Replaced 401A Sub

[kingofsting]

Decided to replace my 401A trunk sub with a 1 ohm Kicker Comp RT 8", paired with the JL HX300/1 mono amp. I spliced RCAs onto the OEM sub amp, ran RCA cables to the JL, and ran the speaker wires from the new amp back to the OEM sub wiring, which I reused for the new Kicker.

The shaker sub amp has 4 wires - red, red w/ white stripe, blue, blue w/white stripe. Though I ran all 4 wires to the RCAs, I only reused the solid red and blue w/ white stripe for the Kicker. The sub is wired in parallel (using one strip of new speaker wire) to produce a 2 ohm load, which the JL is rated for at 300 watts RMS. The Kicker can handle around 400 RMS, the JL amp is under-rated, per Sonic Electronics test video. Since the car is a lease, I didn't want to get too crazy with a full-blown install or even the JL stealthbox. For less than $500, and a day's worth of work, this thing pounds!

Also, for anyone wondering I used a 1/4 inch diameter screw (5/8 inch length) with two washers and a nut to seal up the back hole. If I did it again I would have bought a larger screw but this will suffice. I did have to drill new holes into the box to use the kicker. I would recommended anyone planning a similar install use M8 screws with at least 1-1/4" length. I forgot to account for the grill when buying mine and would have probably gone with 2 inches in length if I was doing it again.

I'll add pics as soon as I figure out to resize my iPhone pics!

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[assclown]

But.. how does it sound compared to stock??

 

[Khyber]

don't resize just upload to imgur

 

[kingofsting]

But.. how does it sound compared to stock??

It's a night and day difference. I have to lower the gain a bit because it overwhelms the OEM speakers at low volume.

The sub is made for a sealed enclosure of .20-.70 cu ft and the OEM box is about .45 cu ft. I was worried the sound wouldn't be so great, since I had a ported 10" fosgate in my 05 and 13, but this little sub was well worth the cost

 

[wildcatgoal]

What is final ohm rating of stock sub?

 

[kingofsting]

What is final ohm rating of stock sub?

Don't know anything re: the OEM sub or amp specs. That info may be in the sticky at the top of this page. Either way it didn't produce anything as deep or as punchy as what I'm used to. It was more boomy than anything else. This new sub has punch and depth, but its still an 8" shallow mount sub. That being said it's got a lot more kick than I expected

 

[wildcatgoal]

I'll take mine out and find out, was just being lazy. Need a multimeter to figure it out.

 

[assclown]

Did you run new power wires for the JL?

 

[kingofsting]

Did you run new power wires for the JL?

Yes, I used a full amp install kit which came free with the amp as part of a special deal on Sonic Electronics. The power and ground leads off the amp are 10ga but I used an 8ga kit. Since it was an el cheapo/quickie install I used posi-locks instead of soldering everything. I tapped the blue/white wire in the trunk loom for the remote trigger, and used a red mini posi-tap for that.

I grounded and bolted the amp on the rear shelf behind the rear speakers, in front of the rear seat backs. I ran the power wire down the passenger side, through the grommet near the fuse box, into the engine bay via the slot to the left of the negative battery terminal, to the middle bolt on the large engine bay fuse box. Most of the power wire is hidden by the battery cover, coming out of the opening for the negative terminal wire. I did not take off the passenger wheel, though I did pull back the wheel well liner to fish the power wire through the grommet and into the engine bay. I did cut my hands up a bit doing this but I don't have ramps nor the inclination to remove the wheel.

 

[Boggus]

Factory sub has 2 coils, each approx. 2ohms

 

[jbailer]

Congrats! I figured that's what it was going to take to improve the sound.

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