Another subwoofer question...

[TowDawg]

Last year, Blackmoon helped me out and we installed a box he built to replace the stock one in both of our cars. It's a solid design, but as anyone knows who has attempted upgrade the sub, there is very little depth back there. Because of this, we used the 8" shallow mount Pioneer sub. It certainly sounds better than stock, but still buzzes and distorts if you turn it up at all. I've played with the head unit and settings on my amp, but it's still pretty bad. I realize it will never sound like a real sub in the back of a coupe for example, but there has to way to make it better than it is now.

Basically, the box Sal built has a depth of roughly 3.6". If I take the back of the "back" portion of the box off and use the metal bulkhead (between the cabin and the fuel tank) as the new "back", I could probably end up with right about 4" worth of depth. That would at least get me the JL8w1v2, which I assume is a better sub. I've always had good luck with JL amps and subs.

I'd really like to use the JL8w3, but the mounting depth is 4.63". I've heard good things about the 6w3, but even that needs 4.25". An 8w7 would rock, but it needs just shy of 7" mounting depth.

Now here is where I might sound a little crazy. Does anyone know how much room is behind the metal bulkhead? If there's a couple + inches back there, I might cut a section of it out and make my box deeper (though the bulkhead) and then seal it back up with caulk. I don't think it will make a big difference in hurting the rigidity of the car since I've got an Autoform roll bar going in that will tie all of the same area together much stiffer than stock. If I'm wrong on that, please chime in before I start cutting.

 

[cubican]

have you done the dynamat on the sub box, I did it on the stock box after I gut it out it made a big difference.

 

[TowDawg]

I'm not really getting too much "noise" from the area, although I do get some which the Dynomat will probably help with.

The speaker itself just doesn't sound like I wan it to. I know it will never "boom", but I just want to be able to crank some music and have it not sound like crap.

 

[cubican]

what amp are you using

 

[FrgMstr]

TowDawg, I just spent a LOT of time trying to get a good sounding bass out of that center console position, and we finally just gave up.

While I put an 8" subwoofer in the floor. You could put a 6" in and save a lot of room and still have lots of leg room.

 

[TowDawg]

I saw your thread on your build and I'm sure it sounds great, but I really don't want to put anything in the floorboard area. I know it will never "boom" from the stock location, but I just want to be able to have some bass and clean sound when it turned up loud enough to really hear with the top down on the hwy.

Cubican, I'm running a JL 250x1 amp, which is overkill for this speaker, but I've got the gains down pretty damn low due the speaker's capability.

 

[FrgMstr]

FWIW, with the speaker in the floor well, 6 foot tall folks are still just fine sitting there. The first one we did in the Gen III car was a bit bigger and not as kind to tall riders.

Good luck with the install, I hope you are able to get somewhere that you like sound-wise.

 

[Jay M]

What is the source of the buzzing? Are you sure it's the sub, and not something else?

I wanted mine to look stock, I had to use the stock enclosure, or spend a fortune to have one fabricated. I started out with a JL sub, but I didn't work with the stock grill. I ended up using the stock Sub.

I couldn't really hear a difference between the stock sub and the JL. My only real issue is that low sustained bass notes cause the port to howl, and some other stuff vibrated a little.

The amp I'm using is an ARC audio mini 4x125. two channels are for the main speakers, and the other two are bridged for the sub. At freeway speeds with the top down, there isn't enough SPL to sound good without clipping. I think adding a ARC mini 500 watt amp for the sub would be ideal- overpowered, but at least clean.

I was told by a good car audio installer two things. 1. The Viper can't sound good because of the limited space, land position of the speakers. 2. The sub needs to be in the floor to get any bass.

Except for a lack of power, I'm pretty happy. You can only do so much in a noisy car.

~Jay

 

[rosco]

i gutted the ports out of my factory box, stuffed it with fiber fill, glued all the holes shut with plexiglass and liquid nails and stuffed a 6.5 kicker in it.
the two rules above apply. you are not going to get much bass from a 6.5 i dont care where you put it and firing it at the front windshield with all the exhaust and road noise going on you will be lucky if it sounds more like a mid if you can hear the lows at all.

but

it does sound better than the factory speaker and i can crank it up loud enough to hear it even if most of the lows are lost. not going to cut up my car for a speaker. would love a better solution that did not involve cutting holes in my car or cutting up my wiring harness.

 

[TowDawg]

I've already got an 8" in there, it's just a shallow-mount Pioneer and it doesn't sound very good.

The amp is already in, so I don't have to mess with any wiring. As for cutting up the car? Well, there's a good bit of cutting about to be going on anyway to install the roll bar.

 

[kllymartin]

Take my advice. Ditch the stock location sub and install one in the passenger footwell. I have a 10" Pioneer flat sub, firing down in the footwell. And I have more bass than I can stand, on moderate settings.

 

[rosco]

if cutting up the car is not an issue, dont get shy now. scrap the box behind the rear panal. fabricate a box directly onto the back of the banal itself, it will give you 5 inches. build a raised fiberglass front for the front of the panal and mount 2- 8 inch woofers in there that have some kick to them. it will look really cool and you will get more than you wanted in lows and not have to worry about your passenger putting their foot through your woofer.

lets face it, the car was not built for sound. most race cars are like that.

i have owned a few hotrods in my day. one of the biggest regrets i have had with all of them was not getting my hands on the car BEFORE some fool chopped it up in their quest for some teenage version of perfection. the closer the car was to stock the more i was interested in getting my hands on it. and the closer my cars were to stock the easier they were to sell. i remember when pig tails(premade harness adapters) first showed up on the scene and it was no longer necessary to have a roll of electrical tape wound all over the place under your dash. i remember scouring junk yards for interrior panals to replace the big holes some kid cut in them to mount that 20 dollar flea market speaker in the door or back panal.

i am all for mods, but i will not cut up the car or the wiring to have it. if its not bolt on and bolt off without leaving a footprint behind i take a pass. just me.

 

[ViperGeorge]

if cutting up the car is not an issue, dont get shy now. scrap the box behind the rear panal. fabricate a box directly onto the back of the banal itself, it will give you 5 inches. build a raised fiberglass front for the front of the panal and mount 2- 8 inch woofers in there that have some kick to them. it will look really cool and you will get more than you wanted in lows and not have to worry about your passenger putting their foot through your woofer.

lets face it, the car was not built for sound. most race cars are like that.

i have owned a few hotrods in my day. one of the biggest regrets i have had with all of them was not getting my hands on the car BEFORE some fool chopped it up in their quest for some teenage version of perfection. the closer the car was to stock the more i was interested in getting my hands on it. and the closer my cars were to stock the easier they were to sell. i remember when pig tails(premade harness adapters) first showed up on the scene and it was no longer necessary to have a roll of electrical tape wound all over the place under your dash. i remember scouring junk yards for interrior panals to replace the big holes some kid cut in them to mount that 20 dollar flea market speaker in the door or back panal.

i am all for mods, but i will not cut up the car or the wiring to have it. if its not bolt on and bolt off without leaving a footprint behind i take a pass. just me.

Like the way you think.