For those who don't have a the luxury of a factory subwoofer, finding a place to put an aftermarket one can be a challenge. If you happen to be someone that has driver's seat with a fixed base (non-tumble), you're in luck. As it turns out, the Sound Ordnance B-8PTD fits perfectly under the no-tumble seat . This is just one way to tackle the installation, but here's what I did to complete the job. The parts used were the following, keeping the cost to just a little over $200:
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_777B8PTD/Sound-Ordnance-B-8PTD.html?omnews=11545295
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_007CK10/Crutchfield-CK10.html?omnews=11545295
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_007CP...RCA-Patch-Cables-12-foot.html?omnews=11545295
The first task is obviously to remove the driver's seat. With the seat out, an anchor bracket needs to be made that can be used to secure the housing. For this, I opted to use a 4' piece of 16 gauge punched flat bar, which can be picked up at Home Depot. The idea was to create a bracket that would use the seat bolts to tighten and lock the housing in place. Taking a few measurements, I used the vice to make my bends, then cut the flat bar, after my last bend.
After the bracket was made, I rounded off the corners of the bar. This was done so that I could slide a 26" bicycle inner tube, purchased at Walmart, over the bracket, creating a nice rubber cushion against the housing. Getting the tube over the bar was no small feat. I used a heat gun to help soften and make it more pliable. A slightly bigger tube would have been better, but it's what I had.
With the bracket finished, I did a test fit and was ready to do the final installation. This turned out to be a real PIA, because the created bracket blocked access to the front right seat bolt. After some trial and error, here's what I figured out:
- with the subwoofer out, reaching in from behind and underneath the seat, install the front right bolt first (tightening it all the way)
- using a small block of wood on the left seat base bracket, or something similar, prop up the seat about 2"
- slide the subwoofer in from the rear, then remove the prop and lower the seat and bracket (Note: You must raise up the left seat bracket in order to slide the subwoofer housing through the manufactured anchor bracket)
- fight with the other 3 bolts until you get them installed
Next came the wiring. Here, I used the Crutchfield 10 gauge wiring kit. It was money well spent and had everything needed, except the RCA patch cable. The wiring was basically this:
- power wire came straight from the battery (Make sure to use a heavy gauge wire (I used the 10 gauge in the kit) and a fuse block (also in the kit)
- ground went to the left rear seat bolt
- blue remote wire went to the blue amplifier wire on the Insane Audio receiver (This is the power feed to trigger the subwoofer amplifier, i.e. when the receiver is turned on, power is supplied to the amplifier)
- RCA cable went to the subwoofer out (green RCA plug) on the Insane Audio (Note: If you've never done a subwoofer install, you only need either the right or left channel for the sub-woofer, I used the right)
- subwoofer remote level (for remotely increasing or decreasing bass) went to a place on the console where I could reach it
Overall impressions:
The B-8PTD puts out an impressive amount of bass compared to the stock subwoofer. Having it mounted under the driver seat does direct bass to your backside though. It's not horrible, you just know you're sitting on it, if you're the type that cranks up the bass. Having the addition of the "Remote Level" bass tuning at your fingertips is a big plus!
Offloading the bass to the amp/subwoofer also helps take the load off the other existing speakers and improves the overall sound quality output noticeably. It's certainly not the same output as a separate amplifier, but for the cost, and effort, it's a great improvement over what I previously had. If you're looking to upgrade the sound system and wanting to add a separate subwoofer, this is one of the best bang for the buck additions you can make.
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_777B8PTD/Sound-Ordnance-B-8PTD.html?omnews=11545295
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_007CK10/Crutchfield-CK10.html?omnews=11545295
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_007CP...RCA-Patch-Cables-12-foot.html?omnews=11545295
The first task is obviously to remove the driver's seat. With the seat out, an anchor bracket needs to be made that can be used to secure the housing. For this, I opted to use a 4' piece of 16 gauge punched flat bar, which can be picked up at Home Depot. The idea was to create a bracket that would use the seat bolts to tighten and lock the housing in place. Taking a few measurements, I used the vice to make my bends, then cut the flat bar, after my last bend.
After the bracket was made, I rounded off the corners of the bar. This was done so that I could slide a 26" bicycle inner tube, purchased at Walmart, over the bracket, creating a nice rubber cushion against the housing. Getting the tube over the bar was no small feat. I used a heat gun to help soften and make it more pliable. A slightly bigger tube would have been better, but it's what I had.
With the bracket finished, I did a test fit and was ready to do the final installation. This turned out to be a real PIA, because the created bracket blocked access to the front right seat bolt. After some trial and error, here's what I figured out:
- with the subwoofer out, reaching in from behind and underneath the seat, install the front right bolt first (tightening it all the way)
- using a small block of wood on the left seat base bracket, or something similar, prop up the seat about 2"
- slide the subwoofer in from the rear, then remove the prop and lower the seat and bracket (Note: You must raise up the left seat bracket in order to slide the subwoofer housing through the manufactured anchor bracket)
- fight with the other 3 bolts until you get them installed
Next came the wiring. Here, I used the Crutchfield 10 gauge wiring kit. It was money well spent and had everything needed, except the RCA patch cable. The wiring was basically this:
- power wire came straight from the battery (Make sure to use a heavy gauge wire (I used the 10 gauge in the kit) and a fuse block (also in the kit)
- ground went to the left rear seat bolt
- blue remote wire went to the blue amplifier wire on the Insane Audio receiver (This is the power feed to trigger the subwoofer amplifier, i.e. when the receiver is turned on, power is supplied to the amplifier)
- RCA cable went to the subwoofer out (green RCA plug) on the Insane Audio (Note: If you've never done a subwoofer install, you only need either the right or left channel for the sub-woofer, I used the right)
- subwoofer remote level (for remotely increasing or decreasing bass) went to a place on the console where I could reach it
Overall impressions:
The B-8PTD puts out an impressive amount of bass compared to the stock subwoofer. Having it mounted under the driver seat does direct bass to your backside though. It's not horrible, you just know you're sitting on it, if you're the type that cranks up the bass. Having the addition of the "Remote Level" bass tuning at your fingertips is a big plus!
Offloading the bass to the amp/subwoofer also helps take the load off the other existing speakers and improves the overall sound quality output noticeably. It's certainly not the same output as a separate amplifier, but for the cost, and effort, it's a great improvement over what I previously had. If you're looking to upgrade the sound system and wanting to add a separate subwoofer, this is one of the best bang for the buck additions you can make.
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