Speaker upgrade

[peterzoom]

For what it is worth my recent experience of upgrading the stereo in our Boxster led me, in utter frustration after changing out head unit and all speakers, to try an under-seat subwoofer.
In terms of bang for bucks and obvious improvement it was miles more obvious an improvement over everything else and left me wishing I had tried it out first.
Here is a link to a recent review
https://www.10tenmag.com/under-seat-subwoofer/

 

[Dammit]

Which one did you get?

 

[911munKy]

I bought #2 for mine - Kenwood KSC-SW11 Compact Subwoofer.

Hugely improved the sound from the Head unit, I fitted a mini amp and upgraded the speakers previously but there was never enough bass and was never going to be with 4x 4" speakers, the subwoofer changed that.
It's not going to give you gut thumping bass but I'm happy with the sound.
I transfer as much of the lower freqs as possible (using the separate hand control) to the subwoofer so the other speakers don't distort at higher volumes.

I couldn't get it to fit under the pax seat though so I used double sided carpet tape to stick it to the rear shelf.

 

[peterzoom]

we went for the Kenwood, very slim, so a doddle to squeeze under the seat.

 

[Dammit]

Do you chaps have different seats from one another?

 

[911munKy]

I've got the standard seats, it was a while ago but I seem to recall that I couldn't lower the seat with a sub under it, maybe it fits at full height though.

 

[Halcyon]

I have standard seats and my Focal slimline sub doesn't fit under the seat. But it fits nicely in the rear footwell.

 

[Dammit]

Did any of you chaps pull the seat out to fit the sub, or did you slide it in with the seat in place?

 

[Halcyon]

Slid it in..

suits you sir....

Here a link to a photo.. the flash highlights a multitude of sins
(my seats really aren't in that bad a condition!)

Blue wire heads off to the battery (via a fuse) there's a signal wire and the RCA / phono leads that all go to the head unit.
I can't been seen from outside of the car, but I put the rear floor mat on top at 45 deg so it's completely hidden without muffling it.

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ak7OTAfmTrHxykGP_COWHuO19_KN

 

[Dammit]

Thanks for the photo.

I was just wondering about power- the chassis harness/loom has connections under the seats, for seat motors and heated seat elements- are none of these suitable to tap for power?

 

[Halcyon]

I didn't know what amps the seats used, but I guess it's quite a few! Up to you - I had an easy route to the battery and that's how you'd normally hook up amps, so that's that's the route I took!

 

[Dammit]

I was just thinking that the shorter the run the better really, otherwise I could run up the central tunnel, or under the covers by the left hand sill, up into the dash, over to the drivers side kick panel and then through the bulkhead grommet into the front/battery area.

Versus connect to (say) the seat power underneath the seat.

Of course, if that then lead to fuses blowing if adjusting the seat whilst listening to Radio 4 that would be sub-optimal.

 

[Dammit]

I've ordered the Focal sub so we shall see

 

[Halcyon]

I think you'll be pleased - it's good for it's size

 

[Dammit]

Todays episode of "tools I never thought I'd need to own" brings you the hydraulic cable crimper: