WildBill
Stinger Enthusiast
I, like some others, was a little underwhelmed with the bass response of the stock Harman Kardon stereo system. So a couple of weeks ago I installed an old amp and subs I had from 15 years ago. I’ve had things pretty much dialed in for a week or so and I have to say that I’m liking it. They are just 10s so I’m not looking to enter a SPL comp or anything, just fill in the low end and make it a bit punchier.
As far as the installation goes it is pretty much as easy as it gets. The amp where you are getting your music source and the battery are in the rear hatch, which is where you are putting the speakers. So no need to run wires from the engine compartment, through the firewall, back to the rear.
Components used:
-AudioConrol LC2i Sound Processor / Line level converter
-Infinity Kappa 102a amp
-Two Cadence Shockwave 4 Ohm DVC small enclosure speakers
-Kicker 8 gauge amp wiring kit
I tapped off of the front door speakers for signal so that I did not get any of the artificial engine noise running through the subs. Some say it is pumped through the factory subwoofers and some say it’s the rear door speakers. It makes more sense to me that it is through the rear doors. I also tapped into the accessory wire (blue with red stripe) on the other harness for the remote lead.
Pinout for the amp is in post 12 of this link.
These 5 wires go into the LC2i as well as power and ground. Then RCA outputs go from the LC2i to the amp. I mounted the LC2i to a board and drilled the board to match up with three unused M6 studs on the left side of the battery. Note: The LC2i is supposed to have an intelligent remote to where you don’t have to have a remote turn on lead, I couldn’t get it to work. It would stay on all the time. I had to use a remote wire.
The area behind the battery and below the spare tire is a perfect spot to mount an amp. It just needs to be appropriately sized to fit. Ideally 11” long x 8-1/2” wide at most. The board above is sized to fit the well, ignore the note about being able to mount 1-1/4" above it. It turns out the amp needed to be flush with the bottom of the board to fit under the spare tire.
I had to cut down the heat sink on my amp to get it to fit. Luckily it extended out quite a ways from any of the internal electronics.
Power wire was easy to run. There was a stud available on the battery. There was a standoff to the left of the battery to mount the fuse block. No need to drill through the body to the outside of the car. Used self tappers.
Here is the whole install before the spare tire goes back in.
I think this sub box is just temporary. My plan is to build two fiberglass boxes that will fit in the void behind the rear tires. I just don’t know how the speakers would sound if they were firing right at each other, even if they are playing mono and in phase.
Also, this is the first time I’ve tuned a car using sound analysis. It gets things in the ballpark substantially quicker than by ear. I used a sound generator on an android device to generate pink noise and do some 20Hz to 500Hz sweeps. Then used the “dB Meter” app on the iPhone to look at the FFT waveform plot to set levels. I have the amp crossover set somewhere around 100Hz and I boosted the bass down in the 20 – 40Hz range where things started to fall off. The box is sealed so it is crisp and goes pretty low, just how I like it.
I have not played with the AcuBASS settings on the LC21 as of yet. I just got the remote level control for it this week. I’ll install that and a switch for the remote wire so I can kill the amp if I don’t want it on. That’s especially useful if you want to remove the speakers to haul something.
As far as the installation goes it is pretty much as easy as it gets. The amp where you are getting your music source and the battery are in the rear hatch, which is where you are putting the speakers. So no need to run wires from the engine compartment, through the firewall, back to the rear.
Components used:
-AudioConrol LC2i Sound Processor / Line level converter
-Infinity Kappa 102a amp
-Two Cadence Shockwave 4 Ohm DVC small enclosure speakers
-Kicker 8 gauge amp wiring kit
I tapped off of the front door speakers for signal so that I did not get any of the artificial engine noise running through the subs. Some say it is pumped through the factory subwoofers and some say it’s the rear door speakers. It makes more sense to me that it is through the rear doors. I also tapped into the accessory wire (blue with red stripe) on the other harness for the remote lead.
Pinout for the amp is in post 12 of this link.
These 5 wires go into the LC2i as well as power and ground. Then RCA outputs go from the LC2i to the amp. I mounted the LC2i to a board and drilled the board to match up with three unused M6 studs on the left side of the battery. Note: The LC2i is supposed to have an intelligent remote to where you don’t have to have a remote turn on lead, I couldn’t get it to work. It would stay on all the time. I had to use a remote wire.
The area behind the battery and below the spare tire is a perfect spot to mount an amp. It just needs to be appropriately sized to fit. Ideally 11” long x 8-1/2” wide at most. The board above is sized to fit the well, ignore the note about being able to mount 1-1/4" above it. It turns out the amp needed to be flush with the bottom of the board to fit under the spare tire.
I had to cut down the heat sink on my amp to get it to fit. Luckily it extended out quite a ways from any of the internal electronics.
Power wire was easy to run. There was a stud available on the battery. There was a standoff to the left of the battery to mount the fuse block. No need to drill through the body to the outside of the car. Used self tappers.
Here is the whole install before the spare tire goes back in.
I think this sub box is just temporary. My plan is to build two fiberglass boxes that will fit in the void behind the rear tires. I just don’t know how the speakers would sound if they were firing right at each other, even if they are playing mono and in phase.
Also, this is the first time I’ve tuned a car using sound analysis. It gets things in the ballpark substantially quicker than by ear. I used a sound generator on an android device to generate pink noise and do some 20Hz to 500Hz sweeps. Then used the “dB Meter” app on the iPhone to look at the FFT waveform plot to set levels. I have the amp crossover set somewhere around 100Hz and I boosted the bass down in the 20 – 40Hz range where things started to fall off. The box is sealed so it is crisp and goes pretty low, just how I like it.
I have not played with the AcuBASS settings on the LC21 as of yet. I just got the remote level control for it this week. I’ll install that and a switch for the remote wire so I can kill the amp if I don’t want it on. That’s especially useful if you want to remove the speakers to haul something.
