Yes I plugged the hole also. Just frustrating, Kicker usually are badass speakers. Not sure what's going on with this one.

 

Could be you just got a lemon. I can't think of anything else that might be causing the problem. Mine did take a few days to break in so other than that I don't know.

 

Are you an all stock system. If so its only going to put out so much from the factory.
Also you could try to switch the wires around to see what happens.
Just thoughts.

 

Can you shed more light as to how you folded down the driver side of the rear seat? I spent about 20 minutes the other day trying to figure out how to fold that side down, and gave up. Is there a release somewhere or do you have to unbolt something for it to fold?

 

I have the same sub and it took almost 3 weeks for mine to break in where it sounded good.

 

It is easiest to fold down the headrest on that side and lift the bottom seat up all the way. Right behind the headrest area is the attachment on the back of the seat. There is a small round **** and it moves up and toward the rear of the truck. When you lift the bottom up the seat back actually pulls forward a little away from the rear glass and if you press your head against the glass and look down you can just see it. It took me a while to get it the first time but once you figure it out it is real easy.

Here is picture of ****/lever



It should move fairly easy. For some reason Ford put a pull strap on the **** on the Supercab but did not on the Suprecrew.

 

Also make sure when putting the seat back up that you also have the bottom lifted. If you just try fold the back up it may not catch correctly. Basically do everything in reverse.

 

Thanks, Scott. It would be nice if they put a strap in it, especially since the passenger side has a strap.

I've been throwing around the idea of a sub in my truck, and have a design for a ported box under the 40 section to house a 6.5" JL driver, but if I can get a factory enclosure with a sub to fit, I'll go that route possibly.

 

I bet if you look around you could find a factory box that someone removed.

My last truck I had a Qlogic box with a 10 inch infinity sub. It sounded great! But with this new truck I really like having all that under seat storage in the back and I really don"t want to take up any room with a box.

I found on Crutchfield that Kicker also makes a really small amp for this sub that would fit behind the seat easily. I have been thinking about picking one up and trying to wire it in to the factory system. I think the extra power would really help this little sub out.

 

how do i know if i have the sony system? i looked behind my seat and i have a sub back there

 

It would indicate it on the window sticker if you still have that but even easier...... the center speaker cover on the top middle of the dash will say Sony.

 

Ah ok looks like I do have the Sony system. I was used to the Bose system in my old Silverado that had the Bose emblem. The Sony system is really horrible compared to the Bose.

 

So you guys know, the proper way to break in a subwoofer driver is to first hook it up to an amp (outside of an enclosure) and run a constant 25 or 30hz tone through it. Use a Digital volt meter to measure across the leads and bring the volume up until it reads about 10V AC.

Let it run for about 12 hours.

I usually burn a CDR with my test tone on it and simply place it on repeat in my player to get the 12 hours of consistent tone.

 

I wanted to update this thread. I just installed a compact Kenwood KAC-M3001 subwoofer amp. This had to be one of the easiest installs ever. Everything I needed was already behind the seat.

The Kenwood amp accepts speaker level inputs via RCA's so I disconnected the wire from the sub that was from the factory Sony amp. I installed some speaker wire to RCA adapters and connected to the Kenwood amp. Then I ran the output from the new amp to the sub. It also senses when there is a signal present and turns on and off automatically.

For power I was able to locate and tap a 10 ga wire that supplied power to the factory power inverter that is located under the rear seat. Since I rarely use the house plug outlets in the truck for anything other than charging a cell phone I did not see an issue with this. I ran a ground wire to one of the many available body bolts behind the seat and just like that I was done.

Everything is nice and tucked away behind the seat and the improvement of 300 watts RMS running to the sub is huge!

 

Scott great information and thanks for sharing. I'm beginning to consider how best to upgrade the Sony system (very weak IMO, hard to tell anything "premium" about it). Back in the day I had a Lincoln LS and while keeping the head unit I upgraded the rest of the system. I added a 5 way amp in the trunk and replaced all the remaining speakers (Infinity Kappas back then) I ran line level inputs from the head unit back to the amp then connected the speakers to the amp via RCA inputs (IIRC). It had the battery already in the trunk so power/ground were easy.

With my new KR, I'd like to replace door speakers & sub, use the factory sub enclosure (like you did) and mount the amp behind the rear seat. Definitely want to keep factory head unit now to figure out the right components and hook up. Have you considered changing out the stock door speakers and if so what brand(s) are you considering?