Subwoofer install ideas?
- Thread starter Ejforan
- Start date
Me?
Pointed up. Sounds (feels) good.
My kid has the 10" but it won't fit under the seat. Can't tell you how many times his has been rained on and still sounds great.
Roadtoad71
New Member
good to know. thanks for the input. I was trying to figure out how to mount it upside down. Crutchfield said it would improve the sound. Making it sound like a larger sub.
Rather add to this thread than make my own cuz this one is what comes up when you search.
I went with the Kicker 10" powered/active sub (46HS10) and mounted it under the rear seat. Got some inspiration from this thread, but I think I did something a little different. I got some steel bar stock from the local big box home improvement store and made some cross bars of sorts that I bolted to the frame of the seat, and then bolted the sub to those. Eyeballed everything, wore my arms out hand-drilling holes, but I think it came out pretty OK! Ran all the wires under the carpet, grounded to a bolt on the shifter (probably too long a wire), zip-tied everything up, and test drove the heck out of it till it sounded reasonable. The upholstery still zips up just fine, there's still an inch or two of clearance to the floor, and even a half inch or so of clearance to the seat springs so they can flex a little before contacting the sub.
Lining things up, more or less.
Painted with the finest audiophile-grade Rustoleum.
Fits great, and probably sounds just as good if I can figure out all the damn knobs!
Now I can finally hear the parts of the song that were totally missing on the 5-1/4"s! This thing does not fit under the front seats, but I think it's a fine choice for a back seat mount. It's easy enough to unplug if you need to take out your seat, just remember to listen to a podcast instead of music cuz you've probably gotten used to hearing bass again. Hope someone out there finds this helpful someday!
I went with the Kicker 10" powered/active sub (46HS10) and mounted it under the rear seat. Got some inspiration from this thread, but I think I did something a little different. I got some steel bar stock from the local big box home improvement store and made some cross bars of sorts that I bolted to the frame of the seat, and then bolted the sub to those. Eyeballed everything, wore my arms out hand-drilling holes, but I think it came out pretty OK! Ran all the wires under the carpet, grounded to a bolt on the shifter (probably too long a wire), zip-tied everything up, and test drove the heck out of it till it sounded reasonable. The upholstery still zips up just fine, there's still an inch or two of clearance to the floor, and even a half inch or so of clearance to the seat springs so they can flex a little before contacting the sub.
Lining things up, more or less.
Painted with the finest audiophile-grade Rustoleum.
Fits great, and probably sounds just as good if I can figure out all the damn knobs!
I just bought the Rockville 10” powered sub and am going to put it in the tj soon. I am deciding between mounting it to the tailgate and mounting it under the rear seat. I’m commonly driving 70mph on the highway with only half doors on. I want to be able to hear it. My rear seat is almost always in, but folded down so that my deck cover goes over it. I’m assuming that under that seat is the best option for me, but just wanted to confirm.
ChasUGC
TJ Enthusiast
This is what I got. MTX Dual molded 10" subwoofer box. It hasn't blown out yet with my PDX-V9 in eight years. It also has quick disconnect. But, it is an investment in sound quality. I got the tan one to match my interior, but only the Charcoal one is available now.
https://www.mtx.com/jwtj97c20-tn-dual-10-400w-rms-vehicle-specific-custom-enclosure-fits-1997-2006
https://www.mtx.com/jwtj97c20-tn-dual-10-400w-rms-vehicle-specific-custom-enclosure-fits-1997-2006
Someone else used that sub, and they had to raise the rear seat brackets.
I’m not sure what location is better. It doesn’t sound like either is more susceptible to a thief due to your deck cover.
Installed this sub a few days ago as well. Took the factory sub out of the center console and put this under instead. Had to angle it slightly, put some thin rubber strips on the sides to reduce rattling, and modify the storage insert (basically cut the cd and tape storage off and glued the flat piece taken out of the dash to accommodate the double din stereo). Sounds great, and no compromise on storage or ease of seat removal.
I’m mostly just interested in what will sound best. Im happy to do whatever work needed to make that happenAnd I was thinking the same about the deck cover…
I’ve fiddled with under rear seat configurations. I’ve done two under seat powered 8” subs, one 8” sealed enclosure sub with external amplifier, and working now on a 10 sealed enclosure sub with external enclosure. I’ve never done a tailgate mounted sub, so I can’t comment on the sound quality there.
As far as under the rear seat, the powered subs worked ok, but the rear seat does muffle sound some. Same is true and worse with the sealed enclosures. I think the closer the sub is to the bottom of the seat the more muffled it will be. I read that 3-4” of space above is ideal. I’ll never get that. Recently I made some 1/2” seat risers and even that small amount made a noticeable difference. Before I added the risers the sub would actually touch the seat when it went boom. I am adding a 1 1/2” seat riser for the 10” sub.
FWIW, I love my sealed enclosure 8” with the 1/2” risers. It sounds very clean and not muffled to me (unless someone sits directly on it). A good test would be to lean the seat forward or remove it and see what the sound difference is like. I could do that if you think that info will help you.
I’ll mention one other configuration I’ve seen, though not on this forum. Someone removed either the cushion in the seat bottom or seat back. I can’t remember which, and replaced it with a box. It was interesting and probably sounds really good. Definitely a sleeper way of doing it. Probably not comfortable for a person sitting in the rear seat.
I know what you mean! I can be lazy with taking pics.
Thanks for offering, no need to do that though
. Is all of this with the sub facing up? I’ve also seen people mount it inside the rear seat, facing down. Which are you speaking of? Any idea which might sound better? Just thinking about it, I feel like it mounted inside the seat, facing down would be better considering there won’t be a bunch of cushioning to muffle it.
Thanks for offering, no need to do that though
Any idea which might sound better? Just thinking about it, I feel like it mounted inside the seat, facing down would be better considering there won’t be a bunch of cushioning to muffle it.
When I researched this a couple years ago I concluded that putting it face down on the floor was a bad idea. It is so close to the floor surface in that case that sound will be muffled. You're trying to create some space between the face of the woofer and the nearest surface for air to move. 3-4" is ideal. That is not going to happen under the rear seat without removing some of the seat cushion. At that point it doesn't matter if it is mounted on the floor pointing up into that space or mounted in the cushion space pointing down.
If you mount it too the tailgate you don't have any of these space issues (unless your packing stuff in the trunk area in front of the sub). The only issues then are the wiring with a moving tailgate when you open and close it. You could do everything internal to the tailgate with a quick disconnect where the wires enter the tailgate. I'd go in under the stock third brake light mechanism so it's all hidden.
That makes sense. Thanks. I guess I’ll get it all hooked up and then just move the sub around to see what I like. Probably the best way to figure this out, honestly. Now that you say that about the 3-4 inches, I can see the tailgate being better even though it’s so far from where I sit.
Bass is non-directional sound, and the tailgate is not that much further away. I think you're plan to try it out in a few locations is a good idea. All you need to do is make sure you have long enough wire to do it either way. Good luck!