Amp and powered sub

2015 Forester XT

Since I put in the 9" touch screen, the audio has been less than amazing. I even upgraded all the door speakers to the factory Kickers and the dash with Pioneers. The android radio just doesn't have the power to keep the audio clean with higher volumes.

So far today, I built solid mounting boards for the amp and the powered sub. I used plumbers tape and a super glue and accelerator trick to mount and center the brackets below the boards. Then screwed them down and covered them in black carpet.

Then spent the rest of the afternoon running the main power line and making a bracket to mount the fuse block. I'm going to run the main power and ground to the amp under the drivers seat. Then jump a smaller power line over to the amp. Grounds will be below each device's platform.

Next step tomorrow is to get the radio out and run the RCA cables to the amp and sub. Also run back some speaker wire and splice it back into the radio harness. So RCA to amp and high outs back through the factory harness. At the same time, run a remote power signal wire to both devices.

Little piddly things like the sub volume know might go in the fuse block door once I swap it with a coin tray. But also, the sub has side mounts, but I need end mounts. Might need to rebuild the board or remove the bracket under the seat. Maybe not so piddly...

Using the RCAs out instead of high output speakers should do two things... one have better audio since the android can't do clean audio at volume, but two... I lose front to rear fading. Guess what... don't care, I have never faded the audio once since I got it.

Fingers crossed this all goes cleanly tomorrow. I forgot how much work this is (maybe I'm more picky since I have more experience, skills and better tools). I haven't done a sub (even a cheap one) in 25 years.

 

More expensive yes, better maybe. This head unit was $85 and came with the surrounding bezel, 9" touchscreen and wireless android auto.

 

I put an amp in my 98 Civic a year or two ago for the speakers (no sub, yet). Hadn't messed with car audio stuff for quite a while before then and god damn was it the worst experience I've had by far. The stupid car-to-door wiring is all bulkhead connectors so you can't pass extra wires through. Ended up getting pissed off and just augering some massive holes in the doors and jambs with a drill bit and then running some flex conduit crap to protect the wires. F that thing. Haha.

I ended up swapping the factory deck in my 05 FXT to something I found in a Subaru at U-Pull. Some kinda no frills double din thing but it has Bluetooth built-in so I was kinda pumped on the idea of that (being able to use Spotify in the car finally). With the addition of an aftermarket head unit came the subtraction of the factory "sub" in the back. Unfortunately that's kinda noticeable and it kinda sucks. Definitely leaves me wanting a little more.

In addition to the lacking of bass, the sound quality on the Bluetooth input is also pretty subpar, kinda like you're describing I think. Radio and CD inputs both sound pretty good, but the Bluetooth just sounds empty or hollow. Haven't really figured out what to do about that yet, either.

And same goes with the Civic, now. My aftermarket deck I had in there was creeping on 15 years old and I could tell it was on the way out. Replaced it with something new recently (again to get some Bluetooth capability) and was somewhat disappointed with the sound quality. Almost to the point where I was gonna make a thread in here asking for advice, but apparently it's just a thing nowadays?

 

I don't intend to run super high power. I just want clean power so I'm actually wiring back into the aftermarket harness and just using factory wire going out to the speakers.

 

Ironically the Android head unit was rated at like 45 w per channel. And the new amp I got is rated at 40 but RMS so I shouldn't have to turn it up. Very loud to get decent volume. In. Also, the sub came with super tiny wires in the amp itself. The high inputs were super tiny wires so I'm sure it'll be fine.

 

Got everything in except the sub. I ordered brackets. I'm just researching on how to tune the new amp. Still have to put the seats back in. Will drop the pass seat and throw the sub in when the brackets show up.

 

And yes... I soldered the blade connectors. ****s gonna move. If I ever sell, will I take this out? Probably not, but all I would have to do would be put connectors on the radio side of the harness and plug them in. Pull the good stuff and ship it. Since nobody took the factory speakers, maybe I'll keep those in case I sell the car.

 

I absolutely recommend this upgrade. But keep in mind the 2014-2018 is tough. My other cars were so much easier to work on. The 2015 has mechanical A/C cables that get in the way. That's an extra step. Cables above and below the radio.... not fun. Ok, I don't recommend it... This sucks. Two days work... and I still have work to do.