Where to put the amp?

[Super Unique]

I priced that tray @ my mazda dealer parts department.... I refuse to pay $150 for a piece of plastic that cost them $5 to make. It would have been nice, but I can form the existing rubber in the spare compartment to conform to the amp, and thats free

If your going to mount the amp in plain sight, might as well put a bunch of car audio stickers on it and yell "Hey, come steal my stuff" LOL...

On my last vehicle I did a stealth install and had serious thump thump with none of it visible at all. If I can accomplish that in a soft top wrangler this should be a piece of cake.

 

[Mid_Life_Crisis]

If your going to mount the amp in plain sight, might as well put a bunch of car audio stickers on it and yell "Hey, come steal my stuff" LOL...

You can't see any of it with the hatch closed. That's what the privacy deck is for.

Most of the upgrades seem to focus around a sub. Seems obvious to me. Put the amp under the seat where the original sub was mounted. Amps are small enough nowadays that it should be doable. Add the sub enclosure that fits in the jack location and you're done.
Unless of course you want ridiculous volume levels...

 

[Super Unique]

my plan was reusing all the stuff left over from my jeep setup. I have an amp and sub box already made up that go well together. Dual 8" JL audio subwoofers in a custom made 3/4" thick MDF cabinet that fits perfectly across the rear cargo area right behind the seatback. doesn't intrude much at all into the usable cargo space. Also has quick disconnects to make it easy to pull out if I do need the space. I installed everything today, will post some pics later so see how it turned out.

I ran the power wire through that grommet behind the glovebox and then under the carpet along the passenger side to the rear seat and out to the cargo area. Amp mounted flush on the trunk floor to the left of the spare tire. I did have to cut a big chunk of that black foam that holds the jack handle, but not too much. worked out just fine.

 

[Super Unique]

 

[Super Unique]

Best part of this setup for me is it absolutely SLAMS loud as hell in the car, but not audible much @ all outside. I am talking nice tight, deep bass that sound just incredible. I guess I got it right with this setup. The stock radio amp and speakers sound much better with a bottom to fill them out. dual 8s with a modest amp are about right for the 3 hatchback.

 

[B-Dirty]

I bought a small amp and mounted it under the passenger seat on top of two pieces of MDF about 1"x8" each, and then stapled velcro-tape to the bottom to keep it in place. This allows the amp to sit flat and the floor duct runs under the amp between the mdf mount pieces. there's still a good 1" of clearance between the top of the amp and the bottom of the seat and the airbag sensor wire just lays on top of it. Some pics....