Custom Sub Enclosure - Lots of Pics

When i bought my 3000gti already had 2 MTX 12's and a box from my Jimmy. Well 4 years down the road i got more and more sick of seeing this huge box in my back hatch and no room at all in my hatch for anything other than 2 skateboards. (Ive been skating for 18 years now and its fun to do when my buddy comes back from the army.) SO i decided to build a box for my subs using some ideas from Ictponder/Isaac. This is my progress towards a box that doesnt take up all my hatch and actually fits in the rear of my 3S.

Before:
The first day i got my car.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps14afac3a.jpg

Progress:

I took the idea to have the back of the box follow the natural curve of the rear seats.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps3ffadc4c.jpg

This was the basic idea of the box but then i found that the rear seats could not go up once the subs were mounted. I then cut the front faceplate down so the box sat lower. I also shaved the top plate on the sides so that it too would fit lower in the car.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psfff34cdb.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps68051992.jpg

After shaving the plates to the right size i made the bottom of the box, put the subs in and checked the depth from the subs and the rear seats. i have about a 1/2-3/4 inch clearance which is good enough for me lol.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psfdeff6bb.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psf8ae27ce.jpg

Once the sides were made (which was a major pain in my a** I took it all apart and wood glued each piece. I couldn't do this before because of the way the box sat it was easier to assemble in the car as it was.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps9ffbff09.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps41f7dcac.jpg

Now came the fun part ... -_- I got on the phone with Steve/2fnloud who has some major audio background and told him that although im a perfectionist there were still some tiny gaps that i was concerned about. I did fill some of the gaps with a wood glue/saw dust mixture but i wanted to make sure that it would be airtight and still hold together. Steve gave me the idea to resin and fiberglass the joints and gaps to seal and solidify the box.

Well this was my first time fiber glassing... but i think i did a pretty decent job. And for the heck of it i resined most of the joints on the outside to be even more sure it was sealed.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...pscb7d9ea0.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psbf4539a4.jpg

Now to just sand... sand... sand... mount the subs and terminals and carpet this beast.

subbed, pun intended.

don't worry about sanding the inside, from what I am seeing there isn't much sanding to be done on the outside.

That seems like a very little box for a pair of 12's. I wonder if a rear-facing port would help you get more bass out of the setup...? I have a pair of tens in mine in a similar sized box and have a rear-facing port and can get ridiculous bass from it, though mine does nuzzle up against the hatch when closed and creates a band-pass-like configuration.

EricB

Well i finished the main part of the box last night, Cutting holes for the posts and drilling the holes for the subs themselves. I also sanded the extra resin off of the outside of the box and fixed where the sides of the actual box protrude the front of it. Ill be mounting a facia (face-cha) to the front of the box to fill in where the angles are when i carpet it.

Dont mind the ghetto wiring i was in a hurry to test it out. It was getting pretty late and cold lol.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psef7b3a91.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SUTHNR

That seems like a very little box for a pair of 12's. I wonder if a rear-facing port would help you get more bass out of the setup...? I have a pair of tens in mine in a similar sized box and have a rear-facing port and can get ridiculous bass from it, though mine does nuzzle up against the hatch when closed and creates a band-pass-like configuration.

EricB

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You know i was worried about how small the box was compared to my original box. It was probably about twice the size of this box. Interestingly that box was not ported so i decided not to port this one. To be completely honest this box hits alot sharper than my original box and is VERY noticible. It might not be as deep as the original box but its almost such a small difference i honestly cant be sure. Its still loud enough to rattle my rear view mirror off the holder on the windshield.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 2fnloud

don't worry about sanding the inside, from what I am seeing there isn't much sanding to be done on the outside.

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For sanding the inside all i did really was sand all of the loose fibers out of the box. It just seemed like a good idea.

So i finally got the box carpeted. I took a pic of the terminals used as well.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps4f9e3913.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps8f4738a6.jpg

Dont mind the seem on the bottomw of the back.. u cant see it anyways when its in the car lol.

Pics in the car...meow! ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 2fnloud

Pics in the car...meow! ;)

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yes! rite meow! lol

Ok heres in the car

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps1b301fea.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps04194e16.jpg

Im pretty happy with the results

Love it!

The best way to overcome too little airspace is with a lot of power. Reflecting off the rear glass like that will give you a lot of clarity, just not as much SPL. Ideally the airspace would be better with 2 10" subs to give you a well rounded sound in that small of box. Porting it would definitely not be a good Idea, you need more airspace for porting than sealed for it to perform decent.

Looks great! I have almost the exact same box in my car but with 10's instead. Its is a bit further back from the seats and the amps mount in between the seats and the box so they are hidden from view even with the hatch open. The car speaker amp is mounted to the seat itself so the subs and amp can be removed for luggage on a trip and I will still have a working radio. I had mine built at least 15 years ago though :) Good ideas never die!

its small most 12's require atleast 1cubic ft and most people don't realize that a $40 sub in the right box will sound better than an $800 in the wrong box! size is VERY critical! I've got almost whole trunk under the top as box but bc our cars trunk is so shallow had to make it up in side to side/front to back space! got alpine type x now( soo much better than the R series subs!)

Daym! I bet that loosens some bolts lol

I love how you're all spewing out a generality on how important space is when you don't even know the specs on his subs to find out how much they actually need.

To the OP, the smaller your box is (comparatively to the space required for the T/S specs) the more damping you will have and the tighter the bass will be. There IS a point somewhere along the way where if it's too small you'd really notice the low end drop off and the motor fighting to move. However, sealed boxes are generally pretty forgiving, and ballpark numbers usually play usually play nice. If you're happy with it, leave it alone. Only you know what you want out of your system. If you want a little more low end extension, stuff the box loosely with polyfill. If you like it, leave it. DON'T make up for a smallish box with a "MOAR POWA" approach, and DON'T port it.

DO pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

/end rant

Jake

nice setup and good job on the install.

how much air space does ea. sub have?? looks like it might be a bit small for 12's?? they would need close to 1.25-1.5 cu.ft airspace per sub?? and a million dollar sub sounds worse in the wrong size box than a $50 sub in the right size box!!! so many people over look this important step!!