Jeep Enthusiast Forums banner

How To Replace The Factory Subwoofer

383K views 437 replies 213 participants last post by  Crisp 
#1 ·
Let me start by saying that I am not an audiophile. A decent sounding, stock stereo is all I need. My 03 TJ came with a blown sub. Not that I need a subwoofer, but since it's there I'd at least like it to work.

I found GCJoe's TJ Factory Sub Replacement thread and thought for $19.35 shipped, I'd give the Pyramid 6 1/2 subwoofer from Parts Express a try. I took some pictures as I installed it and thought I'd post them here.

It's a simple project that took me less than an hour to complete. That includes taking pictures.

While I used a cheapie sub, I suppose this would work for any sub you might try to install.

Here's a picture of the replacement subwoofer. Looks impressive.:hahaha:


Start by removing the rubber liner from the front cup holder. Use a 10mm socket to remove the bolt.


Next, remove the rubber liner from the rear cupholder. Use a t30 Apex to remove the bolts. You can now lift up your center console.


Next is the electrical husk. Usually they have a red lock on them that you have to click over first. My center console had been removed a number of times by the previous owner. I don't see the red lock, so I'm thinking he broke it. Oh well, no matter. To separate the husk, push down on the tab with a small screwdriver and pull the two halves apart. Yours may look different for a different year Wrangler, but the idea is the same.


Now, lay your console on the workbench upside down. There are two gold brackets, one on the front and one on the rear or the sub enclosure. If you look, you notice that there are push nuts holding these brackets to the enclosure. You need to remove these push nuts without destroying them.

Front push nut.


Rear push nut.


Using a very small flat blade screwdriver, gently open the "teeth" of the push nuts. Do this by carefully prying between the teeth of the push nut and the plastic bolt that they are attached to. You don't need to open them much and you don't need to bend all of them. Once you've pried a few of them open, use a pair of needlenose pliers to remove them.

After you get the push nuts off, use the needle nose plier to push the teeth of the nut back down into place. Basically you are going to flatten the push nut. Well, not completely flat. You want to move the teeth back just enough so when you reinstall the push nuts they will grab on the bolt again. This will make sense when we put everything back together.


Lay the console on it's side and remove these three phillips screws. You can now slide the enclosure out of the bottom of the console.


Remove the four Apex screws that hold the sub in place. They are size t15. Then, break the seal between the sub and the enclose by gently prying with a screwdriver. Remove the factory sub from the enclosure.
 
See less See more
9
#191 ·
Perfect write up. Helped me a lot. I replaced mine with the Pyramid sub suggested.....it worked great (or acceptably) for about 4 months. Then, it started to distort...almost like the wires were loose. I took it apart to find nothing obvious....nothing really out of place. Sometimes the sub didn't do anything....but if I pressed on the surface of the sub it would come to life. It sounded fine as long as I applied pressure to the surface....but as soon as I let go...it distorted greatly and would sometimes even go dormant again. Needless to say this sort of sound is QUITE annoying and I had to remove it.

I am now going to pull the trigger on the kicker replacement suggested in this thread.....we'll see.
 
#192 ·
Got it up and running. Had to pull it out because after I hooked it, I stumbled on to another topic and realized that I had wired it backwards. I always thought red was supposed to be positive and black negative. So the red and brown leads are neg and black and gray are positive. It sounds better than the stock sub so far.
 
#195 ·
If you are talking strictly about the sound quality, they will probably be different but in such a low powered application, to most non-audiophiles it will be a non -issue.

Just think about this though, pyramid is a cheap, flea market company that uses deceptive marketing tactics such as completely fake and made up power numbers--- also their products are of cheap quality. Again in a low powered small application, this may not matter too much.

Kicker is an american company and I think they still make some of their products in the USA. Another thing to consider, is that if you ever want to sell it, the kicker will have some sort of resale value-- while virtually nobody will want a single pyramid 6.5" sub.

If the factory sub truly is a 1 ohm sub, the 2 ohm kicker would be a better bet since its closer to the impedance of the factory sub.

Just my 2 cents having experience with both brands over 10 years (most pyramid experiences have been replacing customers blown pyramid amps and subs!)
 
#196 ·
I still am having trouble understanding what it looks like in there and I'm not about to open it up... The factory sub is in some sort of enclosure INSIDE the console? Is it possible to fit a small 4ohm amp in there too? I was thinking about the Kicker 4ohm and a small amp to run it.

Someone said that the stock "enclosure" would rattle and sound terrible. I used to have a ported box in my old car and I really miss the bass! I notice that stock subs just don't get low enough... they get into that "you'll get a headache after awhile" bass but not the true low wavelengths.

So, is it possible to fit an amp in there or is there room under the dash? I want to install the amp someplace where rain isn't a direct threat (like under the drivers seat).
 
#197 ·
There is an enclosure inside the console that houses the sub and the amp for the sub. If I were going to go larger I would just remove the amp from it's heatsink to get more room in the enclosure and go with an amp under the seat. I think that it would be fine against the rain unless you left the top down or something like that. As far as size of the sub, a seven inch would probably fit fine and maybe eight inch if were shallow enough. That new sub is four inches deep and as I said, I removed the cover off of the amp and taped over the screw holes in the heatsink that the amp attached to.
 
#198 ·
I was going to stick with the 6 1/2" sub for simplicity sake... so you can't use the stock enclosure and just remove the amp? There wouldn't be enough room to fit a small 100w RMS (or something like that) amp in there? And yea... the floor wouldn't work because it gets wet in my Jeep sometimes...
 
#199 ·
There is vary little room left in the enclosure. The factory amp is mounted on a triangular base-heat sink that is about 6"x5"x4" and is about an inch deep. With the cover it is another half inch and that is why I took the cover off to fit the Goldwood. I am going to pull it out sometime in the spring and look into fitting an 8 inch in there. I think that it should fit but unlike last time, I am going to measure everything before I order the speaker.
 
#201 ·
I recently blew my factory sub, so I decided to go with this as a cheap replacement. I got the sub for 13.95 with one day shipping (amazon prime). The installation went well. At first I had some trouble taking off the harness for the wires to remove the console, but eventually figured it out.

I used wire cutters to break off pieces of the half moon shaped plastic. It wasn't the best craftsmanship, but I got it to work. To connect the sub I used Red+ Black-. These are the first two connections that I tested and they worked, so I didn't mess with the others.

OP, Great write up! I have bass again.

Thanks,
Tyler
 
#207 ·
I replaced my sub the first time with the Pyramid sub listed in this thread. It sounded ok and I was content with leaving it at that. It also blew out in about 3-4 months. I thenk tried the Kicker listed in this thread and i must say it is a noticable improvement and built much better. I have been running it for 6 months or so and I am very happy with it.

I say do yourself a favor and buy the kicker sub from the start. yes the pyramid is cheap....but it isn't worth the aggravation when it blows and then you have to wait on another to arrive in the mail and then install AGAIN.

Kicker FTW!!
 
#208 ·
I replaced my sub the first time with the Pyramid sub listed in this thread. It sounded ok and I was content with leaving it at that. It also blew out in about 3-4 months. I thenk tried the Kicker listed in this thread and i must say it is a noticable improvement and built much better. I have been running it for 6 months or so and I am very happy with it.

I say do yourself a favor and buy the kicker sub from the start. yes the pyramid is cheap....but it isn't worth the aggravation when it blows and then you have to wait on another to arrive in the mail and then install AGAIN.

Kicker FTW!!
I agree. I try to tell people not to buy the pyramid since its a low quality flea market brand. And also, you are supporting a company with extremely deceptive marketing practices.
 
#209 ·
I worked!

Well I am just sitting here in shock. Just bought my first Jeep three weeks ago and like a lot of people didn't even know I had a sub until I took the center console out for a repaint. I really didn't hold out much hope of this working because I had no sound at all so I suspected the amp not the speaker. I thought for a $20.00 investment it would be worth a try anyway. While I was waiting on the speaker I pulled the new JVC head unit out and hooked up the power antenna wire I didn't bother with during the initial install. Hooked everything up today and now I have a sub woofer! I have no idea what the stock sub woofer sounded like but this sounds great. Gotta love the internet and thanks for this thread.
 
#212 ·
I replaced the blown factory sub on my 05 TJ with the cheap Pyramid sub and the sound difference is obviously better but still not really noteworthy. I then replaced the factory head unit with a Sony and all four speakers with the Kicker factory replacements from Quadratec and it is much better now.

My question is whether the Kicker sub will sound much better than the Pyramid? I tried multiple wiring configurations with the Pyramid and it just is'nt very loud.

Cheers
 
#213 ·
I usually steer people away from pyramid because their quality is dismal, they are a cheap foreign company that basically completely falsely advertises on all their products. The kicker might last the life of the vehicle. I bet the pyramid wont.

How did you wire it? Isnt the pyramid a 4 ohm sub?
 
#214 ·
thank you

Thank you for the help and pics for removing the center console and speaker-we took it out yesterday and had the speaker reconed and reinstalled it this afternoon- sounds good again ;);) to purchase a new one would of cost almost $300. and to have it reconed was $100. and we did all the other work ourselves
thank you again
:2thumbsup:
 
#217 ·
I just finished installing a new sub in my center console and I'm happy with the results. I went with the 6.5" Bazooka 2 ohm DVC sub so I could wire it in parallel to take full advantage of the factory amp. I installed it and blew the factory amp with in 30 minutes or so. So I ordered a Kicker class d amp from parts express for $10 that pushes 100 watt rms @ 1ohm. Wired it all up and got everything installed. The sound output is similar to stock, maybe just a tad bit louder. But the difference can be heard when the radio is cranked. Very little distortion at louder volumes, cleaner tighter bass, and better/cleaner low end extension.

All in all, I ended up paying around $100 when it was all said and done. For that price I probably could have fabbed something up to go in the trunk that was a bit louder but since I will be moving to downtown Atlanta in a few months, it was important to me to have a sub that looked factory and wasn't easy to steal.

If anyone is interested in links to any or the parts or how I wired anything, let me know and I'll post up.
 
#218 ·
#219 ·
Did this last Friday. Sounds fine, mine is hooked up to a Pioneer head unit. Also, had to use the red + black - wires. The write up was perfect, thanks!
 
#221 ·
My factory sub was completely blown so it had been unplugged for at least a year. Did the Pyramid install today and it sounds worlds better.

For now I think I'm happy with the sound, sure sounds better than no sub at all. I didn't read all the posts about how poor of quality the Pyramid is so I'll see what I get out of it. For $19 shipped to my door it was worth the try and so far so good.

If it goes out, I'll give the Kicker a try.

:cheers2:
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top