[LaYzEe]

Haha, damn...i cant type...i just noticed i said "i love in daly city" LOL. but yeh, just hit me up whenever man.

[Chowbow]

I'll have to check this out one of these days if I see you at a meet or something LaYzEe. I've been thinking of doing something similar for a while now but never got around to it...

[LaYzEe]

Originally Posted by Chowbow

I'll have to check this out one of these days if I see you at a meet or something LaYzEe. I've been thinking of doing something similar for a while now but never got around to it...

Yeh, just pm me whenever or if theres another meet, i'll try to come thru. i actually had these subs n amp sitting in my room for a few months but finally wasnt LaYzEe this past sunday so me and my uncle installed it

[LaYzEe]

So i've been noticing that with some songs that the bass gets somewhat distorted as if something was touching the subs. I noticed it most on the right side. So i checked if maybe something was loose, if the bracket wasnt on properly...but everything was tight. WTF? So i just started pressing on everything to maybe see if i can find it. Then I noticed it...it was the carpet all along! So what i did was place the grille UNDER the carpet so nothing can touch the subs. I did this to both grilles and yeh! No more distortion! The subs hit clean 100% of the time now. I can actually raise the bass level a notch or 2 higher now since i thought i was over doin it before. NOW im happy with my upgrade

[imaznumkay]

Originally Posted by LaYzEe

So i've been noticing that with some songs that the bass gets somewhat distorted as if something was touching the subs. I noticed it most on the right side. So i checked if maybe something was loose, if the bracket wasnt on properly...but everything was tight. WTF? So i just started pressing on everything to maybe see if i can find it. Then I noticed it...it was the carpet all along! So what i did was place the grille UNDER the carpet so nothing can touch the subs. I did this to both grilles and yeh! No more distortion! The subs hit clean 100% of the time now. I can actually raise the bass level a notch or 2 higher now since i thought i was over doin it before. NOW im happy with my upgrade

nice..ill keep that in mind when i install mine! haha

edit: is a jl 500w monoblock or Blaupunkt THA1350 suitable for this setup? i want some more bass

[gIzzE]

Have you sealed the subs???

Where the wire goes into the enclosure and around teh edge??

You can test by slowly pressing the driver in, it should take a few seconds to pop back out again, (obviously you have to cover the port while doing this too).
If it pops staright back up again it is not air tight, by making it air tight you will get a lot more depth and slam from it. Well worth spending half an hour doing, it is like tripling the power of the amp.

[eekthecat]

Originally Posted by LaYzEe

Its like any other sub/amp wiring system but the amp also came with its own wiring diagram so i used that. The stock subs had these easy snap on connectors but since I replaced them you just have to use speaker wires and just connect them yourself and wrap it around with electic tape.(so no easy snap on)

I really havent been expirementing on the amp/sound settings too much since i just installed it, but later on, i'll do more adjustments. All i can say is...DAMN, loving these subs now!

Can you elaborate a bit on how you knew which wires to use for what? Did you have to use any converters? Thanks!

[Chowbow]

Originally Posted by gIzzE

Have you sealed the subs???

Where the wire goes into the enclosure and around teh edge??

You can test by slowly pressing the driver in, it should take a few seconds to pop back out again, (obviously you have to cover the port while doing this too).
If it pops staright back up again it is not air tight, by making it air tight you will get a lot more depth and slam from it. Well worth spending half an hour doing, it is like tripling the power of the amp.

The factory sub box is ported to the door sills chamber to begin with so I think that would be a bit difficult to do. Not sure though, haven't looked at it myself.

[gIzzE]

Yeah, that is right, but you need to seal where you take the wires in and around the driver so the bass is pushed through the port and the door sills as it is meant to be, if the driver is flapping around you loose alot of the lower frequencies and gain, so you have to cranked the amp up, which brings on more problems.
You get a lot faster, cleaner and deeper bass when sealed properly.

[N54YO]

Great Job man. So how much did everything run you?

[LaYzEe]

Originally Posted by imaznumkay

edit: is a jl 500w monoblock or Blaupunkt THA1350 suitable for this setup? i want some more bass

jl 500w Monoblock Amp= 4 ohms: 175 watts x 1 chan.
Blaupunkt THA1350= 350 watts RMS x 1 at 4 ohms

So it looks like the Blaupunkt has alot more power at that ohms but remember the SWs subs handle 150 RMS/300 peak. If it was the two, i think i'll choose the jl 500w.

Originally Posted by gIzzE

Have you sealed the subs???

Where the wire goes into the enclosure and around teh edge??

Just like Chowbow said, its ported to the door sills chamber but i also dynamatted where the wires went in too:



It's not shown in this pic but i also covered that whole area with dynamat. So I tried to seal around the ring, around the corners as mush as possible. Dynamtting both enclosures took about 40 mins actually, its like i was molding lol.

Originally Posted by eekthecat

Can you elaborate a bit on how you knew which wires to use for what? Did you have to use any converters? Thanks!

The SWS has on one side, a positive noted with an orange circle, the other side a negative noted with a wite circle. So run +/- speaker wires to each of these and connect them to ur new amp. As for the old snap on connectors that was for the stock sub i actually didnt even touch it at all since you wont be using it any more.

EDIT: My uncle actually opened up the snap on connectors and exposed the wires so he can use them. Sorry for the misinterpretation.

Originally Posted by N54YO

Great Job man. So how much did everything run you?

Thanks Total was around $300ish? The amp was a steal for me, got lucky

[jcarlucci1]

I'm confused..how do you use a mono amp to run two subs?

[imaznumkay]

Originally Posted by jcarlucci1

I'm confused..how do you use a mono amp to run two subs?

its running in parallel at 4ohms i guess.

[bluelake]

Nice thread and something a lot of us will want to do. Can you clarify something? The pics have the heavy gauge speaker wire coming out of the speaker, but also green and pink (?) smaller wires being run with the speaker wire back to the amp and into the inputs - are those speaker-level outputs connected to the old wires to the speakers? If that's the case, couldn't you grab them from the OEM amp instead? Just wondering.

Also, I haven't looked, but were the stock speaker wires too small to use instead of running new ones? The door speaker wires I saw seem really tiny.

And since I'm new to this, what's the reason for the Dynamat? Vibration control or something else? Did Dynamatting the bottom of the plastic speaker housing/enclosure take up some height needed by the SWS?

Damn, I want to do this. Just need to get my act together.

[Couch]

Awesome write up! And great pics to go along with it.

Are you running just the subs off the amp? You said you noticed the treble is better now? I know the stock highs and treble aren't that great. I'm just curious.

[cipher5]

Great install, even better you did it yourself and it is so clean!

[LaYzEe]

Originally Posted by bluelake

Nice thread and something a lot of us will want to do. Can you clarify something? The pics have the heavy gauge speaker wire coming out of the speaker, but also green and pink (?) smaller wires being run with the speaker wire back to the amp and into the inputs - are those speaker-level outputs connected to the old wires to the speakers? If that's the case, couldn't you grab them from the OEM amp instead? Just wondering.

Also, I haven't looked, but were the stock speaker wires too small to use instead of running new ones? The door speaker wires I saw seem really tiny.

And since I'm new to this, what's the reason for the Dynamat? Vibration control or something else? Did Dynamatting the bottom of the plastic speaker housing/enclosure take up some height needed by the SWS?

Damn, I want to do this. Just need to get my act together.

Correct, those green and pink wires are actually connected to the old wires. My uncle was the one who actually connected the wires to the speakers while i connected the other end of the wires to the amp. He told me he actually opened of the stock snap on connecter (that was for the stock sub) and exposed the wires inside of it. He then connected the green to one of the wires and the pink to the other one to get its signal. So in my previous reply I said we didnt even touch the snap on connectors but I guess my uncle actually did...hehe. my bad!

I used new speaker wires because remember the stock ones had that snap on connectors. So just use new speaker wires

The dynamat is used to reduce vibration coming from the enclosure. The SWS are already tall for the enclosure, thats y i had to wrap alot of dynamat around the ring and at the sides too. You can say i used all that excess dynamat around the ring as a "bracket" so its air tight when i screw it down.

Originally Posted by Couch

Are you running just the subs off the amp? You said you noticed the treble is better now? I know the stock highs and treble aren't that great. I'm just curious.

Yup just the subs off that amp. I actually had to increase the treble level and the mid range and high range levels up because the subs hit harder now! Because before my bass levels are actually higher than my treble level (i wanted more thump) but with these new subs i had to adjust them accordingly since the subs hit harder now and and i wanna make sure the voices are still clear and crisp gotta love Logic7!!!

[E92Vancouver]

You have a nice Uncle. Great DIY!!! Thanks.

[hkkuf]

I'm really new at this and am in the process of trying to install just a lower priced amp to the stock subs for extra boost. I really like your set up but I'm just getting my feet wet so I'm not going to a major upgrade just yet. Maybe later on...
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=132807

It would help allot if you could answer a couple of questions.
I guess your signal for your new subs are travelling from the stock amp up to the front seats and back again to the trunk into your Thunder amp? Did you think about tapping into the wires off the stock amp and using the stock wires for your new subs at all? I'm asking because that's what I'm essentially going to do, except I'm keeping the stock subs instead of replacing them. I know somebody asked a similar question earlier, but like I said, I'm new at this and I didn't quite understand... It seems to me that even if you wanted new wires for your new subs, it'd be better to keep the signal travel to minimum by keeping them within the trunk...

Also did you use any converter to convert speaker level output to the lower amplifier (RCA) level input? I thought you needed one of those to drive an added on amp.


Thanks, and congrats!

[gIzzE]

I am going to ask what i probably a stupid question here, but why are you all taking the signal from after to the amp???

Would it not be alot easier to take it from the head unit where the signal has not been processed??
The stock amp has a low pass filter of 40hz, so you add these subs that go down to around 28hz and you can't send them the full signal, so you are not getting any lower frequencies all you are doing is upping the ability to drive them louder.

I would look at putting in a 5 channel amp, front left and right along with rear left and right going into the amp at speaker level using the wires that go into the stock amp and then using the wires that go to the speakers but plugged into your new amp.

You will have total control of the crossovers on the new amp then with bass that goes down below 30hz and a decent amp driving the other speakers.
This install would be alot easier than running new cables to the under seat subs and will give better results.

That is using the standard (US spec.) stereo system, if using Locig7 you have to add onto the existing amp or take new feeds direct from the head unit.

[Technic]

Originally Posted by gIzzE

I am going to ask what i probably a stupid question here, but why are you all taking the signal from after to the amp???

Would it not be alot easier to take it from the head unit where the signal has not been processed??
The stock amp has a low pass filter of 40hz, so you add these subs that go down to around 28hz and you can't send them the full signal, so you are not getting any lower frequencies all you are doing is upping the ability to drive them louder.

I would look at putting in a 5 channel amp, front left and right along with rear left and right going into the amp at speaker level using the wires that go into the stock amp and then using the wires that go to the speakers but plugged into your new amp.

You will have total control of the crossovers on the new amp then with bass that goes down below 30hz and a decent amp driving the other speakers.
This install would be alot easier than running new cables to the under seat subs and will give better results.

That is using the standard (US spec.) stereo system, if using Locig7 you have to add onto the existing amp or take new feeds direct from the head unit.

The OP OEM sound system is the Logic7, in which the OEM amp inputs are digital. Unless you have access in the UK to a special aftermarket DAC device/module/amp that can be used at the inputs of this amp then there's no "take new feeds direct from the head unit".

[Technic]

Originally Posted by hkkuf

Also did you use any converter to convert speaker level output to the lower amplifier (RCA) level input? I thought you needed one of those to drive an added on amp.


Thanks, and congrats!

From the Crutchfield MTX description:

X Thunder amps also feature Smart Engage™ speaker-level inputs that power up the amp automatically when you turn on your stereo, allowing you to hook up to a factory stereo without the need for an extra turn-on wire.

Not only you do not need any external LOC to connect factory speaker level outputs to this amp, you don't need a separate remote turn on signal either, as this amp has signal sensing-speaker level inputs.