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Questions on mounting Kenwood sub in rear tray

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Audio and Electronics' started by lalittle, Dec 16, 2005.

  1. lalittle

    lalittle New Member

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    I've been reading about mounting the Kenwood KSC-SW1 sub in the rear "tray" above the spare tire. I just want to make sure I understand exactly what people are describing here. Are people mounting it "down" onto the plastic tray liner, and then covering the tray back up with the plastic cover and carpet? I want to make sure that the positive reviews are referring to mounting it this way, and that covering it up with the cover and carpet did not cause any issues with this type of installation.

    On a related note, does anyone have any opinions on advantages/disadvantages of specific mounting positions in the tray -- i.e. does it make any difference in terms of rattles, resonance, cooling, etc?

    Finally, how are most people dealing with spare tire access after this installation? Do you just leave a bunch of slack in the wires so that the tray can be placed to the side when accessing the tire?

    Thanks for any feedback on this,

    Larry
     
    #1 lalittle, Dec 16, 2005
  2. lalittle

    lalittle New Member

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    Assuming people ARE running the sub inside the "covered" tray, I'm also curious if heat buildup is an issue. Has anyone driven the sub fairly hard over a period of time in hot weather? I'd hate to have it going into thermal shutdown in hot days.

    Thanks again,

    Larry
     
    #2 lalittle, Dec 16, 2005
  3. Presto

    Presto Has his homepage set to PC

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    It seems like some people are running the sub in the covered storage area or they have a bazooka and attached it to the back of the seat. With most self-powered subs, I don't think it'll generate enough heat to cause problems in that small area. I had problems running my amps without some sort of air circulation in that space, but I'm running around 500 watts RMS. Most of the self-powered subs are running substancially less power, around the 40-75 watt RMS range so i don't think heat will be too much of an issue.
     
    #3 Presto, Dec 17, 2005
  4. 925PriusGuy

    925PriusGuy Winter Gray & Blizzard Pearl Pri

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    I installed the Kenwood subwoofer in the driver's side rear compartment (open rear hatch, lift carpet and remove the left-side compartment door on the floor). I stood the subwoofer on it's side and ran the wire under the black platic tray. The only negative I can say about this setup is that the carpet mat does not lay flat on the floor, it rolls up and lays against the subwoofer.

    The only reason I have the subwoofer installed like this was that I wanted to test the sound before installing it in the black plastic under tray. I like the location and the sound in it's current location, so I never moved it to the large black tray. I did leave a lot of slack in the wires when I planed on installing it in the tray. I have the excess wires down next to the spare tire (coiled up with zip-ties).

    Hope that helps.
     
    #4 925PriusGuy, Dec 17, 2005
  5. lalittle

    lalittle New Member

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    Do I understand correctly that when people DID install it into the actual tray, they covered it up with the lid and carpet? (i.e. they didn't leave the cover and carpet off, did they?)

    I'm wondering if some of the positive reviews of this sub were due to the tray actually helping the sub by giving it a larger surface to resonate.

    Thanks again for the responses,

    Larry
     
    #5 lalittle, Dec 17, 2005
  6. lalittle

    lalittle New Member

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    On a related note, do people patch off of the rear speakers directly, or do they run wire from the head unit itself? I spoke with an installer who said that he "preferred to run everything off the back of the head unit," but this seems like extra trouble to me when the signal needs to be taken from the rear speakers anyway.

    Thanks again,

    Larry
     
    #6 lalittle, Dec 18, 2005
  7. Presto

    Presto Has his homepage set to PC

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    Running off the back of the head unit wouldn't work in this case. The volume is adjusted from the JBL amp under the passenger seat. You'd have to grab the signal that is running to the rear speakers off the JBL amp.
     
    #7 Presto, Dec 18, 2005
  8. NuShrike

    NuShrike Active Member

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    My Kenwood sub is covered by the cover and carpet. I've tried it with and without the cover and the sound is lower with the cover on.

    Since then, I've done RTA analysis and the sound is MORE affected by the head unit and the sound the JBL gets and sends, than by the covering in the back.
     
    #8 NuShrike, Dec 20, 2005
  9. lalittle

    lalittle New Member

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    Does the "lower" sound from using the cover and carpet equate to a lower "quality" sound, or is it just a matter of tuning things a bit differently? Does this sub have sufficient power to overcome the negitive effect of covering it in the tray?

    Thanks for the details,

    Larry
     
    #9 lalittle, Dec 21, 2005
  10. SwanDive

    SwanDive New Member

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    I've got mine installed this way. Sub in the plastic liner, then covered w/ the plastic cover and carpet. Inputs running from the amp I also have installed in there. Completely hidden, and I've run the system for th 6 hour ride to DC from here without any problems. There is extra slack in the lines, which I hid under the plastic tray, to allow me to access the spare tire, etc.
    Runs great, sounds great (sounds much better w/ the cover on than off...)

     
    #10 SwanDive, Dec 21, 2005
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