*..Subwoofer with aftermarket radio?..*

[bakerman1]

I have an aftermarket stereo in my 03 sport and I have upgraded the door speakers and wanted to know if I got a factory sub that goes underneath the passengers seat and plug it in will it just work seeing how I used the factory harness to plug into the new deck? Let me know.

Ken

[YBajaSteve]

I think if you search for more posts about the subwoofer, you'll find out its not worth the money, I remember reading posts about it. Any OEM speaker kit usually isnt as nice as aftermarket. I think I remember someone making their own custom box for under the seat and it was really nice.

[BooBoo]

I agree with NewToSubies. The posts I've read from users who have installed the oem sub were mostly negative. You can get a better sounding sub for less money elsewhere.

In my own quest for more bass in the Baja, I have found and looked at 4 that will fit under the seat.
1. Kenwood KSC-SW10 - Uses 5X7 driver and a 5X7 passive radiator - most
people reviewing it liked it - street prices about $120-160.
2. Clarion SRV-314 - Uses a 6 3/4 inch subwoofer - more negatives than
positives - prices about $100-130.
3. Blaupunkt THb-200A - Uses an 8" subwoofer - mostly positive reviews -
Crutchfield has it priced at $199.99.
4. Boss Audio - Has one with an 8" subwoofer and just came out with a 10" - Haven't read any reviews for the 10", but most reviews for the 8" are positive - online prices for the 8" are about $100-125 and about $150-200 for the 10". User manuals can be downloaded from Boss's website at http://www.bossaudio.com. It's in stock at this online store: http://www.FullStock.net.

All of these have low-level (RCA type) inputs. The oem sub only has speaker level inputs. You don't need a wiring harness for the aftermarket subs. Just wire them to power and ground, tap into the remote turn-on lead from your receiver and run a pair of RCA's from your receiver's preamp or subwoofer outputs to the low-level inputs.

The stock radio and speakers are still in my ScoobyTruck so I'm going to have
to replace them before getting a sub. The BOSS1200 is my choice. It's the only one I've found that will fit under the seat and has a 10" speaker.

[kmvbaja]

Just wanted to give a little update on what I’ve done to my stereo. First, I install all 4 6.5” Polk speakers – component front and 2 ways in the rear. For the tweeter, I cut a hole in the center of that triangle plastic piece and run the wire down. It works really well. I also Re-route 14 gauge speaker wires to all 4. I’m using Alpine 9835 for the head unit (26 watts rms) without any external power amp (for now). Thanks to this site I was able to buy the Boss 1200 subwoofer from Amazon.com for $165. Let me tell you, this sub is pretty impressive. It shakes my rearview mirror. Yes it doesn’t hit quite as hard as a good 10 or 12 inch (kicker comp/alpine type R) in the trunk but enough to shake the cabin and more. So far I’m extremely happy with it and still not finish tuning it yet.

On thing though, it does not fit under the driver seat that well so I’m still trying to work that out. It is a tad too tall to completely push under the driver seat. For the price and its size it is hard to beat.

One thing I notice is that the oem stereo is not too bad (when all four speakers worked). My driver side speakers cuts in and out whenever it wants to. That’s why I decided to replace it. If you are replacing the stock with some cheep-o ones, you’ll never beat the sound of that stock unit and speakers combo.

Just wanted to share a little about running the power wire. You’ll need to run it along the driver fender. This require taking off or loosened the inner fender liner. I just loosen enough to pull the wire through and zip tie it snug. Right above where the hood release cable goes in to the cabin on the side fender, you’ll see a spear rubber plug. Pull that off, cut a slit or hole in the middle and push your wire through. If you can get through this part the rest is very simple. If you decide to use the stock speaker wires, the installation should be a very simple one. If you have any questions, post here.

[YBajaSteve]

thats good to know, as i plan on rewiring all the speakers also, since my passenger side speakers go out randomly as well. Its not top on my priority list, but i definatly will be doing my entire speaker system soon.

[BooBoo]

Just a little addition to kmvbaja's excellent post.

It adds quite a bit of low end, but is definitely not in the same league as a good 10" in a decent sized box. If you are looking for something that really hits, pass this one by.

The BOSS1200 will not fit completely under the passenger seat either. If you place it lengthwise, with the power and input wiring in front and move it as far to the right as possible, it sticks out from under the back of the seat. If you place it crosswise, the seat covers it, but the seat will not move all the way back. Also there is a bolt protruding from the center tunnel about 1 inch forward of the left rear seat bracket. If placed crosswise with the connections to the left, this bolt will contact the RCA's and break them off.

I cut 2 straps from pipe hangar and using the torx screws in the top of the sub box, fastened the box to the front seat brackets. But since the seat will not go all the way back, I'm going to eventually go to something else.

My rear speakers have been replaced with 6.5 in Pyle drivers and the fronts with Pioneer 6.5 3-ways. The Pyle's in the rear fill in the midrange really well, and the Pioneer's are excellent in the highs, but the lows are weak.

Has anyone fabricated a box for the rear seat center? Like remove the cupholders and console box and fit a little box down in there?

For the power wire, I used a grommet on the firewall. Just made a little "X" in the center and pushed a stiff wire through to under the dash. The grommet is sort of a rounded diamond shape and is just to the lower left (facing the front of the firewall) of the brake booster drum.

[BooBoo]

Earlier I tried to upload my photos showing the grommet location in my previous post. The file size was too big.

I've put them on flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/briteclan/ ... 294357651/

[kmvbaja]

Thanks for the info in pics, BooBoo. It would have definitely saved me some time if I would have known about this firewall plug. To me, the Boss 1200 sounds pretty decent for its size and price. I’m still working on hiding the sub as best as possible.

In the process, I might have short or ground something incorrectly because my dome / interior light fuse keeps blowing. I only did two ground connections but did leave some wires from the stereo harness strip and bear so that might be the problem. Thanks.

[BooBoo]

Yes, it sounds like one of those wires may be contacting another wire or perhaps a ground. A quick fix for loose ended wires without using heat shrink or tape is to cut the bare ends off with just a tad of the insulation. Then press your thumbnail and another nail on either side of the remaining wire about an inch back from the end and stretch the insulation out until it covers the copper strands completely. Depending of the thickness and how stretchy the insulation is, you may need to do this two or three times. The insulation will then cover the ends of the wire strands and keep them from contacting another wire or shorting.

In one of your previous posts, you mentioned the Alpine Type R. Have you had one of these?

[kmvbaja]

I clean up the wires that I cut up on the stereo harness and tape all open ends and that did solve the problem of fuse blown. All interior lights + time clock + trip od is back to normal.

Alpine Type-R 12 in dual voice coil. I used a single 12 in the trunk before and it hit very hard and tight. Unfortunately this will not work on a Baja. I'm happy with the boss 1200.

As far as the Boss 1200 placement goes, I just slide it back from under the driver seat a little and placed it right where the rear passenger feet placement is. I cut a particle board that covers the RL passenger feet placement area, cover it with some grey sub box cover (found at Wal-Mart) and placed the board over the sub. There is no need for nailing because it sits pretty snug there. This adds better sound for the sub. Fortunately only my little 4 years-old sit on that seat ocassional so I'm good. Note: You can trace the area with a cardboard first then transfer that to the particle board and leave some room for the seat to slide back if you have long leg. Good luck.

[YBajaSteve]

take a pic, im interested on how it looks.

[BooBoo]

Well, NewToSubies, I've made some lower resolution photos and will try to upload them. I'm not sure whether these will do you any good or not. If you put the sub under the seat, the seat WILL NOT go all the way back. The stamped metal form of seat bottom contacts the top of the sub cabinet and wants to push it back. It will go back only about 3-4 notches and then starts to take the sub back with it. I fastened pieces of "pipe hangar" to the top front of the box and secured it to the front seat bolts. You can see one of the brackets just to the right of the speaker logo on the front view of these pics. With this temporary solution, I can put the seat back to within 2-3 notches of all the way. Anyway, hope these help.