Are you planning on dropping the replacement sub into the stock foam cavity?

 

No, I've got a small box for it. I was hoping to cut a rectangle out of the foam and just nestle the box in place, but it's deeper than the foam, so it would sit above the hatch floor by an inch or two. I think I'll put it in a similar place to the stock ST sub box location. I'll still have decent hatch floor space that way, and won't worry about puncturing the sub cone with something heavy in the hatch.

 

Just kidding - no blood spatter, but I did dissect the sub enclosure, and figured I'd share what I found so no one else finds it necessary to tear everything apart. The sub enclosure did not survive this operation.

I'm in the process of trying to figure a way to improve the bass in the RS and keep as much of the stock wiring as possible. The stock sub is absolutely pitiful - every time I think it might have just a little better sound than I previously thought, I drive the ST again and all my hopes and dreams are shot down. The ST (stock '13 ST3 Sony stereo) is by no means a competition-winning audio experience, but it's got much more depth and bass compared to the RS. I've had the sub out of the RS for a few days, and I honestly can't tell it's gone. It's probably the ONLY thing about the RS that has disappointed me.

I'd really like to keep the stock connector so I don't have to cut and splice too much. I got a mid-priced 600 watt dual-voice 8" shallow-mount sub, and I'm hoping to run the wires from the stock connector to each of the inputs on the sub. The stock sub (it really just looks like a 6" speaker with a bigger magnet) is dual-voice, so in theory, I should be able to run everything the same way, and I'm hoping that the factory amp will power a slightly larger sub. If I don't get the bass I'm looking for, I'll add another amp, but maybe I can get away without it. I'm no professional at this, and I'm doing a lot of testing to see what I can find that makes the sound what I expected when I bought the car.

Sub guts:
View attachment 79058

Sub guts from a slightly different angle.
View attachment 79050

Factory connector in stock location:
View attachment 79034

Factory connector removed:
View attachment 79042

I was hoping to do something like this too. I am also no expert in this, so thank you for being the researcher here. Looking forward to learning more.

 

That stock "sub" looks like wasted trunk space lol

 

I'm hoping a replacement in the stock location turns up. I don't want it to take any interior space.


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That's really pathetic, why'd they even bother? I look forward to seeing what you're able to come up with!

 

All the more reason to cut the factory foam in half, drop the trunk floor, and mount a Stealthbox-style enclosure in the factory ST location! The only downside is that I don't recognize that connector so making an extension would be difficult. One would have to make the wiring harness on the replacement sub box pretty long to reach all the way over there if they were unwilling to modify the factory trunk harness in any way.

 

awww...look how little it is!

 

To get around making the harness significantly longer, I might mount the sub box on the driver's side rather than the passenger side like the ST. I'll have to see how the sound compares. I also could move the amp over to the passenger side - there's actually a fair amount of wiring, and it's got little plastic Christmas tree holders to secure the harness to the foam, not to the actual hatch floor. It wouldn't be too terrible to rotate the foam 180 degrees so the cutouts are in the right spots, but if that doesn't work, I can just put the amp in a different cutout and cut the foam with vents like it's got underneath it now. I really do want to cut the foam down so it's level with the rear seats when everything is flat. I did that in the ST and it's a much cleaner look.

 

Just kidding - no blood spatter, but I did dissect the sub enclosure, and figured I'd share what I found so no one else finds it necessary to tear everything apart. The sub enclosure did not survive this operation.

I'm in the process of trying to figure a way to improve the bass in the RS and keep as much of the stock wiring as possible. The stock sub is absolutely pitiful - every time I think it might have just a little better sound than I previously thought, I drive the ST again and all my hopes and dreams are shot down. The ST (stock '13 ST3 Sony stereo) is by no means a competition-winning audio experience, but it's got much more depth and bass compared to the RS. I've had the sub out of the RS for a few days, and I honestly can't tell it's gone. It's probably the ONLY thing about the RS that has disappointed me.

I'd really like to keep the stock connector so I don't have to cut and splice too much. I got a mid-priced 600 watt dual-voice 10" shallow-mount sub, and I'm hoping to run the wires from the stock connector to each of the inputs on the sub. The stock sub (it really just looks like a 6" speaker with a bigger magnet) is dual-voice, so in theory, I should be able to run everything the same way, and I'm hoping that the factory amp will power a slightly larger sub. If I don't get the bass I'm looking for, I'll add another amp, but maybe I can get away without it. I'm no professional at this, and I'm doing a lot of testing to see what I can find that makes the sound what I expected when I bought the car.

Sub guts:
View attachment 79058

Sub guts from a slightly different angle.
View attachment 79050

Factory connector in stock location:
View attachment 79034

Factory connector removed:
View attachment 79042

Wow Not even an 8" sub like in the ST. Well that is going to be one of the things i am going to work on when my car shows up. I guess the simplest thing you could do is swap out the 6" sub with some aftermarket one. that should make a difference, but its a 6" sub "what was Ford thinking" what kind of bass do you think your going to get out of it.

 

It doesn't even really look like a sub. It looks like a 6" dual-voice speaker with a slightly bigger magnet than most. It's literally the only thing about the car that disappoints me.

 

I looked at the wiring to the ST sub and it looks like it's the same four wires. I'd think that you could use a factory ST sub without much hassle. If someone else sorts it all out I may do that as the stereo could use a little more defined bass.

 

I used the 4 wires and connected to a ST Sub. Removed all the stock styrofoam and added 2in insulating foam. Covered it with a husky liner boot mat, which has a cutout for the ST Sub.

 

I think it's just there for show.

If you hold the right arrow and eject button at the same time it will do a diagnostic test and it runs through the speakers, including the sub.

No noise comes out of it.

 

Never mind, doesn't look like anyone around here has an ST.

 

Not sure if I mentioned it in the other audio build thread - but my plan is to utilize one (maybe two) shallow mount JL Audio subs. I'm gutting the foam out and the enclosures will be identical to the height of the original foam...so no space being taken away or gained...just a few more lbs, between the sub(s), enclosure, amps and additional equipment required. My timeline right now is over the Christmas break.

 

My Google-fu also tells me that the Focus Titanium has at least a similar looking enclosure and Sony subwoofer - likely the same part.

 

@daverup, are the anchors for the mounting brackets present in the RS?

 

Those are not there, they would be 2 inches below the boot floor.

 

If you do remove the stock styrofoam and sub and replace with 2in insulation foam, your boot floor and folded down seats are approximately level.
Possible issues,
Carving the foam to fit the uneven boot bottom floor is a little messy.
The Sync box and Feng (if still in use) box have to go somewhere. They do heat up so allow airflow somehow.

The ST sub is designed to have two metal brackets on the bottom bolted down, I just removed them and carved slots in the insulation foam to hold the bottom of the sub. I also connected a strap from the top of the sub to a body mount underneath the cardboard side panel. Other stuff I strapped to the sides of the boot using velcro straps.

 

What did you do for the location of the Sync box and Feng in your build? As far as I understand these have to remain for the sytem to work.

Trying to slowly gather the info and courage for a complete foam removal, so any piece of knowledge helps.

 

@alien_yet_familiar,
Would you be willing to post the wiring colors and connections from the Stock Sub and 4 wires connector?
I wasn't willing to hack into my stock sub...
That would make it easier for others joining in.

 

Would you be willing to post the wiring colors and connections from the Stock Sub and 4 wires connector?
I wasn't willing to hack into my stock sub...
That would make it easier for others joining in.

 

More detailed pics of wiring. It's hard to tell the difference between the white/gray and white/black wires, even in person. And I'm not 100% sure which wires are the positive ones. I probably have them backwards in this mockup (no pics from before the destruction). My husband is bringing a wire diagram home from work that will tell me for sure which is which - he's a Ford tech.

EDIT for correct +/-

White/black and white/blue are the positive wires according to the wiring diagram. White/grey and solid white are negative.

 

More detailed pics of wiring. It's hard to tell the difference between the white/gray and white/black wires, even in person.

View attachment 79329

View attachment 79297

View attachment 79305

View attachment 79313

View attachment 79321

So how does it sound? Do you notice a big difference?

 

I haven't actually done anything with the new sub yet. I'm hoping to work on it a little tomorrow.

 

So, it powers up fine, and is definitely making sound. I just have it sitting on the floor of the hatch at the moment. I can hear and feel it, but it's only really noticeable if I turn the volume up to moderately uncomfortable levels. I think I'm going to have to buck up and add an additional amp to make a real difference. I don't know what the wattage of the stock sub is supposed to be, but the stock power level going to the 600 (peak) watt 10" sub is not doing the sub any justice.

White/black and white/blue are the positive wires according to the wiring diagram. White/grey and solid white are negative.

 

You should probably tap into the rear speakers for a full range signal versus a limited signal from the stock sub output

 

I can't wait to see how this progresses

 

I went back into my wiring of the ST Sub to the RS Sub connector using the diagram and info posted by @alien_yet_familiar.
Interesting fact, Sony used the same wiring colors from the Plug to Sub Speaker on both the ST and RS.

 

We got everything finished up today, mostly. We had to do a little more in-depth digging and modifications than I wanted, but it was worth it. I ended up and did have to buy an amp - the stock sub inputs just don't have enough power to make an aftermarket sub sound any better than the stock one.

I cut the foam in the hatch (on the right side, where an ST sub sits) just enough to slide the sub box down into the floor a bit.

We had a hard time finding a powered area to use for a remote wire for the amp. We initially tried to use the accessory delay relay wires coming out of the stock amp, but they seem to be powered all the time, even with the car off, locked, and after sitting for 30 minutes. We hooked into an unused fuse in the hatch fuse box (the wire is not permanently rigged in like this, we are getting a fuse tap tomorrow and will get it a little more solidly in place). There's also a stock ground point just above this fuse panel that we used to ground the amp.

I used the stock sub wiring as high-level inputs for the amp. It was suggested that I use inputs from the rear speakers, rather than the sub, but the way I've got it now sounds good, and eliminates the need for more wiring.

Almost all done and back together. I cut a small section of the wood fiber section of the hatch cover out and have everything in so it looks mostly stock. It's not perfect, and I still need to anchor the sub box a little more solidly for my comfort, but overall, it's complete.

It sounds fantastic. There's way more bass than I need. Love it!

 

I didn't see anyone ask this yet. What is the depth of stock subwoofer...meaning how many inches thick from top to bottom?

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It's 2.5 inches tall at its tallest point. It's tiny.

Can someone get a depth of the foam tray? Wondering if it's deep enough to build a custom box with a shallow depth sub facing up (or down)

I didn't measure specifically, because the hatch floor has lots of peaks and valleys. I think on average it's probably about 5-6 inches.