Upgrading Alpine "woofer"

[Yedi]

Time, and money... EXACTLY. It definitely takes both to fix this mess. I have every other aspect of the audio upgrade ready, just can't decide on what to do about the subwoofer. Seems like FOX and MTI make good solutions for the trucks, if you don't mind setting them on floor. I knew right away it wouldn't be an option, because of the awesome weather mat in there. Definitely want the subwoofer floating above it, to make for easy removal to clean the mat if necessary.

Curious if it would be possible to fit an enclosure and a shallow mount subwoofer behind the rear seat to allow all the under seat space for hauling things.

Totally agree about the floor mat, that is an issue. There is space to put a box behind the seat, once we get settled into our new house this will be a good winter project to get some measurements and see whats possible!

 

[ab46501]

Drove the truck for the first time today after doing the install. Not worth it. Less bass for sure. Maybe if I had a different amp hooked to the sub would be better, but the box is just too small for any serious sound. I need some low lows, and some punch... I'm going to be getting a box for 2 10's from fox accoustics, possibly Skar subs, and a pioneer GM series amp. Just don't have time right now as we are moving. Will do this late fall probably/early winter .

I have the Harmon Kardon in the Limited I just purchased and have been pretty happy with that system so far so I don't plan on any upgrades this time around but read your thread and thought I'd put in my 2 cents worth.

Your are correct that problem is that you need more power. There are lots of compact amps out there with speaker level inputs you could install pretty easy. I did this on my 2015 F150 that had the premium Sony sub. Replaced it with a Kicker and put a Kenwood amp in it that had speaker level inputs. I have also done this on our 2013 Jeep Wrangler that has the Alpine system. I used the exact same shallow mount Pioneer that you did but added an amp with speaker level inputs. In both instances it worked perfectly with no loss of controls from factory head unit and the bass was really good. The factory box should have plenty of room for that shallow sub to work properly. The Alpine sub I replaced with the Pioneer went in the Jeep factory box and it can't be any larger.

 

[19RamBC]

I have the Harmon Kardon in the Limited I just purchased and have been pretty happy with that system so far so I don't plan on any upgrades this time around but read your thread and thought I'd put in my 2 cents worth.

Your are correct that problem is that you need more power. There are lots of compact amps out there with speaker level inputs you could install pretty easy. I did this on my 2015 F150 that had the premium Sony sub. Replaced it with a Kicker and put a Kenwood amp in it that had speaker level inputs. I have also done this on our 2013 Jeep Wrangler that has the Alpine system. I used the exact same shallow mount Pioneer that you did but added an amp with speaker level inputs. In both instances it worked perfectly with no loss of controls from factory head unit and the bass was really good. The factory box should have plenty of room for that shallow sub to work properly. The Alpine sub I replaced with the Pioneer went in the Jeep factory box and it can't be any larger.

How did your hook up the wiring for the speaker level input? Im assuming the factory sub only has 2 wires coming into it and seems most want a left/right 4 wire connection

 

[RichInMN]

How did your hook up the wiring for the speaker level input? Im assuming the factory sub only has 2 wires coming into it and seems most want a left/right 4 wire connection

Factory sub is actually a very odd triple voice coil - 3 pairs of wires coming in.

A LOC on two pairs or a DSP with channel summing is a good bet, ab45601's advice is solid - it takes more power to really make a difference.

 

[ab46501]

How did your hook up the wiring for the speaker level input? Im assuming the factory sub only has 2 wires coming into it and seems most want a left/right 4 wire connection

Most mono sub amps are set up to take two input channels and turn them into one sub level output. I am not sure what you would do with the third channel but I doubt it would matter either if you just left it off. I don't see how the bass frequency from the three would be any different?

 

[Jeggers]

Here it is, it can be done. Replaced factory sub with this Pioneer shallow mount, used a spacer from Amazon I previously posted, and had to make another adapter to mount the spacer to, as the opening was too big. I don't think a 10" sub would fit though.


Sounds good, isn't any "louder" than the stock sub, probably because I lost a channel and am only using two for the DVC sub. Ok

Bass is cleaner and lower, no distortion even after turning bass all the way up.

My plan is to use the extra channel from the amp as a signal for an additional amp one day when I add some real bass back there. Just don't have the cash right now to do the system I want to.

So here it is, it can be done. Probably not worth the hassle, but I wanted to try it and didn't cost me alot. No more popping from woofer now so that's good.
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So out of all the wires going to the factory sub did you figure out which ones were positive and negative. I’ve been looking for an answer on it to change out my factory sub