# 2014 Subaru Outback - Complete Aftermarket System with Custom Sub Enclosure



## YoungClayB (Feb 17, 2014)

Well, I got my 2014 Outback just a couple weeks ago and getting the stereo up to par was first on my list of things to do to the Outback.

Here is the rundown on the parts that I used and some pictures I took while building my sub enclosure and once everything was in place. For the most part, its a pretty stealthy installation.

*Headunit: Pioneer AVH-X8500*
At first, I really wanted to go with a nav headunit, but the more I read about them the more i was convinced that these units just arent ready for primetime just yet. Very buggy and slow to even start up. So, I saved myself about $500 and just got a good DVD receiver that has gotten stellar reviews all over the place. I also installed a PAC over ride unit so that I can access all receiver functions without the emergency brake engaged. I consciously chose this unit over the newer 2014 units because the newer units only have 1 USB (this one has 2), the newer ones dont have an SD Mem Card slot, and the newer ones dont have a detachable face.

*Steering Wheel Controller: Maestro iDataLink*
Awesome unit. You can program it to do whatever you want. Doubles your available steering wheel functions by allowing you to also program "press and hold"

*Bezel: OEM Bezel from Japan*
Pretty pricey at $130 shipped but these look so much better than the metra bezels. These are really well made too

*Amp:JL 700/5*
I had this amp in a previous install and am simply reusing it, Great amp. I also have a little remote volume knob that I use for my sub levels. I adjusted the gains using a Fluke multimeter and Im happy with the results. Its nice knowing that I can crank the volume to 30 with absolutely no risk of clipping or distortion.

*Fronts: Hertz HSK 165 2-way Component System*
This is my first venture into the world of components. So far so good. I had the tweeters installed under the factory tweeter grill in the dash. I set the passive crossover to -2 db and it definitely helped get the highs under control. 

*Rears: Hertz ECX 165 Coax Speakers*
These are step down in quality from my fronts, by they sound good enough for rear speakers. These were also left over from a previous install

*Sub: JL 10w1v3*
Great sub; great value for the price in my opinion.

*Door Treatment*
36 sq ft of Dynamat spread across all four doors

Well, thats pretty much the rundown on parts. The only thing I didnt mention above is the fiberglass enclosure that I built for the sub. I matched the volume almost exactly to JL's specs for a sealed space for the 10w1v3.

Here is a picture of the stock headunit to get us started 









Now for the good stuff. Here are some pics of the finished system.

Cabin View:









Headunit Flush:









Headunit Recessed (less glare during the day):









Headunit playing a DVD:









Remote Sub Level Control Knob:









Amp Settings:









Sub:

















And finally, here are some pics of the sub enclosure being built:









































































































Well, thats about it. I cannot begin to tell you how happy I am with this installation. I even retained the USB and AUX plugs in the center console; plus I now have an extra USB port/cable in my glovebox with a 64GB thumbdrive loaded up with movies. 

Feel free to ask any questions and I'll do my best to respond.


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## BlueAc (May 19, 2007)

nice work!


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## BEAVER (May 26, 2007)

Nice! I like it. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## rdubbs (Sep 26, 2012)

looks really good!  Did you tuck the amp under the seat?


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## YoungClayB (Feb 17, 2014)

Thanks guys. Yeah, the amp is under the front passenger seat. Pretty easy to get to when necessary but completely out of the way for the most part. All cable connections are facing forward so I don't have to worry about passengers in the back seat kicking something loose.


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## mark620 (Dec 8, 2010)

Nice work..Sub box looks great


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## YoungClayB (Feb 17, 2014)

Thanks Mark. I'm really happy with how it turned out. This is the second time I've built one. I did one for my previous vehicle (2013 Prius) and this enclosure sounds way better to my ears. It seems less punchy and more smooth. The enclosure in my Prius was about .65-.7 sq ft and this enclosure is about .55-.6 sq ft. I think the shape has something to do with it also. For some reason, I think the little cubby recess being directly behind the driver is a good thing. 

I almost built an upward firing enclosure in the spare tire well, but I really like having subs fire directly into the listening area, plus now if I have a flat tire, I won't have to deal with moving the sub enclosure out of the way together to my spare tire and jack.


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## Notloudenuf (Sep 14, 2008)

That is some great work!
Are you coming to the spring G2G April 26 in Greensboro?
I'd like to hear this.


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

So you got rid of a 2013 Prius and picked up a 2014 Outback, welcome to the wonderful world of Subaru.


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## YoungClayB (Feb 17, 2014)

Notloudenuf said:


> That is some great work!
> Are you coming to the spring G2G April 26 in Greensboro?
> I'd like to hear this.



Thanks man. I wish I could make it. That's about 3 hours from me. We'll see though.


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## YoungClayB (Feb 17, 2014)

Coppertone said:


> So you got rid of a 2013 Prius and picked up a 2014 Outback, welcome to the wonderful world of Subaru.



Yep. I live in the NC mountains and have to commute to Charlotte pretty regularly so I bought the Prius back in June. It made sense for gas mileage but that was about it. I honestly about lost it over Little Lost Cove Cliffs about 2 weeks before trading her for the Subie. I guess that was the straw that broke the camels back. I mean, I had to put on snow chains every morning to make it up the gravel road from my house to the Blue Ridge Parkway, and if the front wheels of the Prius slipped, then the Prius would just stop trying. You could have you foot to the floor and the Prius would just sit there and look at you. No rev, no nothing. Nuts. Anyways, a great car for the city but just didn't suit my lifestyle. 

Here are some pics of the Prius almost going over the cliffs. My neighbor pulled me off the ledge with his tractor and winch. Now, THAT was scary since I was in the car when pulling it off the ledge. 










And here is my Subie on the day I got her


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

Wow I was scared and I wasn't even in the car lol. I am glad that the power and adaptability of the Subaru will suit you and your situation much better. Now of course once you start adding audio gear, you will find that you need more and more.


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## BTA (Nov 5, 2005)

Nice job. I have the same car. That dash kit is awesome. Bit expensive though. I'm using the black metra one and it's honestly not bad with a w910 that's also black anyway..but the finish on yours is sweet.

Trying to figure out if I could fit my SS Exact 12 in the same sort of set up you did here but I dunno if it'd fit. 

Did you cut the rubber floor mat in the back so it still lifts up to access the spare?


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## YoungClayB (Feb 17, 2014)

A 12 would fit but you'd be pushing it to get the required enclosure volume for optimal performance. You might have to carry the enclosure forward over the tire well. 

Yeah, I cut the mat and just have the edge tucked under the enclosure.


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## Notloudenuf (Sep 14, 2008)

YoungClayB said:


> Thanks man. I wish I could make it. That's about 3 hours from me. We'll see though.


Haha you say 3 hours like its a long way. I'm 3 hours from there but east instead of west.


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## chithead (Mar 19, 2008)

Welcome to the wonderful world of Subaru! I can't say enough about them. They are just fantastic automobiles, and we will always have at least one in our driveway.

Nice choice of audio equipment also, and a super awesome install. Hope we can make it to a meet sometime and compare notes.


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## YoungClayB (Feb 17, 2014)

So I started looking at my EQ today and decided to download JL's iPhone app and see what my frequencies looked like under pink noise. 

Here is how I had my EQ set. It sounded pretty good at low volumes but if you cranked it, the highs were fatiguing at best and unbearable in some cases. 



And here is how my EQ looked after trying to flatten out everything north of 125 Hz. (The measurements for frequencies lower than 125 didn't appear to be accurate...they basically stayed the same no matter what I did. I was using the mic on an iPhone so that's understandable.)



I tried my best to eliminate the dip at 4k but this was the best I could do. 

By ear, I would have never adjusted an EQ to look like this. The sound is definitely different. Much more tame highs - I'm going to keep it like this for a while and see if it takes


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## BTA (Nov 5, 2005)

If you still have trouble with your highs and you have your tweets in the stock locations in corners of the dash, try turning them down 1 or 2 db, and flipping polarity.


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## chithead (Mar 19, 2008)

Honestly, our Pioneer 8400 is the same way. The Alpine ICS-X7HD it replaced never had that issue. A review on PASMAG of the 8400 noted the same issue, very bright at higher volumes


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## YoungClayB (Feb 17, 2014)

Well, I changed my crossover settings and did some EQ tweaking and here is what I can up with. I managed to get my RTA pretty flat across the board. I discovered a nasty spike around 125 Hz while listening to an Allison Krauss song with a punchy bull bass. The RTA wasn't lying before. I can't believe I have my components crossed over so high. I never would have thought it. I also changed my low pass slope from 12 db/octave to 24 db/octave. I've heard this is better in a hatchback/suv. I'm going to listen for a while like this and see what I think. I may also run a sweep to see if there are any frequencies between my crossover points that I am missing. RTA doesn't seem to think so.


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## optimaprime (Aug 16, 2007)

Nice man amazing what technology can do ! Rta on phone ! I love using mine on the phone and ipad!


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## chithead (Mar 19, 2008)

Interesting. That curve looks a bit better to me. Still has the detail you enjoy?


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## YoungClayB (Feb 17, 2014)

chithead said:


> Interesting. That curve looks a bit better to me. Still has the detail you enjoy?



The detail is definitely still there. It's missing some of the "thickness" on the low end, but I think that's ok. I think I had just gotten used to listening to a muddy wall between 80 and 200 Hz


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## chithead (Mar 19, 2008)

Yeah I had a hard time with the muddy or bloated bottom end and then the crazy highs on that 8400. Would make my cheeks hurt on some song from that piercing bright upper end. 

But after a bit of tuning, definitely a nice head unit. Very family friendly too. Our little man loves watching some Gigglebellies and Cat in the Hat.


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## YoungClayB (Feb 17, 2014)

I thinking seriously about putting monitors in the headrests so that my boys can watch movies with annoying me and my wife. I've been looking for a good review of the units capabilities but haven't found anything. My main question is whether you can pick ANY of the sources to go to the rear or if it's ONLY the internal DVD player that can send output to the rear. I have all my movies on a thumb drive in the glovebox on usb1.


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## chithead (Mar 19, 2008)

From what I remember, it is limited, but USB is one of the options that can be displayed on the rear outputs.


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## YoungClayB (Feb 17, 2014)

2 things I've realized over the past couple of days. 

1. A flat curve sounds like poo

2. I needed an RTA that does real time averaging

Good news on both fronts! My low end is back and my curve looks pretty close to what I've found through some recent research to be darn near ideal. This is the first time that my ears and the RTA results agree on something. No more tweaking for a while. I'm going to enjoy some tunes for a while.


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## chithead (Mar 19, 2008)

Very nice!


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## Big_Valven (Aug 20, 2008)

Nice work on the tuning. I have noticed similar traits from similar Pioneer double DINs.

The box is very solid - consistently made. Did you use polyester or epoxy resin?


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## radiospank (Jan 28, 2013)

nice box build, nice car. I have a prius and im looking to either get a new prius or a new subaru. I'm really leaning toward an impreza hatch, I love the hatches. Wrx would be my first choice but its a bit more money and gas guzzler. Prius just doesn't make sense for a regular 15k mile a year driving habit, its price offsets it's gas savings. So anyway Subaru is what i'm looking at now.


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

Give in to your desire and join us on the Subaru side lol.


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## YoungClayB (Feb 17, 2014)

Big_Valven said:


> Nice work on the tuning. I have noticed similar traits from similar Pioneer double DINs.
> 
> The box is very solid - consistently made. Did you use polyester or epoxy resin?



Thanks. I'm not sure exactly. I used fiberglass resin and mat - the stuff you can buy at lowes or Home Depot. The crazy thing was that there wasn't a single store in town that had more than 2 packs of fiberglass mat in stock. I had to go to 4 different stores to get enough mat for my enclosure. Yes, it's very solid and I am extremely happy with the sound. They are so much fun to build.


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## YoungClayB (Feb 17, 2014)

radiospank said:


> nice box build, nice car. I have a prius and im looking to either get a new prius or a new subaru. I'm really leaning toward an impreza hatch, I love the hatches. Wrx would be my first choice but its a bit more money and gas guzzler. Prius just doesn't make sense for a regular 15k mile a year driving habit, its price offsets it's gas savings. So anyway Subaru is what i'm looking at now.



The Prius is a great car as long as you never plan to leave the pavement or drive in snow/ice/mud. It really is a nice riding and comfortable car. I loved mine until I almost lost it over a cliff. Lol. ...and even with a very small amount of snow or ice, it just won't go. I LOVE my Subaru so far. The confidence of knowing that I can take the car wherever I want far outweighs the gas savings. Plus, I like the culture of Subaru drivers way more than the stereotype of a Prius driver. Subaru drivers are: outdoorsy, capable, adventurous, utilitarian, and safe. Prius drivers are smart, environmentally condescending, and about as far from capable and utilitarian as you can get. I doubt if most Prius owners even own a single power tool - unless you count their cappuccino machine.


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## BigDNY (Feb 12, 2014)

Hey just saw this pop to the top of the thread list. Fellow Subby owner checking in. Looks real nice. Isn't it great what you can do pretty easily with fiberglass?


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## Chaos (Oct 27, 2005)

Great looking install. I'm impressed that you are getting decent RTA results with a basic eq like that - its the same sort of approach I have been taking lately and I like to see the concept working for somebody else.

Just FYI, there are several new headunits on the market that will run nav apps from your phone. Saves on the expense of the unit, and works just about as well. I'm not sure about which Pioneers might be compatible with that type of feature, but you might want to check your manual.


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## theoldguy (Nov 17, 2009)

YoungClayB said:


>


which RTA program are you using?


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## YoungClayB (Feb 17, 2014)

RTA Audio Free. I like it a lot better than the JL app.


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## quickaudi07 (May 19, 2010)

If you are an Android user, you should try UltimateAudio FFt Spectrum, you could get the Pro version for 8$ really nice app. or you could get the free one, or you could download blackmarket and get it here for free


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## YoungClayB (Feb 17, 2014)

I couldn't help myself. I'm getting headrest monitors installed today! Stay tuned for specifics, pictures, and a report on how the AVH-x8500 works with the monitors.


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

Wow, I haven't seen headrest monitors in like a minute. Looking forward to your thoughts on these.


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## YoungClayB (Feb 17, 2014)

Alrighty. The new monitors are installed and I am very happy with them. 

A pair of these:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00A267JGK?pc_redir=1397245194&robot_redir=1

And a pair of these:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007SDLMOU/ref=pd_aw_sims_1/178-0619492-3990021?pi=SL500_SY115

Here is the way I have them wired. Headunit goes to the left rear monitor and the left rear monitor feeds the right rear monitor. This allows for maximum flexibility and allows both monitors to play the same content regardless of source. 

Each monitor has the following inputs:
- internal DVD
- aux in
- AV in (this is the input being feed by my HU)
- SD Card
- USB

Lots of flexibility. These would be great monitors even without HU integration. 

I choose to make the left rear monitor the "master" and the right rear to be the "slave" because my 3 year old sits on the left side and my 9 year old sits on the right. This allows ME to control (from the headunit) what gets played on my 3 year old's monitor and gives my 9 year old the option to watch the same thing or do his own thing via his monitor's internal DVD, SD, or USB input. 

Integration with the Pioneer headunit is really nice. You can send DVD, USB1, or SD content to the rear or you can choose to mirror whatever is showing up front. This works out great for me. Remember, the Pioneer AVH-x8500 has 2 USB ports on the back (USB1 and USB2). I have my 80 GB iPod Classic on USB2 and a 64GB thumb drive on USB1. It's awesome being able to send the movies from the thumb drive to the rear monitors and being able to continue listening to my iPod through the main car speakers. Just awesome!!!

Anyways, here are some pics. The finish on the headrests is a perfect match with my leather seats. 





The kiddos approve.


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## YoungClayB (Feb 17, 2014)

My only complaint (and it's a minor one) is that the monitors have to be manually turned on and you have to set the input every time you turn them on. Power and source is controlled by a single button. A better design would have been a physical on/off switch and memory of last used input. I'm sure there are monitors out there that function like this but for the price, I am still very happy.


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## YoungClayB (Feb 17, 2014)

Ok. 1 more complaint. And this one is a little bigger of a deal. The monitors have USB and SD card inputs but the ONLY file format they support according to the manual is mp3 and JPEG. Really? Jeez. Might as well not even have those input options if you ask me. Oh well.


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

I agree but if they are entertaining your boys, then it's job well done.


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## Lorenc483 (Dec 24, 2012)

Great installation. I just bought a 2014 Outback 3.6R, and want to upgrade from the current HK system. Am trying to acquire the detailed specs for the current HK system to determine if the head unit is worth keeping. I have a sub I built for my last car (RAV4) that I plan to use. 

How difficult is it to make the fiberglas housing? I am thinking about installing tweeters in the dash but set vertically. I'm thinking about a ribbon tweeter or a good dome tweeter.

Thanks.


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## The1nOnlyJones (May 4, 2016)

Did you have to dynamat the rear cargo area at all to avoid rattle outside the car?


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## MantaOwner (May 15, 2007)

How is that sub enclosure attached to the car, got any pics?

Tõnu


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