Has anyone here upgraded the factory subwoofer on the passenger side rear with an aftermarket sub and AMP. I looked and couldn't find much, going in on Friday to do this and wanted to get any feedback for those who have done this already. Thanks !
2014 LC Factory Subwoofer Upgrade (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Milaad
- Start date
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Interested to hear how this turns out. The JBL system in these trucks leaves a lot to be desired, but it is very proprietary, almost impossible to integrate anything aftermarket.
Subbed. Interested as well.
What does crutchfield.com say?
I called them last fall to see what they had for ideas, and basically got nothing. The factory speakers are all 2 ohm, which is very rare (thanks JBL). If you install a 4 ohm speaker, sound volume from that speaker will be half. They had no clue on how to swap out the amps but still keep the main head unit. Wiring is very complicated.
Maybe you can use the sub and its amp from an LX without changing the head?
SQRRRL
SILVER Star
Will LX parts fit the LC?
In regards to retrofitting the LX sub/amp/enclosures.
Not likely. It's a pretty extensive and complicated "system", with 19-speakers, and full 5.1 surround. Even if just isolating and adding the sub, likely won't give you the performance you're looking for. The LX, does have a sub, but it's not really a single sub. There's really large mid-base and sub drivers all through the cabin. With each door having 3-way speakers and a large tuned bass driver. And another bass driver in the center of the dash. In other words, there is a sub, but the sub and mid-bass isn't coming from the sub alone. So adding that to the LC, probably won't give you the output you want.
I'm not as familiar with the LC audio layout. But if there's already an existing sub, you could do some fabrication to change up the driver (as OEM is usually odd ball sizes. But you'll be limited by depth also. There are amps that take high (speaker) level input, and will output more power to the upgraded driver.
Not likely. It's a pretty extensive and complicated "system", with 19-speakers, and full 5.1 surround. Even if just isolating and adding the sub, likely won't give you the performance you're looking for. The LX, does have a sub, but it's not really a single sub. There's really large mid-base and sub drivers all through the cabin. With each door having 3-way speakers and a large tuned bass driver. And another bass driver in the center of the dash. In other words, there is a sub, but the sub and mid-bass isn't coming from the sub alone. So adding that to the LC, probably won't give you the output you want.
I'm not as familiar with the LC audio layout. But if there's already an existing sub, you could do some fabrication to change up the driver (as OEM is usually odd ball sizes. But you'll be limited by depth also. There are amps that take high (speaker) level input, and will output more power to the upgraded driver.
- Thread starter
- #9
Update: Seems like a lot of your comments are correct. We disconnected the rear sub wire and installed a new amp and box. The sound was awesome and really filled in the void I was hoping to resolve. Then I parked the car for the night. I woke up in the morning and found the none of the audio was working. Seemed like system had noticed the speaker was disconnected and shut down. We undid the install and installed the sub plug again. The system worked another 6 hours later ( I guess it reset the system ). with everything working again we are going to try again to hook up the high to low by splicing it into the subwoofer keeping the woofer connected running two different subs at the same time hoping this doesn't shut down the system again. If this doesn't work, we are going to try to replace the sub with a similar Ohm speaker, if that doesn't work im just going to have to enjoy the factory system a little more. Stay tuned.
- Thread starter
- #10
update 5/4/18. We have decided to keep the factory sub plugged in but are running a high/low convertor where the plug goes into the factory sub box. The system is perfect and ill get pics in soon. Only downside is that the factory sub is still plugged in but no major issues as the new sub is really filling in the missing bass. I have turned down the bass on the headhunt so that distortion isn't a problem. We will find out if the factory system doesn't like the amp being hooked up tomorrow as thats when the system shut down before.
TexAZ
NEW???? It's BETTER than new!!!
Can you just replace the factory sub with a 2 ohm resistor rated for the power of the factory system.
- Thread starter
- #12
Yes, I believe you can, the only problem I foresaw was by replacing the sub with a higher performance sub would either potentially make the factory box start to rattle which could technically be resolved with dynamat or wouldn’t get the power from the amp that it needs. So instead of dealing with all that we just did a 300 watt amp and the kicker 8inch truck box and it’s more than enough. In fact I have to turn the base knob down when the family is in the car.
