I'm just finishing up my subwoofer console mod. I did a few things differently, some of which I may not do if I had to do this all over again.

first was removing the console - pretty easy.

IMG_5587.JPG

but I almost broke this connector... I was trying to unplug it at the dark grey point near the harness.
IMG_5588.JPG


I was able to save the little washer-nuts that hold the outer console onto the inner console (or vice versa). My sub had this cover over it, which broke off when I tried to remove it. It was just glued on.

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the sub wasn't damaged nor had it deteriorated like I've seen.



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the factory sub, amp, and heatsink were all removed.

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I'm using the Kicker Comp RT that everyone else has found to be a close fit...

IMG_5601 2.JPG


play dough was used to determine how much clearance I had above the sub enclosure.

IMG_5603 2.JPG


I drilled out an approximate area and cut it away. I had to do this a few times until the sub would sit flat.

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IMG_5605.JPG


I built a patch and glued it into place.

IMG_5782 3 copy.jpg


I covered it with dynamat to deaden the enclosure, but also serve as a seal in case I didn't use enough glue (I used enough glue).

IMG_5784.JPG


I filled in the notch where the factory harness was routed with a piece of plastic.

IMG_5779.JPG


And I covered it with some foam to act as a gasket. Here you can also see the inside of the patch and the ribs that I had to grind away to get the magnet to fit. If I had to do it again, the heat gun/yeti tumbler method might be the way to go.

IMG_5783 2.JPG


Here's where I did something a bit differently. I used a transfer punch to make divots in the enclosure that matched with the sub's mounting holes. I then drilled them out. I tried using speed nuts, but they wouldn't give me the clearance I needed - they stuck too far into the opening and hit the sub's basket. I ordered some 8-32 t-nuts and bolts from boltdepot.com and lined them up. In order to ensure that the nuts held in place when I started bolting them down, I used a bit of bondo to "glue" them in place. I covered the back of the nuts to ensure the bondo didn't get into the threads. It is ugly as can be but it works. I added some weather stripping to work as a gasket. There was very little margin for error in getting everything aligned but somehow I didn't screw things up. The t-nuts will allow me to remove the sub if I need to and re-install it without damaging the enclosure. I am also able to torque the bolts down more so than if I had just used screws. I also lined the inside of the enclosure with a bit of Dynamat.

IMG_5840.JPG


I built a replacement for the heatsink that I removed. Because the sub has two voice coils, it can be wired for either 4 or 1 ohm configurations. I ran speaker leads for each voice coil to the outside, allowing me to wire it either way without needing to re-open the enclosure itself.

IMG_5826.JPG


Here, it's wired for 4 Ohms.

IMG_5882.JPG


I also lined the outside of the enclosure with Dynamat. The seams where the Dynamat meet up were covered with aluminum tape. I also loaded poly fill into the enclosure itself. The white weather stripping helps seal the opening where the heat sink was. It's not as effective a seal as I'd like, so I'm going to either glue it down, or add additional screws. or both.

IMG_5872.jpg


And that's it - here's the finished sub enclosure. It's pretty impressive on the test bench, I may decide to re-configure it for 1 ohm to get more output. I'm driving it with a Rockford Fosgate T-500BR.

IMG_5875.jpg
 
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I'm just finishing up my subwoofer console mod. I did a few things differently, some of which I may not do if I had to do this all over again.

first was removing the console - pretty easy.

View attachment 131730
but I almost broke this connector... I was trying to unplug it at the dark grey point near the harness.
View attachment 131731

I was able to save the little washer-nuts that hold the outer console onto the inner console (or vice versa). My sub had this cover over it, which broke off when I tried to remove it. It was just glued on.

View attachment 131732

the sub wasn't damaged nor had it deteriorated like I've seen.



View attachment 131733

the factory sub, amp, and heatsink were all removed.

View attachment 131734

I'm using the Kicker Comp RT that everyone else has found to be a close fit...

View attachment 131735

play dough was used to determine how much clearance I had above the sub enclosure.

View attachment 131736

I drilled out an approximate area and cut it away. I had to do this a few times until the sub would sit flat.

View attachment 131739

View attachment 131737

I built a patch and glued it into place.

View attachment 131740

I covered it with dynamat to deaden the enclosure, but also serve as a seal in case I didn't use enough glue (I used enough glue).

View attachment 131741

I filled in the notch where the factory harness was routed with a piece of plastic.

View attachment 131738

And I covered it with some foam to act as a gasket. Here you can also see the inside of the patch and the ribs that I had to grind away to get the magnet to fit. If I had to do it again, the heat gun/yeti tumbler method might be the way to go.

View attachment 131742

Here's where I did something a bit differently. I used a transfer punch to make divots in the enclosure that matched with the sub's mounting holes. I then drilled them out. I tried using speed nuts, but they wouldn't give me the clearance I needed - they stuck too far into the opening and hit the sub's basket. I ordered some 8-32 t-nuts and bolts from boltdepot.com and lined them up. In order to ensure that the nuts held in place when I started bolting them down, I used a bit of bondo to "glue" them in place. I covered the back of the nuts to ensure the bondo didn't get into the threads. It is ugly as can be but it works. I added some weather stripping to work as a gasket. There was very little margin for error in getting everything aligned but somehow I didn't screw things up. The t-nuts will allow me to remove the sub if I need to and re-install it without damaging the enclosure. I am also able to torque the bolts down more so than if I had just used screws. I also lined the inside of the enclosure with a bit of Dynamat.

View attachment 131743

I built a replacement for the heatsink that I removed. Because the sub has two voice coils, it can be wired for either 4 or 1 ohm configurations. I ran speaker leads for each voice coil to the outside, allowing me to wire it either way without needing to re-open the enclosure itself.

View attachment 131744

Here, it's wired for 4 Ohms.

View attachment 131746

I also lined the outside of the enclosure with Dynamat. The seams where the Dynamat meet up were covered with aluminum tape. I also loaded poly fill into the enclosure itself. The white weather stripping helps seal the opening where the heat sink was. It's not as effective a seal as I'd like, so I'm going to either glue it down, or add additional screws. or both.

View attachment 131747

And that's it - here's the finished sub enclosure. It's pretty impressive on the test bench, I may decide to re-configure it for 1 ohm to get more output. I'm driving it with a Rockford Fosgate T-500BR.

View attachment 131748
What is the "heat gun/yeti tumbler method ". This looks great, and thanks for the detail and pics. I hope to start on my similar build in the next couple of days.
 
What is the "heat gun/yeti tumbler method ". This looks great, and thanks for the detail and pics. I hope to start on my similar build in the next couple of days.

I think it’s mentioned on this thread somewhere. Basically rather than cutting out a notch to give the new sub’s magnet clearance, someone used a heat gun and a metal tumbler to heat up and re-form the back of the stock enclosure to provide the clearance needed. Would have been quicker than cutting and building a ‘patch’ like I did.
 
Poor pictures (one inside and one from the topside) but the heat gun and tumbler method took about 30 minutes. The white stuff is the price sticker that was on the bottom tumbler. I hope to have this finished and back in the next few days.

speaker1.jpg


speaker2.jpg
 
So can anyone show me the wiring diagram they used. The kicker amp came with 2 power wires soldered together as well as the ground. I’m assuming I can just solder or crimp a single wire to it and run it to the battery and a ground location?
 
So can anyone show me the wiring diagram they used. The kicker amp came with 2 power wires soldered together as well as the ground. I’m assuming I can just solder or crimp a single wire to it and run it to the battery and a ground location?
That sounds wrong. Picture?

the amp will have the following:

power
———
B+ = battery positive (fuse within 12 inches of the battery to prevent a short from starting a fire).
Neg = ground (to body)
Rem = remote turn on. This connects to the head unit. It is a 12v positive connection (some amps will turn on when they see an audio signal, but it varies from model to model)

input
———
Should have RCA jacks (round barrels, low level input).
May also have terminals for speaker level input (high level). If so there may be a hi/low input switch that needs to be set.

output
———
Connect these to the sub. If bridging it’s typically labeled.
 
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That sounds wrong. Picture?

the amp will have the following:

power
———
B+ = battery positive (fuse within 12 inches of the battery to prevent a short from starting a fire).
Neg = ground (to body)
Rem = remote turn on. This connects to the head unit. It is a 12v positive connection (some amps will turn on when they see an audio signal, but it varies from model to model)

input
———
Should have RCA jacks (round barrels, low level input).
May also have terminals for speaker level input (high level). If so there may be a hi/low input switch that needs to be set.

output
———
Connect these to the sub. If bridging it’s typically labeled.
Yes, it has all that like any other amp. However, the kicker pxa200.1 comes with 2 red wires (power) soldered together. 2 black wires (ground) soldered together. 2 wires for rca’s. 1 blue for remote turn on. And 2 wires for speaker pos and neg.

0296139B-D334-47C3-A721-5AADAA44C16B.png
 
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.
 
It seems that the Kicker PXA200.1 has been discontinued. Any recommendations for something that's similar?
 
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Awesome thread! My car audio skill set is basically zero, can anyone provide info on how to wire this Kicker sub to the factory amp? I know it won’t have the best performance but I would like to use it as a starting point along with upgrading the dash and roll bar speakers. I feel like this Kicker is going to be way better than the Quadratec direct replacement. I do have a Pioneer DEH-P8400DEH head unit that the previous owner had installed.

Any help is greatly appreciated.
 
Awesome thread! My car audio skill set is basically zero, can anyone provide info on how to wire this Kicker sub to the factory amp? I know it won’t have the best performance but I would like to use it as a starting point along with upgrading the dash and roll bar speakers. I feel like this Kicker is going to be way better than the Quadratec direct replacement. I do have a Pioneer DEH-P8400DEH head unit that the previous owner had installed.

Any help is greatly appreciated.
Only problem with using the factory amp is you are severely under driving the subwoofer.