Adding Aftermarket Sub/Amp

Racinghart03 · January 13, 2016

I just proped the front 2 corners just so are could escape. Had a little more rumble. OK so I just tested one 12. A Kenwood KFC w12ps. This is a affordable sub but nothing close to a sundown or soundqubed. With just the one Kenwood I was blown away. Facing down it hammers being right near you. So I will build my box and put Kenwood in. Then when spring comes I go for soundqubed. Should sound amazing.

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Sorry to be a pita but about how much space do I need to lift the front of the box so the grill has clearance? I want to do it nice and am looking to order black PVC furniture feet and they make them in all different heights. I am guessing 3" should do it but since you have been there and done that..figured I would just ask.

Jeff5347 · January 13, 2016

Sorry to be a pita but about how much space do I need to lift the front of the box so the grill has clearance? I want to do it nice and am looking to order black PVC furniture feet and they make them in all different heights. I am guessing 3" should do it but since you have been there and done that..figured I would just ask.

Don't worry, not a problem. This how I've learned how I can do something by asking. An easy way to figure it out is if you can find the xmax of the speaker. Go on sonic electronics or crutchfield and find your speaker. Go look at the details of the sub and find xmax which is what the speakers max excursion is one way. Mine is kinda low at 7.3 mm. Then see how thick the distance is from the box to edge of the speaker frame. Mine sat out a 1/2 inch, that plus the 7mm of excursion gave me roughly 3/4 inch with just touching the carpet. I gave another inch or so so the sub wasn't pounding air into itself so I have about a 2 in space at the highest point and maybe an 1.5 inch at it's lowest. Played some music, watched it and it never comes close to the carpet. Do that, play some decaf or edm.. This

and feel the floor rumble.

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Racinghart03 · January 13, 2016

Don't worry, not a problem. This how I've learned how I can do something by asking. An easy way to figure it out is if you can find the xmax of the speaker. Go on sonic electronics or crutchfield and find your speaker. Go look at the details of the sub and find xmax which is what the speakers max excursion is one way. Mine is kinda low at 7.3 mm. Then see how thick the distance is from the box to edge of the speaker frame. Mine sat out a 1/2 inch, that plus the 7mm of excursion gave me roughly 3/4 inch with just touching the carpet. I gave another inch or so so the sub wasn't pounding air into itself so I have about a 2 in space at the highest point and maybe an 1.5 inch at it's lowest. Played some music, watched it and it never comes close to the carpet. Do that, play some decaf or edm.. This

and feel the floor rumble.

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Ah. The JL Microsub has a grill on it. I don't think the excursion would exceed the grill so I was hoping to just flip it over, screw on two pvc furniture feet on the front edge of the box and call it a day lol.

Jeff5347 · January 13, 2016

Oh on that I gave it an inch of clearance. Just so the air being moved by the sub could escape

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crewl1 · January 18, 2016

After suffering unto my OCD and making sure I had all the info I pulled the trigger and installed the JL MicroSUb 10 under the passenger seat. I wanted to give you all the info I had in hopes it makes your lives easier and easy to find in one place. This is for the BOSE W SUBWOOFER install. Power tapped at battery and run down passenger side (plenty of locations so take your pick). Ground anywhere. I pulled the speaker level source from the RF output of the Bose Amp. (Yellow+ and Yellow and Black - Pins 2 and 6 at X1) Cleaner and more balanced EQ slope with no chime. To disable the ANC cut The Violet and Blue wire into the Amp at (pin 2 connector X3). This cuts the generated signal from the PCM to signal the Bose amp of engine RPMs. No rpm signal to the amp, no noise cancellation. Some guys were cutting the mic wires and covering the grills for the mics. I feel the method I used nips it in the bud and handles what needs to handled. I have obnoxious tires on with a fair amount of noise and have no issues with the ACN when driving. I ran the level knob up the drivers side and put it next to the light switch. Hope this helps as It took me quite some time to gather all of this info. Enjoy!!! With the right know how...this install should take less than an hour. I will probably add another in a month or so. Once I get bored

I differ in opinion about the use of only the right speaker for input to the sub and feel using left and right is preferred for my taste.

The JL subwoofer only reproduces frequencies at 200hz or below (variable as to the crossover point.)

The chimes do not have any bass content, so no chime sound will come out of the sub especially if you are rolling it off at 80hz.

I found it important to use both left and right because certain older music around the time when stereo recordings came into use transmitted different parts of the song to each channel.

I have a lot of older 60's and 70's music in my collection and it would bug me if I didn't get the full frequency effect.

For example the guitar at the start of " Play that Funky Music" by Wild Cherry only uses the left channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRr2kf84V2M

Another example is Aretha Franklin's 'Till You Come Back To Me" - starts the with piano notes on the right, then follows with a drum that bounces around from left to right.

Stevie Wonder's Uptight, 'Evrything is Allright' starts with drums on the left channel only.

There are many more examples.

In my case I am eliminating the low bass from the front door speakers through the use of bass blockers, so the sub fills in the bottom.

If you only listen to modern music with mono bass then it wont matter to use only one side input.

(Yes I have mild OCD too )

crewl1 · January 19, 2016

One other thing I noticed since I added the JL Sub to the system is that I have preferred to set the polarity on the sub to 180deg.

Everything is hooked up correctly as far as the +- of the front speaker sources, so I am wondering if it is because I left the Bose sub connected that there is some wave cancellation happening.

Anyway I find overall the system bass sounds tighter from my listening position with the polarity switch set to 180deg.

Fasthotrod · January 19, 2016

WTF is that angle iron bolted in there??

It's not angle iorn, it's a bracket that I fabricated to mount a circuit breaker next to the battery for the audio system. That picture was during the test fitment to make sure that it cleared the other parts before I painted it.

More info here: http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/build-logs-project-install-gallery/162172-2014-silverado-crew-cab-z71-ltz.html

Racinghart03 · January 19, 2016

One other thing I noticed since I added the JL Sub to the system is that I have preferred to set the polarity on the sub to 180deg.

Everything is hooked up correctly as far as the +- of the front speaker sources, so I am wondering if it is because I left the Bose sub connected that there is some wave cancellation happening.

Anyway I find overall the system bass sounds tighter from my listening position with the polarity switch set to 180deg.

I played around both ways and I felt I was getting a phase out with it at 180. If i put a song on (mono boom bass club type) and raked the level control from low to high...in the middle of the level range its like the all the subs shut down. It was very tight at full level however. When i switched the polarity back to zero it sounded right throughout the level sweep. Wonder if it has something to do with the bass blockers. How did you sum the two front channels?

crewl1 · January 20, 2016

I played around both ways and I felt I was getting a phase out with it at 180. If i put a song on (mono boom bass club type) and raked the level control from low to high...in the middle of the level range its like the all the subs shut down. It was very tight at full level however. When i switched the polarity back to zero it sounded right throughout the level sweep. Wonder if it has something to do with the bass blockers. How did you sum the two front channels?

The two front channels get summed by the JL electronics since they provide the left right input wires to connect to.

The Bass Blockers are connected after the JL tap only on the + side so I don't think they should affect things.

I recall that when testing the bass blockers before I installed the JL sub I would A/B them in and out and the doors made huge difference in overall bass output and completely overpowered the little Bose sub.

Since these are in play in your configuration they may be working just fine with the JL sub and the Bose is basically making no impact.

The good thing is the JL unit gives us the option to tailor things as we like, so I'm not going to worry about it. I really love how this combo sounds in my truck!

Here is how I hooked things up as far as the bass blockers and JL input.

BigRedd · January 22, 2016

Planning to install this weekend the JL Audio PowerWedge+ sub (http://tinyurl.com/jsntpdc) that others here have installed. I have a couple of final planning questions that I'd appreciate help with. crewl1 and Racinghart03 have already been huge helps via PM. Thanks guys.

1) How have folks secured their subs (whether this JL or a different one) to keep them from bouncing around?

-I have a one-piece Aries 3D floormat in the back that goes all the way under the seats. I'm going to cut out an area for the subwoofer so it can sit directly on the carpet and I'm going to use the salvaged material from the floormat to cover the door side of the sub (covering a fabricated piece of wood fit to the side profile of the gap between seat and floor).

But for keeping the sub in place, what have folks done? Is there something I can use to stick the felt/carpet that is on the sub to the carpeted floor in the truck?

2) I'm going to tap the signal coming from the amp to the front speaker(s). Those wires are pretty small gauge (I think about 18 AWG). I'm planning to use the same gauge to run from my Posi-taps to the sub, based on an assumption that putting 12 gauge wire from my tap isn't going to gain me anything because the signal coming from the amp is already going into a smaller gauge wire that I'm tapping into. Anything faulty in that assumption?

Thanks again!

This place is great.

crewl1 · January 22, 2016

This is my take, others may have different opinion:

1

The sub is heavy enough that just the friction between its carpet and the truck carpet will keep it in place during normal driving.

I was more concerned that if someone did break into the truck it would be easy for them to run off with the sub, so I used metal straps from Home Depot that I painted black and screwed to the box and bolted to the seat bolts.

If I wasn't concerned about theft and wanted to prevent it shifting in off road driving I would probably get lengths of sticky back Velcro and stick two lengths of the hook side to each other.

Basically making a Velcro hook anchor between both carpet surfaces.

2

The point is to get a signal to the sub, not to power a speaker so using matching gauge wire is fine, especially since the run is maybe 2 feet max. It is more important that the connection be solid so I cut and soldered. If you are confident in the positaps then use those.

Racinghart03 · January 25, 2016

^X2 aside from securing the sub. It is snug as a bug in the rug without any hold downs. Coming from growing up in an area of higher crime, I think I would rather have someone be able to remove the box with as little ease as possible if they broke in. People who live their lives stealing from others are garbage and the the sooner they were out of my truck the better. They will get the box if they want it..trust me. I am more worried about collateral damage. I have seen some real sh*t people in my day slice up seat leathers and dashboards with box cutters after a failed theft attempt..... Add that to the fact if I were to stumble upon someone trying to steal my stuff....what I would do to them would make the evening news so Ill just let it ride with no additional security. I will be adding another one of these in the near future so here is my next question.....bass level knob....any suggestions on how to split it into both boxes?

crewl1 · January 25, 2016

^X2 aside from securing the sub. It is snug as a bug in the rug without any hold downs. Coming from growing up in an area of higher crime, I think I would rather have someone be able to remove the box with as little ease as possible if they broke in. People who live their lives stealing from others are garbage and the the sooner they were out of my truck the better. They will get the box if they want it..trust me. I am more worried about collateral damage. I have seen some real sh*t people in my day slice up seat leathers and dashboards with box cutters after a failed theft attempt..... Add that to the fact if I were to stumble upon someone trying to steal my stuff....what I would do to them would make the evening news so Ill just let it ride with no additional security. I will be adding another one of these in the near future so here is my next question.....bass level knob....any suggestions on how to split it into both boxes?

Since it use a rj11 plug could you use a phone line splitter and a couple of short phone extension cords?

You would have to verify how it is wired as the potentiometer would have to be in the path for both amps.

Maybe confirm it with a multimeter to see which terminals are actually getting the variable resistance and make sure the splitter will replicate to both amps.

Racinghart03 · January 25, 2016

Good point..I dug this up....

Quoted from the JL Website..

"

Using Multiple Amplifiers With One Control Knob (HD-RLC, RBC-1)

We are often asked if it is possible to use one control knob (HD-RLC or RBC-1) with multiple amplifiers. The answer is yes. You just need to get an RJ-11 / RJ-14 modular telephone adaptor. Make sure the adaptor is a four-wire to four-wire design and not a dual line splitter. In the United States, you can find them at Radio Shack with the catalog number 279-008.

That answers that question! So know we know. I will let you all know how the dual tens sound once I get my hands on another one.

Silverado1993 · March 15, 2016

I have looked everywhere for a wire diagram that duplicates what my 2014 silverado double cab has. Every diagram I look at has different wire colors than what I actually have for one of the front speakers. Has anyone encountered this? Also, it seems as if everyone's speaker wires go into the green harness and my truck is different because there are only 2 wires going into that harness.