tech who monitors the boards was out of the office -- attending Scion Exposed! :D

Here's his technical answer:

Here's his non-technical answer:

Anyway, I ran the wiring under the passenger-side door sill trim panels and under the back seat cushion. Oh, and added an inline fuse holder to the power wire just to be sure. This weekend I plan to wire up the ground, hook up the head unit and take some pictures. With some luck (skill is in short supply) I'll get it done in time for the two meet-and-greets in the area on Sunday.

quadraphonic

Ok.. I'm confused. First you say it isn't powered through the HU, then you say the signal, remote turn on, power and ground come through the harness. Did you mean to say that the power and ground are connected to the battery?

sithscripter

To clarify some of the confusion I've caused:

Signal, power and remote turn-on come through the harness.

Power seems to come through the dome circuit (15A fuse in engine compartment) so it's not sucking through the same straw as the head unit, which uses the accessory circuit for power (15A in instrument panel fuse box). The dome circuit should have spare capacity as not much of anything runs off it. This takes care of most of my concerns, but I'm still wiring an inline fuse holder as extra protection just in case the power wire grounds out somewhere along its 16 foot (5 meter) length.

The ground wire is separate and isn't wired through the pass-thru connector. I plan on extending it a bit and wiring it to a frame ground near the right rear speaker.

That loose red wire is for an auxilliary power connection in case you need more power for a particular install. But according to Bazooka that's not needed in this case.

quadraphonic

Thanks for the clarification sith!

sithscripter

The project turned out to be a big thumping SUCCESS!!!!!!!

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D

Well, there were a few glitches but nothing that brute force and the friendly neighborhood AutoZone couldn't handle.

Pics to come later this week when I have everything mounted properly ... Now off to Krispy Kreme to show it off

DenZinz

Sithscripter....

Good precaution... I would fuse it also. For some reason im not able to gain access to imagestation so I cant see the schematics, but the constant power is probably drawing from the factory harness, which is connected to the head unit. Its used to keep the memory on the HU (stations, clock, etc.) Not that much draw, but after all it is a tiny 18-20 ga wire.

I would probably run that other power wire to the battery and fuse it. I'd hate to see you burn up your factory constant wire. If in deed its only an aux wire, why did they put it on there in the first place? Just in case...in case of what?

In my install history the only AMP i have every hooked up to a factory wire was a low wattage amplifier (Jensen and JVC). Small amps that are made for just highs and does not do its rated power. If you can hook the Bazooka tube to the factory wire behind the radio, i would say that amp is probabaly barely pushing 60watts.

I'd play it safe and run the wire to the batt. That way it will keep the drain off that tiny little wire that is provided by the factory.

sithscripter

Yeah, the Bazooka EL-8A is rated at 50W. I'm sure that's 50W peak and not RMS Any more than that and I'd run power to the battery for sure.

Future tinkerers should be aware that the EL-8A has been replaced by the EL-8AHP, rated at 100W peak power. I'd be a bit nervous about wiring that up to the factory harness.

But thanks for the advice DenZinz!

silvertoy

Oh my! I just got my Xa yesterday and I happen to have an extra RS8-HP sitting in my basement. So basically what you are saying is that I can buy the Scion specific harness and just plug er right in? Where can I get this harness? Will Bazooka sell it to me? Excellent, sorry I'm so late coming into this conversation, like I said, I just took delivery yesterday.

I must clarify first as well. I understand that the RS8-HP uses more power, and I would definitely run a separate power wire directly from the battery for that one Wire.

sithscripter

A few weeks after completing the project I was told the "official" Scion wiring harness was available through dealers for $65. So much for bold experiments!

I'd recommend that over the generic Toyota harness from Bazooka as the connectors are ever so slightly different (nothing a bit of brute force can't remedy). But if you can't get the "official" wiring harness try Crutchfield.com for the other one.

Also try the Bazooka.com support forums. The techs there are quite helpful and are big Scion fans too. Be forewarned that their home page isn't 100% work-safe!