Hi all. I have a Black track model, and I am ready to upgrade the sound. I have a 10 inch woofer and a 750 watt amp.
I want a stock look so I ordered the bose subwoofer screen and intend to install my Orion woof in the compartement behind the driver seat.
However what do you think the sound quality will be like with the woofer pumping without an airtight box. How much does the base suffer?
Any advice from you sound experts out there would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

You really don't want to put a normal sub in a free air enclosure. The bass will be sloppy and not sound good at all. You can buy free air woofers that would do decent and probably plenty for the average listener. They won't be as loud or low as a good sealed or ported box but they work much better than any factory sub. If you want to keep your sub you could either have a custom box built to fit the compartment (not cheap) or use a pre-fabbed box and secure it completely inside the compartment. I'm not sure if this is possible because I don't have a Z yet and the local dealer probably wouldn't be too happy with me if I started pulling panels off with ruler in hand. Either way it should sound fine as long as the box is nice and sealed and does not rattle around.

 

I am having an enclosure made for the factory location ~600 for the MDF/Fiberglass enclosure. You would need to buy an infinate baffle sub if you wanted to place a speaker in that loaction. Ported boxes or fully enclosed rigs seem to have garnered most peoples favor for this location. I hope to make a custom enclosure for a firend of mine for this spot, if I do I will post it here with pics and plans.

 

I have a design completed, and will release it once I ensure it is installed smoothly with no complications. This should be accomplished in a week or two.

 

From 4 Z installs I can tell you this is the best way hands down