[Hal Cannon]

There has been some discontent with the sound of the radio in PMC's. Some people have gone to the trouble of replacing the door speakers and there is a thread about that.

My take is that the door speakers are adequate but what is lacking is low end. Therefore I just had a powered under-seat subwoofer installed under the passenger seat. It has made a world of difference.

There are two I'd suggest looking at. The first is a Kenwood SW-11. They cost under $150 at Amazon. I chose a slightly larger, more powerful unit, an Alpine PWE S8. Both have a wired gain knob that I find very useful as everyone who mixes music has a different idea of how much bass they put in the mix.

I find in general I only keep the gain up about a quarter of the way. the knob is mounted just under the ignition key. If I want more thump I can turn it up but when the news comes on and the male voices get that odd bass overtone I can turn the whole thing down.

To my ear the Alpine is a little overkill but my local dealer, who did a great install, had that brand and suggested it. Be sure to have the unit mounted sideways as it will improve under-seat foot room for those of you who have the City backseat. Now I'm trying to figure out what to do with the tire repair kit but that should be simple.

Good luck.

 

[lohchief]

There has been some discontent with the sound of the radio in PMC's. Some people have gone to the trouble of replacing the door speakers and there is a thread about that.

My take is that the door speakers are adequate but what is lacking is low end. Therefore I just had a powered under-seat subwoofer installed under the passenger seat. It has made a world of difference.

There are two I'd suggest looking at. The first is a Kenwood SW-11. They cost under $150 at Amazon. I chose a slightly larger, more powerful unit, an Alpine PWE S8. Both have a wired gain knob that I find very useful as everyone who mixes music has a different idea of how much bass they put in the mix.

I find in general I only keep the gain up about a quarter of the way. the knob is mounted just under the ignition key. If I want more thump I can turn it up but when the news comes on and the male voices get that odd bass overtone I can turn the whole thing down.

To my ear the Alpine is a little overkill but my local dealer, who did a great install, had that brand and suggested it. Be sure to have the unit mounted sideways as it will improve under-seat foot room for those of you who have the City backseat. Now I'm trying to figure out what to do with the tire repair kit but that should be simple.

Good luck.

I was thinking a good powered sub would do the trick.I'm going to look into both of your suggestions.That will be MY xamas present to myself early next year.Thanks bro.

 

[Konaguy]

Hal,

Thanks for posting. I was thinking along the same lines but not sure or even if I can add a sub to the UConnect Radio? Do you know what they had to do to? A picture or two of you sub would be great. Thanks again.

 

[catalin]

You can add a subwoofer to any system. You'll need to go with an amplifier or power sub with high level or speaker level inputs.

 

[Hal Cannon]

more detail on sub

Hi,

Correct, you can add a powered subwoofer to the stock UConnect system. Powered or active means that the speaker also contains its own amplifier. I would suggest getting a powered sub though you could put a small sub and separate amp in but that might take up more room.

Here is a comparison between the two units I suggest. Both are small enough that they slide in under your passenger seat from the back and do not take up much room: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-tJlVU1...0PWES8/Kenwood-KSC-SW11-vs-Alpine-PWE-S8.html

As I mentioned in my earlier post I decided to let the professionals do the install. They charged me $300 for the Alpine, $30 for a wiring kit plus $80 for the installation. It took them a solid 2 hours to do a neat professional job. They had to take out the front seat and brought all wiring, both for the speaker and power for the amp up in the UConnect system. They also brought the gain control knob up under the dash. It was well worth the money I spent. Also, I used this expense as part of a rebate for add-ons when I purchased the van a couple weeks ago.

I'm a happy camper with much better sound in my bright red PMC WAGON

 

[lohchief]

Hi,

Correct, you can add a powered subwoofer to the stock UConnect system. Powered or active means that the speaker also contains its own amplifier. I would suggest getting a powered sub though you could put a small sub and separate amp in but that might take up more room.

Here is a comparison between the two units I suggest. Both are small enough that they slide in under your passenger seat from the back and do not take up much room: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-tJlVU1...0PWES8/Kenwood-KSC-SW11-vs-Alpine-PWE-S8.html

As I mentioned in my earlier post I decided to let the professionals do the install. They charged me $300 for the Alpine, $30 for a wiring kit plus $80 for the installation. It took them a solid 2 hours to do a neat professional job. They had to take out the front seat and brought all wiring, both for the speaker and power for the amp up in the UConnect system. They also brought the gain control knob up under the dash. It was well worth the money I spent. Also, I used this expense as part of a rebate for add-ons when I purchased the van a couple weeks ago.

I'm a happy camper with much better sound in my bright red PMC WAGON

Okay,I have the wagon,and the six speaker uconnect/nav.Did your installer use the speaker inputs from the two rear speakers?

 

[Charged021]

You put a smaller than normal sized dog under your seat?
Does it bark the same as a regular one?
Any install pictures ?
Can I pick one up at my local SPCA?












































































im kidding...
or am i?

 

[Joe Bo]

Any Photos?

 

[Hal Cannon]

Hi, Yes, there is a small dog under my seat. For his size he makes a good WOOF. I do not have photos. They might be illegal. Also, I have no idea how the thing is wired. That's why I hired the professionals.

Have you seen those underseat airlines dog kennels? I'm always surprised when I see curious dog eyes looking out at me from the screened end of one of those things. I do not recommend those under your seat. I'm much more for free range dog activity.

good luck all and merry dang Christmas

 

[Charged021]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keL0WO3gVVs

Pretty basic how to guide for anyone who wanted to attempt an under seat powered subwoofer. They show a large ported enclosure one in the video but the connections are the same as a smaller one. High Level speaker inputs can be found at the kick panels where the wires feed the door speakers as well, running wire to the head unit isn't necessary.

 

[Joe Bo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keL0WO3gVVs

Pretty basic how to guide for anyone who wanted to attempt an under seat powered subwoofer. They show a large ported enclosure one in the video but the connections are the same as a smaller one. High Level speaker inputs can be found at the kick panels where the wires feed the door speakers as well, running wire to the head unit isn't necessary.

But running Power and ignition leads to the HU or fuse box are necessary. Haven't been able to locate the speaker leads in the kick panel or behind the glove box, anyone actually done a speaker install and know what color the RAM left and right speaker wires are? I don't see any of the usual white&grey speaker wire in the van.

 

[Joe Bo]

After pulling the HU out the multi-pin shows Left front as yellow(+) yellow black (-) & Right front as Violet orange (+) & violet black (-)

 

[Joe Bo]

Kenwood Subwoofer installed, pic attached. The addition of the low-end makes all the difference, it also allows the tweeters to get pumped up some which makes for a pretty decent sounding stock stereo.

 

[Charged021]

Thanks for the picture Joe Bo, looks like there is lots of room under the seat for an even larger subwoofer. Interesting that your carpeted floor doesn't cover the back, my rubber floor goes all the way up to the partition. That cavity behind there is very large.

 

[jimmbomb]

So.... youre using a speaker high end lead to input into the amp?

 

[Joe Bo]

Yes, spliced them behind the head unit.

 

[Andrew Crane]

Yes, spliced them behind the head unit.

Forewarning if you slice into your harness, your headunit will be out of warranty. Learned that the hard way.

If you can find somewhere to tap into, maybe right at the speaker location, and your Uconnect craps the bed you could easily remove it and the sub and act like it was never there. Just my $.02 after having issues with an update that left my headunit unusable and the dealer not able to help because it was "modified".

 

[Zoomyn]

I wish I would've provided for subwoofer input when I tied into the rear speaker block using the multiple pin connector behind the passenger seat... Didn't think about it before I closed it back up, easy enough to open it back up and splice into MY wires I guess.

I wonder if while I'm at it adding a cheap line amplifier would be good for the back speakers, pick up power from the upfitters 12VDC...

 

[Charged021]

Forewarning if you slice into your harness, your headunit will be out of warranty. Learned that the hard way.

If you can find somewhere to tap into, maybe right at the speaker location, and your Uconnect craps the bed you could easily remove it and the sub and act like it was never there. Just my $.02 after having issues with an update that left my headunit unusable and the dealer not able to help because it was "modified".

I think dealers create any excuse to not warranty a vehicle, sounds like yours is one of them. I know that there is a plug under the glove box that has the right speaker output on it. What colours they are I don't know, but a dealer would never suspect to look at that harness diagnosing a "head unit" problem.