Sub investigation begins

Do you know if the space would hold a 10" sub? I am looking at upgrading the sub as 10" would improve my low end, which I am missing. The system sounds incredible already, but I had a 10" sub in my last car and the difference is very noticeable between an 8 and 10.

FYI - The amp should be under the other front seat

Thanks for the write up Clip,
Please keep us informed with the aftermarket install

(16-08-2015 09:30pm)doug Wrote:  Thanks for the write up Clip,
Please keep us informed with the aftermarket install

Shall do Doug.

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(16-08-2015 06:29pm)BCEvoque Wrote:  Do you know if the space would hold a 10" sub? I am looking at upgrading the sub as 10" would improve my low end, which I am missing. The system sounds incredible already, but I had a 10" sub in my last car and the difference is very noticeable between an 8 and 10.

FYI - The amp should be under the other front seat

It probably would, but it would have to be a slim one, or a dedicated under seat type one. Not sure if there would be enough volume for a standard 10". I'm pretty stupid sometimes, I didn't think at the time to actually take some measurements!

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(16-08-2015 06:29pm)BCEvoque Wrote:  FYI - The amp should be under the other front seat

Do you know if that amp just powers the sub, or is it for the whole system?

Looks like a 'Yellow Submarine' to me. Ideal if you ever go wading!

DISREGARD what I said in previous post about the plug not being pushed in far enough and that the sub was now working. It isn't!!!

Funny how you can hear things when you want to - another thing I stupidly didn't do when I had the seat and the sub out, was to actually turn it on and put my ear next to it before putting it all back together. As the plug wasn't fully seated in the first place, I just assumed that was the problem and the sub was now working, as I was sure I could hear a slight difference - WRONG! Subsequently, I decided I'll just add an underseat sub. Then I thought, hang on, there's a perfectly good sub in a custom box that probably just needs a dedicated controlled amp to power it. So as I have a spare amp I thought this will be a quick way and will probably sound better than an aftermarket underseat sub anyway (at least worth a go). However, when I went to tap into the 4 leads (2 channels) running into the sub I found there was no signal at all coming from any of them. They should be high level channels as they feed directly into the speaker, but I checked for low levels too, and nothing. So out with passenger seat (left hand seat) to get to the amp. Checked all the connectors there, re-seated them etc. Still nothing. Then checked continuity from the plug at the sub to the plug at the amp - all good. So for some reason the amp is not sending any signal to the sub. I checked the hidden menu in case there was a setting there, but nothing. So I guess it's off to the dealer. But I know they have no idea about any of this, they couldn't even tell me if it had a sub- so it's going to be a long haul I just know it!

So if you think your sub isn't making much difference, it probably isn't! It's there alright, and it's plugged in, but it doesn't work! I can't wait to find the problem, and I bet I'm not the only one having it too.

Well, decided against going through the dealer as be a waste of time, so thought I'd explore a bit further. Sure, while there should be a signal coming from the amp to the dedicated sub, there's not (and no one can tell me why), but even if there was, that little amp is going to be struggling to punch out anything worthwhile, so decided to try out a discrete amp for the existing sub. Paid for and downloaded a wiring diagram (actually the whole workshop manual, so if anyone wants a copy, just ask). Identified the wiring for the large front door speakers as they are the ones I wanted to tap into as they are the 'sub' speakers. Sure enough, after I tapped into them and hooking up a full range speaker, the output produced nothing other than very low frequencies. So my assumption was correct. I've now got the amp in place but not yet powered up. That's for tomorrow. I'll probably experiment a little with the dual coil and new amp, but thinking that the amp punching out 4ohms and wired into coil one will be fine. The test will be just how good the stock sub is. I suspect it will perform quite well with some power to push it, but we'll see. But even if it's no good, at least all the wiring is now in place for any other option. Happy to share the wiring info if anyone interested.

Just a thought... (may have been covered already), have you experimented with the different sound settings? i.e. Meridian, Stereo etc to see if the sub works on one setting but not another?

Very interesting, keep us updated.

(06-09-2015 07:45am)Daveparky Wrote:  Very interesting, keep us updated.

Apologies I haven't updated this earlier. I did add the amp to the system last weekend. WOW, WOW, WOW, what a difference. I can now understand what people are saying about the sound of the Meridian system! This does everything I wanted. It adds that extra kick that you need when driving at highway speeds and really pulls the system together to produce one of the best OEM car audio sounds I've heard. Getting that underseat sub working has made the exact difference I was after.

For those that mightn't has followed this thread, I decided to retain the OEM sub for three reasons: 1. it was the easiest option, 2. it was designed for the existing system. 3. I wasn't after doof doof sub volumes. What I wanted was clean, precise sub levels that could compensate for the losses experienced at highway speeds. The Evoque is such an incredibly quiet vehicle at highway speeds anyway, and IMHO there was absolutely no need for an overpowering sub. While I believe that JLR and Meridian spent some time putting this system together for more than just your casual listener, I'm still at loss to understand why there are so many units going out without the sub working!

Anyway, another spin off of adding the dedicated amp is that I can now precisely control the sub levels, and can lower the Sub volume setting from the head unit. This takes the load off the lower door speakers allowing them to also do their job better. The sub, now powered with the dedicated amp (as opposed to not working at all), picks up those sub levels that those door speakers where trying to manage, and it does a great job of it! Sounds wonderful! I'm a happy boy for sure!

Clip, what trim level Evoque do you have? I have a prestige trim with the 825W system. I do think it sounds amazing but the low end is lacking a bit (comparing the 8" sub to a 10"), like I had in my last vehicle.

I do agree the door speakers work hard, but the system does sound like it has a subwoofer working. I was looking at upgrading the sub to a 10", hence my questions for room/space under the seat, but if what you say is true, maybe tapping into a separate amp for the sub is the way to go.

What type of amp did you use, and what wattage did you go with? Do you know what the sub is able to handle (max wattage)?