bastard

I just wanted to chime in about the closing in of the strut bar by a subwoofer enclosure. I have the Nazar fiberglass box under the strut bar with a single 10W7, firing rearwards, in it running on 500 watts. The bass is just about what I wanted it to sound like, hard hitting, but not the "**** off the whole neighborhood" variety. It's stupidly loud in the car and doesn't travel a lot. Your comment about the 2 1/2 inch space above the strut tower bar is correct though. The bass, when loud, moves the hair on the top of my head because the air movement seems to travel along the roof.

dannichols

Bastard (what a name!), I also have a Nazar Box but removed it because I Need to always carry clubs and things of an elongated nature. IMO my other placement shown in the beginning of this post (firing stright up) sounds just as good and has less rattle than when I had the box facing aft (Nazar). I think it is a fine line between getting the right amount of travel from the bass waves, shooting the bass towards rattle-prone areas of the trunk, and the small airflow space above the strut bar.

Totally know where you are coming from with the airflow. It seemed to me when I had the first setup that the glass in the back was gonna pop out at times.

tractng

iTrader: (9)

Guys,

Since we are at this topic, today I took my Infinity Perfect 10.1d (in a custom box) out of the stock location and place it in the trunk area.

The sounds was like 10x better than the stock location. So much air flow. I place the sub in different positions. Face upward, facing backward, and facing front. Facing front created the best sound.

I am confused now as to where i should put my sub. Do i put it back in the stock location or keep it in the trunk area.

The reason I like it in the stock location because it is "stealth". What should i do? Can i tint the 3 glasses (2 small sides and trunk) really dark that nobody can see it and have a box like Nazar.


Tony

dannichols

Hey there Tractng, I had the same wonders regarding best sound. I don't like the placement in stock location, it's too close to the driver seat and most of the sound seems to travel into my lower back. I tried the Under-strut box with an Alpine sub and it sounds great but maybe a little too much rattle facing back and I think the bass seems to get trapped trying to cross over the top of the bar. The best sound I've gotten is under the floor, under the strut tower facing straight up. I am experimenting now using angled rings to face the sub slightly backward or slightly forward. But, to me this is a stealth location because I have all windows tinted, the back 3 are really dark. Even without tint, it is hard to see certain areas of the trunk looking through the hatch window because the strut tower blocks the view. This was even true of the Strut tower box, it was hard to see. For stealthiness, I was considering taking out the sub ring and covering my new box and sub with the stock carpet to totally hide it without really muffling the sound (the stock carpet is wafer thin). But I decided I really like the plush thick Z carpet so I cut a circle in it and used the ring to elevate the sub so it looks nice. If I want to hide the sub when I park in the city even more, I can simply place a towel or the piece I cut out over it.

dannichols

Also, the box I have built will fit a 12" if the mounting depth is 6.5" or less, has anyone experimented with a 12 in the rear compared to 10"?

Morris

iTrader: (1)

Great discussion. I am getting ready to place a 12" sub (I hope) in the spare tire well area. I already have the sub. I think it will work. i may have to raise the floor 1/2" higher than it currently is, but that should not be a problem.

I have a question. How do I determine what the sealed volume of my sub enclosure needs to be?

Thanks........

motown

That should be in your sub's owners manual. If you don't have it, most manufacturers have them online.

dannichols

Guys, I have a couple other threads going on about this but you will run into issues in the trunk area. First and foremost: height. There is about 6.2" of space between the fake floor and well bottom, higher or lower based on the lumps in the well. I molded a fiberglass bottom and sides which reduced that height by about 1/2". My goal was to make the box stealth..only have the woofer itself sticking out of a hole cutout of the fake floor and carpet-mat. This is somewhat possible I found, if you do a clean fiberglass job and raise the 12" with at least 3/4 MDF ring. So now I am contemplating 12" with a low mounting deoth..has anyone tried the Polk Momo?

motown

I saw you asking this in another thread. I have no experience with this. I think this mounting depth problem is part of the reason Dan was looking to build his woofer out a bit. Dan, correct me if I'm wrong. I think his idea of mounting the woofer to a resin ring is terrific and is definitely worth considering as it will minimize lost trunk space. Check the car audio boards about the Polk Momo. They would know best. Sounds interesting though... Keep us informed of how it goes!

dannichols

Thanks Motown, yes the rings were all part of an attempt to add space between the magnet and the fiberglass bottom of the box. My 10" worked ok with just one 3/4" flat ring, but I'm looking to modify in two ways: first, replace the 10" with a 12", and second angle the sub slightly back or forward using an angled ring made from resin.

If anyone is considering the wheel well project without modifying the trunk height please let me know. I found a lot of benefits having the sub and box there. It sounds great, with less vibration than I was getting under strut tower. With a screen over the sub for protection, I have more trunk space. The box also acts as a support for the fake trunk liner and carpet, since the spare tire is missing I can put heavier items back there without worrying about the fake trunk caving in (My sub is mounted in the front part of the well coming about 1 1/2" from the front lip of the well and the box ends just past the metal hump that the spare would mount to.

motown

whoa, just had a twilight zone moment there. didn't realize that it was you that I was talking to. what, the resin ring idea didn't work?

dannichols

Ha Ha, yeah...here we go again huh? Man these discussions make my workday go by quicker.

Anyways, I spent the whole weekend ripping out the 10" and ring and taking measurements for a 12". No work yet on the resin rings but I had some other ideas that may work better than the tilted bucket. Like making a 12" MDF ring, tilting it, then raising the edges stright up with painters blue tape wrapped around, and then filling it with resin. That way the resin ring would harden directly on the MDF ring and I wouldn't waste too much resin.

but then again our talk about the way bass waves travel in the car, got me focusing more on the driver height and size than on the angle..I may just keep it straight.

Those Polk Momos look sweet, even with the grill protector.

motown

Yeah, I was in an audio shop the other day and picked one up to look at it. Construction looks good, just haven't heard it play. Like I said, keep us up on how it turns out!

Morris

iTrader: (1)

Thanks Motown.........

dannichols

Morris, have you had progress on your spare tire buildout? The toughest problem I had was the box height, trying to align it all so the "fake" trunk piece sat on it squarely. I had to use a level and 3 foot wooden rod to get it right. measuring, looking for gaps, sanding...and a lot of touch-up fiberglassing!

Morris

iTrader: (1)

dannichols,

Thanks for the tips. I have not started yet. Tomorrow, I start the design.