Copout221

Well I am finally done and it was well worth the time and effort. JL Audio 10IB4 installed in factory location with custom spacer. Kicker KX400.1 mounted on rear wall of trunk after more plywood was utilized behind rear seat to mount amp. 4Ga wiring kit and custom install of bass control in ashtray. This sub and amp sound awsome and give just the right amount of bass without overdoing it. Total out of pocket was $425.00 since I shopped around and installed everything myself. Best of all, I did not lose any space in my trunk !!

hiyabrad

Copout221 - Wow, sounds awesome!

A few questions:

How did you fashion your custom spacer for the 10IB4?

What is a 4Ga wiring kit?

Which bass control did you use?

And can you list the prices for all the components of the system, how many hours for the install, etc?

And if you have pics, would love to see them.

Thanks!

Copout221

1. The sub install was not tough. I was just thrown off by the fact that after removing the factory sub I discovered that I had to do a little customizing to get the JL sub in. I had read in these forums that the JL sub was a direct drop in replacement and that is not the case. Anyway, I traced the factory trim piece/spacer ( see pic ) onto a piece of 1/4" plywood. I also drilled the four mounting holes on the new piece of plywood so I could secure it back down with the factory bolts. I cut the 10" opening into the plywood and secured the JL sub with eight short wood screws. At this point I took the sub and it's spacer and reinstalled them back into the rear deck with the four factory bolts. I was going to paint the wood black but you cannot see it anyway so I disregarded the idea.

2. The wiring kit I bought for the amp had 4 gauge (size of wire) power and ground cables. It also included the 4 ga connectors for the battery along with a heavy duty fuse holder, fuse, remote turn on cable, shrink wrap, and cable ties. Kicker recommends 4 ga wiring for the KX400.1 so I followed their recommendation.

3. The bass control comes with the Kicker KX400.1 amplifier and is designed to be mounted on a dash or other place near the driver. It includes 20' of phone cable to be ran from the control to the amplifier.

4. I did the install in stages and it took me a total of 3 days to complete. The sub install was not too difficult if you have a jigsaw. It took me about one hour to pull the entire back seat, door trim pieces and molding, rear curtin inserts, seatbelts, and rear deck. The amp install took the most time since I had to fabricate a mounting surface for the amp. You cannot just screw the amp to the seatback since there is nothing there to support it except foam, rubber, carpet, and insulation. Running the cables was easy and mounting the remote bass control ( see pics ) was also pretty easy ( half hour or so ). Total time to do a professional quality job is about 6-7 hours if you were to do it like I did and mount the amp in the same or similar location. It really sounds good and was well worth the time and effort.

5. The amp cost me $229.00 delivered to my door off of e-bay. The 4 ga wiring kit ran me $35.00 off e-bay. The JL Sub was not listed on e-bay and I bought it locally from a shop for $139.00. The wood and misc materials cost no more than $ 20.00. Total= $423.00. The shop that sold me the JL sub quoted me $1000.00 total. They blamed the excessive cost on labor because the Lexus is difficult to work with !!! Thanks Anyway... Hope this helps you. Let me know if you have any other questions.














This is the OEM sub after removed from the car. Notice the spacer around it that cannot be removed and must be duplicated.

JDM SC4

wow, nice install! question is, how do you like it? i'm still awaiting mine from a friend... i can't wait!

Copout221

It sounds great. I am not a bass heavy person and just wanted a little more than the factory sub was giving me. If you want heavy "boom boom" bass you are best off with a pair of tens or twelves in a box, IMO. Otherwise, this is a nice setup and it produces three times the bass the factory sub produces any day. I also did not want to carve my car up and possibly lower it's resale value with a sloppy install or large equipment that looks weird in a Lexus, IMO..

hiyabrad

Does the spacer raise the woofer up on the top side of it?

Copout221

Yes, the trim ring/spacer will raise the sub up so you don't want to use a thick piece of plywood. I used 1/8" since the sub was not totally being supported by the wood itself when installed from the top. I originally measured the install with 3/4" plywood and that would have caused the sub to hit the rear deck so I scratched that idea. I almost fabricated a spacer to be mounted from the bottom out of 3/4" plywood wrapped in vinyl or carpet so I could mount the sub from the bottom. I thought this would make it easier incase I ever needed to change out the sub or get to it for any reason. Pulling the rear deck is a PITA and time consuming. The main reason I dropped the sub in rather than mounted from the bottom was because it looks alot better and the sub does not hang down that far.

retrodrive

Nicely done, much props. Does it rattle anyting? Does your rear deck moves when bass is hitting?

liazon

iTrader: (1)

nicely done........what are your thoughts regarding the performance of your new sub/amp now that you've had time to listen to it a bit? btw, do you have aftermarket speakers too and if not, do you feel u need them w/ the sub?
thanks........

Guitarman

Thanks very much for the rundown, you did a fantastic job, looks great, and very professionally done.
This is my next mod, something I've been thinking about and saving up for. Even if it's merely 2X better than the stock sub I'll be pleased. I was a bit intimidated by the stock sub removal since it entails removing the back seat and all that ancillary stuff(why on earth did they make it so difficult, when they could've simply had that sub speaker grill on the rear deck snap in?) , but when others do it without major headaches I'm willing to give it a try. DAN H

donsgs4

Did you use your stock head unit and amp for the front speakers?
If so did you need a hi low coverter, and is there any noise?
It looks good. I used the same sub, but the nak amp isn't very powerful and I wanted to use a phoenix gold amp with the bass control up front like you did, but I want to keep my head unit stock.

minla007

I know this thread is a few yrs old.....could u please repost the pix? I am interested in doing the same exact thing (replacing the stock sub).....any help would be greatly appreciated!

thanks!

unit74

iTrader: (3)

Copout221
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Last Activity: 07-25-03 10:17 PM
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Hasn't been on CL in 3 years........good luck.