Soundstream BX-20Z Digital Bass Reconstruction Processor

REMOVE THE BASS KNOB. First off. Its a design flaw. You've probably heard people complaining "this RUINS rap music, cuts out the highs replaces with lows" blah blah blah. Its a flaw, but don't get discouraged with this buy- its still great. Once you remove the bass knob, the highs and lows come back, and are repaired, as this product is meant to do. I think that the bass knob was a late addition to the product, like they decided to throw one in right before production, but the bass knob DOES NOT WORK. So DON'T USE IT or else it won't work properly. If your familiar with Exocontralto, he did it as well.Now to the review:Other than the bass knob flaw, this is an AMAZING unit. I am currently running a TC sounds TC-3000 on a US amps Xterminator XT-2000D with 1/0gauge electrical upgrades. My Head unit, a Pioneer DEH series, puts out a very LOW voltage subwoofer output. I needed something to boost the subwoofer output RCA's on the head unit, for they weren't even reading 1 volt, and the amplifier takes up to 6 volts before clipping. So I turned to soundstream- they have many awards in bass processing. Not only does it put out up to 10 volts output subwoofer RCA, which I only need 6, but it 'restores' bass, which may be lost in recording, or from your head unit. Basically, those warbles in the bass, or uneven bass, are all fixed. And its not lying. The second I turned the car on after installing, and head "big girls don't cry" on the radio (don't judge me, I didn't choose fergie it was on the radio >.<), the beats were no longer hollow, as what happens due to compression over the air radio, the beats were very juicy, and low. Moving to another station, to test out the rap, the bass line was very 'smooth,' not raspy as it was before, and the higher bass was able to keep up and power with the lows.The verdict- it made the bass and the highs blend, evenly, and the bass was very smooth. Its not boomy, or punchy. But then, I needed to test how loud bass music- like Decaf bass music, sounded on it, since my system, although designed for sound quality, is mainly an SPL setup, and I need to be able to hit loud on music on the term lab (an SPL meter for SPL competitions). Well, lemme just say my socks were BLOWN OFF, literally. I gained a few DB's at least. And I'm NOT just saying this to promote the product, NOT saying this like its a placebo, and I just THINK its working, I KNOW. I cranked it, and had the whole car flexing, wipers and everything, look back to watch the woofer flex like a mofo, only to see it BARELY MOVING. It had room to go. This epicenter (the BX-20Z) really does improve the bass. It takes out any unwanted overtones or subsonic tones, which allows your system to go louder, since now its only receiving the pure bass, no dirty signal which limits your system.Overall: I do recommend this product. It sounds good. It makes even the most mediocore system sound THAT MUCH BETTER. I promise you: My sound system is mainly designed for SPL, just to get loud, and so is my woofer box, but somehow, this little thing makes it sound comparable to my vintage Klipsch sound room. And I'm not being dramatic. But crank the head unit up and feed this thing some bass, those 3 blue lights on the BX-20Z light up, and your system gets noticeably louder.Yes, I recommend this, and people who complain it is 'bad' and 'ruins' the bass, and destroys highs, they didn't investigate, and TRY to fix the problem, you just need to REMOVE THE BASS KNOB. Believe me, it'll sound crap with the bass knob, just try and remove it atleast, you'll hear the difference.

To start off, if you have an after-market sub-woofer in your vehicle, just buy this item. I never write reviews, but I'm truly impressed with this product.I bought this product by accident to replace a DOA MTX Re-Q for an entire bass upgrade in my new car. I thought this product was similar and would fix the factory Harmon Kardon amp (bass volume drops when car volume increases) problem in my Mercedes C350. Well it didn't, but it wasn't made for that apparently. Before installing this item, the bass in my car was somewhat punchy and rarely hit notes below 60hz or deep notes that you can feel. It basically sucked, and I wasn't happy with it at all (after spending $1100). After installing this product, I now get insanely loud and deep bass that far exceeds any system I've heard (with only a single 12" sub). Songs that have weird floppy bass, or little bass, now have ultra low bass that you can feel rush through everything in the car including yourself. The raspy crappy bass that I had is gone, and it sounds like I added more amps and speakers. Also, even with an 8-Farad cap, my lights dim during deep notes. Before adding this product my lights never dimmed once.Mercedes c350Infinity 1600a 600w@2ohm (replacing with Soundstream Picasso 1500w RMS)Kicker Solo-Baric DVC L7 12" @2OHM (just ordered another)MTX Re-Q 3-ChannelSoundstream SC-8CA 8-Farad CapacitorSoundstream BX-20ZKicker 4-Awg kitOptima Battery (just ordered)

works quite well. Bought it cuz I listen to a lot of spanish songs that dont have any bass to them and this thing seems to do the work quite well. It adds a very deep high quality bass to songs.I liked it alot. The only reason I kinda didnt like was that it cuts bass from songs that already have enough bass sounds in them. I would recommend taking out RCAs that go to the epicenter, and going directly to the amp when listening to songs with bass.(rap/hip hop/r&b?etc.)I would highly recommend this to anyone that listens to spanish songs and other songs without bass.

Works as expected music sounds great!

Brilliant

Great bass reconstruction with this little guy!It took me about a week to figure out how to tune it correctly with my new amp, but once I did, it was a night and day difference!For me, the main thing I had to do was unplug the remote.I have this hooked up between an Audiopipe 7 channel eq and an Audiopipe mono sub amp with the main signal coming from an Alpine head unit.The remote that was included with the Soundstream bx20z made the bass sound muddy.After disconnecting the remote, using a 50hz test signal, and messing around with the settings, the bass started to sound much cleaner.I now control the sub with the Subwoofer and 50hz knobs that are on the 7 channel EQ.Would definitely recommend this to anyone with a subwoofer!

Hooked it up. the quality was poor and the power plug would self eject till I zip tied it in place.It has 4 knobs, two on the remote, and two on the box. the two on the box might have changed the sound a little? The two on the remote did nothing.most annoyingly however the subwoofer volume did not change when the music volume was changed. turn radio down low sub was too loud, turn radio up sub stayed the same. plug the sub into the INPUTS and nothing changed.I dont know what this thing is even supposed to do.the cheap no brand found in a junk car speaker level to line out converter sounded much better and actually worked.

Only problem I have is the terminal for the the power supply will not stay clipped to the unit. I ended up just taping the dang thing to the unit. That is my only complaint