While not meant to be a super comprehensive guide, this is a general overview of my installation of the under seat subwoofer from Kenwood, the KSC-SW11. I went into this largely blind so hopefully this may help someone planning to do the same thing. I'm not a professional, and am not responsible for any damage or injury if you follow what I say. Do your research.
What crap isn't included that I need for the install?
To start with the KSC-SW11 comes with MOST of the stuff you need. All those breathless reviews on Amazon saying it has everything, however, are just full of it.
So what do you need? Depends on how you do the install. Personally I wired everything into the fuse box. There are some people saying you need to go straight to the battery or the included power wiring needs to be upgraded. This is a small sub folks, it draws 7.5 amps max. The R/C model world that I come from pushes pretty high amperage through tiny wires. For as much juice as this thing is pulling, the included wiring and tapping into the fuse box ought to be fine, but do your own research and make your own decision.
So for those of you coming into this green, the sub requires a few connections to the car. It needs a connection to tell it when to turn on and off ("signal cable"), a connection for power, a connection for ground, and connections to the car's original speaker wires as an input source.
First we need some fuse taps. You can find these at some auto stores, I had to drive around to several just to find two. They are the Mini ATM versions that look like this. Make sure they have that gap in the middle. There is a similar kind with plastic in between the prongs, you don't want that.
Next we need some bullet connectors. The speaker tap wires, power cable, and signal cable included with the sub kit have bullet connectors. We need bullet connectors we can put on the car's stock speaker wires to connect up. Also the bullet connectors included on our fuse taps are too small for use with the sub's included wiring so they need to be replaced. I used these. They might be a tad big for our car's stock wires but they work decently and have a great fit into the kit's connectors.
Here is how the bullet connectors fit into the sub's included speaker taps. The blue connectors will be crimped onto the car's speaker cable later on.
Here is a comparison between the separately purchased bullet connectors, and the one that come preinstalled on the fuse taps.
The female bullet connectors have too much heat shrink that interfered with what I was doing so off they went. They don't add any safety in this application and were originally for water resistance which we don't need. This technique worked the best.
They just crimp right on. I am used to fancy connectors for my R/C hobby but these work passably well for our application that doesn't require frequent disconnects or durability.
Any time when preparing to crimp these; triple check that you have stripped back the proper amount, that no wire is exposed near the back of the connector, and also ensure you haven't pushed the wire too far forward so that you mistakenly crimp down on a section with sheathing intact.
Here are the connectors for the speakers ready to go.
Here are the fuse taps ready to go. The 10 amp fuse is for the power cable to the sub (which also has its own 10 amp fuse) and the 3 amp is for the signal cable. I used 3 amp since that is the lowest amperage fuse I had handy, and this wire shouldn't really be pulling any real current during operation, so use the smallest you have in case something goes wrong in the sub!
Is that really all I need?
I recommend a set of those interior tools. http://www.amazon.com/b?node=15707231
An ass load of very small zip ties is a good idea for managing the wires.
We'll need what I think I remember being a 10mm socket to remove a bolt.
Something like painters tape is a good idea for securing wires under the rear seat.
Electric tape.
Self adhesive velcro for the sub itself. The scratchy "hook" side specifically.
Split wire conduit is a nice touch for aesthetics between the sub and where the wires disappear behind the trim panels.
Plenty of access to light.
You're gonna be in awkward positions so maybe start taking ibuprofen now.
Before we start tearing out the interior.
Be sure to check out this helpful video about removing panels in the Fiesta, posted by MKVIIST: https://youtu.be/qcvUR6X2Umw
First, know that I am not proficient with automotive interiors. These are tips for what I found to be helpful after going into this totally blind. If you have resources to people who know what they're doing taking these panels apart use them. I didn't damage anything, but the experience is a bit unnerving. I am sorry I didn't take pictures or video of taking them off, but as I didn't really know what I was doing until they were already off, they wouldn't have been but so helpful.
Second, I went with the plastic interior panel removal method. There are folks online that talk about removing the weather stripping to route wires. Two notes on that, for this application you basically have to remove the trim pieces to get at where we tap the wires. Secondly, I investigated the weatherstripping material thoroughly and to me it looked like it was something that DID NOT want to come off. I could be wrong, but it seemed like it was on with adhesive. I see video of people just pulling them off like nobodies business but my intuition said don't bother trying. Just my two cents.
Three major lessons about these panels before we start.
One: Certain panels in this car are almost as if they gently "Hook around" the adjoining panels at the edges. They have to be unhooked from their neighbors before attempting to pull them off. I'll get into more detail on that later.
Two: Study pictures to determine where the white clips are. Make note of this. Always pull directly up from the clips. No matter how tempting it may be to try to pry at an angle, DON'T. Pull straight away when dealing with these clips.
Three: Watch the plastic carefully where you are prying and use slow steady force if possible. If you see the plastic starting to turn a lighter color, stop, you're over-stressing it.
Let's start tearing out the interior.
First, removing the rear seat cushion. My understanding is older Fiestas had front hooks you pried up on. THIS IS NOT THE CASE HERE!! Our cars have a very elegant system, if you know how to use it...
Pictured below is one of the latches of the latch system. It has a lever you pull push that releases a latch. There are two. Both are oriented the same way, you push the lever TOWARD THE LHD DRIVER'S SIDE. The overall picture below shows their positioning in the car circled in red. It is pretty hard to find them, but you have to wedge your fingers underneath and feel around. When you have found them push the lever, then pull up gently on the cushion. You may want to use a towel or something to capture your progress so you can go to the next latch without it falling back down.
Once you have the forward section of the cushion released, tilt front of the cushion upward slightly, then you will need to push the rear toward the back of the car and up to release the hooks imbedded in the car from the metal frame in the seat cushion. The hooks are marked in yellow in the picture above and below.
Closeup of the hooks themselves. Sorry for potato focus of the center clip.
ALso here is the bottom of the seat cushion if that helps.
The first panel is the one at the bottom of the front door. We start at the front of this particular panel, we want to pry up the edge closest to the pedals to get access to really pry it off. In order to get that initial edge up, you kind of have to push down and away. It really is kind of hooked onto the next trim piece that way, so you have to push down and away to "unhook" it. I hope that makes sense.
To remove this piece I "unhooked" the front and rear both on the visible portion closest to the seat (push down then toward the center of the vehicle) and the portion hidden underneath the weather stripping (push away from the center of the vehicle and then up) Once that is done send your prying tool underneath from the front of the car and exert upward force.
Here is the first panel removed. Two of the white clips stayed behind in the sheet metal, and one came off with the trim panel. Notice the two white clips in the green sheet metal, and the vacant hole in line with them. While the trim piece does hook around adjoining pieces slightly as I mentioned before, these clips are what REALLY holds the trim piece on for this and all subsequent trim pieces we will be dealing with.
Here is a picture with a little more detail of the trim piece upside down. The red lines point to where the tabs are that create that "Hooked" onto the next panel feel.
The next panel to remove is the bottom panel but on the rear passenger door area. This one is similar in that you have to unhook the bottom edges from the adjoining panels (see red lines). Unhook the edges, slide your pry tool under the forward section, and pull straight up in relation tot he white clip. Also take note of the secondary clips and their receiving holes indicated by blue dots. Whenever you see a clip like this take care when reinstalling. Make sure they are nicely aligned when you push down because they deform easily.
With those two bottom panels removed it is time to move on to the large panel beside the driver's door. It looks intimidating but this was among the easiest.
Start by prying the panel straight away near the bottom front section by the drivers door. The clip marked near red should eventually pop.
Once you do that, adjust the seat as necessary and pull in the same manner but from the back passenger door area. It should pop fairly easily. With that accomplished it should just be hanging by the clips up top. Carefully pull the top straight away and the whole thing should come loose. Here is a picture of the back to give you an idea of what you're dealing with.
As far as the corresponding panels on the opposite side, they're all basically the same so follow the same steps.
Now, please don't punch me in the face, but I somehow forgot to get pictures of the kick panel on the passenger side (the one below and to the right of the glove box) It basically has to come off because the power cable for the sub has the built in fuse which can't be slid under it so it has to come off. Unfortunately it is the worst panel I encountered. It is a pain because it is basically the only one that has to be pulled in two different directions and that probably gave it a chip on its shoulder the day it was installed and now it is going to take it out on you! NOTE: Watch the video linked earlier. In it they remove the driver's side kick panel but it is very similar to the passenger side.
It has two major securing points. On the side in the general foot-well area, and on the bottom near the running board area. I don't know which is best to start from. I started with the foot well, pulling straight off toward the center console until it let go. Freeing the panel from the running board area was a pain in the ass. Remember to pull straight up when you attack that clip. Mind ended up staying inside the sheet metal and unlike the others that did so, it was a real big pain to remove. I had to grab in on both sides with two of my trim tools to get it to go. Now that I am typing this I will try to look at it tomorrow and see if anything else shakes loose from my head but that's basically it. I recommend saving this panel for last so all your accumulated experience and insight is available to help you. Godspeed.
You should probably remove the glove box completely as well. Getting it to fold down more is pretty easy, you just push the tabs on the sides inward. Getting it to come out completely is a bit tougher, and I kinda did it by accident. Basically the hinges it rotates on are not complete circles, but kinda grab onto the pivot points. This picture hopefully shows you what I mean. Study the angle of where the cutouts are and pull straight away at the appropriate angle.
With the rear seat cushion, the four lower running board panels, the two lower B-pillar panels, that asshole passenger footwell panel, and the glove box removed, you're ready for wiring.
Getting wired.
A few tips before we get into wiring.
1. Connect the power and signal wires to the fuse box at the very end!
2. Untangle the wires first.
3. Wires always start their journey FROM the subwoofer and go outwards.
4. Triple check to make sure you're putting the right connectors on the speaker wires! (More on this later)
Routing.
To begin I recommend starting with the side you will be installing the sub on. This is because all the cables (aside from the remote control) on the sub start from a single harness connector, so you'll always be running the wires FROM THE SUB to their destination. I chose the driver's side. My reasoning was you're more likely going to have your third passenger behind the passenger seat, and since it is rare I'd carry a fourth, there's less chance they'll interact with it. Also as it is not a powerful sub, the vibration is pleasant and never obnoxious. As a bonus there is an incredibly convenient ground right nearby on the left side of the car.
I recommend putting the end of the harness near where your sub will be, give yourself a bit of extra slack (you can hide it elsewhere later) and untangle the wires you're using. Remember you're always routing from the sub to the destination, so be careful about making sure you go around all intended obstacles on a path away from the sub, if you screw up without realizing it at first you have to pull the cable all the way back.
How you want to route and secure the wire is largely up to you. Curse me I didn't really take any pictures of my wiring job. I used zip ties basically everywhere, except when routing the wires underneath my rear seat I just used painters tape to hold them down. It is pretty intuitive where to go once you get the panels off, just remember to meticulously pathfind and pull the cables around every obstacle together as you go.
Tap dat bass.
I chose to tap into the speakers behind the B pillar by the seatbelt. There's not a lot of space here but there's just enough. You'll have to cut the electrical tape away from the conduit tray and thumb through the wires to find your speaker cable for your rear door speakers. I cut mine slightly higher than midway from the top of the seatbelt tension device to where the cable disappears into the pillar. Where you cut is up to you.
A quick note on safety when cutting wires. It doesn't really affect us too much here, however a good rule of thumb when cutting ANY wires is to only cut ONE AT A TIME.
I utilized the colors I got from another post on the forum, and they were accurate for me. At any rate, the speaker wires will be the only twisted pair in the door conduit, that should help you find them easily.
Now, remember what I said about putting the right bullet connectors on the speaker wire and triple checking it? Reference this photo again...
The taps' connectors are opposite one another. For example the negative may be female on bottom, male on top but the positive would then be male on bottom, female on top. Make sure you get this right or you may go to connect your taps to your speaker cable and find that only one connects without being upside down, or you did them opposite which will put one of your channels out of phase which you really don't want as it will screw up your sound.
Hold the tap up to your stock speaker wire and ensure you know which end required male and which one requires female to connect to the tap.
When I did mine, I'd put connectors only on one wire at a time, so say positive first, then connect the brand new bullet connectors together (WITHOUT THE TAPS) and then test the stock speakers. This way I can ensure my connections I made are good. If that worked, I'll put new connectors on the negative and retest. If my sound coming out my stock speaker is still working, I know I did my new bullet connectors correctly, and now I am ready to retest with the taps actually connected. If I have the tap installed and my stock speaker still works, I can feel pretty good about life.
Once you have one side of the car working, go to the other. If everything works, now it is time to double check that your wiring is routed neatly, and then secure everything back as best you can. Remember to use your electric tape to retape all your wires back into the conduit tray as best as you can. USE EXTRA CARE NOT TO IMPEDE OR LET YOUR WIRES COME INTO CONTACT WITH THE SEATBELT SYSTEM. Secure your wiring!
Whatever side you put the subwoofer on, that side will have a lot of extra wire left over. I just neatly bundled it and secured it with zip ties at the bottom of the B pillar.
You're grounded.
Don't bother with any of that silly scraping away paint or self tapping screw bullshit, there's a nice factory ground right by the front left driver's seat anchor.
Boom, look at that. Doesn't get much more convenient. I just ran the ground cable underneath the sheet metal the ground point is attached to, and then connected it so the sub ground was oriented forward, which keeps it out of the way of the stock ground hardware and is pretty neat overall. I think it was 10mm.
Infused.
By now you should basically have everything in place. Route your power and signal cables up into the fusebox area behind the glove compartment. Connect your blue wire to the fuse tap with your very low amperage fuse. Connect your yellow power wire into the fuse tap with your 10 amp fuse.
Now you'll need to select fuse positions that will power your sub with your ignition, but shut if off when the ignition is off. Here is what I ended up with that works quite well...
Power is tapped into F12 (Climate Control)
Signal is tapped into F8 (Moonroof)
Is this thing even on?
Give her a test. If it all works, pop your panels back on, IN REVERSE ORDER OF HOW THEY CAME OFF.
Anything else?
That's about it! I'd slap some self-adhesive velcro underneath the sub. The scratchy side holds very well to the carpet. Route the last bit of cable as neatly as you desire, taking care not to bend the heatshrinked part of the speaker input wire. Split wire conduit may be a nice touch to organize and reduce visibility of the wires.
Don't Larry Kenobi
It's a modest sub. Don't go out and Larry Kenobi on us now...
[video=youtube;utFRqsT61-k]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utFRqsT61-k[/video]
Hey I noticed you have floor mats. Does that interfere with the sub?
Surprisingly no! These are the Husky mats. If you slide the sub all the way forward the mats can still fit fine, in fact the fitment is so tight that it helps hold the sub in place. Gotta love a surprisingly good unintended fitment.
Hopefully this was helpful to someone undertaking the install of this sub or one similar. Thanks for reading and good luck!
What crap isn't included that I need for the install?
To start with the KSC-SW11 comes with MOST of the stuff you need. All those breathless reviews on Amazon saying it has everything, however, are just full of it.
So what do you need? Depends on how you do the install. Personally I wired everything into the fuse box. There are some people saying you need to go straight to the battery or the included power wiring needs to be upgraded. This is a small sub folks, it draws 7.5 amps max. The R/C model world that I come from pushes pretty high amperage through tiny wires. For as much juice as this thing is pulling, the included wiring and tapping into the fuse box ought to be fine, but do your own research and make your own decision.
So for those of you coming into this green, the sub requires a few connections to the car. It needs a connection to tell it when to turn on and off ("signal cable"), a connection for power, a connection for ground, and connections to the car's original speaker wires as an input source.
First we need some fuse taps. You can find these at some auto stores, I had to drive around to several just to find two. They are the Mini ATM versions that look like this. Make sure they have that gap in the middle. There is a similar kind with plastic in between the prongs, you don't want that.
Next we need some bullet connectors. The speaker tap wires, power cable, and signal cable included with the sub kit have bullet connectors. We need bullet connectors we can put on the car's stock speaker wires to connect up. Also the bullet connectors included on our fuse taps are too small for use with the sub's included wiring so they need to be replaced. I used these. They might be a tad big for our car's stock wires but they work decently and have a great fit into the kit's connectors.
Here is how the bullet connectors fit into the sub's included speaker taps. The blue connectors will be crimped onto the car's speaker cable later on.
Here is a comparison between the separately purchased bullet connectors, and the one that come preinstalled on the fuse taps.
The female bullet connectors have too much heat shrink that interfered with what I was doing so off they went. They don't add any safety in this application and were originally for water resistance which we don't need. This technique worked the best.
They just crimp right on. I am used to fancy connectors for my R/C hobby but these work passably well for our application that doesn't require frequent disconnects or durability.
Any time when preparing to crimp these; triple check that you have stripped back the proper amount, that no wire is exposed near the back of the connector, and also ensure you haven't pushed the wire too far forward so that you mistakenly crimp down on a section with sheathing intact.
Here are the connectors for the speakers ready to go.
Here are the fuse taps ready to go. The 10 amp fuse is for the power cable to the sub (which also has its own 10 amp fuse) and the 3 amp is for the signal cable. I used 3 amp since that is the lowest amperage fuse I had handy, and this wire shouldn't really be pulling any real current during operation, so use the smallest you have in case something goes wrong in the sub!
Is that really all I need?
I recommend a set of those interior tools. http://www.amazon.com/b?node=15707231
An ass load of very small zip ties is a good idea for managing the wires.
We'll need what I think I remember being a 10mm socket to remove a bolt.
Something like painters tape is a good idea for securing wires under the rear seat.
Electric tape.
Self adhesive velcro for the sub itself. The scratchy "hook" side specifically.
Split wire conduit is a nice touch for aesthetics between the sub and where the wires disappear behind the trim panels.
Plenty of access to light.
You're gonna be in awkward positions so maybe start taking ibuprofen now.
Before we start tearing out the interior.
Be sure to check out this helpful video about removing panels in the Fiesta, posted by MKVIIST: https://youtu.be/qcvUR6X2Umw
First, know that I am not proficient with automotive interiors. These are tips for what I found to be helpful after going into this totally blind. If you have resources to people who know what they're doing taking these panels apart use them. I didn't damage anything, but the experience is a bit unnerving. I am sorry I didn't take pictures or video of taking them off, but as I didn't really know what I was doing until they were already off, they wouldn't have been but so helpful.
Second, I went with the plastic interior panel removal method. There are folks online that talk about removing the weather stripping to route wires. Two notes on that, for this application you basically have to remove the trim pieces to get at where we tap the wires. Secondly, I investigated the weatherstripping material thoroughly and to me it looked like it was something that DID NOT want to come off. I could be wrong, but it seemed like it was on with adhesive. I see video of people just pulling them off like nobodies business but my intuition said don't bother trying. Just my two cents.
Three major lessons about these panels before we start.
One: Certain panels in this car are almost as if they gently "Hook around" the adjoining panels at the edges. They have to be unhooked from their neighbors before attempting to pull them off. I'll get into more detail on that later.
Two: Study pictures to determine where the white clips are. Make note of this. Always pull directly up from the clips. No matter how tempting it may be to try to pry at an angle, DON'T. Pull straight away when dealing with these clips.
Three: Watch the plastic carefully where you are prying and use slow steady force if possible. If you see the plastic starting to turn a lighter color, stop, you're over-stressing it.
Let's start tearing out the interior.
First, removing the rear seat cushion. My understanding is older Fiestas had front hooks you pried up on. THIS IS NOT THE CASE HERE!! Our cars have a very elegant system, if you know how to use it...
Pictured below is one of the latches of the latch system. It has a lever you pull push that releases a latch. There are two. Both are oriented the same way, you push the lever TOWARD THE LHD DRIVER'S SIDE. The overall picture below shows their positioning in the car circled in red. It is pretty hard to find them, but you have to wedge your fingers underneath and feel around. When you have found them push the lever, then pull up gently on the cushion. You may want to use a towel or something to capture your progress so you can go to the next latch without it falling back down.
Once you have the forward section of the cushion released, tilt front of the cushion upward slightly, then you will need to push the rear toward the back of the car and up to release the hooks imbedded in the car from the metal frame in the seat cushion. The hooks are marked in yellow in the picture above and below.
Closeup of the hooks themselves. Sorry for potato focus of the center clip.
ALso here is the bottom of the seat cushion if that helps.
The first panel is the one at the bottom of the front door. We start at the front of this particular panel, we want to pry up the edge closest to the pedals to get access to really pry it off. In order to get that initial edge up, you kind of have to push down and away. It really is kind of hooked onto the next trim piece that way, so you have to push down and away to "unhook" it. I hope that makes sense.
To remove this piece I "unhooked" the front and rear both on the visible portion closest to the seat (push down then toward the center of the vehicle) and the portion hidden underneath the weather stripping (push away from the center of the vehicle and then up) Once that is done send your prying tool underneath from the front of the car and exert upward force.
Here is the first panel removed. Two of the white clips stayed behind in the sheet metal, and one came off with the trim panel. Notice the two white clips in the green sheet metal, and the vacant hole in line with them. While the trim piece does hook around adjoining pieces slightly as I mentioned before, these clips are what REALLY holds the trim piece on for this and all subsequent trim pieces we will be dealing with.
Here is a picture with a little more detail of the trim piece upside down. The red lines point to where the tabs are that create that "Hooked" onto the next panel feel.
The next panel to remove is the bottom panel but on the rear passenger door area. This one is similar in that you have to unhook the bottom edges from the adjoining panels (see red lines). Unhook the edges, slide your pry tool under the forward section, and pull straight up in relation tot he white clip. Also take note of the secondary clips and their receiving holes indicated by blue dots. Whenever you see a clip like this take care when reinstalling. Make sure they are nicely aligned when you push down because they deform easily.
With those two bottom panels removed it is time to move on to the large panel beside the driver's door. It looks intimidating but this was among the easiest.
Start by prying the panel straight away near the bottom front section by the drivers door. The clip marked near red should eventually pop.
Once you do that, adjust the seat as necessary and pull in the same manner but from the back passenger door area. It should pop fairly easily. With that accomplished it should just be hanging by the clips up top. Carefully pull the top straight away and the whole thing should come loose. Here is a picture of the back to give you an idea of what you're dealing with.
As far as the corresponding panels on the opposite side, they're all basically the same so follow the same steps.
Now, please don't punch me in the face, but I somehow forgot to get pictures of the kick panel on the passenger side (the one below and to the right of the glove box) It basically has to come off because the power cable for the sub has the built in fuse which can't be slid under it so it has to come off. Unfortunately it is the worst panel I encountered. It is a pain because it is basically the only one that has to be pulled in two different directions and that probably gave it a chip on its shoulder the day it was installed and now it is going to take it out on you! NOTE: Watch the video linked earlier. In it they remove the driver's side kick panel but it is very similar to the passenger side.
It has two major securing points. On the side in the general foot-well area, and on the bottom near the running board area. I don't know which is best to start from. I started with the foot well, pulling straight off toward the center console until it let go. Freeing the panel from the running board area was a pain in the ass. Remember to pull straight up when you attack that clip. Mind ended up staying inside the sheet metal and unlike the others that did so, it was a real big pain to remove. I had to grab in on both sides with two of my trim tools to get it to go. Now that I am typing this I will try to look at it tomorrow and see if anything else shakes loose from my head but that's basically it. I recommend saving this panel for last so all your accumulated experience and insight is available to help you. Godspeed.
You should probably remove the glove box completely as well. Getting it to fold down more is pretty easy, you just push the tabs on the sides inward. Getting it to come out completely is a bit tougher, and I kinda did it by accident. Basically the hinges it rotates on are not complete circles, but kinda grab onto the pivot points. This picture hopefully shows you what I mean. Study the angle of where the cutouts are and pull straight away at the appropriate angle.
With the rear seat cushion, the four lower running board panels, the two lower B-pillar panels, that asshole passenger footwell panel, and the glove box removed, you're ready for wiring.
Getting wired.
A few tips before we get into wiring.
1. Connect the power and signal wires to the fuse box at the very end!
2. Untangle the wires first.
3. Wires always start their journey FROM the subwoofer and go outwards.
4. Triple check to make sure you're putting the right connectors on the speaker wires! (More on this later)
Routing.
To begin I recommend starting with the side you will be installing the sub on. This is because all the cables (aside from the remote control) on the sub start from a single harness connector, so you'll always be running the wires FROM THE SUB to their destination. I chose the driver's side. My reasoning was you're more likely going to have your third passenger behind the passenger seat, and since it is rare I'd carry a fourth, there's less chance they'll interact with it. Also as it is not a powerful sub, the vibration is pleasant and never obnoxious. As a bonus there is an incredibly convenient ground right nearby on the left side of the car.
I recommend putting the end of the harness near where your sub will be, give yourself a bit of extra slack (you can hide it elsewhere later) and untangle the wires you're using. Remember you're always routing from the sub to the destination, so be careful about making sure you go around all intended obstacles on a path away from the sub, if you screw up without realizing it at first you have to pull the cable all the way back.
How you want to route and secure the wire is largely up to you. Curse me I didn't really take any pictures of my wiring job. I used zip ties basically everywhere, except when routing the wires underneath my rear seat I just used painters tape to hold them down. It is pretty intuitive where to go once you get the panels off, just remember to meticulously pathfind and pull the cables around every obstacle together as you go.
Tap dat bass.
I chose to tap into the speakers behind the B pillar by the seatbelt. There's not a lot of space here but there's just enough. You'll have to cut the electrical tape away from the conduit tray and thumb through the wires to find your speaker cable for your rear door speakers. I cut mine slightly higher than midway from the top of the seatbelt tension device to where the cable disappears into the pillar. Where you cut is up to you.
A quick note on safety when cutting wires. It doesn't really affect us too much here, however a good rule of thumb when cutting ANY wires is to only cut ONE AT A TIME.
I utilized the colors I got from another post on the forum, and they were accurate for me. At any rate, the speaker wires will be the only twisted pair in the door conduit, that should help you find them easily.
Now, remember what I said about putting the right bullet connectors on the speaker wire and triple checking it? Reference this photo again...
The taps' connectors are opposite one another. For example the negative may be female on bottom, male on top but the positive would then be male on bottom, female on top. Make sure you get this right or you may go to connect your taps to your speaker cable and find that only one connects without being upside down, or you did them opposite which will put one of your channels out of phase which you really don't want as it will screw up your sound.
Hold the tap up to your stock speaker wire and ensure you know which end required male and which one requires female to connect to the tap.
When I did mine, I'd put connectors only on one wire at a time, so say positive first, then connect the brand new bullet connectors together (WITHOUT THE TAPS) and then test the stock speakers. This way I can ensure my connections I made are good. If that worked, I'll put new connectors on the negative and retest. If my sound coming out my stock speaker is still working, I know I did my new bullet connectors correctly, and now I am ready to retest with the taps actually connected. If I have the tap installed and my stock speaker still works, I can feel pretty good about life.
Once you have one side of the car working, go to the other. If everything works, now it is time to double check that your wiring is routed neatly, and then secure everything back as best you can. Remember to use your electric tape to retape all your wires back into the conduit tray as best as you can. USE EXTRA CARE NOT TO IMPEDE OR LET YOUR WIRES COME INTO CONTACT WITH THE SEATBELT SYSTEM. Secure your wiring!
Whatever side you put the subwoofer on, that side will have a lot of extra wire left over. I just neatly bundled it and secured it with zip ties at the bottom of the B pillar.
You're grounded.
Don't bother with any of that silly scraping away paint or self tapping screw bullshit, there's a nice factory ground right by the front left driver's seat anchor.
Boom, look at that. Doesn't get much more convenient. I just ran the ground cable underneath the sheet metal the ground point is attached to, and then connected it so the sub ground was oriented forward, which keeps it out of the way of the stock ground hardware and is pretty neat overall. I think it was 10mm.
Infused.
By now you should basically have everything in place. Route your power and signal cables up into the fusebox area behind the glove compartment. Connect your blue wire to the fuse tap with your very low amperage fuse. Connect your yellow power wire into the fuse tap with your 10 amp fuse.
Now you'll need to select fuse positions that will power your sub with your ignition, but shut if off when the ignition is off. Here is what I ended up with that works quite well...
Power is tapped into F12 (Climate Control)
Signal is tapped into F8 (Moonroof)
Is this thing even on?
Give her a test. If it all works, pop your panels back on, IN REVERSE ORDER OF HOW THEY CAME OFF.
Anything else?
That's about it! I'd slap some self-adhesive velcro underneath the sub. The scratchy side holds very well to the carpet. Route the last bit of cable as neatly as you desire, taking care not to bend the heatshrinked part of the speaker input wire. Split wire conduit may be a nice touch to organize and reduce visibility of the wires.
Don't Larry Kenobi
It's a modest sub. Don't go out and Larry Kenobi on us now...
[video=youtube;utFRqsT61-k]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utFRqsT61-k[/video]
Hey I noticed you have floor mats. Does that interfere with the sub?
Surprisingly no! These are the Husky mats. If you slide the sub all the way forward the mats can still fit fine, in fact the fitment is so tight that it helps hold the sub in place. Gotta love a surprisingly good unintended fitment.
Hopefully this was helpful to someone undertaking the install of this sub or one similar. Thanks for reading and good luck!
If there light works properly and still no sound, we continue on...
