Modified OEM subwoofer?

[kaigoss69]

If you have them build it so it fires through the ski-pass (front of box sealed against back seat), then you will have no trunk rattles because no sound waves will enter the trunk. Easy and effective!

Then again, if you do that, why no just try a baffle board and mount a 12" sub infinite baffle? - I can almost guarantee you it will sound awesome and will be able to have the flattest frequency response of any set-up. It'll even be "punchy" as long as you use the right sub. JL Audio 12W6 for example, is known to be great in that set-up. You would only need about 250-350 Watts or so to run it.

 

[kaigoss69]

Also, I recently ran across some discussion about the JL Audio 13TW5 shallow mount sub working great in infinite baffle.

 

[carguy75]

I actually have two older subs in my basement that I can use if just want to throw a speaker box in the trunk. I have a 15in Power Acoustic sub in box that may actually fit in the trunk behind the seat just right and a 10in Memphis sub in a box that would fit in the space as well. I did not want to have a sub just siting in my nice luxury car trunk taking up space. However, i may just try installing them to see what they sound like in the trunk before I spend $$$ creating a custom enclosure.

The 15in Power Acoustic hits very deep and hard in the sealed box. The 10in sound good but is more "boomy" due to being ported.

The 15in Power Acoustic Basswork box have black carpet that actually matches the Genesis trunk carpet so it may actually look decent in the trunk. Plus the box is slanted in the rear to fit closer to the rear seat.

Note: If you know anyone with a 2010 VW CC 3.6VR6; I have some brake parts that I never used due to crashing it before i could install them. The Akebono brake pads and Centric front rotors on the 10in box. I also have a ECS Tuning Mercedes 7 speed automatic transmission fluid kit for sale (on the black speaker box)that I never used due to trading my Mercedes before I drained the old fluid. I was saving the parts because I thought that I may buy a VW or Mercedes again before I bought my Genesis.

 

[dfyffe]

I just added a Kicker 43CXA300.1 300W Class D Mono Amplifier, to the OEM subwoofer, and the bass is kicking now, before the amp had to my Treble 0, Mid -8 & Bass +10 to hear some bass, now with the amp, my Treble +6 Mid 0 & Bass -2, and it sound 200% better.

 

[carguy75]

I just added a Kicker 43CXA300.1 300W Class D Mono Amplifier, to the OEM subwoofer, and the bass is kicking now, before the amp had to my Treble 0, Mid -8 & Bass +10 to hear some bass, now with the amp, my Treble +6 Mid 0 & Bass -2, and it sound 200% better.

Interesting. If I understand you correctly; you added an aftermarket amp to power your stock subwoofer?
If so, did you use the stock subwoofer signal leads as an input signal for the Kicker amp and then connected stock subwoofer to the Kicker amp?

I set my stock system EQ at 0 treble,0 mid, and +5 bass. The sound is very good and clear at about mid volume. The bass hits, but it has much room for improvement.

 

[dfyffe]

Interesting. If I understand you correctly; you added an aftermarket amp to power your stock subwoofer?
If so, did you use the stock subwoofer signal leads as an input signal for the Kicker amp and then connected stock subwoofer to the Kicker amp?

I connected the stock amp subwoofer output to a aftermarket $10 High Low converter, rca output from the high low conv, to the kicker amp, and the output of the kicker amp to my oem subwoofer, (I took the oem amp subout wires cut it and connect the amp end to the high low converter and the speaker end to the kicker amp). It was a clean and simple modification.

 

[kaigoss69]

I connected the stock amp subwoofer output to a aftermarket $10 High Low converter, rca output from the high low conv, to the kicker amp, and the output of the kicker amp to my oem subwoofer, (I took the oem amp subout wires cut it and connect the amp end to the high low converter and the speaker end to the kicker amp). It was a clean and simple modification.

That can be a good option to get a little more output out of the OEM subwoofer. Of course, you know that you have to be careful because the OEM sub has its limitations, but some responsibly-added aftermarket power can be a good long-term solution. The problem with this approach is that IF you end up blowing the sub, the replacement is often quite expensive, whereas aftermarket equipment will typically last longer and give better results, and may be less expensive to replace. I did this in my BMW, but I ended up using the subs as mid-woofers, cutting off the frequencies below 50Hz, which allowed me to add quite a bit more power than the woofers were designed for.

Another note of caution is in regards to the $10 high low converter. There have been quite a few cases in the BMW circles, where cheap LOCs were being overloaded by the sub output of the OEM amps, and in same cases ended up physically frying/melting and almost catching on fire. Most of the cheaper LOCs are not designed to handle the amount of output of a premium system such as the ones in our cars, and may end up failing sooner or later. Also, they may produce a distorted signal to your amp, in return sending distortion to your OEM sub. If possible, I would recommend to lower the bass setting on the head unit, which will send a lower output, lower distortion signal to the LOC, and you can compensate by increasing the gain on the aftermarket amp.

 

[dfyffe]

That can be a good option to get a little more output out of the OEM subwoofer. Of course, you know that you have to be careful because the OEM sub has its limitations, but some responsibly-added aftermarket power can be a good long-term solution. The problem with this approach is that IF you end up blowing the sub, the replacement is often quite expensive, whereas aftermarket equipment will typically last longer and give better results, and may be less expensive to replace.
Another note of caution is in regards to the $10 high low converter. There have been quite a few cases in the BMW circles, where cheap LOCs were being overloaded by the sub output of the OEM amps, and in same cases ended up physically frying/melting and almost catching on fire. Most of the cheaper LOCs are not designed to handle the amount of output of a premium system such as the ones in our cars, and may end up failing sooner or later. Also, they may produce a distorted signal to your amp, in return sending distortion to your OEM sub. If possible, I would recommend to lower the bass setting on the head unit, which will send a lower output, lower distortion signal to the LOC, and you can compensate by increasing the gain on the aftermarket amp.

Thanks for the good advice, I did take a few of those advice into consideration, about blowing the sub, that most likely will not happen as I know when a speaker is overdriven and have good listening abilities. on the cheap high low converter, thats why the bass eq, is set -2, after checking the specs on the amp, I could do this without the high low converter, as the amp can accept high or low input, I will try it without the high low converter and see how it sounds, one of the main reason of trying this was, I wanted the minimum trunk disturbance, and modification to the car, now my system sound great for the music I play, 75% reggae, 10% Modern Jazz & 15% R&B.

 

[Gen_Eric]

Thanks for the good advice, I did take a few of those advice into consideration, about blowing the sub, that most likely will not happen as I know when a speaker is overdriven and have good listening abilities. on the cheap high low converter, thats why the bass eq, is set -2, after checking the specs on the amp, I could do this without the high low converter, as the amp can accept high or low input, I will try it without the high low converter and see how it sounds, one of the main reason of trying this was, I wanted the minimum trunk disturbance, and modification to the car, now my system sound great for the music I play, 75% reggae, 10% Modern Jazz & 15% R&B.

Reggae, R&B, modern jazz

 

[rcd123]

Thanks for the good advice, I did take a few of those advice into consideration, about blowing the sub, that most likely will not happen as I know when a speaker is overdriven and have good listening abilities. on the cheap high low converter, thats why the bass eq, is set -2, after checking the specs on the amp, I could do this without the high low converter, as the amp can accept high or low input, I will try it without the high low converter and see how it sounds, one of the main reason of trying this was, I wanted the minimum trunk disturbance, and modification to the car, now my system sound great for the music I play, 75% reggae, 10% Modern Jazz & 15% R&B.

Any chance of a quick and dirty tutorial??? That would be very helpful.

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