How to replace center console subwoofer

Good stuff.

Best advice I have for anyone considering this is to ditch that crappy, crappy, horrendous stock subwoofer and amp and replace it with a
Kicker CompRT 6.75" Subwoofer and Kicker PXA200 Amp. I did this on mine and the difference is night and day.

The problem is, even if you put that Kicker sub in there and power it with the stock amp, the way the stock amp is wired and setup, it can't power an aftermarket sub to the level that a better amp could.

Here's what I'm currently using for my stereo setup on my TJ: Upgrading the sound system on your Jeep Wrangler TJ

This has made such a huge improvement in sound that you probably wouldn't believe it unless you heard it!
 
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jeepersoutpost said:
After a year, I’ve finally released a new video at www.jeepersoutpost.com! In the video I show you how to use an inexpensive 6.5 inch subwoofer to replace your old, broken oem subwoofer for under $20.



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Click to expand...
Thank you!!!! I've had my fuze pulled waiting to replace mine and was looking into other (more expensive) options, when in reality I just wanted something cheap that'll work. I also have zero experience with car audio, so the in depth instructions are huge.
This is the one, right?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002ZPSKK/?tag=wranglerorg-20
 
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Chris said:
Good stuff.

Best advice I have for anyone considering this is to ditch that crappy, crappy, horrendous stock subwoofer and amp and replace it with a
Kicker CompRT 6.75" Subwoofer and Kicker PXA200 Amp. I did this on mine and the difference is night and day.

The problem is, even if you put that Kicker sub in there and power it with the stock amp, the way the stock amp is wired and setup, it can't power an aftermarket sub to the level that a better amp could.

Here's what I'm currently using for my stereo setup on my TJ: Upgrading the sound system on your Jeep Wrangler TJ

This has made such a huge improvement in sound that you probably wouldn't believe it unless you heard it!
Click to expand...

+ 1 million here. That Kicker 6.75" shallow mount woofer is a great addition, and when powered with a proper amp it is great for our jeeps.

I would throw out that if anyone intends to replace the other four speakers then you may want to seek out a mini 5 channel amp. All you need is 50-90 watts RMS per channel and you are good.
 
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skrelnik said:
+ 1 million here. That Kicker 6.75" shallow mount woofer is a great addition, and when powered with a proper amp it is great for our jeeps.

I would throw out that if anyone intends to replace the other four speakers then you may want to seek out a mini 5 channel amp. All you need is 50-90 watts RMS per channel and you are good.
Click to expand...

Skrelnik which amp would you suggest?
 
cjaama said:
Thank you!!!! I've had my fuze pulled waiting to replace mine and was looking into other (more expensive) options, when in reality I just wanted something cheap that'll work. I also have zero experience with car audio, so the in depth instructions are huge.
This is the one, right?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002ZPSKK/?tag=wranglerorg-20
Click to expand...

Yep that’s it! The darn thing was $18 and some change and of course, went up to $19 and change by the time I was ready to commit to buy![emoji849]


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I noticed that the Goldwood Speaker is a typical 8 Ohm DVC speaker...which is designed for home theater use. Isn't the factory sub something like a 2 Ohm DVC? I don't know enough about speaker Impedance to know what difference that makes though...Maybe @Jerry Bransford can enlighten us?

Otherwise, that looks like a nice, inexpensive solution!
 
Ranger_b0b said:
I noticed that the Goldwood Speaker is a typical 8 Ohm DVC speaker...which is designed for home theater use. Isn't the factory sub something like a 2 Ohm DVC? I don't know enough about speaker Impedance to know what difference that makes though...Maybe @Jerry Bransford can enlighten us?

Otherwise, that looks like a nice, inexpensive solution!
Click to expand...

That Goldwood is not a good replacement since it is rated as a 8 ohm DVC, meaning it wants 16 ohms wired in series, or 4 ohms wired parallel. The factory OEM amp is rated at 1 ohm, and around 50-75 watts, not really sure about the wattage but somewhere around 50-75 watts.

That Goldwood 8 ohm DVC will be underpowered when wired at 4 ohms (parallel). So the OEM amp will be cut from 50-75 watts to about 12-19 watts as most of the amps wattage will be restricted by the 4 ohm resistance of the Goldwood. Probably better than stock, but stock is about as bad as it gets.

Wiring subwoofers to the wrong amplifier impedance may blow the amplifiers and/or lead to clipping and blown/burnt voice coils in subwoofers.

***Update - Read the factory service manual to confirm that the OEM subwoofer/amp is rated at 80 watts:

AMPLIFIED SUBWOOFER
DESCRIPTION
The available amplified subwoofer is mounted
within the center console. The amplified subwoofer is
rated at 80 watts. The amplified subwoofer should be
checked if there is no bass output noted from the
center console speaker. The amplified subwoofer can
not be repaired or adjusted, and if faulty or damaged,
the unit must be replaced.
OPERATION
The amplified subwoofer provides low frequency
bass and receives inputs from the front and rear
speaker circuits.
 
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skrelnik said:
+ 1 million here. That Kicker 6.75" shallow mount woofer is a great addition, and when powered with a proper amp it is great for our jeeps.

I would throw out that if anyone intends to replace the other four speakers then you may want to seek out a mini 5 channel amp. All you need is 50-90 watts RMS per channel and you are good.
Click to expand...

That is exactly what I used and the combo. sounds terrific. I have another amp. driving the sound bar and front speakers. Had a little trouble getting the sub woofer to work; nothing wrong with the sub or the amp.. I had to go through the settings in my head unit but once I figured out how to do this the sub and amp. performed flawlessly.
 
I went a little different route to not lose space and not spend much money - but the outcome was good!

I have a 2005 LJ with factory amp in center console .
I took out the crappy factory sub, cut out the lip that it sat in, and installed a Pioneer TS-SW2002D2 subwoofer. It fit nicely, and only costs $70. Helps the sound out a lot, and fits in the center console of my LJ.

Its a dual coil sub just like the factory, and 2 ohm, which is also the same. The red and brown wires are positive, the grey and black are negative (you have to cut the female connectors off as the Pioneer has a spring clip that accepts bare wire.
 
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I just completely overhauled the system in our '05. Went with a Pioneer double DIN touch screen HU, 5.25" speakers in the pods and behind the dash (used the speaker pods from Select Increments in the dash — and I think they made a massive difference). Used the 2Ω Kicker 6.75 CompRT. I don't know if my amp was on the way out, but it barely drove the sub to the point that I could really even feel it. Pulled the factory amp and went with the Kicker PXA200.1 mono amp.

I actually un-loomed the power, ground, and amp turn-on wire from the subwoofer harness, and relocated them to underneath the steering column, where I mounted the amp. So I didn't have to run any new wires from the HU to the amp (other than the low level pre-amp sub outputs), and the power/fuse/ground are still on the factory "Subwoofer" circuit. Just ran two wires from the amp to the sub, and wired the sub in parallel so the amp sees a 1Ω load. With the Bass Boost on the amp and the HU, you can make the bass output downright obnoxious.

After fiddling with the physical crossover settings on the sub amp, and the software crossover settings in the HU, I think I have the nicest sounding stereo I've ever installed.

In a Jeep.

With no top.
 
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John L said:
I went a little different route to not lose space and not spend much money - but the outcome was good!

I have a 2005 LJ with factory amp in center console .
I took out the crappy factory sub, cut out the lip that it sat in, and installed a Pioneer TS-SW2002D2 subwoofer. It fit nicely, and only costs $70. Helps the sound out a lot, and fits in the center console of my LJ.

Its a dual coil sub just like the factory, and 2 ohm, which is also the same. The red and brown wires are positive, the grey and black are negative (you have to cut the female connectors off as the Pioneer has a spring clip that accepts bare wire.
Click to expand...

John, could you still use the factory amp with that or did you have to replace that as well? If factory, any issues that skrelnik brought up about burnout on the amp or other issues? I'm also not an audio tech so I'm unsure.
Thanks!
 
jkelly said:
John, could you still use the factory amp with that or did you have to replace that as well? If factory, any issues that skrelnik brought up about burnout on the amp or other issues? I'm also not an audio tech so I'm unsure.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
If I remember correctly, the amp was built in the speaker. I did not replace the factory amp and I also do believe my factory amp was already blown. sorry that my memory is a little sketchy. And I'm out of town now so I can't look at it
 
jkelly said:
John, could you still use the factory amp with that or did you have to replace that as well? If factory, any issues that skrelnik brought up about burnout on the amp or other issues? I'm also not an audio tech so I'm unsure.
Thanks!
Click to expand...


The speaker that John used was a Pioneer TS-SW2002D2, per his post, and that would need to be powered by the factory amplifier or a brand new amplifier.

The speaker will have no issues using the factory amplifier, but the Goldwood speaker would be a poor choice and could lead to issues. Since this Pioneer is a dvc 2-ohm speaker, you can drive it off the factory amplifier running the wires in parallel...but I would still recommend the Kicker CompRT 43CWRT672 - wired in parallel. This will pull a 1 ohm load that the factory amp is rated at, and will want about 150 watts which is somewhat close to the factory amp's 80 watts.

This speaker will more easily fit and produce similar, if not better, results than the Pioneer. 6.75" to 8" is not going to do much, you need at least a 10" to feel/hear that low bass.
 
I know it's an old topic, but that's how I just fixed my subwoofer today.
Subwoofer started to sound like crap.
After disassembling center console, I found that speaker was already changed by previous owner to Quadratec shit.
I didn't wanted to spent lot of cash on it as it's my mud rig, not daily drive.
So after some searching I found that Axton ATW16 have almost similar characteristics as OEM one.
It's 16 cm (~6,3") diameter , 2x2 Ohm and 75W RMS speaker.
Plugged to factory amp, sounds way much better than with Quadratec replacement when it was intact. Weights like double than Quadratec. Magnet is huge compared to Quadratec.
Installation needed some minor modifications to original box. As Axton have huge magnet, I needed to cut off some partitions inside the box to make room for bigger magnet. On outside where speaker goes in, I glued some foam tape to make box airtight.
After assembling everything back, I'm very very happy with result. Feels even some pressure from it, not only sound ;)
 
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