Hey all,
Just wanted to share a few pics from my recently completed subwoofer installation. My goals for it were to make a lot more bass than the OEM Bose system, but without compromising OEM looks and space. I knew from researching a few other threads that did the same as me that a 10" would fit in the OEM hole; sometimes with a bit of modification required, but I have to say, both of the Pioneer subwoofers I mounted felt like they were almost designed to fit the hole; required zero trimming of the metal rear deck whatsoever. I was pretty ecstatic about that.
IMG_8992.jpg
My next step was to sound deaden the rear deck. I was pretty anal about this and probably spent more time than I needed to in the dead of Florida summer sweating over that deck getting the Dynamat Xtreme cut to fairly precise contours. I started with one layer covering just about every part of the metal back there.
IMG_8940.jpg
Once I got the rear deck situated I focused my attention on the aftermarket amplifier mounting and wiring. Lucky for me, the Bose amp on the C7.5 is situated upright and had plenty of space behind the plastic mounting tray to mount the Kicker amplifier I purchased for this project. I used some low profile bolts that fit under the Bose amp and acted as studs on the other side for the Kicker amp to be mounted to. I ran power wire off the battery and through a fuse to the amp and grounded the amp on the factory ground just to the right of the amps location.
IMG_8941.jpg
IMG_8942.jpg
IMG_8943.jpg
This Kicker amp allows for up to 40V of speaker-level input so it was perfect for running without a LOC. I cut the OEM plug off the Bose subwoofer and repined it with new wiring and ran it to the kicker amp for signal.
IMG_8939.jpg
At this point it was live and I was able to play music and test for rattles, and boy were there plenty. I knew right away the automatic rear sunshade would have to go. It could not be sound deadened and still maintain OEM appearances so I removed the entire system (up for sale in the classifieds right now btw) and got the rear deck trim without the sunshade. This exposed more rear deck metal for me to sound deaden so I went ahead and did that.
IMG_9216.jpg
Even with the new sound deadening there was still major rattling. I purchased a smaller shallow mount sub that was lighter and used less wattage to see if it was just because I went with the highest RMS subwoofer I could find at the time that is compatible with free air resonance.
IMG_8944.jpg
Unfortunately, still a ton of rattling. I knew there had to be something I was missing as no one else's build sounded this bad. I checked a few build videos for an S4 with a similar setup and found that the installer used a trim ring in order to fit the subwoofer. I didn't consider this necessary because the subwoofer just fit so well right from the start that I just bolted it directly to the rear deck metal. Dumb. As soon as I got an MDF trim ring between the rear deck and the subwoofer the rattles significantly decreased and I went back to using the larger subwoofer as I originally intended.
IMG_9216.jpg
IMG_9285.jpg
I then attacked the rattle reduction project systematically by listening to various songs at various volumes to track down rattles and put probably another 3 layers of Dynamat Xtreme around the rear middle section of the deck behind the trunk light until finally there were no more rattles.
Then I added another part to the mix, the rear deck trim support for the OEM Bose subwoofer. I did the same thing and tested for rattling. There was a bit, but it was easy because I'd always know the source of the rattling, so I removed the deck trim support and add some closed cell foam under the four mounting feet and some Dynamat on various areas of it until it rattled no more.
IMG_9284.jpg
More to follow.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Audisthesia
Bookmarks