Alpine8" Amplified Subwoofer (PWE-S8) 120W Compact Powered 8" Car Subwoofer for Under or Behind The Seat

2014Posts: 83SyracuseOk, Phase III, subwoofer installation:I decided on the Alpine SWE-S8 powered sub to fill out the lower registers for my speakers, which roll off at 70 Hz. I decided to install it myself after seeing there were multiple existing grommets through the firewall to access to battery for power.I did a quick fit check to see if it would fit under the driver’s seat, and it did!Then I used the Pioneer factory wire harness for preamp level outputs for the line level Sub Out signal...so, out comes the head unit again. The RCA cables I bought were not as tight as I liked, so I zip tied them to be safe.I also had to cut and resolder the Amp Turn-On line from the Maestro cable harness (Blue-White wire) for the sub (if you use line level inputs, this sub’s amp needs this 12V command line to turn on)I plugged in the Alpine remote level control as wellI found the factory ground under the front passenger seat, decided to move the amp to the passenger seat, connected everything up for a power-on test to make sure everything works. PASS!Ok, now I need to find a way to get into the engine bay to reach the battery. I didn’t want to use the grommet behind the FL wheel, so I tried to find the unused one I keep hearing about “above the clutch master cylinder†. That took forever. To save everyone else time, it’s easily in the engine bay, driver’s side, behind the inter cooler.This firewall hole is NOT visible from inside the car. I popped the factory grommet from the engine bay out while trying to slice an “X†through it to pass the power cable, then used needle nice pliers to remove it entirely. Wet the entire grommet with water (or spit) and it pops back into place easily.It was much easier to pass the wire through that open hole in the firewall, then slide the grommet on after I shoved about 12†of wire in. You then have to reach all they way above the accelerator and brake, bend the grey factory noise deadening, and you can find the wad of wire you shove through. Now that the grommet is in place, you can pull the rest of the cable into the cabin.Then I routed the power cable front the positive terminal to the fender, along the top of the engine bay and into the firewall holeAnd with the zip ties trimmed:I routed it into the instrument panel behind the stereo and out the bottomI then removed the center console and trim panel around the shifter to pass the power cable through, along the driver’s side of the transmission hump. I passed the RCA cables, remote volume cable, and remote amp turn on cable along the passenger side of the transmission hump (to separate power and signal lines to avoid potential noise). Then, I crossed the power cable across the signal lines at a right angle at the rear of the transmission hump, and passed them under the carpeting and poked them out the existing square hole under the passenger seat.I soldered and shrink wrapped the power cable, ground cable, and remote turn-on wire and tucked excess cables under the carpeting (I didn’t want anything above the amp, out of fear that the passenger seat sliding back and forth could snag or cut a cable).I was able to fish the ground cable under the rug and over to the factory ground screw, then tighten it from the passenger seat footwell area the the larger cutout in the carpeting.I still need to find a way to secure it to the vehicle. It sits in the small “well†under the seat, but it’s going to slide around unless I secure it. I think I can use the 2 existing skinny bolts in the floor under the seat to strap it down, or come up with something to anchor it to the seat mounting bolts.I used the Velcro supplied with the amp to mount the remote level control in the instrument panel bin. I needed to relieve a small channel for the cable into the shifter trim panel.Flash used to show where I made a hole:As far as the sound, it’s great! It’s more than I need and totally completes the upgrade from the factory. The bass is very tight and controlled (at 50% of max). It probably only needs to set to 33% to really match the speakers (which are powered by the Pioneer head (22wpc max, and 14 wpc by the CTA standard). The front speakers sound much more clear now that they are high pass filtered to only what is above 63Hz. I’m not going to impress anyone with 12†+ subs in a box, but with the windows up, it’s more than I needed to make the car sound correct.The sub has a crossover frequency dial, which I should probably set at the highest frequency (150Hz), which should mean that no crossover is being used (less distortion). The Pioneer head has the ability to set crossover points for front, rear and subwoofer, and frequency roll-off sharpness. I initially set the stereo to roll off at 63Hz (the only setting between 50 and 80hz) for my door speakers, since the Alpine’s are only flat to 70 Hz. I then cross in the sub at the same frequency. I need to play with this more. I also need to re-run the Pioneer’s pink noise and SPL car calibration it does for its equalizer now that I have the sub

Got this to finish up the gut rehab of the Bose audio system in my 2007 Porsche Cayman.Based on measurements the door speakers were dropping off dramatically below 50Hz, so picked this up as measurements suggested it would fit under the passenger seat, which it does (both long way and wide way). I used the existing Bose subwoofer wiring to supply power and remote turn on, a little hook and loop fastener to affix to the carpet....and boom, subwoofer installed.This nicely fills out the spectrum below 50Hz - and given the tiny cabin - fills it quite well.Great purchase and the final touch on fixing the horrible quality of the original system. Like it so much I'm contemplating one for my 2013 base model Accord.

I normally don't give "gushing" reviews like this, but for this little sub I will make an exception. When we first got it installed and wired up, we were so underwhelmed by the bass output that we were sure we had done something wrong. It made so little output at first that I had to lay my ear right on the grill to hear anything at all. We connected it to our car's factory stereo by tapping into the front speaker wires, and as it turns out, we had reversed the polarity on one of them. Since the sub sums the two inputs, and the left & right were 180 degrees out of phase with each other, they basically canceled each other out, resulting in almost no signal going to the sub. After doing a little googling, I found a forum post where someone had done this, and I wondered if that could be our problem. I went out and reversed the positive & negative wires on one of the speaker inputs to the sub, and BAM! Monster bass. And when I say monster bass, I mean it will absolutely fill the inside of your car with bass (you can feel it in your chest and feel it vibrating your seat). However it is not the "obnoxious" bass where people can hear you coming down the street. If you're aiming for obnoxious, this sub will not do it for you. But if you're wanting your teeth to rattle, even at low to moderate listening levels, you will not be disappointed with this little sub. I will go so far as to say I am blown away by it. And I don't use that term lightly. I know a little bit about subs, as I used to have a JL 8W7 in custom built enclosure in a different car (until it was stolen).I'm going to make this comparison right here. Years ago I spent about $1500 on a system that included an expensive JL sub, and I don't think it sounded any better (bass-wise) than this little Alpine which cost $240. And I didn't have to build a custom enclosure for it, and it's compact enough to fit in some out-of-the-way place in the trunk or wherever. This is my first experience with using line-level (a.k.a. speaker-level) inputs on an amp, and I was skeptical that the sound quality would be acceptable. And I can't speak for every such powered sub, but I can tell you for this little Alpine, it's acceptable and then some. This is very possibly the longest product review I've ever written, but that's because I can't say enough good things about it.FYI we have it in a Wrangler JK 2 door, and it fits perfectly down in the little "trunk" (is that what you call it?) under the rear carpet. I mean perfectly. Like it was made for it. At first I had doubts about whether that location would work out, sound-quality-wise, because it's so far in the back. With the Wrangler being such an open-air vehicle, I was afraid the bass wouldn't reach the front seats adequately. But it turns out, it works perfectly fine there. If you open the rear tailgate, you don't see anything. It looks stock.So do I recommend it? Yes. Did they pay me to write this? No. Did I pay full price for the sub? Yes. Would I buy it again? Yes, in a heartbeat.

Good value