In Depth Guide: Adding an aftermarket amplifier and sub

[sircodemane]

I don't think It's that bad but it's also not great. I did read that perhaps replacing the OEM amp/DSP might help but I don't think the sound is quite bad enough to do that. And besides, if I'm going to go to that much trouble, I'm going to replace all the speakers with shiny new Focals. ?

Same, I didn't hate the stock sound, I was just very let down that I have two subs behind me that are apparently just for looks and don't produce any actual bass lol. But we'll see, once I can drive it around I can see how I feel about it with road noise, exhaust, etc.

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[sircodemane]

While you had it ripped apart. You should have added these thing too

Sheeeesh bro that's nice. Way more work than I wanted to do ?

 

[MK5_Ger]

For sure. I'm definitely not an audiophile by any means, I mainly just wanted actual bass. Once I get the ECU back in the car (hopefully tomorrow) I'll post an update for both the sound and MHD feels. And I already had ASD coded out, but I went ahead and left it unplugged to just really make sure it's dead.

Sounds good, just wanted to throw in my experience to save someone the money and time

 

[MK5_Ger]

Just a stupid thought I had that might work well too.
Throw out the stock woofers and replace them with any good aftermarket drop in sub. (Eton, ESX, Audison)
To get the signal buy the connector from the subwoofer plug and input this into a LOC that can support up to 40V input (because of the 8 ohm stock woofer). AudioControl LC2i will work fine.
Use the signal from the LOC and feed it into an amp to power the subs.
This should work and result in much more bass than stock subs and would still be hidden.

 

[sircodemane]

Just a stupid thought I had that might work well too.
Throw out the stock woofers and replace them with any good aftermarket drop in sub. (Eton, ESX, Audison)
To get the signal buy the connector from the subwoofer plug and input this into a LOC that can support up to 40V input (because of the 8 ohm stock woofer). AudioControl LC2i will work fine.
Use the signal from the LOC and feed it into an amp to power the subs.
This should work and result in much more bass than stock subs and would still be hidden.

I am legit considering this for a later down the road project. I think I'll have to do a custom box for it though. My understanding is that the stock compartment only has a depth of up to 2.5 inches, so any decent speaker wouldn't fit unless you mount it inverted. My goal would be to replace the whole sub assembly with a slighter larger custom box made to look OEM. Doing that would give me my trunk space back, that's the only thing I'm unhappy about (so far lol)

 

[MK5_Ger]

I am legit considering this for a later down the road project. I think I'll have to do a custom box for it though. My understanding is that the stock compartment only has a depth of up to 2.5 inches, so any decent speaker wouldn't fit unless you mount it inverted. My goal would be to replace the whole sub assembly with a slighter larger custom box made to look OEM. Doing that would give me my trunk space back, that's the only thing I'm unhappy about (so far lol)

If you want to keep the OEM carpet, a custom box will be difficult.
Audison or Match Subwoofers would absolutely increase the bass in the stock location with an amp.
I threw out my Harman Kardon Subwoofers in my F31 and replaced them with ESX 2 Ohm Subwoofer. Same enclosure. Night and day difference.

Trunk space is the reason why I don't put a big sub in the trunk. The Supra is already so small. I need all the space when going on a trip?

 

[sircodemane]

If you want to keep the OEM carpet, a custom box will be difficult.
Audison or Match Subwoofers would absolutely increase the bass in the stock location with an amp.
I threw out my Harman Kardon Subwoofers in my F31 and replaced them with ESX 2 Ohm Subwoofer. Same enclosure. Night and day difference.

Trunk space is the reason why I don't put a big sub in the trunk. The Supra is already so small. I need all the space when going on a trip?

I'd be happy with "stock looking" carpet on a custom box, but not having to pull the entire stock box and build a custom one is very tempting. I will for sure keep your suggestion in mind when I finally decide I need to reclaim my trunk space lol

 

[MK5_Ger]

I'd be happy with "stock looking" carpet on a custom box, but not having to pull the entire stock box and build a custom one is very tempting. I will for sure keep your suggestion in mind when I finally decide I need to reclaim my trunk space lol

Sounds like a plan.
Please keep us updated on how you like the sound.

 

[Sam B]

if u want good audio. Scrap the stock setup and start over.

 

[Sam B]

I still have full trunk as well

 

[splv]

I still have full trunk as well

That's a nice Supra strapped onto your audio system .

Appreciate all the info shared in this thread.

 

[Sam B]

I’m not showing pics to be arrogant. I went down the exact road you all are. I added a sub. Then wanted more. Then I did a full setup. Then did an extreme full setup and changed every speaker location. 6.5” in the doors and all.
What I’m trying to save you all from is. The base audio in these cars is so poor. It’s not worth building off of. Get a helix sdmi and start over from scratch if you want good quality SQ. The Supra is actually a good platform for audio.
I’m actually doing a front sub soon

 

[EddieNel]

Ok I’m going to have to read this thread soon. I’ve been wanting to just replace my subs with some Punch or Pioneer subs and see if that gave me a little deeper bass. I don’t need or want any boom. I just want to hear some bass lol

 

[BMWAF]

I'm used to good Audi sound systems from Bose or Bang & Olufsen.
Compared to that it's bad.

But I still agree with you. It's not that terrible to justify spending over 1000$ for an upgrade.

This. I have a custom Focal setup in my daily and it kills the stock Supra system in every way.. but as you said, it's all relative and (for me at least) it's not bad enough to warrant going all in.

The Tada subwoofer mod brought it all up to acceptable.. and believe me, I'm a pretty hard marker when it comes to audio. I'm not a bass hound though, so it's the clarity of the mid-range that I consider the real let down. And to improve that is going to require more time, money and effort than I want to commit.

 

[sircodemane]

I’m not showing pics to be arrogant. I went down the exact road you all are. I added a sub. Then wanted more. Then I did a full setup. Then did an extreme full setup and changed every speaker location. 6.5” in the doors and all.
What I’m trying to save you all from is. The base audio in these cars is so poor. It’s not worth building off of. Get a helix sdmi and start over from scratch if you want good quality SQ. The Supra is actually a good platform for audio.
I’m actually doing a front sub soon

That's totally fair man, it's similar to how I feel about the factory box mod in hindsight. Audio is pretty subjective too as it totally depends on what somebody is after, so it's nice to show the different levels of improvement available. If somebody checks out this post and thinks "adding a subwoofer is not enough to save this car's audio", hopefully they'll see all these replies and realize that there's still far more options available to them.

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