Recently my Bose subwoofer started working intermittently. Like others I did the research and discovered you must take the entire back seat out and all the trim to access it. Really ******* engineering if you ask me. Especially since you can access the stock subwoofer just by removing the trunk upper trim. If they just made the bolts go in the other way all the back seat removal nonsense could be avoided! I digress.

After removing the subwoofer I discovered the main leads had worn loose from the connection to the main voice coil of the speaker. So I set out to ebay to get a “new” one. Most of the speakers on the bay are from 05 and I didn’t love the idea of replacing the sub with an old used part that could just suffer the same fate. In my infinite wisdom I ordered a sub from a 2014 Nissan Murano because I thought it was “about the same” and was also 8”. It was only $19 bux guys!

The gamble did not pay off. When the sub arrived, it was 10”. Looked the same in the picture! As an engineer I like to teach myself lessons for being lazy by tasking myself with painful work. So, I ran through the options of buying another subwoofer, amp, box and running a new power wire etc. All the options looked bad as they require a lot of trunk space and a big investment in stereo equipment. I hooked up the sub from ebay to the multimeter and it appeared have the same resistance as the stock one I had. I could theoretically utilize the stock Bose amp. It was also of “free air” or infinite baffle design so shouldn’t require a large box. I then set out to rig it in the car.

The idea behind a infinite baffle is that the front plane of the speaker cone is isolated from back such that the trunk or baffling behind the speaker acts as the “box”. So if I could rig something that would allow me to mount the 10” speaker on the existing 8” hole while also sealing against the top of the trunk it should give decent sound.

I ending up making a mounting box that looks like this.






As you can see, I just reused the existing connector from the old sub and it plugged right into the Murano sub connector with the existing wire plugs. I then mounted it flush and installed closed cell foam I have lying around so I could get a airtight seal when I pushed it against the top of the trunk.

The result is this.





Notice how I put some effort in to seal the air holes up with closed cell foam such that the speaker is isolated form the trunk. I had to move the "keyless entry sensor" to make room for the box and I mounted it to the box. I also mounted the snap connector to the top of the trunk. The whole result is fairly low profile.
I then cut a flap in the existing trim and closed it all up and protect the spider of the speaker from impacts.

1. now we have a 10" sub instead of a 8".
2. we are using the stock amp
3. No new wires
4. No loss of existing car functionality.
5. No real loss of trunk space.
   1. I have a requirnment of being able to fit two sets of golf clubs and a bag in the trunk at once.
6. Maintain stock look inside and outside the car.
7. Reversable if desired.
8. Built with spare wood and junk I had lying around the garage.
   1. Total cost $25
9. You can now remove and serve the subwoofer from the bottom instead of taking out the whole back seat and trim.

Everyone may think I am CraZy for doing all of that but I am very satifsifed with the end result. The bass is much louder and I can now play a tone down to 25Hhz without the speaker bottoming out. The sound has improved substantialy with the 10" sub. The existing amp appears to be handling it no problem.

While you are in there you may want to clean your fuel gauge sensors and condition the leather since you had to take it all out.

I hope this was at the very least a entertaining read!

 

Bravo! I especially like the compactness of the solution.

 

Nice! Bigger sub and still doesnt use up much space.