DIY - Adding an Amp and Subwoofer

[escobar929]

A couple of months back, I created this thread:
http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=296110

Because of it, I came in contact w/ two different guys, whom w/ out I could have never done this; jtsherri & TPLSM3

After reading my thread, TPLSM3 decided to produce and sell more boxes like his and jtsherri was the first one who took him up on it and created a very detailed review, to which now after installing mine, I can say, I fully agree. Great quality product, for a very fair price. So thank you to the both of you.

My buddy Haris came over today and we decided to give it a shot since jtsherri, thru PMs helped me a lot on how to go about doing it and TPLSM3 provided precise details on how to mount his box

So lets get started:

• The first step comes directly from Ben's (TPLSM3) instructions, so I'll post directly from there
  
  

  Originally Posted by TPLSM3

  1) Let's start off by removing your trunk floor cover by lifting up & pulling the entire cover out of the trunk.
  
  
  2) Remove the rear body panel trim finisher by removing the 2 phillips head screw & 2 push-in retainers (remove the center section & the retainer comes out).
  
  
  3) Pull up on the trunk seal, you do NOT have to remove the entire seal, just pull up enough so that it clears the rear body panel trim finisher & left side trunk carpet.
  
  
  4) Remove the rear body panel trim finisher by pulling it towards the front of the vehicle, be careful not to break the plastic tabs that the metal hooks come out of.
  
  
  5) Remove the 3 push-in retainers that hold the left trunk carpet trim in place.
  
  
  
  6) Fold down the left rear seats so that the trunk carpet may now come out.
  
  7) Pull the left trunk carpet trim out slowly, it may take some force, but there's nothing else holding the trim in place.
  
  
  8) Now that you have the left trunk carpet trim out, place it on a workbench so that you can fit the fiberglass sub enclosure into the trunk carpet trim.
  

• This is where I'll stop Ben's instructions, so that we can remove the interior pieces and do the wiring, then we will pick up on Ben's instructions
  
• The stock Logic7 amp is located on the driver's side rear panel.
  
• In order to get to the amp, we must first remove the lower part of the rear seats, just pull straight up and it will come loose from its clips
  
• Next, remove the cover by the front side sills, pull straight up. you can also use a pick tool to try to pry out the clips first but I found that you can just pull straight up
  
  
  
  
• I put a bag w/ two big towels in btwn the seat and the lower part so that those clips wouldnt leave nasty indentations on the seat
  
• You also must remove the small leather piece btwn where the seats fold down and the side, this also just pops out. There's is one 8mm bolt in the upper area but after putting everything together, im not sure it had to be removed
  
• Now the rear side panel just pops out, incredible how easy this part turn out to be. This is how it will look
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Now, remove the 7 T-20 bolts holding up that aluminum cover, the amp is attached to that cover so be careful.
  
• Now unplug the amp so that its easier to work, the clip just slides out
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Next is the fun part, the wiring. I used this post to figure out how to wire up the pac trunk loc to the Logic7 amp. I added a few comments that might remove any questions
  
  http://www.amazon.com/PAC-TRUNKLOC-A.../dp/B0007VNKZ4
  
  

  Originally Posted by ntpcrew13

  
  
  1, 2 are one channel and 3, 4 are the other channel. you should get a pac trunk-loc if you are gonna do this setup. if you use a pac trunk-loc:
  
  Wire 1- (red/blue) will go with the gray wire from pac.
  Wire 2- (brown/white) will go with the gray/black wire from pac.
  those are the right sub wires.
  
  Wire 3- (red/white) will go with the white wire from pac.
  Wire 4- (brown/yellow) will go with the white/black from pac.
  those are the left sub wires.
  
  Green wire from pac should go on wire 4 (brown/yellow). According to the instructions from PAC, this can go to any wire that has 6v
  
  Ground wire from pac goes to ground on car or ground it to the amp (I grounded to the amp ground). I grounded mine to a bolt near by
  
  Red wire from pac goes to +12 on amp. I wired this to a 12v supply from the stock amp, its the only Red wire not part of a twisted pair
  
  Blue wire from pac goes to remote on amp. This goes to the remote on the amp you are installing
  
  good luck.
  
  if you need more help you can follow my link.

• Haris and I were so scared we might have screwed something up, so no pics were taken cause we were trying to hurry so we can see if it was right and it was. This is how it looked when all the wiring was done and we put the amp back in place
  
  
  
  
• For routing the wires to the back, we followed where the stock wires run and just zip tided them together.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The two wires you see are the RCA from the trunk loc and the remote wire thats going to the amp
  
• Now you can hook up the amp to Ground and 12v to the battery
  
• Now we will pick back up on Ben's instructions since we are ready for the sub the be connected
  
  

  Originally Posted by TPLSM3

  
  9) You can choose now how to run your speaking wire out of the box. I chose to drill a hole towards the top of the fiberglass sub enclosure where there are 3 holes in the trunk carpet trim. From there, I ran the speaker wire out to the amplifier (I prefer to keep the holes in the trunk trim to a minium in case I decided to remove the equipment & go back to stock.)
  
  
  10) To use the supplied mounting hardware, fit the enclosure into the trunk carpet trim tightly & look for the 3 holes in the fiberglass enclosure on each end. Drill a hole now into your trunk carpet trim on each side & use the bolts/washers/nuts to secure the fiberglass enclosure onto the trunk carpet trim. Be sure to drill a hole similar in size of the mounting bolts.
  
  
  
  11) Refit trunk carpet trim & sub enclosure back into vehicle. Refit all other pieces in reverse order.
  
  
  12) Once trunk trim is all put back together, install subwoofer & drill pilot holes for subwoofer mounting screws.
  
  13) Mount subwoofer with screws. Now you should have a clean subwoofer enclosure like this! Enjoy your custom fiberglass subwoofer enclosure!
  

• Now just put all the interior pieces back into place and enjoy!
  
  
  
  

Finally a big THANKS to Haris for doing most of the hard work (the wiring)

[escobar929]

Here's some of the posts that helped w/ figuring out whats what

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...82#post2599482

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showpo...66&postcount=1

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showpo...5&postcount=51

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showt...97#post4217797

[TPLSM3]

Awesome write up Jose!! Glad everything worked out well. I think running the W6 & 500/1 amp is the best setup for our cars. The amp honestly looks like it belongs there. Definitely a clean setup for those of us that don't want a huge box in the trunk!

[jtsherri]

EXCELLENT work & write-up, Jose! This deserves a sticky, for sure! Thanks for the shout-out and congrats on figuring out all of the details. Enjoy the new, quality sound!

[escobar929]

thanks guys!

i'm really glad i did this w/ the help of haris, not only did i save btwn $100-200 on the install but I know it was done right and w/ care

highly recommend for anyone to do the same

[MastaRip]

Haha it all came out perfect at the end, looks great and sounds even better! This thread is like Gold on this forum, so many people are going to benefit from it.

[escobar929]

just went out and tuned the amp w/ the help of Jason (jtsherri) and my trusty aquemini cd. let me tell ya, it sound amazing, its so clear w/ a nice bit of bass

the gain was set way up initially from my previous car and it didnt sound very well in the 1er w/ after some tweaking, it came out great!

[MastaRip]

Originally Posted by escobar929

just went out and tuned the amp w/ the help of Jason (jtsherri) and my trusty aquemini cd. let me tell ya, it sound amazing, its so clear w/ a nice bit of bass

the gain was set way up initially from my previous car and it didnt sound very well in the 1er w/ after some tweaking, it came out great!

Dam nice

[escobar929]

this was very useful when tuning the amp
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-q3qjiwrWtei/tech/kb39.html

figuring out what it all means
http://mobile.jlaudio.com/pdfs/Switches_Knobs.pdf
http://mobile.jlaudio.com/products_a...php?page_id=30

[Lech911]

can i use any other low pass filter other that this PAC thing? i have an audiopipe low pass filter; should it be the same setting right?

[escobar929]

i dont know what inputs the low pass filter you are using has so i cant say.

the pac unit comes w/ a spec sheet detailing what each wire is

if you have the same, look at this post for info on what each wire on the logic7 amp has
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showpo...66&postcount=1

[solid77]

i have the exact same setup on a 2010 6 speaker system... JL 500/1 powering a jl 10w6v2 and TPLSM3 enclosure, i just used the JL stereo to rca cable

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_136CLR2...W.html?tp=2610

and hooked it from the rear speakers straight to the amp, no PAC or anything, the JL amp does a good job at filtering low/high inputs and frequencies... now i just need to get some tweets in the car :P

[escobar929]

Originally Posted by solid77

i have the exact same setup on a 2010 6 speaker system... JL 500/1 powering a jl 10w6v2 and TPLSM3 enclosure, i just used the JL stereo to rca cable

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_136CLR2...W.html?tp=2610

and hooked it from the rear speakers straight to the amp, no PAC or anything, the JL amp does a good job at filtering low/high inputs and frequencies... now i just need to get some tweets in the car :P

yea, you can def do it that way. for me the pac unit wasn't too much more money so i figured it would be a cleaner install

i'm really impressed w/ this set up. i normally keep it on -3 or zero if i want a lil more boom. anything +4 or higher is crazy but still sounds fairly clean.

[solid77]

i also tried the JL recommended settings for max boom lol... pretty impressive for what 1 10 can do, these settings are for 2 subs though, but it seems to work pretty well...

[Lech911]

no i can't find my logic7 amp; everything is o different here, i have a 120i coupe 2007, i think the logic7 is in the front panel, i followed the subwoofers cables and stopped right under the front panel

[escobar929]

hmm, weird

let us know where you find it for future reference

[Lech911]

ok, i didn't find it, but i tapped the subwoofer cables by chasing them under the seats, now i need a remote cablke, should i really tap my cigarrette lighter? i can't do it (remote cable) since i couldn't find my logic 7

[plasar]

Killer write up and pics Escobar, appreciate it!

(Even if I have no immediate plans to upgrade, it's cool to see the process and what the guts of our 1-er look like.)

[ItalianButter]

I didn't have the Logic amp behind the rear side panel...but tapped into the appropriate wires described in the schematic in the same area. Worked the first time and sounds great!!!


Thanks for a wonderful write-up! Much appreciated.

[escobar929]

Originally Posted by ItalianButter

I didn't have the Logic amp behind the rear side panel...but tapped into the appropriate wires described in the schematic in the same area. Worked the first time and sounds great!!!


Thanks for a wonderful write-up! Much appreciated.

interesting, where was yours located?

[Tumo135]

So basically you are tapping wire #4 twice?

[escobar929]

exactly