Sub Woofer Question

Sldnx419 · Apr 2, 2026

I ordered a kicker amp and 6.75” subwoofer to swap the factory Bose sub out. I’m going to reuse the factory box under the center console, reseal it and fill it. I’ll wire it to the amp I’m putting under the back seat. $350 in it so far. Waiting until the screen I want is released (in may) before I dig into this project. I installed a custom kicker sub and box in my 15 LML and it was incredible for the size. Going for a similar setup on the new truck, but I haven’t seen any boxes that will fit that area yet. My research is saying to use the factory box and make it a little better.

TxRotor · Apr 5, 2026

Akcajunz said:
OFF TOPIC: Where did you purchase your pistol and mag holder? I like the look and would like to do the same. Long trips with a pistol in my side tends to get uncomfortable, so I put it in the center console but its not very convenient if needed in a hurry. Thanks!

pm sent

Brad_030 · May 4, 2026

john151ama said:
I am a kicker fan as well. But their gmc branded products seem to be sub par of consumer kicker products. Not just them though, the gmc Bose are junk that really don’t keep to the brand of Bose. The tailgate kicker system was a mess. I pulled all of that out and rebuilt it as well.

The stock 6.5” in the center console is garbage, doesn’t even pump good mid range let alone low. I wouldn’t bother touching it. I cut the wire feeding it and let it be.

The kicker gmc under rear seat option has been done by a number of people on here. My opinion is it is small and not a strong performer. Very low power amp (in the 70 watt rms range) comes with it but install is easy. New versions don’t come with a bass knob so you lose the ability to dial it in like most would want to with a sub.

For far less money than the gmc kicker option you can get a kicker mono key amp that delivers 500watts RMS @1 ohm, a kicker solo dual 2 ohm sub wired to 1 ohm and build a box (only need .40cuft). That for reference would only take about 50% of your rear under seat space. You will have a good 10” and 500watts to play with and a knob to control it. The gmc option is simple and works but you won’t get the wow that sounds great impact you would with a 10”. Check you my posts if you want to see my build. Did what I described and rebuilt the whole 12 speaker system. I did 2 kicker 10” solo barics in my jeep as well running off a 1000w rms at 1 ohm AudioControl amp. They sound lovely.

If you want more of an all in one option for about the same price of the gmc kicker sub/amp combo a JL power wedge+ will give you much more performance and 400watt amp. But with the JL you will need a LOC to take the speaker signal to convert to the JL amp. With the Kicker key amp you can feed it the speaker inputs and it corrects the signal and roll off the Bose system has automatically.

I just picked up the kicker key amp, and a 12” RF P3 shallow to put under my back seat. Which wires did you tap in to for the inputs? I’m finding some people tapping the wires for the oem sub, and others saying to tap into the rear door speaker wires. Most are saying to tap into the signal before it gets to the oem amp as well.

john151ama · May 4, 2026

I

Brad_030 said:
I just picked up the kicker key amp, and a 12” RF P3 shallow to put under my back seat. Which wires did you tap in to for the inputs? I’m finding some people tapping the wires for the oem sub, and others saying to tap into the rear door speaker wires. Most are saying to tap into the signal before it gets to the oem amp as well.

I tried various combos when I set mine up. The best signal was using both sets of the front door. The front doors get the largest range and strongest signal without the roll off that occurs on the sub channel. That is the black and black and yellow from the front passanger door and the BN/BU and BU front the front driver door. If you pull off the back seat back you have access to the Bose amp, can pull tape off the speaker wires coming out of the Bose amp, find all those colors, cut or splice and feed your amps. I cut them and ran into my amps as I ran all new speaker wire out the the speakers so I could separate each speaker on to their own channel. OEM has the door woofers and tweeters sharing a channel.

Brad_030 · May 4, 2026

john151ama said:
I

I tried various combos when I set mine up. The best signal was using both sets of the front door. The front doors get the largest range and strongest signal without the roll off that occurs on the sub channel. That is the black and black and yellow from the front passanger door and the BN/BU and BU front the front driver door. If you pull off the back seat back you have access to the Bose amp, can pull tape off the speaker wires coming out of the Bose amp, find all those colors, cut or splice and feed your amps. I cut them and ran into my amps as I ran all new speaker wire out the the speakers so I could separate each speaker on to their own channel. OEM has the door woofers and tweeters sharing a channel.

There is only 1 set of wires coming out of the amp correct? I was thinking of tapping in under the back passenger kick panel to avoid taking off my seat back. I’m only using a single 12” woofer, so I don’t need to mount my amp on the back wall. AI keeps telling me to make sure and tap into the wires before they get to the oem amplifier, but I only see the harnesses coming from the amplifier that everyone taps into. Thank you for the info!

john151ama · May 4, 2026

Brad_030 said:
There is only 1 set of wires coming out of the amp correct? I was thinking of tapping in under the back passenger kick panel to avoid taking off my seat back. I’m only using a single 12” woofer, so I don’t need to mount my amp on the back wall. AI keeps telling me to make sure and tap into the wires before they get to the oem amplifier, but I only see the harnesses coming from the amplifier that everyone taps into. Thank you for the info!

AI is a bit confused. You have a data cable going from your screen to the amp. You can’t “tap” into that. Unless you invest in much more expensive gear and controllers, and remove the Bose amp entirely, there is no “tapping in to the signal” pre Bose amp I am aware of. You can’t convert that digital signal to an input that a standard amp can take or utilize.

The loop back harnesses for sell only connect to your Bose amp outputs and give you the signal to run into your amps then puts your amped signal back into the factory speaker wires to send the signal to the speakers. It is a way to avoid cutting the wires and tapping in but does nothing else.

There are speaker wires coming out of the Bose amp that go out to every speaker. Every speaker in the truck has to be fed by a pair of wires and all of those come out of the Bose amp. The Bose amp takes the digital signals and conveys them through the speaker wires going to the speakers. This includes hands free sounds, navigation, chimes, and turn signals beyond just music.

What you are doing it taking the signal from the speaker wires coming coming out of the Bose amp and putting that signal into your amp/dsp to clean it up and add more power then sending that better stronger signal at the designated low frequency range you want for your sub to your sub via speaker wires in your set up.

Speaker wires from the Bose amp go from the back wall up both floor channels up to the doors and dash speakers. You can pull up the door sill moldings on both sides to find the wire colors I shared, or just take off the seat back and find the wires coming directly out of the Bose amp.

You can just use the front passenger door signal if you want, but it was not as good as using both left and right channels running through the kicker key program.

Draw yourself a picture to understand what you are doing first. AI is not giving you answers specific to this truck and the equipment you are using.

Hers is the schematic I drew up to understand and lay it out. You will see all speaker wire colors noted on it. I also first tried the OEM sub wires to feed my sub amp then found it did not go low enough frequency and as volume is raised the signal is reduced, which is how they save the crappy OEM sub from self destructing. I then used 1 door speaker as the input, then went to both left and right door speakers as the inputs and got the best result.

Also changed out the original 8” sub I used because I had it on hand to the 10” kicker DVC solo Baric.

Brad_030 · May 4, 2026

john151ama said:
AI is a bit confused. You have a data cable going from your screen to the amp. You can’t “tap” into that. Unless you invest in much more expensive gear and controllers, and remove the Bose amp entirely, there is no “tapping in to the signal” pre Bose amp I am aware of. You can’t convert that digital signal to an input that a standard amp can take or utilize.

The loop back harnesses for sell only connect to your Bose amp outputs and give you the signal to run into your amps then puts your amped signal back into the factory speaker wires to send the signal to the speakers. It is a way to avoid cutting the wires and tapping in but does nothing else.

There are speaker wires coming out of the Bose amp that go out to every speaker. Every speaker in the truck has to be fed by a pair of wires and all of those come out of the Bose amp. The Bose amp takes the digital signals and conveys them through the speaker wires going to the speakers. This includes hands free sounds, navigation, chimes, and turn signals beyond just music.

What you are doing it taking the signal from the speaker wires coming coming out of the Bose amp and putting that signal into your amp/dsp to clean it up and add more power then sending that better stronger signal at the designated low frequency range you want for your sub to your sub via speaker wires in your set up.

Speaker wires from the Bose amp go from the back wall up both floor channels up to the doors and dash speakers. You can pull up the door sill moldings on both sides to find the wire colors I shared, or just take off the seat back and find the wires coming directly out of the Bose amp.

You can just use the front passenger door signal if you want, but it was not as good as using both left and right channels running through the kicker key program.

Draw yourself a picture to understand what you are doing first. AI is not giving you answers specific to this truck and the equipment you are using.

Hers is the schematic I drew up to understand and lay it out. You will see all speaker wire colors noted on it. I also first tried the OEM sub wires to feed my sub amp then found it did not go low enough frequency and as volume is raised the signal is reduced, which is how they save the crappy OEM sub from self destructing. I then used 1 door speaker as the input, then went to both left and right door speakers as the inputs and got the best result.

Also changed out the original 8” sub I used because I had it on hand to the 10” kicker DVC solo Baric.

Amazing write up my friend. That’s exactly what I was looking for. I was planning on splicing into both front speaker wires using a kicker “wire to rca” adapter. That way I could plug straight into the molex rca connector that comes with the key amp. Sorry for so many questions, but I’ve always replaced the head unit, and ran rca to my amp for signal. You’re a legend for these replies btw!