Adding 8" sub & amp to B&O

[MikeyG]

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.

I think it looks great. Thanks for the info and pics. I going to try and just build my own. Was going to try and get it fiberglassed by I kinda want to do my own out of wood. I was also thinking of doing some kind of trim piece at the top to maybe cover up some of the trimmed plastic. We’ll see lol.

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[colinl]

I think it looks great. Thanks for the info and pics. I going to try and just build my own. Was going to try and get it fiberglassed by I kinda want to do my own out of wood. I was also thinking of doing some kind of trim piece at the top to maybe cover up some of the trimmed plastic. We’ll see lol.

yep, it looks stock with the bench down. without the tub installed at all, you can see gaps and bare metal. not that anyone leans down there in the back seat and looks, but still, I'm happier with it.

 

[thescher]

Got the box built last night and it fits great as expected... carpet is next. I'm in my 40s and I've had systems in a number of vehicles, all done by shops. This is literally the first box I've ever built.

Got 2 (one on each side) 10" JL Audio 3v3s in MDF boxes with a JL Audio 600/1v3 600watt amp pushing them. Using an Audison bit 10 DSP which will help more when I swap out the doors & tweets later. But for now it's sound pretty amazing for only having quarter sized magnets in those 6.5 inch door speakers. I think a lot of that is due to the headhunt being pretty clean for factory.

 

[colinl]

Nice! Your amp install is very clean, I probably should cable wrap mine. It's not necessarily messy, it just looks nicer with the black wrap.

 

[Bmr4mav]

Got 2 (one on each side) 10" JL Audio 3v3s in MDF boxes with a JL Audio 600/1v3 600watt amp pushing them. Using an Audison bit 10 DSP which will help more when I swap out the doors & tweets later. But for now it's sound pretty amazing for only having quarter sized magnets in those 6.5 inch door speakers. I think a lot of that is due to the headhunt being pretty clean for factory.

did you also cut the plastic out?

 

[colinl]

did you also cut the plastic out?

assuming you are quoting the right message, a shop did that install.

looking at his pics, I can see the top portion of the plastic tub inserts, and I see the fits mount on the forward portion, but I see (painted) metal on the rear. they didn't cut it the same as I have done, but they did cut some of the plastic tub out.

it's pretty ugly under there but with the top overlay, it looks good.

the plastic is no big deal, but I recommend that you don't cut any metal for the bench rest if you're going to use the rear seat. the corner brace is a nuisance to work around for subwoofer enclosures, but it's also bearing a lot of weight.

 

[Bmr4mav]

You got it right.

I'll try it without the plastic insert and if it is too unsightly I'll cut it similar to yours and what the shop did.

 

[Bmr4mav]

Alright. Thanks again for very helpful thread.

just built a 15x10.5x6.5 and it fits perfectly. Easy in and easy out but tight enough I can jam foam around it hold it in place.

Sub comes tomorrow which is when I will cut out the hole for it and the wires. I plan on mounting my amp where the paper towel roll is likely with industrial Velcro which has served me well in the past.

 

[pmontone83]

Done and running. I like it a lot but I've never had an 8. Last system was a first gen JL 12W3 and this is not like that of course however, the system is very clean sounding.

I'll post up a full list of parts and get the cosmetics done the next week.

Just wanted to know what you mounted your amp to? I have the same amp I plan on putting in my Maverick but not really sure how to mount it.

 

[colinl]

Just wanted to know what you mounted your amp to? I have the same amp I plan on putting in my Maverick but not really sure how to mount it.

Jb welded footnuts to the back wall of the cabin. In hindsight I would've mounted it on a plastic cutting board instead, or plywood.

 

[sapperforward]

Jb welded footnuts to the back wall of the cabin. In hindsight I would've mounted it on a plastic cutting board instead, or plywood.

This may be a stupid question ,but are you all pulling from the b&o amp for your sub signal and feeding it to the 2nd amp, and leaving the stock b&o to run the rest like normal. I'm only asking because I have noticed that stock ( in my 2024 lariat lux Fx4) is ok but the sub not so much and after seeing the sub I understand why . I'm just a little confused on if this will work and exactly what parts of all the options see in this post and linked post's are needed . I understand about upgrading the other speakers in the system to get a better overall system. What I'm not sure about is the 2 different kicker amps being talked about one for the sub and the other for? ( Would that be for non b&o ) And a real stupid question what the heck is this dsp thing you speak of lol. It was so much easier back in the day when you built a box ran the power and speaker wires threw in an amp or 3 , changed the head unit and added a big CAP on the sub . My goal is to just add some better bass to a supposedly premium system. And deal with the rest when able to do so. One other thing as far as running the power to the new amp(s) how are you getting it to the back on the EB ? Is there an easy way through the firewall

 

[colinl]

you have a lot of questions... I'm going to number them and my answers because I'm on a tablet and not easy to quote in pieces.

1. This may be a stupid question ,but are you all pulling from the b&o amp for your sub signal and feeding it to the 2nd amp, and leaving the stock b&o to run the rest like normal. I'm only asking because I have noticed that stock ( in my 2024 lariat lux Fx4) is ok but the sub not so much and after seeing the sub I understand why . I'm just a little confused on if this will work and exactly what parts of all the options see in this post and linked post's are needed . I understand about upgrading the other speakers in the system to get a better overall system.

2. What I'm not sure about is the 2 different kicker amps being talked about one for the sub and the other for? ( Would that be for non b&o )

3. And a real stupid question what the heck is this dsp thing you speak of lol. It was so much easier back in the day when you built a box ran the power and speaker wires threw in an amp or 3 , changed the head unit and added a big CAP on the sub . My goal is to just add some better bass to a supposedly premium system. And deal with the rest when able to do so.

4. One other thing as far as running the power to the new amp(s) how are you getting it to the back on the EB ? Is there an easy way through the firewall

1. pretty much every option has been tried with various results. I am still using the b&o amp for my front doors and dash tweeters which I think is probably the most common thing to do.

2. the key amps available now are the 500.1 which is a sub amp and the 200.4 which is used to either power 4 discrete channels or bi-amp components in the doors and dash - which is what the factory amp does. I have a 200.4 in another vehicle but wouldn't bother replacing my b&o with one. it's probably better, but I don't think much. if I replace the amp for the fronts I would do something much more significant of an upgrade.

3. a self tuning digital signal processor like the key500.1 has is like a very powerful eq because it can use a mic to determine phase, time alignment, and frequency response and make adjustments in narrow bands. for a sub amp what you will notice is little to no peaks and much smaller valleys, and usually, much better very low extension. there are articles and YouTube videos that go into greater detail if you're curious.

4. there's a large grommet almost directly behind the 12v battery in ecoboost models and you can pass the positive wire through easily, then run it in the factory cable trays under each door sill. I think there's pics of that somewhere in this thread but maybe I'm remembering wrong. for ground a lot of people have used one of the factory grounds but I never do because some of the electrical devices are noisy, like power window motors. I use steel wool to remove a dime sized bit of paint and a small self tapping screw to make a new ground. absolutely no noise in my system.

 

[sapperforward]

you have a lot of questions... I'm going to number them and my answers because I'm on a tablet and not easy to quote in pieces.
1. pretty much every option has been tried with various results. I am still using the b&o amp for my front doors and dash tweeters which I think is probably the most common thing to do.

2. the key amps available now are the 500.1 which is a sub amp and the 200.4 which is used to either power 4 discrete channels or bi-amp components in the doors and dash - which is what the factory amp does. I have a 200.4 in another vehicle but wouldn't bother replacing my b&o with one. it's probably better, but I don't think much. if I replace the amp for the fronts I would do something much more significant of an upgrade.

3. a self tuning digital signal processor like the key500.1 has is like a very powerful eq because it can use a mic to determine phase, time alignment, and frequency response and make adjustments in narrow bands. for a sub amp what you will notice is little to no peaks and much smaller valleys, and usually, much better very low extension. there are articles and YouTube videos that go into greater detail if you're curious.

4. there's a large grommet almost directly behind the 12v battery in ecoboost models and you can pass the positive wire through easily, then run it in the factory cable trays under each door sill. I think there's pics of that somewhere in this thread but maybe I'm remembering wrong. for ground a lot of people have used one of the factory grounds but I never do because some of the electrical devices are noisy, like power window motors. I use steel wool to remove a dime sized bit of paint and a small self tapping screw to make a new ground. absolutely no noise in my system.

Thank you for the insight. I'll figure this out LoL it's just been a long time since I have done this sort of thing

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