[mcgsxr]

Bought my wife a new SUV (2015 Lexus NX200T) and I inherit the 2014 Acura RDX.

RDX has the tech package which includes the ELS audio system.  Sounds fine for most music, but I have always felt the bass was lacking.  Stock woofer is either an 8 or a 10 in a small enclosure on the right side of the hatchback.  No matter the EQ settings it just never delivered what I wanted.

In my last daily driver (2009 Ford Fusion) I had installed a small bass package including a class D Clarion XC1120 mono sub amp.  I pulled that out of the car before trading it in.

Installed in the RDX in the center console right with the stock amp.  Bass knob installed in a blank spot left of the steering wheel.   A nice low power setup (210wpc at 4 ohms).

JL audio ported 8 inch sub.  Tiny.  REALLY tiny to me - about 1/3 my old sealed 12 box, and at least 1/8th of my old ported 12 box from years ago.  The dimensions on this box are 19x11x5 (roughly).

Bolted the sub to the rear of the back seat and all set.

Great in the car bass.  Not block booming outside the car, just a rich, tuneful articulate bottom end.

The bass knob I love - can dial it down or flesh out music exactly as I want to.

Good fun for about USD$250.

[NickMimi]

Very nice way to keep the usefulness of the vehicle and fairly low key, good job on the updgrade.

[nickd]

Nice to hear those sound good.
Always tough decision on quality VS hidden. The typical “invisible” sub is usually weak(too small) in my experience.
That JL seems like a nice compromise. Wish it would fit under the seat of my F150 super crew. I would go buy one.

[mcgsxr]

It's quite small in person.  When I picked it up I objected that this HAD to be the 6.5 version...

I see online some folks have put these into pickups - are you sure you don't have the space?  18x11x5.25.  Plus about 0.75 inch for the woofer grill (on that 5.25 dimension).  It's roughly the size of 18-24 beer cans.  Smaller in several dimensions, but roughly that size.

It's a fun bass solution that in my application loses nearly nothing in terms of cargo space.  I had a full weeks groceries in there over the weekend, and still had lots of space.  I'm driving to Michigan in a couple of weeks for a golf event with friends, and know I will have plenty of room for clubs and bags for the 2-3 of us.

I could nearly have installed it under the hatch floor, but the way Acura/Honda mounts the spare tire prevented that.