Alternate wiring for Kicker sub with Bose system. (DO THIS)

TSchevy · August 4, 2021

First impressions are good. Super punchy. Seems much more consistent across various genres.

I’m really trying to figure out why it’s not wired this way from the start…

I set the dip switches back to original for the trial run. I previously had it hooked up with the gain control knob, which I really liked. I’m going to experiment with it through the weekend. Right now I have the bass EQ to -6, otherwise I can hear the glass rattle.

Teamnextgenchris · August 15, 2021

First off, THANK YOU for this info! I was really disappointed in the performance of this sub as delivered. Gain was way too high, and way too much midbass coming through it. Searching on here helped me figure out roughly what the dipswitches do, but nobody ever definitively posted what they do. My emails to Stillwater have gone unanswered. This post helps so much.

To expand a little, do you know what combo of switches 1-3 equals what gain levels? Is all three down the lowest, all three up the highest, and combinations in between are exactly that - in between? Is any combo of up/down the same, or do specific combos of the switches equal certain gain settings? For instance is any combo of one switch up, two down the same gain setting, regardless of which one is up, and which two are down? Hope that makes sense, the way I worded that.

Do you have info on which color Kicker harness wires you hooked to which color factory sub wires? I'm concerned about phase in relation to the factory sub if they're "backwards", or maybe that isn't a concern.

Lastly, did you leave the factory sub active, or did you actually cut the wires to it, and now only have the Kicker sub functioning? To touch on what I mentioned above, I feel like there could possibly be some weird phase/cancelation issues with both subs playing, having different frequency response curves(being two different size/design subs),although I don't seem to notice any of this so far with the standard install.

Thanks again!

TSchevy · August 15, 2021

I t-tapped the factory sub and followed the connection suggested in the original post.

I was wondering the same about the 1st 3 switches, but I have not played with them myself. Right now I have all 3 down, which is minimal…. Leaving the one up still seemed too high.

Tjeli · August 16, 2021

They go in this order from lowest to highest. There are no other "combinations". all down, one up, one and two up, all three up.

If you are worried about phase issues, hook it up the way you think it should be and listen to it. Then switch the wires. Leave it the way it sounds best to YOU.

I left the factory sub hooked up.

-Eli

Goodtill · August 22, 2021

Great help! Do you have the Bose ANC microphones in your truck. They are located in the headliner by the sun visors on the passenger and driver side.

LLj customs makes a ANC bypass harness for it.

https://lljcustoms.com/store/ols/products/2014-2019-gmgmc-bose-anc-bypass

Teamnextgenchris · August 22, 2021

57 minutes ago, Goodtill said:

Great help! Do you have the Bose ANC microphones in your truck. They are located in the headliner by the sun visors on the passenger and driver side.

LLj customs makes a ANC bypass harness for it.

https://lljcustoms.com/store/ols/products/2014-2019-gmgmc-bose-anc-bypass

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but everything I've read suggests the ANC is only an issue on the 2018 back trucks. I have ANC on my 2019, with the Kicker OEM sub, and I have no issues at all.

Tjeli · August 24, 2021

On 8/22/2021 at 4:56 PM, Goodtill said:

Great help! Do you have the Bose ANC microphones in your truck. They are located in the headliner by the sun visors on the passenger and driver side.

LLj customs makes a ANC bypass harness for it.

https://lljcustoms.com/store/ols/products/2014-2019-gmgmc-bose-anc-bypass

Those are the microphones for Bluetooth. No ANC that I know of in the T1 trucks.

I found myself with 10 days of free time on my hands so I busted out the laptop today and did some measuring. I also measured with the phase switched going to the kicker amp input. I originally wired it using GMs color codes for positive and negative. Guess what? It sounds better and measures better with the input phase switched. So…. Bose sub green wire to green input on kicker and Bose sub blue wire to orange input on kicker.

I am running the eq at +4, -2, +12. I listened for about two hours at high volume to lots of different music. IMO this is as good as this system is going to get with these components.

I’d be interested to hear from others who have tried this. Maybe tomorrow I will fix the rattle in my drivers door.

-Eli

Goodtill · August 24, 2021

Well I finally pulled the string and ordered it and the bass knob for my 21 Sierra SLT. Plan on installing the system this weekend with this setup.

Edited August 24, 2021 by Goodtill

Goodtill · August 26, 2021

Did half the install today. Ran all the wires except the ones from the battery to the cab and the speaker wire from the center console to the door jam.

I have a spare connector by where the 2 connectors for the amp and speaker are. Anyone else seen this?

Teamnextgenchris · August 26, 2021

3 minutes ago, Goodtill said:

Did half the install today. Ran all the wires except the ones from the battery to the cab and the speaker wire from the center console to the door jam.

I have a spare connector by where the 2 connectors for the amp and speaker are. Anyone else seen this?

Yes, you leave that disconnected in this application.

Goodtill · August 26, 2021

Man, that's a relief!! I notice the colors were the same as the speaker colors and had me really scratching my head.

i plan on mounting the bass knob in my center console. Just remove the guts from the housing, make a hole and mount the pot. Think I will run the wire along the driver side channels by the doors and coming back to my center console from under the radio/climate controls

Goodtill · August 28, 2021

Here is a question for the audio enthusiast, since we are tapping off the Bose sub line level output for the Kicker amp, wouldn't that signal already have a crossover from the BOSE amp?

The OEM setup is tapping a full spectrum signal for the right front speaker and would need a crossover to use the signal for a sub

Teamnextgenchris · August 28, 2021

42 minutes ago, Goodtill said:

Here is a question for the audio enthusiast, since we are tapping off the Bose sub line level output for the Kicker amp, wouldn't that signal already have a crossover from the BOSE amp?

The OEM setup is tapping a full spectrum signal for the right front speaker and would need a crossover to use the signal for a sub

Yes, the signal sent to the factory sub already has a low pass filter, and possibly a subsonic filter. The right front speaker signal this kit uses is a full range signal. The amp in this kit does have a low pass crossover in it, although I feel it is set too high and/or has too mild of a slope, as it seems to let a little too much midbass(I'd guess in the 100hz range)through for my liking. When I have time I'll be swapping to the factory sub wires, and I think it should perform much better.

Edited August 28, 2021 by Teamnextgenchris

Tjeli · August 28, 2021

1 hour ago, Goodtill said:

Here is a question for the audio enthusiast, since we are tapping off the Bose sub line level output for the Kicker amp, wouldn't that signal already have a crossover from the BOSE amp?

The OEM setup is tapping a full spectrum signal for the right front speaker and would need a crossover to use the signal for a sub

it does. You still want to use the crossover in the kicker amp with switches 4,5 and 6 in the “up”position. If you really want to know the science behind it you can PM me.