JF: easy console 8in sub upgrade sound ordinance b-8pt
I was looking for a way to get an 8" sub in my console. I love the custom boxes fellow Jeepers do but I’m just too lazy. I looked around for a thin, powered sub that could potentially fit. I finally stumbled upon the Sound Ordnance B-8PT and decided to give it a shot.
Getting the old powered sub out of the console isn’t too bad. There are plenty of write-ups showing how to yank it out to upgrade the 6.5". Once you get it all unbolted you should be looking at your unbelievably grimy floor.
Here are a couple comparison shots of the old sub box vs the new sub box. As you can see they are very close in size. (Forgive my daughter’s the pink accessories that slowly eat my garage space.)
I opted to use the connector off of the old sub. If you plan to sell the factory box you may want to keep it and go another route. I have a thing against slicing into a factory harness.
For our new sub all we care about are (sub side of the harness):
white - pwr
tan - switched pwr
green - ground
The rest are the high level inputs from the speakers. I assume you are using an aftermarket headunit and are ditching these for the sub out RCAs. If not, the high levels are:
blue - lr+
violet - lr-
orange - rr+
yellow - rr-
I used my aftermarket stereo sub output RCAs. The cable snakes nicely down the dash and between the 4x4 select and shifter, parallel to the original harness. I chopped off the wires I didn’t need on my new sub adapter. You don’t want stray wires shorting so tape them off or cut them close like I did with fingernail cutters.
Here it is wired up to the sub.
The wiring is done! Hook it up now and make sure the blasted thing turns on and makes noise before finishing the install. Whoever had the Jeep before me never attached the remote wire when they installed the aftermarket headunit, so my switched power was dead. I used the remote antenna wire off of my head unit as the switched 12v.
Since I knew the box would be contacting the center console at multiple points, I knew I had to prevent rattles. I used thick window seal foam tape in strips on every contact point to prevent that. Here it is installed and ready for the center console to be reinstalled.
I won’t lie, it is a PAIN to get the console positioned just right without knocking the sub over onto the parking brake. I unbolted the shifter column and moved the seats to give myself as much room as possible. The sub does not sit straight up, it leans slightly towards the parking brake once the console is installed. It does not rub anything and does not rattle. I considered installed polyfoam for better sound but I’m not sure it’s needed.
The sound is a HUGE improvement! I can rattle the rear view mirror if I am so inclined, but turned down it adds the subtle deep bass that was missing with the stock woofer.
Hope somebody finds this useful. Jeep on!