# MINI Cooper Clubman (R55) Subwoofer installation



## odj23 (Jul 13, 2010)

My wife has a 2010 MINI Cooper Clubman S with the craptastic base stereo system, of which her biggest complaint has been a lack of bass. So, for her birthday this year I told her I'd install a subwoofer for her, using some of the gear that I've been picking up for her here and there for the past couple of years.

Here's the car, on a rare day when it's clean:










Gear consists of:

JL Audio Cleansweep (purchased for her last car, never used)
Alpine SWE-12S4 (purchased via a hot deals thread for $40 shipped from best buy!)
MTX TD1000.1D

My buddy Tim hooked me up with the amp and a nice Streetwires 4GA install kit. Thanks man!!

I wanted the install to be as inobtrusive as possible, to retain what limited space there is in the rather small MINI, and to beef up the low end. My wife doesn't listen to music very loud in the car, but she does have a penchant for subbass. The Alpine, while inexpensive, is supposed to reach down to 28hz before the rolloff. "Ideal" sealed box volume is .9CuFt, which isn't horribly large, but it's a little larger than I'd have liked. Oh well.

So, I started out by taking the rear of the car apart, to see what I had to work with.










Strangely, while the car doesn't come with a spare, there's quite a large spare tire well in there.










And since it's a lower-optioned car, there is lots of space on both sides behind where the trim panels go. Just enough, in fact, for an amp and a processor! (on higher optioned car, factory doohickeys go there)










So I went to work.

A little bit of welding,










and a little bit of grinding (OK, a lot of grinding),










And I had a start. It's some 45degree and straight steel pieces I had around the house.










I took the frame I made and welded it to the back of the factory piece (you can see one on either side of the trunk in the second photo). Yes, I was welding in my basement. I was wearing sandals, too.










Bam










It fits!










And fits behind the trim panel too










I added the top part to hold the Cleansweep. It's actually the knee bar anchor plate thing that I took out of my Jetta. I love recycling car parts.










Surprisingly this random paint I found is a perfect match for the factory paint










Finished bracket










At this point in the project I stalled. Work was bleeding into my weekends at an alarming rate, and I was studying for a certification - the combination meant I had no spare time to figure out a solution to a couple of problems I was facing.


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## odj23 (Jul 13, 2010)

Then I went on vacation.

The Clubman is our largest "real" car, so we took that to the beach. Packed two weeks' worth of crap in there, as well as our dog. You'll notice that the trunk panels are still missing 










The biggest hold up in the project at this point was a pesky high pass filter on the rear channels. From the factory, the base stereo's rear speakers have a crossover at 100hz. No good for a feed for subs.

So, I got the idea to swap the channels (front to rear, and vice-versa), running full frequency to the rear, and having a 100hz cutoff on the front speakers. That would be great, for many reasons! Except... the car has bluetooth, which uses the front speakers. Oh, and so does the warning "bong". So, no dice on that one.

I also didn't want to tap the front speakers because they are already operating on paltry power as it is. I don't know that I'd even be able to notice a difference if I tapped the front speakers, but I just didn't like the idea of it.

Some googling and reading led me to NCS Expert and BMW Coding. Basically - you can buy a special cable that's USB on one end and an OBD2 cable on the other, which lets you modify code on the car, and change various behaviors. One of the things you can do with this is remove the 100hz cutoff on the rear speakers in the base stereo! So, I had my solution.

Getting the correct version of software was a huge pain in the ass, and I didn't have much time to spend looking around 'til our trip. I had a good day or so with nothing planned, so I finally found a good combo of software that worked with the car, and set about disabling the 100hz cutoff. I was able to set a couple of other cool things in there while I was at it (close sunroof/windows with key fob button, disable over-estimation of speed, permanently display speed in tach display, one touch tilt & open sunroof). Pretty cool ****, I must say. 

I did get some weird looks sitting in my car with a laptop on a sunny day at the beach. Oh well. I had fun.

We headed back home, and I had a few days to burn before going back to work. Here's me and the pooch in the car on the way back.


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## odj23 (Jul 13, 2010)

I had decided early on that while the best way to build a box for the car was probably fiberglass, that I didn't want to use fiberglass. Mainly, I didn't want to stink up the car. I knew it would drive my wife nuts. So, I figured out the best shape to use was to mimic the shape of the well.

It's a 20"x6.5" rectangle with a half of a 10" radius circle on top.










So I got back to work.

Only the finest of precision tools here.










I got the top and bottom pieces cut out, and figured I'd learn how to kerf. I'd watched a couple of utube videos and kinda sorta knew what I was doing. I put about an hour and a half into this piece.










Unfortunately the wind was being an *******, and then this happened:










The last piece of wood I had in the right height was just barely long enough to make the arch piece (31.4"), but I figured I'd try and make it work.










I glued and screwed the kerfed piece to the base board, and filled the slots with glue. To help fully fill them, I used a scrap piece to scrape and push the glue into the slots.










Then cut the rest of the pieces, and glued/screwed them in place










Perfect










I had a couple of gaps in the box, so I used a mixture of wood glue and sawdust to fill them










I cut a hole with the router, drilled a hole through the base board so I could bolt it to the existing boss in the body where you anchor the spare tire, added some binding posts, and some hurricane nuts to mount the sub.










While I was pretty confident in my sealing job, I covered the joint between the side pieces and the kerfed piece with some raammat just in case. Nobody likes a leaky box.










Spraypainting stuff in the dark took me back to high school and made me feel sketchy... even though I'm in my thirties and own the house.










Three cans and it still came out blotchy. Oh well, it'll be under a trim panel.










Alpine recommends a .9CuFt box. Mine's .93. Close enough!


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## odj23 (Jul 13, 2010)

MINI is nice enough to provide you with a nipple behind the battery which will fit a 4GA wire with a little breathing room.










The streetwires cable is frickin' nice. The fuse holder... eh... it had me stumped for a bit. Turns out you can slide the outer cover over one of the ends, if you remove the o ring. Not the other side though... tried that. Not sure if my description makes sense but it had me f'n annoyed.










I pulled the rest of the interior aft of the seats and along the passenger side door sill. I was hating life at this point. There were a solid dozen or more mosquitos swarming me in the car all day. I kept sitting on random poky things, got leg cramps, and kept sweating all over the place. Oh, and a couple of the trim clips decided to break, leaving them stuck in and a pain to remove. ****ers.










Busted out the Bentley to check my wire colors (didn't want to pull the third door trim to check). In tapping the rear speaks I decided just to cut the wires and leave them unhooked. They sounded pretty ****ty after I started feeding them sub-100hz signal anyways, and I've read they only get 15W. Meh.










Amp rack fits!



















Don't mind the power wires. I hadn't finished them yet.

At this point in my day I was ready to set the car on fire.










But everything powered on and nothing caught fire.










Quick dampening of the spare tire well. 










Box in and bolted down










Blammo!










It didn't sound very good at first, but after calibrating the cleansweep, and screwing with the amp, I've got it dialed in pretty well. I have the crossover on the amp set around 100Hz and the gain down VERY low. Got the wife in the car and she stayed for a while! Always the best response. 

Tomorrow I'm going to try and make a trim panel for it. After that, I'll put the rest of the interior back in.


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## [email protected] (Nov 7, 2010)

Nice job so far!!! Are you planning to incorporate a grill into the top cover?


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## odj23 (Jul 13, 2010)

Yeah, my plan is to recess a mesh grill into the cover piece and lay carpet over the whole thing, so that it just looks like a floor.


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## mrmill (Feb 11, 2013)

Nice install and entertaining read...in to see what's next


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## TheBetterMethod (Sep 19, 2012)

Nice work!

It's good to see a nice simple install rather than all the crazy 
stuff we see around here on a regular basis.

Keep it up!


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## kustomkaraudio (Jun 20, 2009)

From what I understand the fronts are full range and the rears are highpassed @100hz. ( like you stated ) There is website called NewMINIStuff.com , they sell a "channel swap harness " the idea is to flip the fronts and rears, in a stock application, let the 6x9 do your bass, and high pass smaller front speakers

IMHO this might something for you to try, get a full range signal for your sub, and a 100hz. highpass on the fronts could never hurt you. 

Food for thought


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

The problem with that harness, is that if you have bluetooth (as the OP does) it causes the conversations and warning chimes to come from the rear speakers. That's why he recoded it the car to eliminate the 100hz high pass on the rears.

Works fine on the older models w/o BT tho.

Jay


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## kustomkaraudio (Jun 20, 2009)

JayinMI said:


> The problem with that harness, is that if you have bluetooth (as the OP does) it causes the conversations and warning chimes to come from the rear speakers. That's why he recoded it the car to eliminate the 100hz high pass on the rears.
> 
> Works fine on the older models w/o BT tho.
> 
> Jay


That's funny, i re-read that part, I thought he wasn't able to disable the high pass , but do some other cool stuff ! 

I have only done the channel swap once, and that person was cool with the fader being backwards and the Bluetooth and chimes behind them.


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## Brian_smith06 (Jan 31, 2008)

Corgi!


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## Tominizer (Jul 5, 2012)

Nice work. I like it.

Next step........... buy the Metra kit and install a nice double DIN nav unit and totally get rid of the piece of **** Mini sterio. That's where I'm at right now with my Clubman S. I hate the factory system so much so I'm dumping it. Absolute JUNK.

BTW, those pictures of the gutted rear interior brought tears to my eyes and fond memories. I did that once....... twice........ maybe ten times. I think I can gut the back end now with my eyes closed. Good times.

I have to look into that NCS Expert. I think I need that.


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## odj23 (Jul 13, 2010)

mrmill said:


> Nice install and entertaining read...in to see what's next





TheBetterMethod said:


> Nice work!
> 
> It's good to see a nice simple install rather than all the crazy
> stuff we see around here on a regular basis.
> ...


Thanks guys! I feel like it got pretty involved for a simple install, but my version of complicated is nowhere near the levels of Bing or any of the other big dogs around here.



Tominizer said:


> Nice work. I like it.
> 
> Next step........... buy the Metra kit and install a nice double DIN nav unit and totally get rid of the piece of **** Mini sterio. That's where I'm at right now with my Clubman S. I hate the factory system so much so I'm dumping it. Absolute JUNK.
> 
> ...


It's a crap deck, and the front speakers are still crap, but... it sounds good enough for her now, and that's what matters. 

This car is a pain in the butt in terms of panel removal/replacement. those clips where the center is supposed to come out.. I broke two of those. Broke one of them hard enough to bend a mounting bracket.

There's a couple of good threads in the gen2/electrical section on NAM. Many many pages, but they're necessary. I used the guide that GTECKO posted in his zip, and the ncsexpert/inpa/driver/daten package that the other dude uploaded on his strangely named website. If you can't find the info send me a PM or something and I can dig it up for you. Or just send you the files I used.



Brian_smith06 said:


> Corgi!


Yep! That's my boy. Sir Barkley Wigglebottom. Formally known as Tresath's Remington Perfect Type. Or just Remmie to his friends and family. Here's a picture of him as a puppy, from his first day with us.


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## odj23 (Jul 13, 2010)

I did a little more tweaking yesterday, lowering the crossover frequency on the amp a tad to take care of a peak in the upper bass registers that was annoying me. After that was taken care of, I laid down some more Raammat and put the interior panels back in.










I got most of the way done before realizing that the trunk entry cover piece wouldn't fit, because the box was in the way.










I cut out some notches with the dremel and put the bastard back in. 

Getting the hatch seal back seated properly is a pain in the ass. You have to pry the lip back out so that it fits over the trim panels like it's supposed to. The glue is also really nasty. It's like a permanently tacky black tar/RTV. Got it all over my shoes somehow 










And then I'm on to the last step - getting a trim panel made.

I used the old panel as a template










and extended it out 1" to the right and 2.5mm to the bottom. This leaves a gap on the sides, but allows access to a couple of the tie downs in the trunk. I used those things from time to time so I figured I'd leave them accessible.










Board in place. Fits nicely.










Metal mesh a-la-parts-express










I cut the edges off with tin snips, and my hands were sore as hell by the time I was done. I ended up trimming it down a little more, but got smarter and used my grinder with a cutoff wheel. Duh. 










Then I drew some stuff on a board.










I missed photographing a couple of steps here and there (I was rushing a tad), but I routed out the edge so that the panel sits recessed and flush with the top surface of the board. I used drywall screws to hold it in place, and cut their tips off with the grinder.










I placed it in the trunk and the woofer opening looks perfectly adequate.










I cut up some 2x4 to use as spacers and supports for the cover panel. After getting them in their correct places, I put some strip calk on top of them to stick to the trim panel so that I could make sure the spacers stayed in the right place. 

Plus I had to use up that strip calk, which is largely useless except for sticking your gloves to themselves.










it worked a treat!

That's industrial velcro on the spacers btw. That's how it'll hold on to the sub box.










I put some screws into the spacers, and threw some carpet on the box.

Aaaaaaaaaaand, presto!



















I can still access those tie downs



















I think it came out pretty nice.










And suitably stealth.










Sorry about the **** photos btw. They were all taken with my phone.

I need to cut a couple of pieces to run along the sides between the car's floor and the trim panel, since stuff can fall into that space as it is now. Plus if you put something heavy on either far edge of the panel it can tip over. Takes a bit of force though - that industrial velcro is no joke.

I also realized I forgot to plug in the light for the trunk. *grumble* So I'll pick up some trim clips from ECS or somewhere else to replace a couple I broke (and for spares), take care of the light, and replace some broken trim clips.

That's it for now though. We drove into the city last night and the system sounds pretty good. I got the sub blended in so that it's pretty transparent - to the point where I got in the car later and forgot all about the subwoofer install. It's no show winner, but if it makes my wife happy, it's a complete win in my book.

Big thanks to Tim for the MTX/Streetwires hookup, Aaron for the install bits/wire/etc, and a bunch of random cats on the internet for figuring out a lot of this stuff for me.


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## fast4door (Aug 2, 2012)

awesome job!!!!! this forum has the most creative and versatile members of any forum!!


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## chithead (Mar 19, 2008)

Subscribed. Looking to make a false floor for my latest install. 

I like the stealth, and attention to details.


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## quality_sound (Dec 25, 2005)

Swapping the channels would have actually freed up power for you and protected the front speakers while letting the rear 6x9s give you more midbass. BT and the gongs would have moved as well but having done this mod, it doesn't hurt anything and makes a pretty drastic improvement.


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## quality_sound (Dec 25, 2005)

Oh, and the reason you have the spare tire well is the base R55 and R56 don't come with run flats so they have a spare tire. The S and JCW went for weight savings so they got run flats instead.


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## ginster6 (Aug 19, 2009)

quality_sound said:


> Oh, and the reason you have the spare tire well is the base R55 and R56 don't come with run flats so they have a spare tire. The S and JCW went for weight savings so they got run flats instead.


And that was the first thing I got rid of is the "Run-Flat" on my JCW.


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## quality_sound (Dec 25, 2005)

I swapped the RFTs on my JCW out after running them bald on the Ring. They weren't the best tires but I've owned FAR worse. But I have roadside assistance so I don't really care about RFTs. My M3 doesn't have RFTs OR a spare so it's all good.


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## odj23 (Jul 13, 2010)

quality_sound said:


> Swapping the channels would have actually freed up power for you and protected the front speakers while letting the rear 6x9s give you more midbass. BT and the gongs would have moved as well but having done this mod, it doesn't hurt anything and makes a pretty drastic improvement.


The way it is right now, it sounds good enough. I had really intended to disconnect the rear speakers from the get go, and having the bluetooth & gong from the rear speakers was not something I wanted. I just don't like the idea of it.



quality_sound said:


> Oh, and the reason you have the spare tire well is the base R55 and R56 don't come with run flats so they have a spare tire. The S and JCW went for weight savings so they got run flats instead.


Yeah, I figured. Like how they delete the spare tire compartment entirely on the coopers. I think they did the latter just so they could have a rear exhaust exit. Lots of styling compromises on these cars :-/



ginster6 said:


> And that was the first thing I got rid of is the "Run-Flat" on my JCW.





quality_sound said:


> I swapped the RFTs on my JCW out after running them bald on the Ring. They weren't the best tires but I've owned FAR worse. But I have roadside assistance so I don't really care about RFTs. My M3 doesn't have RFTs OR a spare so it's all good.


We don't have run flats on either of the MINIs, as they're super heavy and ride like ass. The only "mod" on the clubman aside from those mentioned in this thread are the super light wheels (IIRC they're 12lb per corner) and some sticky Dunlop Direzzia Star Specs. Night and day over a stock wheel/tire combo.

I'm hoping to get some time this weekend to finish up the last few details on this install. Still have to order some trim clips.


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## odj23 (Jul 13, 2010)

My buddy Justin came by on Monday and we got the car finished up. I didn't take many photos since my phone was out of space.

I turned up the sub a tad per my wife's request, and plugged the trunk light back in. 

Then we finished up the finishing panel. I used some pine slats I saved from an old platform bed and cut them to fit. I was able to remove some of the staples, pull the carpet back, and send screws in from the carpet side. Then I pulled the carpet back over and stapled it as best I could. It looks a bit crap in the photos, but you can't see any of the wood while it's installed.










I set the pine pieces in about a quarter of an inch on each side so that you have somewhat of a lip to grab on. 










So, that's it for now. I'll probably tweak the amp's volume again so we don't have to do so much of the volume control with the fader. Ultimately though, it's up to my wife. It's her car.


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## cweber (Dec 5, 2013)

Did you just connect amp to left 6x9 wires and leave 6x9s disconnected?


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## BlkRamRt (Nov 27, 2013)

thats a badass box nice and hidden and you still have all your room.


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## SkizeR (Apr 19, 2011)

corgiii!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## sonic5 (May 14, 2014)

Fantasic job. Could please provide me with the measurements of the box?


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## Chaos (Oct 27, 2005)

The custom amp bracket looks great and I like the backyard ingenuity you showed by making the most of what you had to work with.


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

i think it came out fantastic man. best part is, when friends get in - they will be like, man, this mini has a great stereo! you should never tell them hahah.

only give-aways in my car is that i have a carPC and a pair of 18's... so its fairly obvious for me 

awesome stuff man. i really dig it.


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## odj23 (Jul 13, 2010)

SkizeR said:


> corgiii!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Yeah man 



sonic5 said:


> Fantasic job. Could please provide me with the measurements of the box?


From the post:



odj23 said:


> It's a 20"x6.5" rectangle with a half of a 10" radius circle on top.


I don't remember the height, I think the total height of the box was something like 9" or 8.75". I had some notes but I think I deleted them.

You can calculate the volume for yours by finding the area for the base board in two pieces - one big rectangle, and half a circle. Then just multiply area x height and you'll get volume. Just make sure to discount the thickness of the side pieces from your calculations.



Chaos said:


> The custom amp bracket looks great and I like the backyard ingenuity you showed by making the most of what you had to work with.


Thanks! I like the challenge of using what I have on hand to make things. I've slowly built up a decent cache of tools and interesting parts over the years, but inevitably I don't have what I need or don't want to run out to the store to buy a tool or part or something.



req said:


> i think it came out fantastic man. best part is, when friends get in - they will be like, man, this mini has a great stereo! you should never tell them hahah.
> 
> only give-aways in my car is that i have a carPC and a pair of 18's... so its fairly obvious for me
> 
> awesome stuff man. i really dig it.


Thanks man! Since the fronts are stock it sounds like a stock system with a really healthy low end. People are surprised all the time. Especially when they see my wife zooming around in this thing with the bass turned up :laugh:

I did some work to my Jetta and the big giveaway are the custom door speaker pods. In retrospect I wish I'd used the stockers just to keep it a little stealthy... but that project taught me how to do fiberglass. So there's always that.

I have plans to do some more with her car, but it'll be a while yet.


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

odj23 said:


>


Anyone ever tell you that you look like the guy from the Scott's lawn care commercials?

LOL

Jay


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## 90mx5texas (Apr 8, 2016)

I got a 09 clubman and I have the same feeling about the sound system... I wonder if you are wiling to build me a sub system like yours and ship it to me to Texas 77388.

I would get my amps and sub, I basically need the box and covers, wiring and diagrams.

Thanks in advance
BJ


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## odj23 (Jul 13, 2010)

90mx5texas said:


> I got a 09 clubman and I have the same feeling about the sound system... I wonder if you are wiling to build me a sub system like yours and ship it to me to Texas 77388.
> 
> I would get my amps and sub, I basically need the box and covers, wiring and diagrams.
> 
> ...


Hi BJ - 

Funny that you found the thread today. I was just showing it to a coworker.

I lack much in the way of free time these days, and don't really have much interest in building and selling stuff. However, if you have any questions, send me a PM and I'll assist as well as I can. It's been a while since I tackled this project, however, and most of the info I'd have available is in this thread.

- Jackson


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## Liam97 (Jun 22, 2016)

odj23 said:


> Hi BJ -
> 
> Funny that you found the thread today. I was just showing it to a coworker.
> 
> ...


Hey I was wandering how difficult would this exact build be for someone who hasn't done electrical/audio work before? I would be using a 12" sub, same housing you used, the amp can be visible, and I don't mind it intruding any space.

I would also be using the converter people had mentioned to swap the front power to the back and visa versa as it sounds easier and I don't mind the BT going to the back.

Car Toys quoted me $750 for the wires, an LC2i, and labor, and if all it will take is some hard labor I would love to not spend that and then have to go buy my amp and subs still.

And lastly could I use an LC2i in place of the $300 JL Cleansweep?


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## odj23 (Jul 13, 2010)

Liam97 said:


> Hey I was wandering how difficult would this exact build be for someone who hasn't done electrical/audio work before? I would be using a 12" sub, same housing you used, the amp can be visible, and I don't mind it intruding any space.
> 
> I would also be using the converter people had mentioned to swap the front power to the back and visa versa as it sounds easier and I don't mind the BT going to the back.
> 
> ...


Without knowing how handy you are, that's a bit of an impossible question to answer. 

Keep in mind that unless you have the upgraded stereo, you'll need to reprogram the stereo module to put full output to rear speakers if you plan to tap them for the sub output. Then there's general wiring and wood working. I'm not terribly great at any of these things, but I've been screwing around with electronics and building crap since 1995. 

The LC2i looks like it'll work. Hell, you could just use a line level converter. The only two reasons I used the cleansweep are 1. because I had it already, and 2. it would flatten out the signal provided from the head unit.

Honestly though, you will need to research every aspect of the build to do a good job. Given the questions you've asked, I would err on the side of this being a "difficult" sort of build to start out with.


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