Monday, April 12, 2010

2010 Mazda 3 - Rear Deck Subwoofer Install

I recently added a Pioneer TS-SW841D 8in subwoofer to my 2010 Mazda 3 iSport with 4 speaker non-Bose stereo.
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Products/CarAudioVideo/Subwoofers/Shallow/TS-SW841D

The sub adds just enough to give me the lower range I was missing with the factory speakers. Best of all the rear deck mounting option (free-air setup) means that I won't lose any trunk space. The sub is only about 2.5 inches deep and as you can see the amplifier (blue) is the lowest part of my setup.

I decided to go with this sub, because I noticed the rear deck had a subwoofer mount stamped into it from the factory. I used a jigsaw and pretty much just followed one of the inner circles from the stamping.

Here's what it looks like from the top. One sheet from a Dynamat speaker install kit was all I needed to keep things rattle free.
In addition to a shallow mounting depth, the speaker also features a short xmax, which means you can conceal it under the rear deck plastic. I did however trim off two of the fabric keepers (factory sound deadening material) directly above the woofer just in case they were too close. Be careful when taking apart the rear deck, as I think I saw the side curtain airbags tucked behind the white triangle parts.

Now here's the wiring. You'll be splicing into the two rear speakers for use with a LOC (line output converter), and also tapping a 12v accessory lead for the amp. You'll need a gift card and flat head screw driving to pop out the center vents above the radio, then you'll see two phillips head screws that can be removed to get out the factory head unit.

For the LOC, you'll use the 4 wires at the upper left: Right- (Brown), Right+ (Light Blue), Left- (Aqua), Left+ (White)

The light blue wire towards the middle in the bottom row will be your 12v remote turn-on lead.

That's it! It took me about 5 hours to do all the cutting/drilling and cleanly tuck/secure all the wiring.