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Subwoofer Discussion, continued once again

38077 Views 427 Replies 52 Participants Last post by  modulo26
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 raising more questions.

When they opened up the compartment to get a sense of what might be possible... there was a huge surprise. Not only was the sub not fastened at all, but there was a layer of insulation on the bottom of the compartment cover!
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Thus, whatever sound the sub is generating is significantly muffled by the cover... which is in fact below another layer, the trunk floor! I actually just removed the cover for now, and the sub performance increased dramatically with bass set to 10. (They also attached the sub. :))

A few questions:
  • Did they install the wrong cover? Do others have this same insulated cover? Or is there a different cover that would make more sense with a sub? It just seems wrong.
  • With the compartment cover and then the trunk floor over the compartment cover, that is a lot of muffling to overcome, even without the insulation. Is there some other solution for the trunk floor?
  • The car stereo folks said that the recommended replacement would not make an appreciable difference in bass. They gave a quote of $1,600 which is well beyond what I wanted to spend. Can anyone provide feedback on whether the Rockwell SS8P (or some other active subwoofer that will fit into the space) makes an appreciable difference in bass?
  • Finally, if they were to add on an amp, they questioned whether they could run a heavy gauge line from the 12V battery, given that the 12V adapter in the trunk is lightweight. Apparently Teslas will throw an error. Anyone have experience on that?
Thanks for any advice!

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I don't.

@Manticore posted this that identifies the KIA wires:

Brown Left+
White. Left -
Pink. Right+
Red. Right -

My Kicker sub has a wiring harness. From the manual:
View attachment 11885

When you posted what sub you were getting, I noticed it did not have a wiring harness only RCA/Speaker inputs?

Install was so simple of my Kicker because you litteraly just have to splice the wires to the corresponding Left/Right +/-
Thanks so much for this info. I've got my EV6 GT a few weeks ago and have been fairly underwhelmed with it and expected much more since Meridian is considered pretty high end.
I'm doing exactly what you've done...I just order the Kicker, power wire, and adapter harness. I can't wait to get this stuff and get it installed.
I'll let ya'll know how it turns out!
Cheers!
--DePhin
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AWESOME. It is super easy. The hardest part was cutting the wood. :)
Would you mind sharing the settings you have the sub set to? Like the gain level, x-over frequency, etc?
I ordered mine on Weds and just got confirmation that it has shipped!
Did you ever get an email when you initially placed the order? I placed mine yesterday, check the tracking and it had some info. Then when I went back in later on and checked tracking, nothing shows up. I contacted them via chat and email and they stated over chat that it was 'in process' but I can't help but be a little skeptical.
If you pull the driver you can cut the wires close to it and pull them out of the plastic box. These can be easily soldered back if you want to use the original subwoofer.
That's a great idea...I may just do that if I run into any shenanigans with that part being delivered.

Or I may just do it anyway and if the part shows up, I'll do it for my girlfriends EV6 Wind :)
Yes, I got an email order confirmation as soon as I placed the order on Weds. Then I got another email an hour or so ago today saying it had been despatched.
welp...crap...lol
Welp, I also just got a tracking number. Sorry for the false alarm.
that's good! I still haven't yet. I did do a chat with them this morning and they gave me an order number...however I'm still pessimistic. I ordered it yesterday at around 11:30am EST, so I guess I'll see :(
Ladies and Gents,
I installed the Kicker 46hs10 and it's friggin' DOPE. I had pvc board and used that to mount it. I used velcro to mount the board to the metal and the sub to the board and it's secure and sounds BEAUTIFUL. Big thanks to everyone in here for the tips and suggestions. Y'all rock. I'm gonna do this same setup for my girlfriends EV6 Wind.
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Can you post a pic?
Sure thing!
Here's mine along with the current audio settings. It may take some tinkering to find that sweet spot but so far this suits my ear.
Also there's enough room between the plastic and DC power adapter cable so there's some play and no pinching.

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Looking good!
Very noticable difference in depth and punch? Compared to the original setup?
Yuppers! It's unbelievable how much better it is. I had high expectations for the Meridian sub because they're a pretty high end brand, but honestly they should be embarrassed with how the stock system sounds. It is very clear and clean sounding but missed any sort of presence....this new powered subwoofer really brings it all together IMO.
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Is it safe to assume that the decision to go with the Rockville 8" or the Kicker 10" is simply all about the cost? I see that the Rockville goes for $100 whereas the Kicker goes for $315--that's a huge difference in price for an extra 2" of sub, so why are more than a few folks going with the Kicker?
Either one is a significant upgrade to what comes stock. I made my decision based off my familiarity with Kicker as a brand and using their products previously, however it does seem like a lot of folks like the Rockville one.

Perhaps try the rockville, and if you dig it, then it's all good and you saved some money. If you don't, maybe you can return it amd try the kicker.
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Dumb question--when wiring the subwoofer amp, are you folks running the amp ground/negative wire to a bare metal spot or are you splicing it into the negative/ground wire of the rear cig lighter adapter (which is where no doubt just about everybody is running the sub amp power wire to)?
If you're referring to the kicker amp wiring, I spliced that power adapter for the rear cig lighter and connected it to the black/negative wire on the kicker harness.
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