While I'm relatively happy with my Bose system, I feel it really lacks any semblance of bass. I had a Bazooka 10" in my Miata's trunk, which did exactly what I wanted- filled in the low's with solid, tight bass that was heard in the car, not out of it. I wanted the same for my RX8, but I wanted to take advantage of the larger trunk to create a small enclosure with a little more power.

This weekend I put together a custom subwoofer box with plans I made in Visio after measuring the space I wanted the box to occupy (basically the space between the seats and the back lip of the trunk). I wanted clean, tight bass in a small package so I went for a sealed box design at the minimum recommended volume for my subs of choice (Alpine 10" Type E "budget" subs :). It's been about 15 years since I last built a box, so I wanted to do this one right- I used 3/4" MDF, liquid nails, sound deadener spray, polyfill, speaker gaskets, OFHC 10Ga speaker wire and power wire, etc.

Anyway, if anyone is interested, I'll convert the plans from visio to GIF and post them... but for now, below are a few pics of the box, pre-construction and installed.

The components- Alpine 10" Type E's and Alpine 350watt Class D mono amp sitting on my favorite creation, my tiki bar : )

The pieces cut and laid out...

The pieces put together in a test-fitting...

The finished product carpeted with speakers and grilles installed...

The finished product from behind, with amp installed and wired into speaker terminals...

The box installed in the trunk and wired up...

and another...

and the last...

very nice!

The last two shots really show how much trunk space is left. I did have to remove my spare tire and mounting kit (I didn't really want it, but it was already installed on this car when I found it on the lot). I maximized space by matching the slope of the box's face to the slope of the back seats (65 degrees), and making the bottom just large enough to easily slip in and out if I need to remove the box for long trips, etc.

As for the sound- it's exactly what I was looking for- not ear shattering or sheet-metal rattling- just low, tight bass to supplement the Bose. I still have some tweaking to the cut-off and gain to make it agreeable to all types of music, but it's helluva improvement so far.

As I mentioned- I'll convert the detailed design docs to .gif if there's any interest.

-Sean

Yup, lookin good...

Absolutely amazing man! And you still have room to throw your crap in the back! I wish you were in FL to make me 1. I would pay high dollar for that.

Very nice job, I'm impressed! :)

Just shows you how much room there is in our 8's...

Originally posted by Jeff_pap31s
Absolutely amazing man! And you still have room to throw your crap in the back! I wish you were in FL to make me 1. I would pay high dollar for that.

Thanks... the last sub box I made was in your neck of the woods (St. Pete), btw... but that was many, many moons ago : (

Originally posted by Outlaws eXtreme
Very nice job, I'm impressed! :)

Just shows you how much room there is in our 8's...

Thanks!

Yeah- I was amazed how much space was back there when I pulled the spare tire. That damn thing takes up so much room, and effectively blocks even more from being usable below it.

One aspect of the design I didn't mention was to make sure that the "emergency tire repair kit" still had room to attach to it's factory strap, so I didn't have to find another home for it.

Wow man, that's really nice. I bow before you... excellent work.
I think the rear passengers will get a good back massage when you turn that thing up :D

I had some time to convert the plans to .gif from my other PC and put them on my server:

http://www.theswamp.com/rx8/rx8boxplans.gif

Something I didn't mention earlier is that these plans will adapt easily to a 2x8" setup, 1x 10", or 1x 8" - the latter two by omitting the center divider piece.

If anyone finds it helpful, enjoy!

Here's a preview...

DONE thanks man for taking the time to do this...... yet another thing that would be great on a DIY Forum!!

Thanks for the info man! I really like this design!

Just glad to give something back to the community : )

If anybody builds from these plans, I'd love to see pics of the results.

-Sean

G8rboy - Very well done!!!! I went to the link and it looks very thorough, thank you for your time and effort on this.

Couple ques. - Did you tap into the rear speakers and as a result is there any interference or static?

Why do you need the board to separate the two woofers? Is the sound distorted if it isn't used?

Thanks in advance.

Originally posted by success07
G8rboy - Very well done!!!! I went to the link and it looks very thorough, thank you for your time and effort on this.

Couple ques. - Did you tap into the rear speakers and as a result is there any interference or static?

Why do you need the board to separate the two woofers? Is the sound distorted if it isn't used?

Thanks in advance.

Thanks Success- yes, I tapped into the rear speakers since my amp has both line-level and speaker level inputs. It sounds fine to me- no interference at all. I am however planning to also try to find the low-level inputs in the wiring harness that plugs into the rear Bose amp and run those into the RCA low-level inputs for comparison. I'm curious to see what effect, if any, the audiopilot has with both setups.

As for the partition between the woofers- some say you don't need it, some say you do. Maybe Rotarygod or someone with more experience with subs will answer this more definitively. I figured if they both had their own private air space it would be the optimal situation. If I had been looking for "boomier" sound for rap/hip-hop, then I would have probably just done a single 10" in the middle with no partition, essentially doubling the airspace the sub could have. It's a pretty flexible design...

-Sean

that is very clean

you can hardly see it

i am very impressed! Awesome job!

Update, and a tip for anyone putting bass in their trunk...

My setup still sounds great, but I had a vibration coming from the center pass-through cover when certain frequencies were hit. I picked up some 3/16" foam weatherstrip tape at the hardware store today, and ran it around the inside of the pass-through cover. The cover fits very snug now and no more vibration!

Thanks for the tip!

Where did you draw power from, did you run the power from the battery? Did you tap the rear stock amp for the line in for the Alpine amp?

My last car, vehicle before last, was a 2000 Neon. I put a single 12" sub in a box in it and put a Pioneer 150 watt bridged on the side just as you mounted it on the back. I ran the power from the battery and the line in feed from the head unit. However, before I ran the line in feed from the head unit, I used some speaker level converters and tapped off the rear deck speakers. Of course, the quality wasn't as good as the head unit's line out. That's why I ran the wire, to the head unit in the end.

Does anyone know how much power is going to the rear deck amplifier on the stock Bose system? Also, is the audio feed to this amp a line level or is some digital signal?

Originally posted by D MENAC 7
Where did you draw power from, did you run the power from the battery? Did you tap the rear stock amp for the line in for the Alpine amp?

My last car, vehicle before last, was a 2000 Neon. I put a single 12" sub in a box in it and put a Pioneer 150 watt bridged on the side just as you mounted it on the back. I ran the power from the battery and the line in feed from the head unit. However, before I ran the line in feed from the head unit, I used some speaker level converters and tapped off the rear deck speakers. Of course, the quality wasn't as good as the head unit's line out. That's why I ran the wire, to the head unit in the end.

Does anyone know how much power is going to the rear deck amplifier on the stock Bose system? Also, is the audio feed to this amp a line level or is some digital signal?

I did not run the power wire to the battery- I tapped into the 20a accessory port in the center console. I will likely run it to the battery eventually when I feel like tearing into the right side of the car. My Alpine amp has both line level and speaker level inputs, so I took the easy route and tapped into the rear speaker wires coming out of the amp. If you have to use line-level inputs, there is a thread on the forum with wire color/pinout info for the pre-amp line outs coming from the head unit- shouldn't be hard to find with a quick search.

The sound is incredible- this set-up will hit as loud as you want or as muted as you want- I really had to turn the down the gain and the "Bass EQ" as Alpine calls it.

Edit
===============
Since this post I have now tapped into the pre-amp line level outputs going from the headunit to the rear amp - pictures and details at the end of this thread....



-Sean

you should be sure that thing is secured to the car well. I had two 12's that flew back and hit the back of my trunk and it ripped the terminals out of the amp. not the terminals on the wires, the terminals on the amp itself. needless to say, my $450 dollar amp was toast after the spark shower.

Originally posted by epitrochoid
you should be sure that thing is secured to the car well. I had two 12's that flew back and hit the back of my trunk and it ripped the terminals out of the amp. not the terminals on the wires, the terminals on the amp itself. needless to say, my $450 dollar amp was toast after the spark shower.

That's a very good point... one that I ran into myself with this box. When it's pushed all the way towards the rear seats, it's very snug top-to-bottom (I measured it to fix exactly in there), so it's held in place by the rear deck (and 6x9's). I did however slide it out to see what the sound difference would be in the middle of the trunk, and did exactly what you did, but fortunately my ground wire snapped at the ground point when the box rolled backwards, not at the amp. I would still feel better if I had some straps holding it in- something I'll look into.

Me again- this weekend I decided to tap into the line-level pre-amp inputs coming from the head-unit instead of the amplified speaker-level inputs I had been using. Part of this was just an experiment to see what the difference was between high and low level inputs as it would relate to a amplified sub box, but I also wanted to use the Bose AudioPilot feature again. When using the speaker level outputs, AudioPilot did some weird stuff with the bass signal- modulating between extreme bass and no bass when below volume level 10.

Anyway, below are some pics that should help anyone tap into the headunit's pre-amp outputs... I took the information from the Mazda wiring diagram as well as eXentric and Rotarygod's post regarding this subject and it did indeed work for the rear line-out. I like this option as you can use the fader if you need to dramatically reduce bass (i.e. kids in the back seat), as well as fine-tune the bass level.

As always, email or PM if you have any questions...

Here are the connectors removed from the rear amplifier:

After cutting back the electrical tape, here are the two wire bundles carrying the rear signals:

More pics of the wires to tap. I use these wiretap connectors since they're easy to use, carry a good signal, and can be removed if necessary and returned to stock with little problem.

oops... here's the pic

The connectors snapped back into the amp and the new wires bundled up with wire ties...

Slightly different topic, but here is my ground point- after removing the spare tire mount, I was left with holes and bolts on the right and left of the speakerbox- this one provided a perfect grounding point for the amp:

Lastly, here is a pic of the speakerbox with cleaned up wiring using the pre-amp inputs...

did you notice and sound difference using the pre's as opposed to speaker level?

Originally posted by emailists
did you notice and sound difference using the pre's as opposed to speaker level?

Yeah- the bass seems to "blend in" better with the rest of the speakers. With speaker level inputs I had to adjust the bass level more often depending on what kind of song was on- might sound good with rap, but overwhelming with rock... so I was doing more adjusting to keep it optimal. Now with line-level it sounds more natural with all music, and I just crank up the Bass gain for rap/hip-hop if i really want to feel it in my chest. And I can use AudioPilot again, which keeps me from playing with the volume so much.

As an experiment I wired up a line level converter to eXentric's car to see the difference. The line level adapter was actually not as loud as the way I originally did it. Consequently it is back the other way, tapped into before the amp.

Originally posted by rotarygod
As an experiment I wired up a line level converter to eXentric's car to see the difference. The line level adapter was actually not as loud as the way I originally did it. Consequently it is back the other way, tapped into before the amp.

Rotarygod- The pre-amp output coming from the head unit is standard impedance and phase wiring, correct? Any idea if the rear Bose amp changes that to something proprietary or non-standard?

After driving around for a couple days now with the line-level inputs driving my sub amp, I'm definitely much happier with the overall sound from the system.

-Sean

Yea buddy that's nice I want to do something similar.

Originally posted by G8rboy
Rotarygod- The pre-amp output coming from the head unit is standard impedance and phase wiring, correct? Any idea if the rear Bose amp changes that to something proprietary or non-standard?

That's actualy something I've been wondering too. I've tried a breif forum search to see if anyone else had the answer, but so far found nothing.

I don't yet have an RX-8, but plan to and am wondering if the premium sound system has a different output than the standard level. I want the premium, but I want to be able to throw an amp and subs in the back, however I have a book that states some factory premium level sound systems (like those from Bose in Fords) are designed for a different impedance level, and are resistant to modifications. Is the RX-8's sterio one of these?

Forgive me if my questions seem ignorant or stupid, but I've never actualy modified a sound systme before, so I'm learning here.

Originally posted by Neep
That's actualy something I've been wondering too. I've tried a breif forum search to see if anyone else had the answer, but so far found nothing.

I don't yet have an RX-8, but plan to and am wondering if the premium sound system has a different output than the standard level. I want the premium, but I want to be able to throw an amp and subs in the back, however I have a book that states some factory premium level sound systems (like those from Bose in Fords) are designed for a different impedance level, and are resistant to modifications. Is the RX-8's sterio one of these?

Forgive me if my questions seem ignorant or stupid, but I've never actualy modified a sound systme before, so I'm learning here.

Well, you can wire it the way I did in this thread and you'll be set. The line-level outputs I'm tapping into before the Bose amp are working great. I wasn't as happy when using the high-level output after the Bose amp because the Bose AudioPilot noise levelling/cancellation feature was do some annoying things a low volume levels. Bose is known for doing non-standard configurations, but as far as I can tell the head unit is the same factory unit as the non-Bose system... it's just the speakers and amps that make it "Bose"... so tap into the wires I diagrammed above and you'll be grabbing the signal "Bose-free" : )

-Sean

Originally posted by Jeff_pap31s
Absolutely amazing man! And you still have room to throw your crap in the back! I wish you were in FL to make me 1. I would pay high dollar for that.

hmm.. could ya make me one? what's yer price?:D

Originally posted by G8rboy
Yeah- the bass seems to "blend in" better with the rest of the speakers. With speaker level inputs I had to adjust the bass level more often depending on what kind of song was on- might sound good with rap, but overwhelming with rock... so I was doing more adjusting to keep it optimal. Now with line-level it sounds more natural with all music, and I just crank up the Bass gain for rap/hip-hop if i really want to feel it in my chest. And I can use AudioPilot again, which keeps me from playing with the volume so much.

__________________________

I know this is a stupid question but once you have tapped into the FR FL RR RL , I know how to get power to the app and ground it, but what is the best way to make your app come on when your sound is on and off when you turn it off, automatically...?

Originally posted by mateo
__________________________

I know this is a stupid question but once you have tapped into the FR FL RR RL , I know how to get power to the app and ground it, but what is the best way to make your app come on when your sound is on and off when you turn it off, automatically...?

I tied my amp's power trigger into a circuit that is only on when the car's ignition is on- which was the cig lighter in the center console- it's easy to wire to from the trunk.

OK, great. I'll be running my Amp powerup wire to there as well. I think others have discussed it in other a couple other messages but does your amp turn off properly when you attach to the cig lighter? Others have reported "popping" sounds due to the initial power surge when you turn things on and off..(?)

Originally posted by mateo
OK, great. I'll be running my Amp powerup wire to there as well. I think others have discussed it in other a couple other messages but does your amp turn off properly when you attach to the cig lighter? Others have reported "popping" sounds due to the initial power surge when you turn things on and off..(?)

Yes- the amp powers up when I move the key to 'Accessory' or start the car, and it turns off when I turn off the car. Mine does not pop at all, but I think that might have more to do with the Amp than anything else. So far my Alpine setup has been perfect...

doesnt a system mess with the 50/50 weight distribution?

Just wanted to update this thread with my latest mod- I added the PIE Mazda-> Alpine adapter box combined with the Alpine-> RCA adapter cable for a seamless line-in for my RCA 40gb Lyra mp3 player, and my system sounds fantastic. Details on that mod can be found here:

http://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?t=31969

Also, I'm still running without a line-level or line output converter and have had no problems whatsoever.

Id like to see your plans in GIF format. I have a pair or Kappa Perfect 10.1s and Id like to make them fit. the 65degree slope is great to know. How many cf is each section of the box? mine need .60 each. i have a 600W JBL powering them, did you need a cap?

Id like to see your plans in GIF format. I have a pair or Kappa Perfect 10.1s and Id like to make them fit. the 65degree slope is great to know. How many cf is each section of the box? mine need .60 each. i have a 600W JBL powering them, did you need a cap?

See the second page of this thread for the plans... I posted them there somewhere. I think I designed my box was about 1.3cu ft total, minus the partition would give you a hair over .6 cu feet each, so this should work great for you. You can also stretch the box out left to right for a little more volume if you think you need it. I did not use a cap, but I'm not pushing them nearly as hard as they could be (or you might be with 600W).

i must have missed that, thanks.

as for remote on: many amps have auto on from high level inputs... if you use speaker level inputs instead of RCAs , your amp should turn on only when it recieves an audio signal, this eliminates the need for remote leads.

Does anyone know how much watts go to the 6x9s? I dont want to mess up the inputs with too much power.

i must have missed that, thanks.

as for remote on: many amps have auto on from high level inputs... if you use speaker level inputs instead of RCAs , your amp should turn on only when it recieves an audio signal, this eliminates the need for remote leads.

Does anyone know how much watts go to the 6x9s? I dont want to mess up the inputs with too much power.

My old Bazooka was like that, but my Alpine required a 12V signal to turn it on.
As for the power to the 6x9's, probably depends if you have Bose or not. I think you'll find the signal cleaner if you tap into it before the amp instead of speaker level.

.

Still no word on whether you would make one of these for sale. Honestly I'm completely audio retarded and didn't understand 1/2 the things you guys were talking about here, but I do want to learn and am trying to piece things together. I just know I want a sweet system, and you have the best looking one I've seen so far. Thanks

Holy crap this was one hell of a dead post. Sorry about that.

Hey i got a question that probably was answere somewhere else but im lazy....Ive been wanting to install my 10" Type R's but i stoped by a local shop and they said that with the bose system you would have to replace the wireing and shit to hook up the amp! Two places have told me that now...is this bullshit or what? If it is true then is there a not horrible explensive way of getting around it?

Hey i got a question that probably was answere somewhere else but im lazy....Ive been wanting to install my 10" Type R's but i stoped by a local shop and they said that with the bose system you would have to replace the wireing and shit to hook up the amp! Two places have told me that now...is this bullshit or what? If it is true then is there a not horrible explensive way of getting around it?

Nah- that's BS... tap into the pre-amp wires I showed in the pics on page 3 coming from the head unit, and run those into the amp's line-level input. I've been running this setup for almost 2 years now with no problems... no line level converters or other wiring... nice and cheap :)

[QUOTE=G8rboy]Nah- that's BS... tap into the pre-amp wires I showed in the pics on page 3 coming from the head unit, and run those into the amp's line-level input. I've been running this setup for almost 2 years now with no problems... no line level converters or other wiring... nice and cheap :)[/QUOTE

i want to use this setup but the amp i want doesnt have speaker lvl connections only rca imputs. How do i wire it with rca connections?

Your going to need a line level converter so that you can take the signal comming from the head unit and turn them into RCA outputs.

Your going to need a line level converter so that you can take the signal comming from the head unit and turn them into RCA outputs.

Yes, that's the way you should do it, but I didn't... I just made an RCA-to-line-level cable by cutting a standard RCA cable pair in half and stripping the wires, and used those stripped ends to tap into the pre-amp speaker signals coming from the head unit, and plugged the RCA's on the other end into my amp. It's been working for my Alpine for almost two years now...

I just installed an amp and a sub today. Initially, I was taking the preamp (Bose) input into my subwoofer amp (which is a Profile HA700M) high-level input. The result was very weak bass. It does add some overall but not what I was looking for. Then I redo it by hooking it up into the line-level input, the difference is the world. I would just like to share this experience with you, so that you don't freak out when you got weak bass coming out. Thanks everyone for contributing to this thread, it was very useful and assuring.

So I'm a little confused now after all this..... all I have been reading on here says that you must use a summing LOC such as the Audiocontrol LC6i or such....now you're saying I can use any ol LOC or even directly into the amp (if supported)? What would be the advantages to using the LC6i? Just more adjustability? Not worth $100-$200 and pain of installing IMO.

EDIT: Also found a similar box on Ebay. Looks a little better even. No offense, but it's fitted to the RX8 perfectly.

that ebay box is sick....


i still give alot of props to this guy because he designed it himself and posted the design on here....we all appreciate it


Not sure when ill beable to afford to do this, but....this knowlege helps me alot, as i was unsure myself how to go about it, but i have a base stereo, how different is it and what am i going to have to do different?


thanks

zach

I have a base stereo, how should i go about getting RCA output, ive already found a remote signal turn on that runs from a speaker signal, but do they make line converters from regular speaker wire signal to RCA output?

any help is greatly appreciated

for what its worth.. i just recently got the box off ebay from ZEnclousres... cant say enough about how nice it is!!

yesh i got the box too, its awesome! cant beat the price either, 150 shipped

http://www.abbid.com/rx8club/rx8boxplans.pdf

for you all..

Question for you all. Getting a remote turn on for your aftermarket amps. I realize you can tap off any acc power plug, but those with the Bose system should have some other easier options correct? Measuring with my DMM at the Bose harness, I noted that the yellow/white and pink/black wires are hot only when the key is in the acc mode. Makes no difference if the headunit is on or not. Anybody know what exactly these two wires are for?

i'm suprised this thread is still going after over 3 years LoL..

Try going on ebay and search for "RX-8 Sub" and check out this box i found...

it's a lil too small to add ports (if you don't know, most ported box volumes should be almost twice the volume of sealed boxes) and i wanted to build a box with a rear center-firing slot port with a custom port mounted on that rear center access panel going straight from the interior to the rear of the box. I'm working on designing and then building a deeper box with a custom fitted baffel that will add about .75 cubic feet to the volume..

Most likely i will just buy a box and modify it with the added port and baffel.

unfortunately i will have to add that on after i put the "main" box in the trunk so removing it is gonna be a pain in the ass if i ever have to, let alone installing it in the first place.

With it i will be installing a pair of MA Audio HK120xc subs and powering them with a MA HK1998 1200 watt amp...

but first things first... buy the wood and a spiral saw. I'll post pics next month or whenever construction starts.

For those of you who want a sealed box, that ebay listing is worth checking out :)

That ebay listing is a violation. Im going to have to remove it and give you a warning unless you get to it before i do..

it's a lil too small to add ports (if you don't know, most ported box volumes should be almost twice the volume of sealed boxes) and i wanted to build a box with a rear center-firing slot port with a custom port mounted on that rear center access panel going straight into the box. I'm working on building a deeper box with a custom fitted baffel that will add about .75 cubic feet to the volume..

Most likely i will just buy a box and modify it with the port and baffel.Already way ahead of you. Got one with a single 12" hole justified to the driver's side. Cut a 4 1/2" circular hole and added some 4" PVC piping. Tuned to 32Hz and sounds awesome. Not only is it louder than it's sealed counterpart, I get much better low frequency extension. The subwoofer I choose plus the semi-low tuning freq makes for a pretty evenly flat roll-off at all frequencies. No annoying overly-powerful thumps at certain parts of certain songs.

Already way ahead of you. Got one with a single 12" hole justified to the driver's side. Cut a 4 1/2" circular hole and added some 4" PVC piping. Tuned to 32Hz and sounds awesome. Not only is it louder than it's sealed counterpart, I get much better low frequency extension. The subwoofer I choose plus the semi-low tuning freq makes for a pretty evenly flat roll-off at all frequencies. No annoying overly-powerful thumps at certain parts of certain songs.

If i was planning on using a single sub i would do the same thing.. but i would still port that box into the cabin of the car, i think it would make a hell of a difference, those leather seats must dampen the sound like crazy as well. How much difference does removing the center cover make?

Question for you all. Getting a remote turn on for your aftermarket amps. I realize you can tap off any acc power plug, but those with the Bose system should have some other easier options correct? Measuring with my DMM at the Bose harness, I noted that the yellow/white and pink/black wires are hot only when the key is in the acc mode. Makes no difference if the headunit is on or not. Anybody know what exactly these two wires are for?

the amp is always on when the key is turned to ACC even when the head unit is off. turn the key to ACC, leave the head unit off. i was sittin in my car one day and i noticed you can hear hiss from the center speaker on the dash. i forgot about this note even after reading everyone's issues on various threads asking about this. I have 2 theories:

A) the amp may sense an input voltage through the audio inputs which opens a circuit to prevent pops when the head unit is turned on and off just like in home powered subwoofers.

or

B) there is a remote wire but it is only a pulse voltage that tells the amp that you are turning the head unit on and off and does the same thing as theory (A)

Okay, let me see if I have this straight:

I can take apart the center console running between the front seats and tap into the cigarette outlet in there for power to run my amp. This will also serve as a remote-power-control so the amp will only be on when the car is in ACC or higher.

Does anyone have any pictures of this part? Hints on taking apart the center console? I assume I want to have a fuse in the loop somewhere, too.

Once I have power to the back, will the cigarette lighter still work?

Then, I simply tap into the wiring running to the Bose amp and steal some line-level signal before it hits the amp.
How about putting in a crossover to prevent the Bose amp from trying to produce bass with its smaller speakers? It would be nice to stop it from playing anything below 100hz or so.

Okay, let me see if I have this straight:

I can take apart the center console running between the front seats and tap into the cigarette outlet in there for power to run my amp. This will also serve as a remote-power-control so the amp will only be on when the car is in ACC or higher.

Does anyone have any pictures of this part? Hints on taking apart the center console? I assume I want to have a fuse in the loop somewhere, too.

Once I have power to the back, will the cigarette lighter still work?

Then, I simply tap into the wiring running to the Bose amp and steal some line-level signal before it hits the amp.
How about putting in a crossover to prevent the Bose amp from trying to produce bass with its smaller speakers? It would be nice to stop it from playing anything below 100hz or so.No. You cannot get your MAIN power off the cig lighter. Only the remote lead. The main power wire must run directly from the battery.

Once you tap into the cig lighter for the remote, yes, it will still work as a cig lighter.

You could always add bass blockers on the outputs of the bose amp.... (which is just a capacitor. Buy em cheaper at Radio Shack) Also, you could just turn down the bass on the headunit and turn up the gain on the amp. This will send less bass to all the speakers, but because you gain is up on the amp, the sub will still bump.

I did not run the power wire to the battery- I tapped into the 20a accessory port in the center console.

Is there any cons long term in doing that?

Is there any cons long term in doing that?

If you've got an amp that pulls more than 20A there are... Even for a lower powered amp, the cable for the cigarette lighter is probably 12ga or so, and you'd want 8ga or heavier for even a small amp. Voltage drop at the accessory port could muddle your sound (and cause harmonic distortion, shortening the life of your sub.)

why is the power hooked up to the remote??? shouldn't it be separate lines, am i missing something????? and the box looks nice a very neat clean set up...

why is the power hooked up to the remote??? shouldn't it be separate lines, am i missing something?????
We were all saying the same thing. Power wire straight to the battery and remote from the rear cig lighter outlet. The way it is shown in the pictures on page one will keep the amp on at all times. Which will drain your battery when the car is turned off.

And for those discussing running the main power wire off the cig plug, I suppose this wouldn't be a problem if you had a VERY VERY small amp. But most any amp made today will have a fuse rating of 20 amps or higher. This is too much of a load on that circuit (cig light outlet circuit). It will likely blow the OEM fuse for that circuit.....for the small percentage of people running amps below that rating and currently have it hooked up like this, there really is no "danger" in doing that provided the stock fuses are the correct size and they don't happen to fail if needed. With that said, who wants to take that chance? Risk melting wires and starting fires? Quit being lazy and run an 8g through the firewall.

im getting the autoexe tower brace set... and im thinking about trying to glass the rear brace into a box... does this sound doable to anyone? or am i crazy

Anything is doable. The question is..... are your skills up to it?

I have a Phoenix Gold 2300 XS amp that I am connecting to a single 10" JL sub. I am planning on using the HI Level (speaker level) connection on the amp, but there are only 3 connections there ( L+, -, R+). Do I just tap into the 4 pre-Bose speaker wires as shown in the pictures and then run those 4 wires to the 3 connector Hi Level connection on the amp....combining the two negative lines into one??

Hope that made sense.

Thanks!

how is this thing secured in the trunk exactly?

you just pushed it in there and !!! it fits! There aren't any attachment points or anything?

What if I'm in reverse and I slam on my brakes?!?!?!

Hi Eveyrone,

there is alot of information here that I found very useful.

What i find confusing is most of the other threads say to use a LOC to get line-level inputs for the amp/powered sub. But in this thread you are saying that the "pre bose amp" wired would supply a line level output. So you dont need any LOC crap at all? That sounds almost too good to be true. An answer would be appreciated :) thank you

doesnt a system mess with the 50/50 weight distribution?

hmmm, that's a worrying question. I want to put sound in my boot. Just one Rockford 10" P2.

Does anyone have the pdf file that Abbid had posted. I tried the link and it is dead. The gif is really small and unreadable.

Thanks in advance
James

dirtybirk@hotmail.com

Hi all... I'm the author of this thread... my apologies for not being in touch for a while. I changed servers where I had the plans hosted... so I'm posting them here for download. Let me know if you guys have any questions...

PS- the box is still kicking, and my setup is untouched in the last 5 years since I installed and documented it. Still love this car : )

your the man, thanks!

Im wanting to wire my power wire to my battery. what would the easiest way to do that without ripping my entire car apart. thanks

Im wanting to wire my power wire to my battery. what would the easiest way to do that without ripping my entire car apart. thanks

search the forum first before asking.

See FAQ thread at the top of forum. And my sig.