factory subwoofer

truck_newbie · September 19, 2019

Finally got the kicker sub installed and hooked up yesterday. I ran into a few weird issues that no else seems to have encountered. I'll post pictures and the issues i encountered separately once i have everything buttoned up.

First impression is it really thumps and vibrates the back window. Thankfully i have the rear view camera so i don't need to worry about not being able to see through my rear window. It can get a bit boomy sometimes though. It's definitely not a rattle your teeth loose bass. That's not what i was looking for anyways. I had the volume knob hooked up from day-one so i don't know how it sounds without it. Also didn't touch the switches. I'm still fine-tuning but here are a few pointers:

1. The kit taps into the front right speaker so will be affected by head-unit controls such as fade, bass, etc. It's especially affected by fade. Kicker support recommended i reduce the bass on the head-unit, fade a bit to the front or keep neutral and use the control knob the rest of the way. I right now have it set to bass=0, mid=3, treble=5 and knob=1/2 turn. Sounds good but still playing around with it.

2. Kicker support said the FlexTune app will not work with this sub kit. I tried multiple times on my phone for it to connect and it never did. They said the app only works with the full power-stage upgrade kits.

Really loving it so far.

4HND · September 20, 2019

I have a brand new kicker subwoofer with all wiring if anyone wants it’s. Do not do it if you have Bose. Without Bose it sounds great. 200.00 plus shipping. I had it installed less than three weeks.

truck_newbie · September 20, 2019

12 hours ago, 4HND said:

I have a brand new kicker subwoofer with all wiring if anyone wants it’s. Do not do it if you have Bose. Without Bose it sounds great. 200.00 plus shipping. I had it installed less than three weeks.

What didn't you like about the kicker? Was it installed correctly and did you get the knob?

Honestly, i'm one of the few who actually likes the Bose system. I think it's balanced and has very good bass. My main problem with the Bose is that the front speakers carry the majority of the bass and it can cause unpleasant rattles and resonance with some songs. It doesn't happen for every song but every once in a while, i'll hear a song that brings out this bad attribute. I really didn't get the kicker because i wanted more bass. I got it to remove the majority of the bass from the doors to prevent these rattles. So far, it's doing a good job at that. Still fine tuning it though.

4HND · September 20, 2019

1 hour ago, truck_newbie said:

What didn't you like about the kicker? Was it installed correctly and did you get the knob?

Honestly, i'm one of the few who actually likes the Bose system. I think it's balanced and has very good bass. My main problem with the Bose is that the front speakers carry the majority of the bass and it can cause unpleasant rattles and resonance with some songs. It doesn't happen for every song but every once in a while, i'll hear a song that brings out this bad attribute. I really didn't get the kicker because i wanted more bass. I got it to remove the majority of the bass from the doors to prevent these rattles. So far, it's doing a good job at that. Still fine tuning it though.

I did have the knob. It’s was just a waste of time if you already have the Bose system

truck_newbie · September 20, 2019

39 minutes ago, 4HND said:

I did have the knob. It’s was just a waste of time if you already have the Bose system

Well, i'm sorry to hear about that. You could probably get more for it on Ebay. I would have purchased it from you if i didn't already have one.

Jdkno · September 21, 2019

Are you sure it's taking its signal from front left? I am going to have to dig up the wiring schematic, I thought sure the yellow/yellow w/ black tracer was the sub wires on the previous gen trucks.

If it is truly taping the front left I'm wondering if it would sound any better/different tapping into the Bose subwoofer vs taping into the front left speaker wire??

truck_newbie · September 21, 2019

1 hour ago, Jdkno said:

Are you sure it's taking its signal from front left? I am going to have to dig up the wiring schematic, I thought sure the yellow/yellow w/ black tracer was the sub wires on the previous gen trucks.

If it is truly taping the front left I'm wondering if it would sound any better/different tapping into the Bose subwoofer vs taping into the front left speaker wire??

I'm pretty sure it's from the right, not the left. Try playing around with the fade to see if the sub volume changes. I don't know how well tapping the Bose sub wires will work because i believe the Kicker's amp filtering has been tuned to tap off the full range-speaker. Truck wiring diagram below.

Josh99722 · September 21, 2019

I have a 2016 silverado, when I was young I always had custom systems.

I did miss the bass when I bought the truck, rather than mess with electronics that ties the the back, I opted for the kicker kit.

I is a night and day difference!

Money well spent, very easy to turn bass up or down with the menu button.

Install is straight forward with instructions.

Whether you like country, rock, or hip hop it definitely improves the overall sound.

Jacob Shook · September 21, 2019

don't bother with the kicker bullshit..JL audio makes a stealth box...custom built for the truck, I would recommend this over all options available..keep in mind you have to run power and ground to an external amp and spend more dead presidents lol

Jdkno · September 21, 2019

9 hours ago, Jacob Shook said:

don't bother with the kicker bullshit..JL audio makes a stealth box...custom built for the truck, I would recommend this over all options available..keep in mind you have to run power and ground to an external amp and spend more dead presidents lol

The JL box, while undoubtedly far superior, is 3 times the cost just for the box. Then you add an amp, and the wiring and your probably at 4 times the cost.

In addition to the cost you have to consider the rest of the system. Ince you add 2 12's with decent power what do you do about the highs? Your either going to have to turn the JL way down or start replacing door/dash speakers and adding amps to power them.

truck_newbie · September 21, 2019

1 hour ago, Jdkno said:

The JL box, while undoubtedly far superior, is 3 times the cost just for the box. Then you add an amp, and the wiring and your probably at 4 times the cost.

In addition to the cost you have to consider the rest of the system. Ince you add 2 12's with decent power what do you do about the highs? Your either going to have to turn the JL way down or start replacing door/dash speakers and adding amps to power them.

I'm with you on this one. I have no doubt the JL will rattle your teeth loose but for me, it's all about balance. And as you said, it's also much cheaper.

truck_newbie · September 22, 2019

As promised, pictures of my install and some notes.

1. I couldn't remove the right kick panel on my truck. Seems stuck so I had to use another ground point. There is a ground point (long bolt) behind the big blue plug in the fuse box. Also had to tap-off in the passenger sill because of this as shown in the pictures.

2. The install guide said to tap-off a twisted yellow and yellow/black pair in the wire bundle. I couldn't find this pair in my truck. The closest i found was a twisted yellow/gray and yellow/black. I'm a engineer by trade and these 2 sets of wires are not the same. Nevertheless, i contacted kicker support and they suggested i test the yellow/gray and yellow/black pair for dc and ac voltages. This worked. Not sure why the coloring in my truck is different. I have confirmed this is indeed the right front speaker by fading completely to the left and the bass goes away.

3. The knob wire is long enough to route through the cable channel. This is what i did. Zip-tied everything together. Stuck the knob under the trailer brake with 3m vhb and it fits perfectly. The knob wire routed cleanly.

4. Didn't have to cut any carpet or floor mats as mentioned in the install guide.

Smrtasp · September 22, 2019

The carpet cutting is for hiding the wires underneath and also a cleaner install. I initially did the same but after I put something in the small storage area and pulled the harness up I decided to cut and route under to avoid this in the future. I also ran the volume knob wire down the driver side and mounted the knob low on the driver side so it cant be seen. That knob is an indicator that there is a sub in the truck and don't need anyone thinking it's worth breaking into.

Also, for anyone running and android based OS phone, there is a 10 band EQ under advanced sound settings. Additional tuning can be done to the sound this way.

Edited September 22, 2019 by Smrtasp
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Jdkno · September 23, 2019

So I received mine today and tossed the box into the truck just to have a place for it right now. I know the instruction say to cut the rubber floor liner but man I really dont want to do that. Has anyone installed without cutting the liner? Any issues? Did you install without cutting only to go back and cut afterwards for any reason?

truck_newbie · September 23, 2019

2 hours ago, Jdkno said:

So I received mine today and tossed the box into the truck just to have a place for it right now. I know the instruction say to cut the rubber floor liner but man I really dont want to do that. Has anyone installed without cutting the liner? Any issues? Did you install without cutting only to go back and cut afterwards for any reason?

See my post and pictures above. Didn't cut anything. You can lay the wires on top, route them behind the seat anchors, zip tie them nicely and it's not messy. You will not be able to remove the floor mat easily if you don't cut it but i'm ok with that.