bighops213

Alright alright, I must confess. This project won't (cross my fingers) require to much work but nonetheless, it's a bigger project than I've previously had the time to do with my car. I have a 15" sub in my trunk right now. It's nothing special, in fact it's a VERY entry level setup. Anyways, the box is really big and I never have any trunk space. PLUS, I'm sure all of you that love bass know that issue with the gas tank. So, I already have a port cut in my rear deck (for bass from my 15" to get into the interior). The port is located in the middle of the deck right under the first aid cover. I want to make that port bigger, mount a 10" sub there, and build a box underneath it. So I would GREATLY, HUGELY (that a word??), IMMENSELY appreciate any and ALL feedback you have.

Have you done it yourself?
Do you know someone that did?
Are there any hidden obstacles?
What are the obstacles?
Was it as easy as it seems?
Where do I begin?
Do you have any pictures that would help?
Such as pics from a project like this?
Is one 10" the best option? Can I fit a 12" without much trouble?
Would two 8" subs be better?

While deciding on whether or not to do this project, it make me a happy person thinking about the amount of bass I will have after this. =)



PS: The sub I would like to put back there

http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Produ...111&tab=review

STLe320

I have 2 12" L7's powered with a 2000 watt hifonics amp, which is wired down to 1ohm. I just removed my rear speakers to get the bass into the cabin.

jeffreyli86

Yeh mate I hate the fuel tank as well. I've gone through 4 12" subs and none provides enough.. I'll list the sub setup:

1) MB 1200w 2ch amp MTX 12"
2) Clarion 2ch amp Rockford 12"
3) Clarion 2ch amp JL 12"
4) Class D 3000w Mono amp AVI Precision Audio 12"

I'm onto my 5th now. Just ordered a 12" with 1000RMS, 4000 Max.. Hope this would do the job.

I didn't want to put 15s in my car cux the response is slow. However if this new 12" doesn't do the job I will put 15" in there, since now I've got a custom 10" inside the cabin for clean and quick response. This is complimented by the 6" KEFs that I got on the rear parcel shelf. The sub in the trunk would really only be for the really low end..

Oh yes I have my rear parcel shelf ported as well. Whole car extensively dynamat-ed too.

The level of bass I get now (with the 4th setup listed, not the new sub) is.. Hmm I don't know how to describe it but it's like the bass in a decent club. It does make your hair jump.

The AVI unit isn't cheap and it's hella heavy but I just blew it LOL. My shop told me that some ring on the sub has cracked.

I, too, am interested in the 10" on parcel shelf set up. hehe

ZedStyle

follow the link in this thread:

https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...681&highlight=

STLe320

I'm gonna be selling my L7's pretty soon. I'm getting a solo x 12"

I've already cracked my rear window, lets see if i can shatter it!!

2PHAST

Personally, the trunk is small enough without giving up what is there. I went this route, as it was 1. Easy 2. Took up very little space 3. Hits plenty hard.

crr1612

ive got 2 12" 600 watt per eclipse subs goin on right now...im getting some pretty bad trunk rattle and also from the license plate. what have you guys done to fix this?

crr1612

its been so long since ive seen the back of my trunk. i forgot what it looks like but i really like the infinity basslink you gt there, ive never heard it tho so i was wary of putting it back there and not having it be loud enough

forcedawd

Did you port the hat shelf?

STLe320

I used dynamat in the whole trunk. As for the license plate rattle, Dynamat sells the kit for the license plate.

bighops213

for the license plate rattle. all i did was take an old rag, cut two holes in it. put the license plate screws through the holes. and wham! it no longer vibrates. it might be primitive, but you can't see the rag, and it absorbs all the rattle there. now my only problem is the plastic cladding down low....
and something else i figured out. If you put a rag between your spare tire and the metal bottom, that helps as well. i didn't realize so much vibration came from there too...

STLe320

Thats what I did after the dynamat. I cut a towel down to size and placed it between the tire and the metal bottom. He's right, it helps extremely!

Bigpete123

I believe I can answer some of your questions about mounting a sub in your rear deck. I've had two setups like that in the past.

The first one was a 10" sub mounted in a sealed enclosure. I cut a hole that was roughly 10" in diameter from the metal shelf. You will have cut a smaller hole in the interior dash piece because you only have about 6" of flat surface under the first aid kit.

The box was done differently (and not as well as) the link posted above. My box was shaped more like a cube. My amp rack was mounted underneath it, and held it in place between the dash and the floor of the trunk. Unfortunately I can't find any pics of the old setup.

The second, current setup, is what's called an infinite baffle configuration (more commonly known as "Free Air"). Judging by the description of your needs, you wouldn't be happy with this setup. It's by no means a "big bass" setup. If done properly, it's arguably the best sound quality setup you can do. Basically there is no enclosure around the sub. If you by the right kind of sub, all you need to do is seal the back of the sub from the front. AKA, all holes in the rear dash must be covered and sealed so that the sound waves coming from the front of the driver are not canceled out by the sound waves coming off the back of the sub.

It's a high sound quality setup because it's very sensitive. It does not take much power at all to drive, and it isn't restricted by the back pressure of an enclosure, so it's very sensitive to bass signals (i.e. it doesn't "miss" much).

But it won't be as punchy as a sealed enclosure, and it can't handle as much power because pressure maintained inside of sealed enclosures keeps the woofer from over-extruding when bass hits hard.

Anyway, enough talk since I'm pretty sure you're not interested in infinite baffle. Here are some pics of that install anyway. More just to give you a sense of what's involved with hacking up your rear deck!









You can see here that the rear deck is not completely flat. You won't get a perfect 10" hole:



Old setup of how it vented in:


New setup (notice I had to make my own fiberglass rear speaker enclosures since I had to seal those holes for the sub installation):





Good luck man. It's a big project, but if you want really loud bass in the cabin, you pretty much have to fabricate something.

If you want a 12, it won't fit in your rear deck unless you cut a smaller hole and build a baffle that angles your sub slighly.

ZedStyle

i was looking online yesterday, and was seriously thinking about buying a 6" or 8" bazooka tube and laying it across the hat shelf. it will be too visible though, scared to get it stolen...

bighops213

Wow dude! First off thanks for the help. But I really like how your setup looks! I especially like the new fiberglass panels you made for your speakers, I might have to do that too! Question though. I haven't really looked yet so don't hate on me if it's simple. But how do you get the "carpet" cover off of the rear deck? Is that a simple ordeal?

RHW

Photos coming, if I can figure out how...just clicked a few in the dark, but hopefully they will tell the story better than I can.

I am lame and had the following work done for me...

In my coupe, I have a rectangular wooden sub box containing 2 8" Diamond subs, the box is solid mounted under the rear deck aiming straight up towards the rear window, with holes cut in the rear deck the size of the subs. It is finished in vinyl reasonably color matched to the trunk carpet. And the rear deck is re-carpeted to hide this work.

The sub box leaves room on each side of the rear deck, where I have 6 inch Diamonds in small reinforced plastic sealed containers.

There's a JL 500/5 amp mounted to the side of the trunk with a Alpine DVD/nav hidden below, and a carpeted enclosure for the amp and crossovers. (Plenty of breathing room)

The coupe is dynamatted every inch of the trunk AND cabin, under seats, carpet, doors, rear passenger area, *everywhere* below the glass.

Up front there are 2 4" Diamonds in the dash and 2 tweeters in the doors, up high.

The head unit is an Alpine 7" pull out touch screen with Sirius + Sirius Traffic and Navigation and ipod in the glovebox.

The amp supports a base knob in dash.

My stereo is lacking in power and punch per many of the other examples here, I am sure. But I have no interest in more power or punch, it kicks beautifully in my opinion. (150 miles on the road today and the music feels silky smooth, to me)

My 300TE wagon and 380SL both have Becker trafficpro radio/nav units. The 380 is stored, so no quick access to photos, but it is beautiful, in my eyes anyway.

All 3 cars have the same Diamond 6" - 4" and tweeter combinations with different subs. The wagon uses 1 10" Diamond fiberglassed into the side panel and vinyl color matched / covered. Shoulda been carpeted to match better.

The 380 uses 2 10" subs (don't recall which are in there) under the platform in the back with the 6" speakers mounted in their own boxes, all re-carpeted to hide the work, and aluminum (more durable) Diamond tweeters in the doors. The other cars use silk dome tweeters, my usual preference.

Both black and white Sportlines have stock Becker radios with recent visits to Becker (convenient, 25 miles from here) for cords to accept ipods, and those cars have the stock bose upgraded amps/speakers etc. Eventual upgrades, maybe, but lol, enough's enough.

Anyway, the coupe is the car I think fits your question and I am going to try now to load a few photos up.

Bigpete123

yeah, it's really easy.

First remove your headrests. You have to spend a little time figuring it out, but if you get in your trunk and look at how the mechanisms work, you will see some small little black plastic levers where the chrome bars enter the headrest mechanism.

You need to simultaneously push those levers while pulling the head rests out. MAke sure the head rests are in the vertical positions first. Second, remove the little plastic trim pieces inside the car that the bars from the headrests go trhough (carefully pry them out with a flat head screw driver). Third, look through those holes to see where the plastic levers are, use your screwdriver to push them down, and slide the headrests back toward the window. If that sounds confusing, you'll figure it out.

Next, pull out your seats. Push down on the red/orange tabs that the seat bottoms attach to. Pull straight up on the seats, and voila, they should pop right up. Next remove the seat backs. If you look at the very bottom center of the seat back, there will be a single screw. remove it, and slide the seat back straight up toward the ceiling. Should come out very easily.

I don't know how the sedans work, so they may have an additional center seat or something to remove. But I'm sure you'l figure it out.

NExt remove your rear speaker grilles (should pop up, but be careful cuz they break easily). You might be able to unclip them from within the trunk. Just go slow, don't force anything, and you'll be fine.

Next remove the first aid kit door. I can't remember exactly how it works, but the plastic hinges have some kind of sliding piece on them. I think you slide them to one side and it comes right off.

Then, second to last step is to remove the third brake light. Unclip the plastic panel, and you should be able to figure it out once you see it. Be careful cuz I partially broke mine. It holds itself in place via tension.

Then you're ready to pull out the rear dash. It should slide right out.

A lot of steps, but it's pretty straight forward.

Good luck.

RHW

This is a centered image of my sub box, the vinyl cover is light tan- the size and shape allow maximum trunk space. It is solidly bolted to the rear deck, with holes cut out for the 8" subwoofers.



This is a left side view of the sub box, the 6" Diamond audio reinforced plastic/fiberglass enclosure is carpet covered to the left of the sub box.


This is a view of the rear deck, showing the 6" Diamond Audio speaker cover.


This is a centered image of the rear deck lid, carpet re-covered, the sub box 8" openings are nearly under the headrests.

RHW

This is the JL Audio 500/5 amp mounted on passenger side. Unseen below is the Alpine/Nav/DVD player and crossovers, all are mounted behind those carpeted cover pieces


This is my coupe's dash, very lame as I did not clean her up for these photos- but the image shows head unit, bluetooth, cupholder and to the left, the NAV voice activation button and JL remote bass knob is drilled in just above and to far left


Another shot of the rear deck carpet

bighops213

Yeah. Ive taken the reat seat out before (to put in my current sub). The hardest part sounds like removing the headrest! I'll just see how it goes I guess. I'll have to let you know how it goes! thanks again!

RHW

This is the Wagon's sub, mounted in rear panel & SEALED in, I had to lose a few inches of grocery space into the rear of the wagon to create a decent sized air chamber, and there are trade offs, since square, exact measurements are best... but I STILL value stealth as much as possible


The Wagon's JL500/5 mounted in the far back seat pullout seat lid


The Wagon's Becker Trafficpro, bluetooth, Sirius radio and remote base knob (drilled into switch area up higher)


For future reference, if anyone could help me understand why my images are tiny and need to be clicked to show up, while BigPete's show full size in his posts, I would greatly appreciate. I also cannot understand why I can't slip in a quality image in my sig.

Wish I could be more helpful about the details of these installations, I merely pointed at what I wanted and paid.

ZedStyle

you're attaching your pics through your post, so they are hosted on mbworld, and they limit the size of your pic. pete is hosting his on photobucket, so he just needs to use IMG tags. set up a photobucket account, and link your pics from there, for your sig etc.

how do those 8" subs sound? i'm thinking of going with two 8" subs now, as long as they put out acceptable low-end bass... i know they won't sound like 12" subs, but if they're mounted on the rear shelf they should be somewhat okay, right, compared to 12" sealed in the trunk??

STLe320

ZED!!!!!!
You're looking for 2 8's?? I'm selling my 2 JL's! I have them in sealed enclosures tuned perfectly from JL's website. They hit about as hard as 2 10's would. So if you plan to mount them with the correct airspace, you'll be surprised at how good they sound! And especially in the rear deck

RHW

"how do those 8" subs sound? i'm thinking of going with two 8" subs now, as long as they put out acceptable low-end bass... i know they won't sound like 12" subs, but if they're mounted on the rear shelf they should be somewhat okay, right, compared to 12" sealed in the trunk??"

I'd bet Big Pete's system rocks best + loudest
and I would look at the simplicity of that Infinity set up above.

It sounds like STLe320 has a hook up for 8s - imo 8s give a nice tight base, not as low as bigger subs but tighter and more clean. That trade off leaves me wanting 8s, 10s and 15s in the same car.

But I chose the 8s in my daily driver and absolutely love my system.

I prefer the internal/active crossover switching that lets me tri amp my speakers (IE, the 25x2 watt section of that amp only reproduces the tweeter range, the 100x2 watt section only reproduces the range between tweeters and subs, and the 250x1 watt amp only reproduces sub range - by not asking each amp to reproduce the whole range they perform more accurately in the smaller range) Normally, crossovers are passive/external and they just cut off what the amp produces for the specific speaker.

I'd bet my system would be underpowered for some posters here, but it is about as liquid-clean a sound at moderate volumes as anyone here has - in all 3 cars I've tri-amped with the JL 500/5.

And thanks Zed for the photobucket tip.
This sub is in a sealed chamber:

Bigpete123

RHW, I like your taste in amps! I too have the 500/5. Such a flexible setup.

If I remember correctly, you were the person who made me realize my amp's true potential for the tri-amp setup. I have my front tweeters running off the rear channel of the amp, and mid/midbass woofers for the front running off of the front channel. The highs sure are accurate. I actually just finished mounting my amps and everything in the trunk today. I have a 6 ch Audiocontrol EQS that I will use to tune the system (I'm not completely happy with how the focal 3-ways sound in the front so hopefully I can clean it up with the EQ somehow).

Zed, 2 8's will sound great. 8's are generally very agile, but lack the ability to hit the lower frequencies. IMHO (obviously this was my choice so I'm biased), I'd go with one 10" sub over 2 8's. It's a good compromise between agility/quickness and frequency range. I personally don't like the way 12" subs sound. Sure, they're loud and can go low, but they are less responsive. Generally, they are for loud setups and not for SQ. This is a generalization of course, but I would go with a 10.