Adding 8" sub & amp to B&O

[colinl]

Hey @colinl great thread, I'd love to hear more on how you did your wiring. You mention swapping fuses-- why? (Sorry if a stupid question.)

Basically just looking for the simplest way to get a little more out of my system, and your method (replace the door speakers, add a small sealed sub) seems to be right about there.

PS what's the part with the round bit and green clip mounted to the back wall, on the other side of your key amp from the stock amp? Sorry for another stupid question...

Fuse 3 or fuse 6 with a piggyback add-a-fuse is the way to go.

I had it wired into fuse 20 because it was totally unused and I thought it was switched 12v. Fuse 20 actually is 12v constant, but it took about a month before my truck started getting fed up with the draw and going into deep sleep.

Actual wiring is pretty straightforward. Check the sticky thread here for more & better pics, but you should bring power down the driver's side and then speaker wire, signal and remote power-on down the passenger side.

Green clip is probably the B&O 6x9 sub connector like Darnon said. I pulled back some of the cable wrap on it and spliced into it, then fed that into a Stinger LOC. Could have cut the RCAs off the pigtail for my amp and used speaker-level instead, but I didn't. This would have enabled me to use auto-sensing instead of the remote power wire, though. Maybe a bad choice on my part, tbh.

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[JG307]

Fuse 3 or fuse 6 with a piggyback add-a-fuse is the way to go.

You should bring power down the driver's side and then speaker wire, signal and remote power-on down the passenger side.

Green clip is probably the B&O 6x9 sub connector like Darnon said.

Sorry I realized the EcoBoost doesn't have a 12v battery under the back bench. I have a Hybrid, so I shouldn't bother with fuse box, correct? An inline fuse right off the battery is acceptable?

I see the 6x9 subwoofer, but what's the thing the other end of the green clip goes to?

 

[JG307]

I'm gonna leave my stupid question for all to see but it looks like that's part of the rear window control, nothing to do with audio. The cables look like they go to each other and the clips look identical, but they're not connected after all.

 

[Darnon]

Correct, the power rear window regulator. And just below that is one of the Push Button Start key receivers.

 

[Parrotheadad]

Decided to carpet the metal tub. Not a perfect job but looks a little better than the unfinished metal. I think it will also help dampen any possible rattles in the area.

 

[colinl]

Decided to carpet the metal tub. Not a perfect job but looks a little better than the unfinished metal. I think it will also help dampen any possible rattles in the area.

Looks better than bare metal!

 

[Parrotheadad]

So thank you to Colin for the recommendation of the 8” Alpine sub and box design. I modified the box dimensions a little without losing any internal net volume with it being 14.5 x 11 x 6.5. After lining the metal tub with carpet and having the box 11” wide, it basically fills the tub width so the box isn’t going to move easily. I’m running it with a surprisingly good Harmony amp that was bundled with the sub. The difference is like night and day! It sounds like the whole system is louder now. I could’ve run at 1 ohm with the amp but chickened out having the hybrid and being worried about current draw so I series wired the dual voice coils to run at 4 ohms. The install went super smooth with running the 4 gauge power direct to the battery under the seat. The amp I used has auto power on and off detecting signal coming into the high level inputs so no remote turn on wire is needed! I fed the input direct from the B&O subwoofer speaker wire lead directly into the amp’s high level input without the need for a LOC and it runs without overdriving the input on the amp. I mounted the amp’s remote volume control inside the console storage box. I actually think after I upgrade the front speakers I may not have to upgrade the B&O amp. I removed the B&O sub and used that slanted surface to mount the Harmony amp. I covered that porthole behind the fact sub with a piece of dynamat. Can’t wait to throw a good set of component speakers in there to wrap it up.

 

[colinl]

Nice work man, I'm glad the info helped. I think you'll enjoy upgrading the front components and probably the B&O amp will be enough unless you have something with really low efficiency. (edit) or if you want to use 3-piece components, or you just want something that can play concert-level SPL. My system is fairly loud, but it will not ring your ears like being at a show.

I'm fine with that, and the volume it can hit probably is not healthy for more than a little while. I do like that the B&O amp can play to 30 without distortion of clipping that I've ever noticed. So it might not be a lot of watts, but it's fairly decent quality.

 

[colinl]

Did one final thing today that I've been considering for a while and waiting for good weather.

The plastic tub is around $120 so I wasn't afraid to cut it up.

It took longer to measure and mask it off than it did to Dremel. Also I didn't have the center fully in place, saw the pic and then just pressed it and snapped flush.

 

[Bmr4mav]

Did one final thing today that I've been considering for a while and waiting for good weather.

The plastic tub is around $120 so I wasn't afraid to cut it up.

It took longer to measure and mask it off than it did to Dremel. Also I didn't have the center fully in place, saw the pic and then just pressed it and snapped flush.

I’ve thought of also cutting the molding closest to the door so my box can be taller. Give more volume for the skar evl8

 

[colinl]

I’ve thought of also cutting the molding closest to the door so my box can be taller. Give more volume for the skar evl8

The end piece has that tray-like recessed spot that will catch things that fall off the end of the seat.

If you were to cut that specific part I think you'd gain a little length but not height. I'm pretty sure the bottom of the corner bench rest is still going to be the limiting thing for height.

 

[MikeyG]

Did one final thing today that I've been considering for a while and waiting for good weather.

The plastic tub is around $120 so I wasn't afraid to cut it up.

It took longer to measure and mask it off than it did to Dremel. Also I didn't have the center fully in place, saw the pic and then just pressed it and snapped flush.

Came out great! How do those panels come out? I was trying to look for videos on YouTube on how to get the plastic bins out but couldn’t find anything and didn’t want to break any tabs.

 

[colinl]

Came out great! How do those panels come out? I was trying to look for videos on YouTube on how to get the plastic bins out but couldn’t find anything and didn’t want to break any tabs.

I honestly can't recall if there's a good YT video on pulling the plastic inserts out. You start on the outer edges and the first time I did use a plastic trim tool to get started in the door sill. The tabs are pretty solid and I have had these bits in / out probably 4-5 times with no issues. If you put some sound deadening behind it just pay attention to where the bench rests. I applied deadener almost exclusively to the metal, not these tubs. I did stick a piece of deadener on the edge of this piece where it's vertical, circled in yellow. I didn't put one under because the clearance it tight but it probably would fit. I haven't heard resonance so I haven't gone back with more deadener.

As far as cutting... that was by far the most plastic I've cut with my dremel. I'm a regular guy, not in the carfi trade. It still was under 10 minutes cutting. My dremel is mid-grade for cordless, I was cutting at 30k rpm, so nothing overly special. Some of the angles were a little awkward going around the FITS connectors and in the corners of the tub.

If you zoom on the pic of the 2 separated pieces you can see some melted extrusions, mostly on the tub part I was removing. I think that was due to the masking tape; when the plastic melted, it mostly was on the side that wasn't masked. That might have been the direction or way I was cutting, though.

Some was definitely on the side that I was keeping (left in the pic). I went back through carefully and cleaned it up with the cutting wheel and pulled extrusions off with my hands. I didn't bother using a grinding or polishing bit.

 

[MikeyG]

I honestly can't recall if there's a good YT video on pulling the plastic inserts out. You start on the outer edges and the first time I did use a plastic trim tool to get started in the door sill. The tabs are pretty solid and I have had these bits in / out probably 4-5 times with no issues. If you put some sound deadening behind it just pay attention to where the bench rests. I applied deadener almost exclusively to the metal, not these tubs. I did stick a piece of deadener on the edge of this piece where it's vertical, circled in yellow. I didn't put one under because the clearance it tight but it probably would fit. I haven't heard resonance so I haven't gone back with more deadener.

As far as cutting... that was by far the most plastic I've cut with my dremel. I'm a regular guy, not in the carfi trade. It still was under 10 minutes cutting. My dremel is mid-grade for cordless, I was cutting at 30k rpm, so nothing overly special. Some of the angles were a little awkward going around the FITS connectors and in the corners of the tub.

If you zoom on the pic of the 2 separated pieces you can see some melted extrusions, mostly on the tub part I was removing. I think that was due to the masking tape; when the plastic melted, it mostly was on the side that wasn't masked. That might have been the direction or way I was cutting, though.

Some was definitely on the side that I was keeping (left in the pic). I went back through carefully and cleaned it up with the cutting wheel and pulled extrusions off with my hands. I didn't bother using a grinding or polishing bit.

Awesome thank you! So where you taped did you cut below that and the tape was basically protecting the plastic that you were going to put back in? Also can you post some more pics of the tub back in with the sub box?

 

[colinl]

Awesome thank you! So where you taped did you cut below that and the tape was basically protecting the plastic that you were going to put back in? Also can you post some more pics of the tub back in with the sub box?

Exactly. I thought it would be harder to cut and I scored along the edge of the tape with a utility knife, thinking that I could easily follow the groove I made with the dremel. It turned out to be wasted time as it was harder - and less accurate - than just cutting along the tape with the dremel. Measure, tape, cut. I do think the dremel is a way better tool than trying to do this with a jigsaw. The material is thin and easy for a dremel cutting wheel.

Here's some more pics. It does not look pro, but it looks better to me than tub-less. If you want pro, there is a guy named Chris Hilbert selling boxes on FB that look super nice, they're $350ish plus shipping last I checked.

At any rate, it's cut this high because that is about the minimum to remove the FITS mounts. And those FITS mounts are one of the big things that limit the width of a box you can use here. That said, many people have made boxes small enough to fit in this tub without modifying it. The blue stuff is Amazon Basics sound deadener.

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