Almost drop in sub for stock Tahoe box

[Tehboogyman]

I got a Boss 8" sub for $20 on Black Friday. Not a great sub by any means but better than a completely blown stock sub. It's 200watt RMS @ 4ohm. Yes I know the stock amp is 2ohm, I have a Kenwood amp on the way to power it but until that gets here it's running off the stock amp. I put it in tonight, almost a direct fit.

2001 Tahoe, non-Bose, factory sub.

Once you get the trim pulled back this is what you're working with.

Factory sub was blown to pieces.

Inside the factory box. The back side is angled with a couple pieces of sound deadening thrown in.

Sound deadening removed.

Got a couple measurements for future reference. The bottom side is just over 3" deep and the top is around 6.5" deep with the center(where your magnet would be) about 5.5" deep. This seems pretty different from the measurements I've seen on here for the Suburban box. It looks like you can fit a fairly deep sub in the box without being limited to a "Shallow Mount" sub, however, the box volume may limit your options.

I lengthened the wires in the stock box about 6" just because I'm OCD and wanted the lettering on the sub facing the right way and the terminals were on the bottom side. If it was flipped upside down this wouldn't me necessary.

The Boss sub dropped right in from here, just had to drill new mounting holes.

Specs on the Boss sub
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_23650_Boss-CX8.html

• 8" Single 4 ohm Exxtreme Series Subwoofer
• Power Handling:
  • Peak: 400 watts
  • RMS: 200 watts
• Impedance: Single 4 ohm
• Black polypropylene injection molded cone
• Foam surround
• 1-1/2" High temperature aluminum voice coil
• Magnet with black protective rubber boot cover
• Designed for use in both sealed and ported enclosures
• Mounting Depth: 3-7/16"
• Frequency response: 40-4,500 Hz
• Sensitivity: 90 dB

 

[04BUCKET]

NICE...

 

[Fosscore]

Cool.

 

[mmeachem]

I got a Boss 8" sub for $20 on Black Friday. Not a great sub by any means but better than a completely blown stock sub. It's 200watt RMS @ 4ohm. Yes I know the stock amp is 2ohm, I have a Kenwood amp on the way to power it but until that gets here it's running off the stock amp. I put it in tonight, almost a direct fit.

2001 Tahoe, non-Bose, factory sub.

Once you get the trim pulled back this is what you're working with.

Factory sub was blown to pieces.

Inside the factory box. The back side is angled with a couple pieces of sound deadening thrown in.

Sound deadening removed.

Got a couple measurements for future reference. The bottom side is just over 3" deep and the top is around 6.5" deep with the center(where your magnet would be) about 5.5" deep. This seems pretty different from the measurements I've seen on here for the Suburban box. It looks like you can fit a fairly deep sub in the box without being limited to a "Shallow Mount" sub, however, the box volume may limit your options.

I lengthened the wires in the stock box about 6" just because I'm OCD and wanted the lettering on the sub facing the right way and the terminals were on the bottom side. If it was flipped upside down this wouldn't me necessary.

The Boss sub dropped right in from here, just had to drill new mounting holes.

Specs on the Boss sub
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_23650_Boss-CX8.html

• 8" Single 4 ohm Exxtreme Series Subwoofer
• Power Handling:
  • Peak: 400 watts
  • RMS: 200 watts
• Impedance: Single 4 ohm
• Black polypropylene injection molded cone
• Foam surround
• 1-1/2" High temperature aluminum voice coil
• Magnet with black protective rubber boot cover
• Designed for use in both sealed and ported enclosures
• Mounting Depth: 3-7/16"
• Frequency response: 40-4,500 Hz
• Sensitivity: 90 dB

Did you have the truck when the sub wasn't blown, if so how does it compare to now? Any instructions/pictures on running an amp?


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[Tehboogyman]

I just picked the truck up a couple weeks ago. I'm slowly sorting through everything to get it back into roadtrip worthy shape. I already hooked up my amp but I can try to take a few pics this weekend and post them up.

 

[mmeachem]

I just picked the truck up a couple weeks ago. I'm slowly sorting through everything to get it back into roadtrip worthy shape. I already hooked up my amp but I can try to take a few pics this weekend and post them up.

Ok thanks


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[Tehboogyman]

It's pouring so won't be able to get any pics today. I got a good deal on a Kicker sub so I'm going to swap it out this coming week and I can get some pics then.

 

[mmeachem]

It's pouring so won't be able to get any pics today. I got a good deal on a Kicker sub so I'm going to swap it out this coming week and I can get some pics then.

Any pics?


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[Tehboogyman]

I mounted the amp under the rear seat on the driver side. Routed the wires through the carpet and under the sill panels.

 

[mmeachem]

I mounted the amp under the rear seat on the driver side. Routed the wires through the carpet and under the sill panels.

I am clueless when it comes to audio sorry but is it hard to wire in the new sub and amp. How does it sound vs stock?


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[Tehboogyman]

The stock sub was blown when I bought the truck so I can't answer that for you. It gives a nice little bump to even out the sound but absolutely not earth shattering. If you have an aftermarket headunit with preamp outputs it is not too hard. If you're using the stock headunit then it will be a little bit more tricky because you'll have to wire in a low level converter.

You basically have 5 things to hook up to the amp;
Cable to positive batter terminal
Ground cable to chassis
Remote turn on wire(this turns the amp on, aftermarket headunits have a dedicated wire for this)
RCA cables to the headunit or low level converter
Speaker wires to the sub

 

[Tehboogyman]

Here's a brief rundown of the connections.
I hooked the battery cable to the stud on the back of the alternator. The only reason I did this is because I'm only running a 8ga power wire and 100 watts RMS. Any more power and it needs to be hooked direct to the battery but that would require installing different battery terminals and/or a distribution block. Make sure you use a fuse and try to keep it no more than 12" from the battery. Take your max wattage and divide by 12 volts, this will tell you what size fuse you need.

I drilled a hole through the firewall and ran the power cable through with a rubber grommet.

The RCA cables plug in to the back of the head unit to the port that says SW(subwoofer), if you don't have a subwoofer preout then most likely the rear channel is selectable to subwoofer.

The remote wire is always blue on aftermarket headunits, it should be labeled as such

I ran the wires under the sill plate and to the back seat, ideally you'd want the RCA's and power wires on opposite sides of the vehicle to avoid interference but in this case I'm not too worried about it.

I grounded my amp to the seat bracket which is bolted direct to the body. Make sure where you attach your ground is bare metal. Keep the ground as short as possible and at least the same size or bigger than your power wire.

Hope this helps.

 

[mmeachem]

Here's a brief rundown of the connections.
I hooked the battery cable to the stud on the back of the alternator. The only reason I did this is because I'm only running a 8ga power wire and 100 watts RMS. Any more power and it needs to be hooked direct to the battery but that would require installing different battery terminals and/or a distribution block. Make sure you use a fuse and try to keep it no more than 12" from the battery. Take your max wattage and divide by 12 volts, this will tell you what size fuse you need.

I drilled a hole through the firewall and ran the power cable through with a rubber grommet.

The RCA cables plug in to the back of the head unit to the port that says SW(subwoofer), if you don't have a subwoofer preout then most likely the rear channel is selectable to subwoofer.

The remote wire is always blue on aftermarket headunits, it should be labeled as such

I ran the wires under the sill plate and to the back seat, ideally you'd want the RCA's and power wires on opposite sides of the vehicle to avoid interference but in this case I'm not too worried about it.

I grounded my amp to the seat bracket which is bolted direct to the body. Make sure where you attach your ground is bare metal. Keep the ground as short as possible and at least the same size or bigger than your power wire.

Hope this helps.

Thanks alot man I think I may give this a try.


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[Kain452004]

How hard was it to pop out the trim pieces to route the wires? I plan on adding a better amp to my truck since the stock one is doing no justice for my Kicker speakers..