[JK-KIAEV6]

Sorry for the confusion, this was for the cable for the Kicker remote subwoofer control knob. That said, this route/method could be used for 12v power supply. I think you could easily run 8-gauge wire for the 15 foot run which would carry up to 30 amps (260 watts). 6-gauge might be a little tighter and would carry 50 amps (600 watts). I did all of this without actually detaching the sill panels and there were no pinch points that I could perceive so the wire seemed very safe from mechanical wear.

OH OK.

 

[CAPCOM]

There’s a very easy way to hear that the rear speaker sound is broken, to use a non-technical term: play literally any song and set the position to the driver door and then set it to one of the rear doors (you can just click on each of the four door positions in the position setting). It’s like a switch going on and off with the bass as you toggle between front and rear. No need to do fancy sound level readings, at least in our car which is a ‘23 GT-Line RWD, purchased Jan 2023. Do I understand correctly that I’d be wasting my time demonstrating this to a dealer? This sounds like a case for a class-action lawsuit to get Kia‘s attention to fix a manufacturer defect.

 

[tonester]

Class-action lawsuit to get Kia to address low rear-speaker output? Don't think any lawyer would bother spending their time taking on such a case--it's not as if low rear-speaker output adversely affects vehicle drivability and/or driver safety (warning chimes/alerts emanate from front speakers). Don't get me wrong--I would like nothing better than for Kia to fix the low rear-speaker output once and for all but IMHO it wouldn't and doesn't warrant a class-action lawsuit.

 

[valdezpa09]

Did anyone ever respond to this?

I ran mine under the grommet. Still finishing my install though so that may change.

 

[Jimji]

Go the boot area and pull off the plastic parts to see the quick connector for the sub. put on some music and disconnect and reconnect the quick connector. Almost no difference. The problem is more than location. This thing is like a Catholic girl it just does not put out.

 

[Jimji]

I routed the wire in the channel where the red arrow is below. It was not a tight fit so no fish tape was required. I just slid it in, reached through the access panel by the 12V socket and grabbed it.
View attachment 8679


I didn't remove the whole 12V socket, just the wires leading to the back of the socket. They should just pull right off like you're unplugging something from the wall. The back of the socket looks something like the image below and the wiring terminates in an L shaped plastic harness that pulls right off. Once the wires were off, I pulled them through the access door and had enough length to splice into the positive.

View attachment 8676

So which is the positive tab ? I am using some spade connectors to go right into the L connector as well for that clean look. Is the positive the wider or the narrower one ?

Thanks much Jim

 

[Jimji]

OK figured it out. The positive in the one that connects to the center of the cigarette lighter 12V which has the smaller fitting and the negative the side and larger fitting. By simply sticking these spade connectors into the connector for the 12V it makes it very clean and easily returnable to stock. Only down side is no 12V in the trunk area for now. The Korea connector as I understand it only makes it so you don't have to cut the wires out of the sub that came with the car and mine was not going to arrive for over a month by post so I just used the connector and wires from the old sub. This is the Rockville 8" that I installed that folks recommended for $100.
About the sound. Definitely improves things and I like having the little remote that comes with the unit up front once I figure out how to run the wire and where to put it. As much as this was definitely worth the small investment and actually fun to do I don't believe this will ever be a great sound system. I will be downloading this equalizer app I saw someone on Youtube recommend and I have noticed the system starting to sound a little better over time as the speakers break in. Likely I will be able to live with it now that is has some bass but we will see. My local Cartoys shop wanted $8400 including $1250 to build a custom subwoofer box so I have to feel good about the $150. I am not sure anyone posted pictures of this connection method but then this is one long thread so I might have missed it. Thanks to all the forum contributors here.

 

[Jimji]

People, just a reminder, don't ignore the tweeters, I upgraded to Morel Virtus I had from a few years ago and the improvement is quite dramatic. To make a clean install I got two of the cheaper tweeters from Kia parts and drilled the new tweeters into them, the installer did, I got a pro.

this along with the Alpine sub totally transformed the sound, highly recommended!

Why did you have to buy another set of tweeters to drill into when you had the stock ones in the car already ? Replacing the sub in the boot is a lot lower on the accident scale than starting to pull off door parts that will be seen forever. I wonder if anyone has some pictures of what is required to replace the tweeters and other speakers in the front. My sub replacement has not given me a satisfactory sound experience yet and I was skeptical it would from the start.

 

[Jimji]

OK figured it out. The positive in the one that connects to the center of the cigarette lighter 12V which has the smaller fitting and the negative the side and larger fitting. By simply sticking these spade connectors into the connector for the 12V it makes it very clean and easily returnable to stock. Only down side is no 12V in the trunk area for now. The Korea connector as I understand it only makes it so you don't have to cut the wires out of the sub that came with the car and mine was not going to arrive for over a month by post so I just used the connector and wires from the old sub. This is the Rockville 8" that I installed that folks recommended for $100.
About the sound. Definitely improves things and I like having the little remote that comes with the unit up front once I figure out how to run the wire and where to put it. As much as this was definitely worth the small investment and actually fun to do I don't believe this will ever be a great sound system. I will be downloading this equalizer app I saw someone on Youtube recommend and I have noticed the system starting to sound a little better over time as the speakers break in. Likely I will be able to live with it now that is has some bass but we will see. My local Cartoys shop wanted $8400 including $1250 to build a custom subwoofer box so I have to feel good about the $150. I am not sure anyone posted pictures of this connection method but then this is one long thread so I might have missed it. Thanks to all the forum contributors here.
View attachment 15681 View attachment 15682 View attachment 15684 View attachment 15685 View attachment 15686

OK so took the advice of some folks who recommended downloading the Poweramp equalizer and wow it makes this system sound like I imagine it was supposed to in the first place. How it is even possible to get so much more power out of the existing amp and speakers is beyond me but after a bit of a learning curve with the app I have to say I am impressed. I am not into high volume music but I was able to bring out a much more dynamic presentation that i didn't think I would ever get from the Meridian and yes it can blow you out of the car if you want. Still learning the settings and want to listen some more before proclaiming complete satisfaction but I am surprised. I even wonder how this system would sound without replacing the stock subwoofer as it has the potential to bring alot more power to the sub.

 

[Cybrdude]

Anyone been able to "measure" the rear 12V outlet? Truly 180W, 15A?

 

[Cybrdude]

Stock Sub Replacement with a BLAUPUNKT GTHS81 8" Amplified Subwoofer 320-Watts for $125
Objectives: 1. Improve the audio sound. 2. Be able to quickly and easily revert back to stock. 3. Keep costs down
Step 1: Remove old sub. Remove the latch cover by unscrewing the two large plastic screws on the inside of the sub area, below the latch. The cover will pop off easily with the screws out. Unplug the wiring connector from the sub, then unscrew the 4 10mm hex head screws holding the sub in place. The sub will lift out easily.

Step 2: Connect the existing wires to the preamp adapter. I used posi-tap connectors so that I didn't need to cut any wires on the stock sub wiring connector. As you can see from the photo below, the wiring connections to the adapter are: Brown - Grey, White - Grey/Black, Pink - White, Red - White/Black. I didn't need to use the brown ground wires on the adapter. I plugged the RCA cable into the adapter and routed the cable on the bottom side of the sub area. After the sub was in place, I also attached the adapter to the side of the sub area with some double sided Velcro.
View attachment 7127

Step 3: Connect the sub to power. I used a 12V 16AWG cigarette lighter power cord and cut off and stripped back the ends. I cut off an extra 6 inches from the cable and separated the red and black strands so that I could use the extra bit of red to turn on the sub. This was done by stripping both ends of the short red cable and plugging one end into the Remote (middle hole) and the other end into the 12v (bottom hole). Before plugging the short red cable into the 12v hole, I twisted the end together with the longer red cable from the cigarette lighter adapter. The black cable from the cigarette lighter adapter went into the Ground (top hole). I plugged the cigarette lighter adapter into the outlet on the left side of the trunk and routed the wire on the top side of the sub area. I tested the sub to make sure everything worked before moving on to the next step.
View attachment 7128

Step 4: Place the subwoofer. I used pieces of carpet to line the bottom of the sub area and the sides where the sub would sit. This allowed sub to sit snuggly in the space and also keep down any rattles. There is a port on the upper left side of the sub, so I made sure to keep the carpet away from that section. To assure the sub didn't move around while driving I used some 3/4" hanger strap and the hex screws from step 1 to attach the strap to the original mounting brackets. Underneath the strap I attached clear rubber bumpers (like what is used on cabinet doors), to provide extra tension and prevent any metal on metal between the strap and the subwoofer. It is easy to adjust the settings on the sub with it strapped in. Make sure the sub is set to "auto power on".
View attachment 7130

Step 5: Put the trunk back together. Reinstall the latch cover, sub space cover. I routed the power cable on the top left of the sub space cover to both hold it in place (as seen in the picture above) and to prevent it from being pinched. Fold the floor back over the area and enjoy.
View attachment 7131
View attachment 7132 View attachment 7133


Parts List:
Subwoofer
Preamp Adapter
Cigarette Lighter Power Adapter

In case you don't have any lying around:
Posi-tap connectors
RCA Cable
Hanger Strap
Rubber Bumpers

You used Low-Level Input (RCA) to the Sub and not High-Level Input?

 

[ifigueroa115]

You know. From looking at the pics, I feel like this would get a much better result. Its a lil more but the size is almost the same with a bigger sub

KICKER 46HS10 Compact Powered 10-inch Subwoofer (Renewed) Amazon.com

 

[mjduke420]

You know. From looking at the pics, I feel like this would get a much better result. Its a lil more but the size is almost the same with a bigger sub

KICKER 46HS10 Compact Powered 10-inch Subwoofer (Renewed) Amazon.com

A few of us already have the Kicker installed. In my case, sound deadening and the kicker 10 made a huge improvement. You won't win any SPL comps, but it does pair well with the Meridian.

 

[ifigueroa115]

A few of us already have the Kicker installed. In my case, sound deadening and the kicker 10 made a huge improvement. You won't win any SPL comps, but it does pair well with the Meridian.
View attachment 16542

Oh awesome. Is there a post with install directions? Definitely wanna try this, just concerned about the wiring

 

[mjduke420]

The subwoofer thread has all the info and brickies post has a good pic of the 12v to tap into. I'd suggest going through the entire thread. Kia Connector takes a couple weeks to ship if you don't want to cut the stock speaker harness.

Subwoofer Discussion, continued once again

Replacing the subwoofer has been discussed at length here and elsewhere. But I wanted to bring this back up based on recent experiences. I took my EV6 to a car stereo shop to look into replacing the subwoofer following the previous advice. What I thought was going to be an easy upgrade ended up...

www.kiaevforums.com

 

[ifigueroa115]

The subwoofer thread has all the info and brickies post has a good pic of the 12v to tap into. I'd suggest going through the entire thread. Kia Connector takes a couple weeks to ship if you don't want to cut the stock speaker harness.

Subwoofer Discussion, continued once again

Replacing the subwoofer has been discussed at length here and elsewhere. But I wanted to bring this back up based on recent experiences. I took my EV6 to a car stereo shop to look into replacing the subwoofer following the previous advice. What I thought was going to be an easy upgrade ended up...

www.kiaevforums.com

Awesome. Thank you.

 

[Why EV6]

Kia Connector takes a couple weeks to ship if you don't want to cut the stock speaker harness.

Walk into a Kia parts department and have them order it. It's comes out of the kia warehouse in Ohio. You may pay MSRP but in most cases you are ahead of the game because there is no shipping charge. When I ordered mine it took 4 business days because of the dealerships delivery schedule. They had 10 in the warehouse when I had ordered mine.

 

[ricklebrick]

I recently installed a custom 8 inch fiberglass woofer taking up the bottom area where the oem stock sub did. It is a Dayton audio HO series 8 inch woofer with a 375w rms amp (skar audio 1200 something) and makes more than enough bass. That plus some eq touchups I did on the midrange really make the sound quite good (coming from an audio systems engineer background). Anyone interested in details message me. View attachment 4727

Hi, could you let me know about the cabling on that? I see four cables going into the subwoofer. Can you shed some light on what they are?

 

[theslimshadyist]

Hi all, I'm new here and I was about to pull the trigger on a GT-Line until I started reading up on all of the negativity around the Meridian system so I wanted to ask some questions to obtain some clarity around these powered sub retrofits.

1. Will I be able to control the bass of the powered sub via increasing the bass slider in the Meridian interface? My goal is to adjust the sub's gain control once then use the bass slider to increase or decrease. I see several pics of a remote to adjust the gain but I would not want to constantly have to go that route, just occasionally.

2. Is it possible to hardwire the powered sub so when I turn on the vehicle the sub automatically powers on as well? I don't wish to power it via that 12V connector.

 

[mjduke420]

Hi all, I'm new here and I was about to pull the trigger on a GT-Line until I started reading up on all of the negativity around the Meridian system so I wanted to ask some questions to obtain some clarity around these powered sub retrofits.

1. Will I be able to control the bass of the powered sub via increasing the bass slider in the Meridian interface? My goal is to adjust the sub's gain control once then use the bass slider to increase or decrease. I see several pics of a remote to adjust the gain but I would not want to constantly have to go that route, just occasionally.

2. Is it possible to hardwire the powered sub so when I turn on the vehicle the sub automatically powers on as well? I don't wish to power it via that 12V connector.

1. You can use the kia head unit to adjust bass but you will also be adjusting the bass in the front door woofers as well. The remote gain isn't necessary and I don't have mine hooked up.

2. Yes you can tap into the 12v behind the plug for 15amps of power, thats what i use for my Kicker. You can also tap into the trailer hitch harness for 30amps if you want more power. Both methods are documented here on the forum