Just finished my subwoofer install. One 12 inch JL with a Rockford Fosgate 300 watt RMS amp. I custom built the box out of 3/4" MDF. The rear speakers were tapped for speaker level input. It sounds great! Now there is a bottom end to the bose system.

I didn't want to worry about damaging my speaker thowing things into my trunk so I mounted it out of the way. Over here:

Nice install!

The Rockford amp has a remote bass knob. It really helps to quickly turn the bass down if it get to obnoxious. Also to tune the system to the type of music I'm listening to.

The fuse and power wire running from the battery. I used the same route as eXentric did in his DIY. http://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16217 Thanks eXentric!

I'm the one who wired it. It was just eXentric's car and his camera. You're welcome!

So did you have to tear out the front carpet and back seats as well to get the power wire through to the amp? Is there any other way to do it without gutting the interior? Just curious and thanks in advance.

Originally posted by HighRev'n
The fuse and power wire running from the battery. I used the same route as eXentric did in his DIY. http://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16217 Thanks eXentric! Wow, that wire is run pretty tight, and doesn't have any slack. That could be a major problem the next time anyone needs to get in around that area and do some work.

---jps

There shouldn't be any issues with the wire in the future as far as eXentric's car goes. It doesn't run past anything important inside the car and if you need slack in the engine bay just redo it from the fuse to the battery. It is a really straight, simple route for the wire and interferes with nothing.

In order to run the wire like this you need to remove the washer fluid bottle and drill a hold through the fire wall. I used a rubber grommet to seal the hole up. The wire runs down the right side of the vehicle perfectly. In order to do it this way you need to remove the passenger seat, scuff plate, and rear seat bottom and top. The rear seat bottom just pulls straight up and the back has 2 bolts. Really easy. The scuff plate just pops up and the seat has 4 bolts. There is also the plug for the seat heater which must be unplugged. To undo all of this would only take a few minutes. The carpet isn't stuck to the floor. Just fold it back. The washer fluid bottle in the engine bay has 3 bolts and a plug. None of this is difficult at all. It is almost as if it were intended to have a wire run through the vehicle. definitely one of the easier cars to run a power wire in. There is no other way to get the wire to the rear any easier unless you run the wire outside over the roof of the car. Not too aesthetically pleasing that way.

One of the nicest and cleanest installs I have seen yet... I wish you were in NY, I'd pay you to do that for me! Anyone in NY care to do my install? lol

Originally posted by rotarygod
There shouldn't be any issues with the wire in the future as far as eXentric's car goes. It doesn't run past anything important inside the car and if you need slack in the engine bay just redo it from the fuse to the battery. It is a really straight, simple route for the wire and interferes with nothing... If I were working on the car 100% of the time, then being able to undo the wire to get to anything might be okay. Awkward, but feasible. But on a car that is still under warranty, that's not always going to be the case, and I'd rather take a little bit of time to wrap it in split loom, and tuck it away where I can, to minimize the chances of it getting caught, cut, or sliced.

---jps

There isn't a simpler out of the way location than this one. There is nothing to worry about as far as it getting cut either. If it had to come out it could be done in only a few minutes. At the same time this is also the cleanest most direct path for a power wire. It's the best of both worlds. It just doesn't get any better or easier than this.

Sorry for the mixup rotarygod. Oh and thanks for fielding the questions.

I did change the path of the power wire inside the car, though. Instead of running it by the door I decided to go down the center tunnel. I had to take this apart anyway becuse I used the lighter power plug in the center counsel for the amp remote turn on. I noticed there was plenty of space in there when I replaced my handbrake a while back. Also there is already a hole into the trunk by the center pass through so I didn't have to do any drilling there.

Originally posted by rotarygod
There isn't a simpler out of the way location than this one... That does happen, and since I haven't poked around the RX8 engine bay enough, I can't offer a different path, so I will have to bow to you on that one.

---jps

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