[sjk9671]

I'm considering the Maestro AR with Kenwood amp and still keeping the RF for now. To hear everyone talk about it that will be a big improvement and will at least set me up very well if I decide I just have to take up more truck space with a bigger sub.

Same here! Just have to decide on the speakers.......

 

[jumperalex]

Same here! Just have to decide on the speakers.......

Oh see for now I'd just keep the stock speakers the same. I know stocker are supposed to "s|_|ck" but I've also seen enough people say they can still benefit from a better source. I don't know why, but I loath mucking about with door/pillar speakers. I think I just suffer long term ptsd about them not really being worth it compared to filling them out with a good sub. even worse if/when I've had to custom fit them with ring mounts etc.

Full Disclosure, I KNOW they can make a difference but I also KNOW I don't much care about car audio sound quality enough. I want to be able to "forget" about my audio system and in every car I've had that has meant providing enough clean bass to fill out whatever is already there. Now that I can tell the bass is cut off by the stock system at even moderately high volumes I will fix that. I am pretty darn sure once I clean up and control the signal I'll be happy for a very long time. Worst case, as I mentioned, is that I'll get around to a bigger sub and that will be a DIY project because I feel like playing about with some wood working. My last project was a custom built 8ft hickory topped 2-person computer desk. Which means I bought a bunch of nice tools that I need to amortize the cost of across more projects hahaha

 

[god7illa]

Oh see for now I'd just keep the stock speakers the same. I know stocker are supposed to "s|_|ck" but I've also seen enough people say they can still benefit from a better source. I don't know why, but I loath mucking about with door/pillar speakers. I think I just suffer long term ptsd about them not really being worth it compared to filling them out with a good sub. even worse if/when I've had to custom fit them with ring mounts etc.

Full Disclosure, I KNOW they can make a difference but I also KNOW I don't much care about car audio sound quality enough. I want to be able to "forget" about my audio system and in every car I've had that has meant providing enough clean bass to fill out whatever is already there. Now that I can tell the bass is cut off by the stock system at even moderately high volumes I will fix that. I am pretty darn sure once I clean up and control the signal I'll be happy for a very long time. Worst case, as I mentioned, is that I'll get around to a bigger sub and that will be a DIY project because I feel like playing about with some wood working. My last project was a custom built 8ft hickory topped 2-person computer desk. Which means I bought a bunch of nice tools that I need to amortize the cost of across more projects hahaha

All projects are excuses to buy more cool tools!

 

[jumperalex]

All projects are excuses to buy more cool tools!

It is KNOWN!

 

[sjk9671]

Oh see for now I'd just keep the stock speakers the same. I know stocker are supposed to "s|_|ck" but I've also seen enough people say they can still benefit from a better source. I don't know why, but I loath mucking about with door/pillar speakers. I think I just suffer long term ptsd about them not really being worth it compared to filling them out with a good sub. even worse if/when I've had to custom fit them with ring mounts etc.

Full Disclosure, I KNOW they can make a difference but I also KNOW I don't much care about car audio sound quality enough. I want to be able to "forget" about my audio system and in every car I've had that has meant providing enough clean bass to fill out whatever is already there. Now that I can tell the bass is cut off by the stock system at even moderately high volumes I will fix that. I am pretty darn sure once I clean up and control the signal I'll be happy for a very long time. Worst case, as I mentioned, is that I'll get around to a bigger sub and that will be a DIY project because I feel like playing about with some wood working. My last project was a custom built 8ft hickory topped 2-person computer desk. Which means I bought a bunch of nice tools that I need to amortize the cost of across more projects hahaha

I would be very interested to learn how the stock speakers do with an amp replacement. I think the benefits from the EQ settings of the Kenwood amp would go a long way. I worry about them being able to handle the extra power though.....

 

[jumperalex]

I would be very interested to learn how the stock speakers do with an amp replacement. I think the benefits from the EQ settings of the Kenwood amp would go a long way. I worry about them being able to handle the extra power though.....

Like DIY and tools, blown speakers are a reason to upgrade ;-)

Seriously though I'd just set gain as low as possible. The speakers can already produce SPL louder than my ears want to tolerate so I don't need to push any more power than I do now, but hopefully it is a little cleaner. If they still distort even with a clean signal then THAT is when I'd consider an upgrade.

I feel like there is a December gift in my future

 

[sjk9671]

Coupe weeks since install, with some more tweaking I am really impressed with this unit. It goes way louder than I would even need and bass sounds great considering I am using high-level inputs. This will deff give me the hold over factor until I have acquired all my other equipment.

 

[Epic Beck]

After reading this thread I decided to go with the Kicker HS8. Here is the install in the stock sub location. I went this route so I could leave the upper right area open for a 4 channel amp down the road.

Only problem I ran into was trying to use the high level signal as the remote turn on. I ended up running a second fuse tap for the remote turn on and that solved the problem.

 

[shakeweight88]

I bought the same sub as the OP, but I'm having some issues. I get no sound at all from the sub (only some occasional light crackling if you put your ear to it) so something major is up, but my wiring looks good to both myself and my neighbor.

For those with the same unit, what LED indicator lights do you see upon startup? The manual says the light should be green, but mine is initially red for ~3 seconds then turns blue and stays blue until I unplug or turn off. Does this indicate "protect mode"?

All splices/connections have been checked many times with a multimeter. Here is my wiring setup:

• GROUND: a pic of my ground is below. I have measured resistance to other ground points and the battery negative terminal (get 0) and also confirmed voltage is exact same between battery + and sub's ground vs battery + and Battery - . Any other tests I can do? I think I have a solid ground but I know its very important.
  
• 12V: First, I used a fuse tap on one of the non-switched open fuses in the rear fuse box (Channel 3). Later, when diagnosing I ran a fuse wire directly to the battery terminal. Both setups behaved exactly the same and gave the lights indicated above.
  
• SWITCHING: I first tried using audio-only as the switching type and the unit lit up as indicated above. When I couldn't produce sound I bought a 2nd fuse tap and ran to one of the SWITCHED terminals in the fuse box (channel 31 i think). I changed the amp setting to "remote" and now when car is running or in accessory mode, I get the lights described above: red for 3 sec then constant blue. However, now all lights are off when the vehicle is off - I would still get a blue light when using the audio signal switching.
  
• SPEAKER INPUT: I am using the sub's wires like everyone else with the amp input set to HIGH. I looked at a wiring diagram linked earlier in this thread to determine wire colors, the soldered directly to the OEM harness and sealed with watertight shrink wrap. Can somebody that is not colorblind like I am double-check my signal wires please?! I've double and triple checked this but I'm out of ideas.
  

I'm beginning to suspect a bad amp/sub.\, but it's hard for me to believe it was bad out of the box... Anyone have ideas on how I could bench test it? Would opening it up tell me anything? I was tempted to pop it open to measure the speaker resistance but I haven't gone there yet...

Thanks in advance for anyone trying to help!

 

[god7illa]

I bought the same sub as the OP, but I'm having some issues. I get no sound at all from the sub (only some occasional light crackling if you put your ear to it) so something major is up, but my wiring looks good to both myself and my neighbor.

For those with the same unit, what LED indicator lights do you see upon startup? The manual says the light should be green, but mine is initially red for ~3 seconds then turns blue and stays blue until I unplug or turn off. Does this indicate "protect mode"?

All splices/connections have been checked many times with a multimeter. Here is my wiring setup:

• GROUND: a pic of my ground is below. I have measured resistance to other ground points and the battery negative terminal (get 0) and also confirmed voltage is exact same between battery + and sub's ground vs battery + and Battery - . Any other tests I can do? I think I have a solid ground but I know its very important.
  
• 12V: First, I used a fuse tap on one of the non-switched open fuses in the rear fuse box (Channel 3). Later, when diagnosing I ran a fuse wire directly to the battery terminal. Both setups behaved exactly the same and gave the lights indicated above.
  
• SWITCHING: I first tried using audio-only as the switching type and the unit lit up as indicated above. When I couldn't produce sound I bought a 2nd fuse tap and ran to one of the SWITCHED terminals in the fuse box (channel 31 i think). I changed the amp setting to "remote" and now when car is running or in accessory mode, I get the lights described above: red for 3 sec then constant blue. However, now all lights are off when the vehicle is off - I would still get a blue light when using the audio signal switching.
  
• SPEAKER INPUT: I am using the sub's wires like everyone else with the amp input set to HIGH. I looked at a wiring diagram linked earlier in this thread to determine wire colors, the soldered directly to the OEM harness and sealed with watertight shrink wrap. Can somebody that is not colorblind like I am double-check my signal wires please?! I've double and triple checked this but I'm out of ideas.
  

I'm beginning to suspect a bad amp/sub.\, but it's hard for me to believe it was bad out of the box... Anyone have ideas on how I could bench test it? Would opening it up tell me anything? I was tempted to pop it open to measure the speaker resistance but I haven't gone there yet...

Thanks in advance for anyone trying to help!

My unit's light is blue when it is active. I've never seen it green.

My unit is powered from a ignition-switched power terminal and activation is set to turn on via audio signal detection.

Your wiring looks ok to me.

I assume you have the level up a bit.

The things I would additionally try are:
1. different ground point. I understand you checked voltage at this point, but you can get different results when measuring +12 on a meter (very low load) vs getting a solid +12v when a significant load is applied
2. Try disconnecting one of the pairs feeding into the sub. E.g., disconnect violet+yellow, and change? disconnect gray+grn/vt, and change?
3. Did you original factory s/w actually work? They're so weak that it would be hard to tell in the cabin if it was producing any output. If unsure, may want to quickly splice it back in and verify original setup works properly from the get-go.
4. If you want to get adventurous you could splice into one of the other high-level speaker outputs from the stock amp and run that into the subwoofer - if you still get no output then I'd say the unit is doa.

If you elim all the above, I'd have so guess you got a bad unit. :-(

 

[shakeweight88]

My unit's light is blue when it is active. I've never seen it green.

My unit is powered from a ignition-switched power terminal and activation is set to turn on via audio signal detection.

Your wiring looks ok to me.

I assume you have the level up a bit.

The things I would additionally try are:
1. different ground point. I understand you checked voltage at this point, but you can get different results when measuring +12 on a meter (very low load) vs getting a solid +12v when a significant load is applied
2. Try disconnecting one of the pairs feeding into the sub. E.g., disconnect violet+yellow, and change? disconnect gray+grn/vt, and change?
3. Did you original factory s/w actually work? They're so weak that it would be hard to tell in the cabin if it was producing any output. If unsure, may want to quickly splice it back in and verify original setup works properly from the get-go.
4. If you want to get adventurous you could splice into one of the other high-level speaker outputs from the stock amp and run that into the subwoofer - if you still get no output then I'd say the unit is doa.

If you elim all the above, I'd have so guess you got a bad unit. :-(

Thanks for taking time to reply - sounds like I'm not going crazy at least.

1) at this point I think it's fair to try a new ground. It's easy enough that I might as well...
2) I actually already tried this. I was thinking that if the inputs were out of phase somehow they'd cancel the signal (is that your logic?) Unfortunately, I got the same results with only one side hooked up.
3) 100% sure it worked before I pulled it. Good call to splice it back in just to double check that I didn't damage anything somehow.
4) I like where you are going with this... I wonder if I can manage without splicing the harness (maybe buy another connector or something.) But if the old sub still works (test #3 above) I don't see the point in doing this...

Thanks for checking the LED lights for me - looks like I'm ok there. I also just reached out to Rockford Fosgate, let's see what they say.

 

[shakeweight88]

I have re-connected the factory sub (or what's left of it!) and confirmed it still works. I even ran wires from the new RF sub connector to eliminate variables, so I'm pretty certain the amp is getting signal. Bummer, but I requested a replacement so I should be good when that arrives.

Here's a pic of the gutted factory sub for anyone interested.

 

[shakeweight88]

Update: the replacement sub arrived and it fired right up with the same wiring as the first unit. So I just got a bad one out of the box.

Upon further inspection, the first (bad) unit had some Velcro on the underside of the box, so I'm pretty sure it was already returned by someone and I fell victim to a shi**y eBay seller...I didn't think much of it until I compared to the replacement.

Still tweaking, but the sound is pretty good (not amazing) and consistent with what others described. Good enough for me! Under $200 installed

 

[god7illa]

Update: the replacement sub arrived and it fired right up with the same wiring as the first unit. So I just got a bad one out of the box.

Upon further inspection, the first (bad) unit had some Velcro on the underside of the box, so I'm pretty sure it was already returned by someone and I fell victim to a shi**y eBay seller...I didn't think much of it until I compared to the replacement.

Still tweaking, but the sound is pretty good (not amazing) and consistent with what others described. Good enough for me! Under $200 installed

Good to hear.

 

[The_Greg]

I installed the Pioneer TS-wH500A because of their HVT technology sounded interesting. I have the FoRS radio bass level to max and the controller is near 3/4 gain and it's okay. I actually liked my '13 FoST ST3 stereo better still. This just sounds, idk, foreign or foggy. But, hey, for less than $200 including connectors and junk I had to get to install it, it's definitely better than the stock unit and worth the money. I actually didn't even notice a difference when I had the stock sub out and was doing a supply run!!!

 

[Daddies race car]

so is the install about the same regardless of brand of "underseat" speaker? I am wanting to upgrade the speaker without having to remove panels, run wiring, and get into the HU. This seems like the logical choice. This stuff intimidates me bc I have never liked working on electronics. Hoping whichever brand I get I can just splice into the factory harness

 

[Roadrunner1659]

Would this work: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_13693334/JL-Audio-ACS110LG-TW1.html?tp=114

 

[god7illa]

Basically any powered-sub that can take speaker-level inputs should work fine.
It's simply a black box that requires power (easily accessed from trunk fusebox) and line or speaker level inputs (speaker level avail directly from the stock sub's connector).
Then some adjustments to match your personal listening preferences.

 

[Roadrunner1659]

Ok. So, I purchased the Rockford Fosgate PS-8. Now what? Sorry, I can handle most electrical work but need very descriptive directions and pictures help too!

 

[opera_bob]

The kicker 11HS8 150WATT sub will only work at 150watt rms if it's hooked up to the battery. The fuse will not work properly unless you're getting 14.4 Volts from it.

It says in the booklet 14.4 Volts to get 150 Watts.

At the moment I am hooked into the fusebox with a fuse tap. I measured the voltage with the car on and only getting 9 volts. With the car off only 8 volts.
This is probably why I hear popping and crackling at the Remote Volume of 3. Anything past 3 is snap, crackle, pop.

I'm running at the empty fuse space, 4th down, from the top left side in the hatch fuse box.

Perhaps someone here knows of a fuse connection that puts out 14.4 Volts?

I'm working on getting a power wire to the battery.