FocusCanada Forums

Given that this model just has a hatch and no actual trunk, I'm looking at ways that I can install subs. Some of the questions I have are:

- Can they be built under the back bench seat?
- If installing in hatch, is it better to go with 2 - 10" or 1 - 12"? Want crisp clean bass without it sounding like crap

Any other suggestions appreciated.

jimmijam07,Apr 24 2008, 07:19 PM Wrote:Given that this model just has a hatch and no actual trunk, I'm looking at ways that I can install subs. Some of the questions I have are:

- Can they be built under the back bench seat?
- If installing in hatch, is it better to go with 2 - 10" or 1 - 12"? Want crisp clean bass without it sounding like crap

Any other suggestions appreciated.
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I've looked at the same problem ... under the bench is no joy - fuel tank there and the body is right below the thin seat ... aside from having the box in the cargo area the only thing I could think of is in the spare wheel well.

ZTWsquared,Apr 24 2008, 06:51 PM Wrote:I've looked at the same problem ... under the bench is no joy - fuel tank there and the body is right below the thin seat ... aside from having the box in the cargo area the only thing I could think of is in the spare wheel well.
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Yeah... I'd wanna keep the donut in place as I do a lot of highway driving with my job.

Box in hatch it is I guess...

Now, given that it's a hatch... what would work best for crisp clean bass? 1 - 12" or 2- 10" subs?

I've been toying with 2 install options.
1) is custom enclosures on each side of the 'trunk', each with a 10inch and amp. This install would cost more to install (the fabrication) but it wouldn't cut into trunk space. Basically you'd be replacing the carpeted sidewall with amps and subs.
2) A british wagon had a box made to fit behind the rear seats, it housed his subs, amp and dvd player. quite slick and didn't not look out of place. however, anytime you needed to fold down the seats, you had to move that behemoth.

Another idea... have you looked into the Inifinity basslink line?

if you want a box for t tens I have a premade one , $50 you'll just have to figure out a way to get it.

I too have a wagon and just ordered an under seat mounting powered subwoofer. It is a BOSS BASS600 and I got it from ebay as I couldn't find anything in Canada at a reasonable price. I will post back when I have it installed whenever it shows up in the next couple of weeks.

i have a bass worx box with 2 12 sub ill be selling for $150 they pound like crazy

i had 4 - 12's in my zx3

LightAges,May 26 2008, 12:58 AM Wrote:I too have a wagon and just ordered an under seat mounting powered subwoofer. It is a BOSS BASS600 and I got it from ebay as I couldn't find anything in Canada at a reasonable price. I will post back when I have it installed whenever it shows up in the next couple of weeks.
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How's that install going? Pics? How's the sound quality?

j3rt,Jul 1 2008, 02:23 PM Wrote:

LightAges,May 26 2008, 12:58 AM Wrote:I too have a wagon and just ordered an under seat mounting powered subwoofer. It is a BOSS BASS600 and I got it from ebay as I couldn't find anything in Canada at a reasonable price. I will post back when I have it installed whenever it shows up in the next couple of weeks.
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How's that install going? Pics? How's the sound quality?
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I just got done tweaking my setup. I actually had it installed a few days ago but didn't want to post here (although I did post on another forum) till I was sure of the results.

It seems that all body styles and at least SE and SES trims come with the wiring harness for the subwoofer already installed, for 2005-2007 at least. It is fused with a 30A fuse in the engine compartment fuse box as F11. The connector is behind the trim panel on the driver side trunk/hatch area. There are two red parallel power wires to the fuse. There are two black with blue stripe wires that are supposed to be ground but weren't in my car. The signal wires are WHT/BLK and GRY/BLK with a shield common to both. White with red stripe is assigned to remote power on. There is an eight pin connector free at the head unit cable with the signal and remote power wires.

Although my subwoofer/amp has a line level converter built in, it couldn't be used as there aren't enough wires in the harness to keep all the speaker outs from the head unit separate. If your head unit does not have pre-out, you will need to use a speaker to line lever converter to feed the harness.

The BOSS600 fits completely within the cavity behind the interior panel where the factory sub wiring harness is located. It fits standing up with the driver toward the top and with the rubber mounting feet installed. All it takes to secure it is two sheet metal screws in the top two mounts into the steel structure. I cut a circular hole into the panel in line with the driver but it intersects the flip down panel. I have yet to finish off that part of the installation as it needs grill and some filler to tidy up the hole.

With the Ford two way door speakers and the subwoofer, the sound is much improved over stock and it is all invisible. No thieves are going to be attracted to my setup and it doesn't use any cargo space at all.

If anybody wants details on setting things up properly with the BOSS BASS600, I will be happy to assist.

Using a sound level meter and a signal generator I finally settled on 50Hz for the crossover. Using a PIE line level converter, I fed the wiring harness with low level signals to the BOSS600. With the speaker wiring done as indicated by the PIE schematic, the best phasing for the BOSS600 was 180°, and the level settings for the speaker in on the PIE at about 1/4, the line in level on the BOSS600 at 1/2, and the remote level control for the BOSS600 set at 8 clicks from off.

This gives about the best sound that can be expected from this setup without inserting a parametric equalizer in the chain to kill some bumps in the frequency response at around 60Hz and 45Hz. Overall though, it sounds really nice. I also have a few buzzes at certain frequencies in the door panels to chase down at some time in the future.

I also have a PIE auxiliary interface to drive the AUX input on the stock head unit. Maybe not the best way to the ultimate sound, but thieves will ignore my car. I feed the input with my HTC Touch in a cradle. 8 gigs of memory for music this way....

For those wanting to just make use of the power to the back, the two red wires can be used all by themselves up to 30 amp.

LightAges,Jul 1 2008, 11:50 PM Wrote:I just got done tweaking my setup. I actually had it installed a few days ago but didn't want to post here (although I did post on another forum) till I was sure of the results.

Excellent write up - especially on the audio set up (always the worst part for me, anyway) - thanks for sharing this ... any thoughts about if and how you might finish off the side panel cut out?

ZTWsquared,Jul 2 2008, 11:20 AM Wrote:Excellent write up - especially on the audio set up (always the worst part for me, anyway) - thanks for sharing this ... any thoughts about if and how you might finish off the side panel cut out?
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Thanks for the compliment. I have three ideas for the finished product.

1. Get some kind of edge trim from and auto body supply place, or R/V outfitter and trim the edge. The problem is that trim will most likely not form a perfect circle and look crappy

2. Find a flat, free breathing speaker grill and make a ring to go on the back side of the hole and screw them together

3. Make my own cloth covered ring(s)

I just went out and grabbed some split wire loom and used it to make a grommet around the edge for now. At least it looks less messy.

After living with the whole setup for a few days, some further observations.

With the stock head unit and the Ford factory audiophile speakers installed, the treble was a little bright, so one notch down on treble is necessary. When sitting still in a quiet car, the bass seemed natural enough and i don't like thump, I like natural extension. After driving around it seemed a little lacking because of road noise and exhaust noise masking it, so one or two notches of bass turned up seems to be good.

If people buy the BOSS BASS600 expecting to really have loud booming bass, look elsewhere. Its a good match to the stock head unit and factory speakers, and even maybe two would be better than one in this case. Its fine for me for the money spent.

Any reason you didn't install it under the front passenger seat? Plenty of room, I fit a Sony 10disc changer under there, (attached to the seat frame).

j3rt,Jul 3 2008, 08:58 AM Wrote:Any reason you didn't install it under the front passenger seat?  Plenty of room, I fit a Sony 10disc changer under there, (attached to the seat frame).
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There isn't enough space to do so without causing foot room space problems for rear passengers. It also took less work to put it where I did as the wires and power are already there!

I tried hooking up my 2005 sub to a 2007 wirering harness turns out the power and negatives are back words. so the year range is from 2006 - 2007 maybe 08. Just tought some ppl might need to know. I have the floor carpet and wall carpeting, sony 6 disk head unit and 450 watt sub box wall mount all for $350 if anyonw is interested. Only 05. This is how I had my stereo after the stock sub...

Nothing special lol. Now the upgrade from that.