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How I installed a spare tyre subwoofer in my Honda CR-V

11th March 2024, 15:05 by Dev Shah

The spare tyre subwoofer had had an added bonus of saving boot space.

BHPian TheCatalyst recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hi All,

Just wanted to share my experience regarding the recent subwoofer addition in my Honda CRV. This was on my mind since a while now, however I never could really find the time nor was I ready to toy with the warranty of my car. I own a 2019 AWD Honda CRV and the car has been running flawless (braving Mumbai traffic). It does have an 8 speaker OEM system, which is pretty decent however the audiophile in me was always missing the low end for the music (<80 Hz). The international version comes with a subwoofer, but the Indian version misses on many features. Typical Honda .

Finally decided to do something about it and began researching underseat subs, powered vs active setups as well as boom boxes in the boot. A quick search on team-bhp pointed me to FM Drive in SantaCruz Mumbai (it is located near the Straight line shop which I use for my wheel balancing needs) which had good reviews. The shop has moved to a new location nearby in the last few years.

After a lenghty discussion with Pankajbhai from FM Drive, a suggestion which stuck was the spare tyre subwooofer. This had an added bonus of saving boot space, which as a family man was a valuable asset to hold.

Finally decided the JBL BassPro Hub which cost me Rs.35000 + installation charges. This is an active speaker, so an amplifier wasn't needed. I was told similar setups have been done in Seltos and Creta as well.

Speaker specs for JBL BassPro Hub -

Amplifier Power 200W RMS (2 ohms)
Frequency Response 30Hz – 150Hz
Fuse 30A
Maximum Current Draw 30A
Quiescent Current Draw <1.2A
Crossover Frequency 50Hz – 150Hz
Crossover Slope 24dB/Octave
Bass Boost 0 - 12dB Variable @ Fix 50 Hz
Line level input sensitivity 0.2 V - 4V
Speaker level input sensitivity 0.5V - 10V
Dimensions (D x H) 14-3/16” x 6-1/2”

Also was surprised to see only a handful of players made such models (JBL and Cerwin Wega) although I was ready to stretch my budget for other brands. A quick internet search later and I was convinced that the reviews were good.

I will let the pictures do the talking.

Few points to note:

OEM wires were only spliced, no cuts or joins
Front speakers were tapped as various onlines reviewers mentioned that the front signal is fuller than the rear
Dashboard was not touched. No risk of scratches etc.
Boot space remains intact. The spare tyre had a foam cut out to hold some tools which have been kept in the hazard warning pouch
Battery fuse is adequately sized at 60A
Rear seat bolt was tapped for ground
No need for remote accessory fuse tap, since the high level speaker wires automatically turn the active sub on / off on car shutdown (takes about 60 seconds to shutdown).
No parked battery drain issue. Parked for a week and the car cranked without any issue (Btw the CRV is still on original 2019 battery, touchwood)
The speaker is easily removable with a wire plug and a long screw to access the tyre.
The whole installation took about 3 hours.

Once the installation was done, it was time to tune the sub. This involved polarity checking which Pankaj bhai expertly completed and had to swap a speaker connection. Once that is done, the setup is straightforward and as you can see in the final photo that I like my music on modest bass, but with a fuller sound. My preferred style is low - medium volume with a bass setting which 'just' completes the low frequencies. You really shouldn't be able to tell that there is a sub, if you know what I mean.

Believe me, this speaker really moves air and can go very loud to vibrate the entire car. One thing to note here that the OEM honda speaker signals had some extra boost between 100-200 Hz which I had to reduce using the equaliser (you can use the one from the car or within apps like spotify) and then use the subwoofer gain which created the linear crossover.

Anyway, on the return journey home I was a happy soul with enough vibes in the rear view mirror on medium volume.