Under Seat Speakers

Ok, here is the deal...

First-sorry I don't have any pictures of my truck up yet, I will get them though!

I really want to get 1-2 8"-10" woofers for my 06 4 door Tacoma. I always loved bass in high school and college, and I still want to feel young. I have been doing some research about what type of boxes will fit under my front seats. I do not want to rip out the plastic behind the back seats.

Here is what I found so far...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001DXF990/ref=asc_df_B001DXF990948310?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-wcWsfwDDhgQ/p_130UDSW8U/Pioneer-Premier-UD-SW8U.html?tp=127

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_2069TCVT82/Kicker-09TCVT82.html?search=8+inch+subwoofer&ssi=0

I have not done official measurments, but I believe that all 3 will fit under the front seats. Any comments about those? Are there any other options out there for me?

My second question is simple. I have the factory head unit in my tacoma. Would a professional company (Best Buy, etc) be able to hook up the amp to the factory head unit? I am really not interested in buying a new deck for my Tacoma...

Any help would be GREAT!!!

Thanks

 

2nd and third options will definitely not fit under your front seats. There' isn't a lot of room there.

You can install 10'' subs behind the back seats no problem without cutting any plastic. IMO, this is the best route to take.

Check out MrMarv's thread and talk to him about a box for your truck. His work is AWESOME!

 

i think he means he doesn't want to remove the plastic against the back wall. maybe that's what you're talkign about. Sorry if i misunderstand.

i have two 8w6's behind my passenger back seat...sealed box...each requires 1 cu. ft...and i'm sure there are new ones that require less.

imo, i wouldn't look at putting a sub under the seats. if you really want "thump", you're going to have to have more room than what the floor will provide.

as for your factory head unit, you're probably going to find it hard to accomplish what you want to without replacing it. i've never seen anyone have good luck with a factory head unit and subs...but i've been wrong at least once before.

 

I used to have my system hooked up with the factory deck but the sound quality decreased. Just look for the light blue wire and connect another blue wire from that to the antenna input on your amp. And the subs wil have more air and space in the very rear behind the seats.

 

That is correct, I do not want to remove the plastic behind the seats, move the seats or have a box sitting in the back seats/floor. The only real space is under the front seats or a small box inside the plastic behind the back seats...

The first thing I need to get going for me is being able to hook up the amp with my factory deck. Does anyone know if this is possible?

Thanks again for your help!

 

It is possible man! Try it. take out the little door that exposes the fuses to the bottom left of the steering wheel, then you'll see wiring that leads to the stereo. The light blue one is the one you want. Cut a little slit on it, add your own light blue cable and run it to your the antenna input on the amp. It's fairly easy.

 

But what about connecting the rc cables so that the amp knows what music to push to the speakers. The blue wire, remote wire I assume, only actually turns the amp on and off... Correct???

Thanks

 

Many amps now-a-days have inputs that can be hooked up the the speaker leads on your head unit. This will accomplish what you are trying to do. And yes, the blue wire is the amp turn on.

 

This is not the preferred method. Most amps do not utilize speaker level inputs. Typically, speaker level signals have already gone through an amplifier and will have added noise in the signal. This is part of why RCA level inputs are the better route.

More directly, to the OP. The first option will be a tight fit. However, you are not going to get much under the front seats that are worth much, without doing some modifications to the seat (raising the seat for more clearance, or cutting into the sheet metal). I'm not saying it is impossible, I'm saying it is, for most people, impractical. I think there is someone on here that has that Boss sub-amajigger. I'm sure it will add something to the bass response, but I seriously doubt it is going to be particularly impressive.

Behind the rear seat is the least intrusive way to add, in my opinion, appreciable bass. I did not want to give up those cool storage tray, but honestly, now that they are gone, I really don't miss them. There isn't much storage in those bins anyway, and what I would have put there, I can put under the seats in the plastic trays.

A single Image Dynamics IDQ 10, in a Marv box, with about 250 watts, is more than adequate bass to give your mirrors a shake and compliment most setups. You could do this in a manner that you'd only have to remove one of the bins. Depending on where you want to mount the amp, it can be the smaller of the two bins.

As for the wiring to the amp, use a multi meter to check for a switched lead. Sometimes people will tell you that the antenna wire is a good choice, but depending on how that wire is connected to the head unit, you might be limiting yourself to having the amp running when the radio is on. Do not confuse the radio with the headunit. The radio is a function of the headunit. That is to say, if you are playing the radio and the antenna goes up, that wire controls the power antenna. When you switch to another source, CDs for example, the antenna goes down. If you connect the remote turn on lead to the antenna wire, then the amp would turn off when the source is switched away from the radio to the cd player. The antenna is a switched lead, but not necessarily the one that you want. Check that the wire has power when the key is in the on (or acc) position and off when the ignition is turned off. This will give your amp the signal to be on when the headunit has power and turn off when you turn the truck off.

Now, it is becoming more common for amps to have the capability to switch on when a signal is present at the RCA inputs. This would negate the need for the remote turn on lead, a good feature in my book.

 

I'll take a pic of the way my old system was connected. You're right, I forgot about the RCA cables.

 

You can get option #1 under the passenger seat, I know cause I've done it. You will have to "flip the bar" underneath the seat (at the rear) and do some minor bending of the brackets that hold the wiring harness, but it will fit.

 

Alright after a little work, here is what I am going to do...

I am going to get an adapter connected to my factory deck so that I can hook up RCA cables. This adapter costs about 20-25 bucks...

I am going to remove the plastic from behind the back seat, specifically the seat that has the "middle" seat attached it to. I am going to build a custom box that will be approximately 6.5 inches wide at the bottom and 2-3 inches wide at the top. The box will be about 22-24 inches long with the back of the box being extened so that I can attach the amp right next to box. I will take pictures of this so that you can see what I am talking about. The box will be about 18 inches high, giving me about 1.20 cubic feet.

My next job will be to find a nice 10 inch speaker that has a maximum depth of about 5.5 inches...I already have an amp.

Best Buy said they will do all the wiring for $90. And I am also getting a Viper automatic car starter for 209. So when its all said and done, I will spend about 500 bucks on materials and instalation... Not to bad I don't think!

 

Could you still move the seat?
- Seat moves fine, no issue with clearance once you move the bar / sensor & wiring mounts.

What did you do with the heater vents? Raise the amp or block the vents? - I didn't do anything with the vent...in fact I don't remember seeing a vent under passenger seat (it's been a few months), so far no issues.

How does/did it sound?
- Let me preface my comments. How something sounds is highly subjective, your feelings may vary greatly from mine. IMO it fills out the low end that is missing / impossible without a sub. Is it a high end setup with a large box and amp...NO. Will is shake the neighborhood....NO. For my needs (mid level volume listening with an afermarket HU and speakers) I like it and given that space is more important than giant BOOM, I'm happy with the performance and I would buy it again.

 

I am currently trying to do the same thing... Kenwood has TWO different options that I've been looking at. They make a low-profile 10" sub that will fit under your seat as is, and they also have the same type of low profile sub/amp combo that you're looking at both around the same price. I like the Boss option you found and I think thats the way I'm going to go- because the kenwood one is two 6x9's, I think.

 

Is there anyway you can take some pics under your seat showing the bar and the brackets you needed to alter? I made a cardboard box with the measurments on their site and I see how its not fitting as is. I'm really looking into getting this Boss Bass1200 and want to get everything straight before placing my order.

 

I couldn't even mount my amp under my passenger seat without it hitting the bar and not allowing any movement in the seat, so I didn't put it there. And while RCA's are obviously the better method, I used the speaker level inputs on my amp(an old Alpine MRP-350) and just tapped the appropriate speaker wires on the stock HU's harness and it sounds just fine.

 

this.

 

Passenger seat.....that way it can vibrate the ass of my passenger and not me.

 

That would require me to get my camera.....that's alot o work

If you put your cardboard box under the passenger seat you'll quickly see the bar at the rear of the seat I'm describing.....it's the first thing to hit the box!

 

Here you go...pics







Yep it fits....but it's close!


As previously mentioned...DON'T USE THE STUPID RUBBER FEET TO MOUNT IT. Velcro all the way!