Well, I'll be getting my car back today with some new audio modifications.

If anyone remembers, or even cares, I mentioned in a previous thread that the convertibles are difficult to obtain a great sound system due to the limitations in space in the rear 'jump seat' area. I am thrilled that Jag did attempt to fill in the holes in bass by adding those 6.5-inch subwoofers in the panels to the sides of the rear occupants (albeit midgets, my dog or 4yr olds). They did the best they could be putting in components in the front, but I like to fill out my sound stage a bit, and wished for some mids and highs from the rear.

Well, I had replaced the factory 6.5" subs with new JL Audio 6w0 units, and the bass probably doubled in volume and quality. When JL Audio came out with the new 6w3 subs, I ordered them, and they are being installed today. Should get the car back tonight.

While I was at it, I begged the guy to find some way to fit 5.25 coaxials, matching Momos from Polk Audio that go with the 6.5" components that I had installed previously in the front. He told me he couldn't find any way to install them, bars from the chassis in the way, the curved nature of the interior trim panels, the sub box was taking up too much space...he even considered 3.5" coaxials, but gave up that idea too...just no room.

Well, after giving them a couple days to brainstorm, I dropped by this morning and they had a revalation! He had managed to mount the 5.25 coaxials above the sub box, behind the trim panel, and mounted to the bar! He trimmed back the interior panel as much as possible, and they are going to cut a small hole at the center of the coax, insert a flush mount tweeter grille that will be painted silver to match the interior, so that allows about 50-60% of the speaker to have a clear line of sight. Surely enough to get some vocals and highs in the rear mixing with my fronts.

We talked about getting a little more bass in the car, and we also came up with another idea. Smack dab in between the two seats, there's about 3" of padding, and another 2" behind the seat before it gets to the panel that separates the gas tank from the trunk. We decided that if we have to get more bass, we can pull the padding in this section, build a small custom box (0.5 ft^3) and have a single 8w1 subwoofer flush with the back seats. It only needs 4" of mounting depth.

I am so excited about getting it back...and the many days to 'tune' the system to my liking. I wanted to share my excitement with you guys.

Check back later, I asked the shop to take before and after pictures. Plus I am going to photoshop the 8" sub into my backseat to see how it will look.

 

There's disappointment in spades at my house today. I gave the guys an extra day to move the tweeters to the dash, as well as put the new rear speakers on the REAR CHANNEL of the signal processor, and I get there today at noon to get bad news right off the bat.

"The installer couldn't move your tweeters, because he accdiently chipped your veneer trim on the door lock. We're going to have to order you a new trim piece"

[:@] Grrr, so the car has to come back for the new trim piece and finish the tweeter relocates. I can live with that.

Off to the back bays to take a listen, and I get in the car and turn the key - Hood Latch Open is proudly displayed on the message indicator screen. Double Grrrr...what could they have done? They didn't open the hood at all. no power rewiring? FJT, any ideas here? So, I turn on the stereo...and it sounds like crap! The LF speakers were playing in both the Left and Right channels...the rear coaxials were on the subwoofer gain control, the RF tweeter wasn't playing at all and the RF speaker that was playing, was on the Left channel. I almost lost it, and the consultant could tell I think. He mumbled about it being late last night when they finished, and said they didn't really test it since their laptop didn't have bluetooh so they could check the signal processor's Left Right / Front Rear and Sub channels. I strongly stated that I knew they would need it, thats' why I offered to leave my phone w/ the software on it, and the CD for laptop operation was in the trunk. I even bought them a bluetooth dongle today to use on their laptop and get the signals fixed!

Ok, first time I also brought my service guys donughts and kaloches, not once...but two of the 4 days they have had my car, and I gave both my installer and my service consultant a $25 Hooters gift card for working so hard and coming up with a solution for the speaker install. I am just sooooooo damn frustrated right now and depressed. I'm going to go detail the jeep as self punishment...

 

If they chipped the wood, it is not as easy as just ordering a piece. They are cut from the same grain so everything matches in the car. It needs to be sent out to be refinished. There is a place in So. Cali that does it. I believe every dealer in the US uses same place. This is unless of course I am mistaken about the wood interior.

Definitly get it right before you take the car back. Once you have it back in your possession, it is hard to get things fixed.

The hood open thing, I sent you a PM. Need the exact message. Could be Hood open. Hood not latched, Hood ajar.

Hope you get it fixed bro.

 

After some drama, drama, drama at the car audio installers, I finally got my car back last night. All the channels were where they should be, and the gains cranked up.[sm=icon_rock.gif] I wanted to give a brief summary of the work done to the speakers in the rear, and it may come in handy for other XK8/R owners. Also, I touched on the Rockford Fosgate signal processor, as I can't begin to recommend it enough if you are picky about your music, as it has sooo many features to 'tune & tweak' your sound stage.

Currently in the car is the older 6w0 units from JL Audio.


Replaced by the newly released 6w3s




Allright, back to the project. First thing the guys did is remove the speaker grilles. Here is what the grille looked like prior to getting dirty.



Now, pull off those grilles after getting the tabs bent from the top. (You have to remove that top interior trim piece) Ignore that little red dashed line for now.



Now, to remove the backseat and expose the subwoofer box and wiring. Ignore that circle for a few moments. I'll explain later.





The first they did was fit the new JL Audio 6w3v3 subs into the existing enclosures. After the install and a quick test, they found these enclosures were poorly insulated, so they Dynamatted the entire interior of the box. Mission complete, that really helped.



Now to find a way to mount the 5.25" matching coaxials to the components up front. Here are the speakers that were installed.



As I mentioned previously, the installer found a location just above the bar that was on top of the sub enclosure, and a couple brackets later to the locations shown by the red arros, and these speakers were solidly installed. They were unobstructed on all sides, barely squeezing in there, plus the top trim piece didn't interfere with it either. Since they didn't take a picture of the new speaker installed, I had to 'draw' the location and approximate size on this image.





Remember that other image that i asked you to ignore the dasked circle...well here is again. The installer cut the extra material above the sub so that more of the speaker would be unobstructed frontwards.



Here is the side panel with the extra 'material' removed. you can just barely see the new coaxial above the bar and sub enclosure.



I thought that the partial obstruction of the speaker would hurt the sound quality in the rear, but after a quick test of the rear, it was plenty of volume to help contribute to the overall sound stage produced by the fronts. In fact, when all said and done, the gain on these rear units were several notches below the fronts, and that's WITH the partial blockage of the woofer/tweet.

Seat replaced and grilles reinstalled...clean exterior, no sign of modification.



For the last two days, I've been tuning this thing, trying to get the sound juuuuust the way I want it, and it's still not perfect.

Conclusion
The old 6w0 subwoofers were by no means poor at putting out adequate bass, in fact, most users will be totally happy with the results. I had been spoiled by a 10" JL Stealthbox for the last 3 years, and therefore, wished for something more. Well, the beefier 6w3v3 subs did not disappoint! Not only did they hit just a bit harder on those 'punchy' notes like a base drum, but it went lower in frequency than the previous units. Now I could feel those bass guitar notes, say around 40hz. The 6w3s were $150 each, and install was in the neighborhood of $400. Not bad at all.

I'll take the opportunity here to describe the main 'ingredients' of the system - the amps and signal processor.



The amp on the left is a 300watt, mono amp which drives the twin subwoofers only. Gain at about 1/2 on the amp, and -1 on the 3sixty.2. The big amp is a 400 watt, 4-channel amp driving both front and the rear speakers. Perfect power, almost not enough. Gain on that one at 3/4, and -1 on the 3sixty.2.

So, the signal processor that i have blabbed on and one about... [sm=icon_blah.gif]



This thing is cool, check out the various screen captures on the different speaker configuration pages. It can be operated by a typical Windows based PC, Mac, PocketPC handheld, as well as a Palm based smartphone. All adjustments are done once the unit is connected via a bluetooth connection.

PC Screen Shot is a little more graphic and visually stimulating...lol. Front adjustments (and i'm too lazy to count how many EQ frequencies you can tune...but it's alot!!)



Moving to the rear...



Notice how you can either link the X-over to both left and right, or you can adjust them separetely. That goes for the time delay and EQ settings as well.

Jumping to the sub channel... notice the 10 separate freqs you can tune your sub too? Instead of a gain and maybe a bass boost, you can actually tailor your sub to focus on what it is good at...and from 20-40 hz, these little 6.5s won't cut it. But at 60-120, this is where the character of these new subs shine. But, it still will play those 40hzs, but why not drop the real lows that can hurt its performance? This processor makes a good sub even better!



And a couple screen shots from the Palm smartphone (which I own and use to tune mine) All the functionality is there, just on different screens and not as 'pretty' as the PC version.





I almost forgot about the AUX input that you get as well. I haven't played too much with this, but all you do is push your button in on the master volume switch (which doesn't get used much except for in this instance) and the unit switches to the AUX mode. I have this source wire lead running to the unit that just plugs into my generic MP3 player. And, luckily, you get another separate EQ adjustment screen specifically for this AUX input, because as you know, MP3s sound alot different than your radio and CD player. They didn't forget this little item. Only thing I didn't like was that the volume of your MP3 player now plays a part in the system volume. Watch that 3sixty knob, if you leave it all the way cranked up (which mine is just about there) and you plug in your MP3 at say 3/4 volume, you're going to blow something.

[IMG]http://matt.zenfolio.com/img/v3/p266850498-

 

More drama from my install project. The installers forgot to tell me they damaged my tweeter (silk dome composite) and decided to switcharoo it with a Kicker k20 model - a titanium dome! Did they really think I wouldn't notice the difference. Needless to say, i've tongue lashed them and asked them to get a replacement pronto! It was no wonder I couldn't tune my system for different volume levels and different music types. The dB ratings are totally different and so are the reproduction of the high end frequencies. Right now...[sm=icon_flaming.gif]

 

Wow! Amazing!

 

Dang man that is awesome...that 360.2 was quite expensive! How many watts did that 325.1 bench at?

 

Yah, the 360.2 was pricey, but it is pretty useful.

Not sure about the actual numbers on sub amp, is this what you were looking for?

 

No the paper that came with the amp...looks like this...Those 360's are sweet being able to adjust everything with your computer and all...now all you need is a carputer!

 

Found the paper you showed me -

245 RMS watts @ 4 ohms
415 RMS watts @ 2 ohms

 

Amazing setup I've never heard of the 3sixty but it looks like a great piece of equipment.

 

It's the brain to the whole system now. Makes quite a difference, especially with the difficult acoustics of a convertible. I wouldn't have gotten it, however, if I had changed the head unit to an aftermarket one. I'd have just gotten a head unit with as much capability as this thing has, which you know, most good aftermarket ones do.

 

Still haven't gotten my wood trim piece back yet, but called them, and they expect it back on Friday.

As for the speakers, well the other tweeter in the dash is damaged, and doesn't match the output of the replaced one on the other side. Apparently the short they created blew each tweeter...so another one is ordered from Polk for $45 shipped. I didn't feel like arguing with the shop again, considering the paid for the trim to be refinished and the first tweeter replaced.

Also, both rear coax speakers were blown...no wonder they sounded pretty bad. I ordered a set of replacements and went with the component 5.25" set



The installer was able to install the tweeter behind the grill this time, not back behind the trim panel...so the highs were more visible. It actually sounds pretty good right now.

My repair shop thinks they can get two (2) 8-inch subs built into the rear seat...so we'll see what that project holds and update you later.

 

Does anyone know the impedance of the OEM rear woofers? Also has anyone tapped into the subwoofer control on an XK8/XKR convertable? I want to swap out the rear woofers as well as add a sub in either the rear seat or in the trunk. Any thoughts?

 

Hey maja, sorry...this new format didn't convert my old thread subscriptions, so just now found your question.

I had a amplified 10" in the trunk to start off with... nothing! (unless you opened up the trunk). Too much insulation between trunk and interior to even feel a hint of bass. You'd have to take up the whole trunk... mabye 2-12's with lots of power to get what you and I apparently like in these cars. The boot barely fits a set of golf clubs and a small suitcase...didn't want to sacrifice that on my car.

Sorry, I don't know the impedence of the original subs, but others, have tried a direct swap with the JL 6w0s on the original amp, and had success. Better than the stock, but by no means any bumpin system w/o more speakers.

If i could do mine again, i'd pull out the rear seat (lower section and back) and build a custom enclosure back there, maybe wrap it in vynil to match the rest of the color. I'd put in one 10 ported JL 10w7 and call it good.

i'm here if you need me.

 

can you show me a shot of your front dash area, preferably your kick panel area and door area?? i have a few ideas for you, but want to see the actual vehicle. Too bad you arent in the philly area. Anyway, what shop did you take it too??? im just curious.

 

Woody's car audio, here in Ft Worth did the enclosure, head unit install, garmin NAV and screen integration. I'll take a couple pics for you in the next day or two. If your thinking of an 8 or a 10 where we stick our feets...there's not enough room. Myself and the shop considered this. There's not even enough room behind the seat on the floorboard to build an enclosure, the seats go back too far..touches the rear seat when all the way back. Looking forward to your ideas though!

Remember, I did this upgrade, directly afterward.

 

Fantastic. thanks for all the great pics and info!

 

What we did in an older BMW Z3 back in the late 1990's was actually use 2 8" Bazooka tubes mounted to the very front of the seat (to the seat frame, so it looked like the seat had somewhat of a extra leg bolster on it, and it traveled with the seat). With the woofers loaded to the center console. They were actually upholstered in the factory seat leather, and unless someone was REALLY short it never got in the way legroom wise. That and a pair of aura bass shakers under the seat, and that car actually felt / sounded like it really had a sub in it... I wish I had pictures, but that was from the pre-digital days, and I think they were in a shop album.

Just food for thought.

George

 

I found a good deal on a fosgate 3sixty.1 would this work just as well?