What has everyone done to upgrade their RF system? Not that it's bad by any stretch of the imagination (blows every Bose system I've ever heard away), but it needs more.

I'm going to approach this vehicle in 2 stages. Stage 1 will be the soft modifications, things I can do with the existing OEM equipment to improve it. This stage will consist of putting some polyfill in the OEM sub box, reinforcing the sub box with some deadening, and laying a layer of CLD tiles on the ground to reduce road noise.

Stage 2 will be the hard modifications, where things get removed and replaced. components up front (with some extra deadening on the doors), new wires run to the front speakers, and then a new amp and sub. I'll likely run the front speakers bridged off a 4 channel amp, though I may just bite the bullet and put some coaxs in the back on the 4 channel amp.

The gear I'm consider right now is going to be RF T2 components up front, with a new P3 replacing the OEM sub. These will be either powered off a 400-4 and another RF amp, or I may go crazy and buy a Power 1000 to run the whole thing.

 

So here's a little info to be saved for posterity.

As per RF, the enclosure volume for the stock sub is about 0.7cuft, so not exactly huge. They claimed that all of the factory speakers are 2 ohms, but that's not really anything I care about as I'll be replacing them.

The woofer itself appears to be based off the old Punch Z. It was rated for 150W RMS, again, not exactly a lot. The OEM sub is a DVC version of this, with dual 1.1 Ohm coils that can take 75W RMS each. It's weird.

Anyways, dimensions wise there's not much to work with. This sub has a mounting depth of around 5" (actually a little less), the Punch Z says 4.75" mounting depth. The entire section itself is a little less than 11" in diameter, with the mounting holes being almost exactly 10" apart from each other.

I put some Polyfill in the factory box, seems to have helped some. Going to try reinforcing it some when it comes time to upgrade the sub itself. ABS isn't exactly the strongest stuff. If I were going to do it right I'd fiberglass it some, but I think I'm going to take the lazy approach and use some foil backed deadener to stiffen the walls some.

Oh, and one more thing, the grill that covers the sub and keeps it from getting damaged? Yeah that's actually attached to the sub mounting flange.

 

The RF T2 components sound good and all, but you need to hear the new T3 components. Sure, they're a couple more bucks....but the sound is far superior in my opinion. I haven't gone through and replaced my door speakers just yet. But when I decide to flip the switch on that, I'll be going with the T3's. In the back I have bypassed the factory RF box, added another RF amp under the driver's seat and put a double RF 12" enclosure in the back. If you're going to keep the factory RF enclosure, consider going with a P3 shallow or new Prime shallow sub.

 

I haven't heard a set of the T3s yet, or the new T5s. I definitely would like to though. Before we go all out on it I'll definitely give them a listen.

For the sub, that depth is a killer. The R2 will fit in that box, but RF doesn't have any mesh grilles for it (though I could maybe adapt the factory one over). The P3S is a possibility, and has a grille, but frankly I'm not as fond of that generation of RF subs. I might just wait to see if they upgrade the P3S to have a new VAST cone (and hopefully the anodized metal cone too) from the new ones. Otherwise, an R2 will likely be the best replacement, unless they make an R3 for next year.

The wifey is currently VERY happy with how the stock RF system sounds, and I'm pretty pleased with it too, so it's not a top priority. I'm just sorta collecting gear as I find good deals.

 

The T5's won't be hitting the streets for a few months still. But do give the T3's a listen. I haven't experimented to see what grills fit my R2 shallow subs just yet. Once I figure it out, I'll post the results. The current P3 shallow is a pretty good sub, but like you, I'm waiting for the VAST version to come out. Looks like more towards the end of the year on that one.

 

Anyone have any info on what exactly the stock HU outputs? Rumors were that it is HPF'd at 60Hz, but given that it has the "punch level" sub control, I'm not so sure that's the case, unless it outputs that info via data, which would be illogical. It seems more likely that the filtering would be done in the factory amp.

Does anyone have the MMCS unit without the Rockford system?

 

I wouldn't be surprised is some settings are done via the CAN bus to the amplifier (like punch level). After all, the amplifier is activated that way, so I doubt they made a CAN controller for the amplifier just to turn it on/off.

 

Did you all take any photos or videos when you opened up the subwoofer assembly in the trunk? What colour are the wires that feed the subwoofer? (are there 2 or 4?)

trying to install a amp in the back and use the factory sub lines as the input if possible to save a lot of heck.

let me know any info you have, thanks!

Mike

 

I would not attempt to do any electrical work without a proper wiring diagram. In the 2012 Outlander Sport there are four wires to the sub (I suspect you must have four in the Outlander as well). As far as the colors are concerned I am not sure they would be color matched. Nonetheless, here is the screenshot from my manual. You might be lucky and find the colors matching.

G= green, P=pink, W=white, GR=gray

 

According to what I read on DirecTechs, it looks like the wiring diagram above should be correct.