So as basically all factory subwoofers go, ours were long gone when we bought the Disco. I had been putting off messing with them but finally got around to it after doing some searching and reading about others ideas for replacement. I went with the masses and just bought a cheapo set of Pyramid 6.5" Subwoofers from Amazon to replace the factory ones. I ditched all of the factory wiring and the amps as well. I have an Eclipse head unit hooked up directly to the speakers in the doors and rear pillars and that part of things sounds amazing. The subwoofers however sound horrible and no matter what I do with the set up I can seem to remedy the issue. They are hooked up to a PPI PC225 which is more than adequate considering what its running. I have the gain set at maybe 25% and its far to much for the subs. They distort horribly even at just medium volume. No matter of tuning from the head unit or amp helps things. Anyway I was wondering if I'd have any luck building a sealed enclosure and mounting it on the rear door in the factory location instead of just having the subs mounted in the free air factory housing? I probably should have bought higher quality subs but a lot seemed to like the cheapos and considering they are just replacing the factory I figured $40 a pair versus $300 a pair was a better option. What would ya'll do?

 

If they're brand new subs and distorting, something is wired wrong. My guesses are you either wired your sub amp input to a speaker output instead of a preamp out, you have a bad/loose connection somewhere, possibly wired one of them out of phase, (negative cable to positive terminal,) or your cabling has a short in it somewhere, either to the vehicle ground or itself. Or, less likely but possible, you have a horribly mismatched setup. (1500 watt rms amp driving 25 watt rms speakers.)

 

I agree that you should take a look at the wiring or the settings. I used a pair of Pyramids to replace the factory subs in a P38 I owned and they worked, sort of. Better than the originals with their missing surrounds. On my DII, which I bought with an aftermarket head unit in it, I installed an amp under the passneger seat driving a pair of these: They sound much better. Not awesome, but much better. A sealed enclosure would certainly help. Here's a thread about one: https://landroverforums.com/forum/di...or-pics-52792/
I'm debating going this route or building a sealed chamber in the door using fiberglass. Either way, I need to figure out how to do it without my wife pointing out that I am wasting my time messing around with something she doesn't care about on what is essentially her vehicle.

 

Are you running the speakers in series or parallel? The difference will effect the impedance and play a role. Check the installation guide of your amp.

 

I've got them wired in series and I'm 100% positive everything is wired correctly. I think I'm going to build a sealed enclosure for them and see what happens sound wise with that. If all else fails I'll have to upgrade to higher quality subs I suppose.

 

I installed the kickers a couple months ago they sound great but you need to do some cutting of the door and the stock enclosure. I tucked the amp in the door pocket. The nice thing about the kickers is they are designed to either fo in a sealed box or open air door enclosure

 

Some cutting - and beating. The magnets are quite a bit bigger than the ones on the stock subs. I also added some sound deadner in the door. You can use Dynamat or go to Lowes and get a roll of foil-backed sealing tape for about 20% the cost.

 

Has anyone tried replacing the paper surrounds with foam ones? If the voice coils and cones are still good, foam surrounds my stretch the lives of these original speakers. See what a reputable speaker repair business says about it. They may be able to rescue the speaker for less than an original replacement. I haven't been able to track down a subwoofer small enough to fit and with the correct specs to work with the amp. Otherwise, a dismantler would be my only guess and they are usually out of D1 subs.

 

Impedance mismatch? How many ohms are the speakers & amp? If you have two 4 ohm speakers wired in series, you create an 8 ohm load. If that's connected to a 4 ohm amp output, could be your problem.
That being said, if everything is new and wired semi-correctly it still shouldn't sound as bad as you described. What gauge cable are you using?

 

They are 4 ohm svc wired in series and bridged at the amp. The amp is stable down to 1 ohm so theres no way the subs are overloading the amp. Its installed with a 4 gauge monster cable kit which is way overkill but i wanted good stuff in place if i ever want to upgrade. Also have 12 gauge wire going to the subs. My main reason for keeping the subs in the factory size and location is simply the need for cargo space. I have a JL 12w3 collecting dust that would certainly be an easier and better sounding route but having a box back there is obnoxious.