Thought I’d post a few pictures now my subwoofer install is completed and been working for a few weeks.

I was inspired by JohnnyType2’s thread in the octavia 3 section and took some advice and tips from him but haven’t gone to anywhere near the extremes of neatness or upgrading he did!

I’m not an installer nor was I going for the ultimate installation, I just wanted it to be functional and neat enough to not look naff and I like to think I’ve achieved that.

First hurdle was the main power feed, I tried to use the main grommet behind the battery but couldn’t get anything through there so I ended up using the spare access grommet in the drivers footwell where the clutch would be if I didn’t have the DSG.

The main issue with this is the cable run had to be longer as it needs to cross the engine bay and also it comes up behind the turbo in an area that obviously gets rather hot! I covered the cable in high temperature silicone coated fibreglass shielding from the battery right through into the footwell (2M length cost £28 on eBay and is rated for 260 degrees Celsius continuously, I’ve checked the cable with a laser thermometer probe and it’s well below that and not in contact with the engine or turbo anyway.

Once through to the footwell i pried the side trims up just enough to tuck the cables under both sides (power and remote for the LC2i drivers side and speaker pickoffs and amp remote switch passenger side)

Again, I wasn’t quite prepared to remove the trims though I know it would’ve been better to do so.

I dropped the glove box down and fitted a connects2 CT10SK03 harness adapter which I spliced a couple of bullet connectors to for the rear pickoffs. I would have like to go full plug and play with some iso plugs but couldn’t find anything off the shelf to do a straight through with tails for the speakers (as unlike Johnny’s install I was only adding the sub and keeping the standard head unit controlling the standard speakers) - word of caution here, it’s easy to stuff the harness adapter into a nice space at the back when refitting the glove box then discover later that the air con recirculating flap motor no longer works cos it’s obstructed!  (I sorted that once I realised...)

Amp and LC2i mounted on the back of the rear passenger seat with a couple of m4 tapped cap head screws for each (secure but didn’t want to drill anymore holes than I had to) and the sub is strapped in place with a 4 pole speakon connector which also has a loop through to the amp remote so I can remove the sub when bootspace is required and not worry about the amp being on with no load.

Initially I tried the LC2i with the auto on technology but changed this to an ignition switched supply after discovering it was powering up the amp just by unlocking and opening any of the doors or boot which I wasn’t happy with and didn’t trust it being left.

I mounted the LC2i remote inside the drivers cubby hole for easy access while driving so I can adjust the sub volume easily without looking down.

It’s made a big difference to the low down bass (as you’d expect at 500W RMS!!!) and has a proper thump at medium to high volumes with no roll off so I didn’t have to setup the accubase function on the LC2i at all and have it disabled.

I was fairly impressed before with the bass levels around 7-8 but wouldn’t expect the speakers to last long like that whereas now it’s running at 0 and the sub is dealing with the 20-120Hz ranges nicely.

Finished tidying up the amp wiring today so the only job left is to re-carpet the sub and re-spray the grill again as it’s around 6 years old now and looking a bit worn to say the least.

Good job, it looks nice and tidy. 

 

Just one question, where did you pick up the ignition feed? I've been trying to find one and the best I can find is one that is live when you unlock the car.

On 18/10/2020 at 22:36, RichTea1977 said:

Good job, it looks nice and tidy. 

 

Just one question, where did you pick up the ignition feed? I've been trying to find one and the best I can find is one that is live when you unlock the car.

I found a fuse behind the glove box that switches on with the ignition and used a piggy back connector to supply the amp and my dash cam. Not sure which one but I can probably hinge the glove box down and get a photo if you haven’t got access to a multimeter?

I have a multimeter and I tried to find one once.  I'll have to give it another go.  Most of the ones I checked either came on when the car's unlocked or are permanent live.

3 hours ago, RichTea1977 said:

I have a multimeter and I tried to find one once.  I'll have to give it another go.  Most of the ones I checked either came on when the car's unlocked or are permanent live.

Here’s the one I used. Only live when the ignition is on.

 

Fantastic, thanks very much.