Ideas for hiding sub in trunk

[Silver2002P5]

I just got my Silver P5 last week and love it. Just bought a Pioneer MP3 deck, and am looking into a sub for my trunk. I am looking at an 8 that can fit in a small enclosure. I was thinking I could make an enclosure in the left side rear quarter panel in the trunk.

I want everything to be hidden.

Anyone done this or know what would fit. I need all trunk space for kids crap. I would do a false floor, but I dont want to take away much storage room.

Comments and ideas would be appreciated.

 

[20ESGUY]

Check out the post by Hilsova awsome system install and it's pretty close to being hidden. http://forum.protegemp3.com/vbb225/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3465

 

[Silver2002P5]

ESGUY,

I saw that install and am impressed. That is about as good as I ever did (I am an amatuer too).

I am looking for something where you would look in the trunk and see just a woofer and think it was part of the car. Like the Stealthboxes.

I was trying to see if anyone had done something similar, or if someone knows of a 10" driver that would fit in the wheel well.

I have been reading up on fiberglass, and the options are limitless; but I am not sure if I can devote the time needed.

Still open for ideas.

 

[20ESGUY]

Fiberglass is probably about the only way you're really going to be able to match the curvature of the instep in the trunk area, im not real sure how much it is since i haven't had much experince with that area of the p5. As far as sub's go Kicker solo barics work well in small encloseures and so do JL W3 or W0 series. You'll more than likely be more pleased with the JL's than the kickers. If you really wanna spend some bucks though I'd go with Infinity perfect series 10" or a Soundstream. The Soundstream's are basicly DB monster but still retain musical integrity.

 

[1sty]

1 8" pobably won't be enough I'd do atleat 2 or 1 10",

 

[Silver2002P5]

Thanks for the replys. I would rather do a 10", but I guess I will have to attempt to figure out the volume of the wheel well.

I used to have solo barics, but was thinking JL Audio since I can get them local. I recently put an 12" infinite baffle setup in my attic for my home theater and it is truly amazing. Wish I could do the same for the P5.

I wish I had the time to learn how to fiberglass.

 

[frady2001]

check with mtx.

 

[Silver2002P5]

Checked with MTX too, and have been searching around many different sites regarding fiberglassing. I think a 12" in the spare tire well is starting to look like a much better idea.

My question now is, what would the benefits of fiberglassing an enclosure be vs. something made out of MDF (if volume is not a concern)? Would the fiberglass box with an MDF baffle be less prone to vibration? Would just a baffle in over the well work?

I truly want to try fiberglassing, just cause I have to try everything once, but have other priorities. What sort of time do you think the process could take.

Thoughts, feelings, personal experiences?

 

[20ESGUY]

If you use the spare tire well definitely fiberglass it. If you used just a plain baffle the resonace (spelling??) from under the car would be ungodly. Just to give you an example. I've only got one JL 10w3 running off a DEI model 500 amp which is putting close to 200 watts rms to the sub. It's enough in a sealed box to rattle everything from the rear deck panel, some of the underbody plates, and even the cat. conv. heat shield.

 

[Silver2002P5]

20ES,

That is what is making me worry. I don't want to go through the learning process of fiberglassing to find out my car rattles. I have an obsession with elminating all rattles from my cars.

What would be your idea of a nice setup, getting nice, clean, tight bass without big thump and rattle?

 

[macklum]

Calculated volume /spare tire well

If you want to calculate the volume of your spare tire well
,line the well with plastic and fill it with water . I know that 28 liters(4.546 liters/gallon) is 1 cubic foot of volume .Once the well is full remove the water by measuring it . The amount of water divided by the gallons will give you the cubic feet you have in the trunk.
When making the enclosuer .you can wax the wheelwell or line it with foil taping the seams .I prefer using the foil. Then build up the fiberglass in layers until you have approx 1/4 inch thickness . Then make your baffle for the speakers from 3/4 inch MDF .attach this to the fiberglass using screws and fiberglass.
If you are not in a hurry I will be making a sub tub in my 2001 ProtegeLX as soon as it warms up enough to work with the fiberglass. I will shoot pics of the process .
The key to success when using fiberglass and resins is to , mix resin as directed ,and make sure the matte is well saturated with resin ,no air bubbles .
I hope this helps Malcolm
Ps : ihave already made a sub tub for a first gen Pro . The sound was clean ,tight and best of all no rattles.

 

[Silver2002P5]

Macklum,

Please do post pics, as I have seen a couple of ones, but not great photos.

Glad to hear it worked for you, makes me really want to try it.

 

[20ESGUY]

Silver, personally for good clean tight sound I think your orginal idea for moulding into the wheel wells will probably suit what you're looking for just fine. Sealed enclosures always give a nice, thight, solid sound so I would recomend going with that style. As far as the speaker set-up, either one 10" or two 8's would work extremely well. Even one 12 I think would be over kill unless you're actually competing in DB drags or something along those lines. The main thing is get a good quality amp and head unit to power the subs, and use the right guage power and ground cables. Just as a personal rule of thumb I try to find an amp thats rated for 50 or so RMS watts less than the speaker RMS. In either a one sub or two sub set I would use a mono amp with built in low pass cross-over and a head unit that allows for sub adjustments. I'm using a Pioneer DEH-8200 now, it's an older unit but I love the thing, the flexiblity with tone, hi-pass and lo-pass crossover frequencies, and the ablity to run in-phase or 180 phase is great. Just some options anyways. I would stick to the fender well box idea though, just make sure to insulate the jack handle, i doubt the rear deck will be a problem since it's set up different in the p5 than my ES.

 

[Silver2002P5]

20ES,

First, let me say I was seriously considering a Monster before I bought my Buell M2. Ducati dealer around here stinks. I would love a Monster S4.

I think I will go with the wheel well idea. A 10" should do me fine.

Trying to keep costs in check, what would you think as an amp and 10" driver for in the $300 neighborhood?

Thanks again.

 

[20ESGUY]

Yeah, I love my monster. Unfortuantely the dealer I bought it from sold their franchise to a different dealer. It took me a month to get a turn signal and fuel sending unit fixed, and I can't say much for the service writer either, she had no clue what was going on with anybody's bikes. On top off all that they broke my right side panel by overtightening it. Needless to say I won't be dealing with them much. Very disappointing knowing the good serivce I got from the orginial dealer. About the sub and the amp, $300 for both is going to be a little hard to do. I know that the DEI 250D series should run in the 200 range, which is fairly cheap for a good quality amp. You may be able to find a MTX amp for about the same price. Most good 10" subs will run between 150-200. The JL's are around 179.00 I think the MTX and Sony's are a little cheaper. Pioneer makes one in the same price range as the JL just not as good a quaility. The Infinity's are goin to be in the upper 200 range.

 

[1sty]

I currently have 4 8" subs in my MP3 with dynamat extream in the trunk and on the rear deck lid. Its not incredibly loud but it packs a sick punch. I made a tire well box originaly for my car but when My new amp came in it would no longer fit. with where I wanted my amps. Glassing doesn't have a whole lot of advantages over wood. Infact many people seem to here a difference and actualy prefer wood even in the tire well, PS this is only to be attempted by extreamly good installers. SIM did a BMW with a wood box in the well and the number of cuts was friggin insane. Glass in no doubt stronger then wood or atleast can be if you do it like me, my well box was over an 1" thick in several areas and never was thinner then 1/2". If you want soe tips on glassing let me know. By the way a good shop proabaly wouln't charge more than $600 for a false floor with a tire well box.

 

[Silver2002P5]

1ST,

I would appreciate any tips you would have. I know that MDF is obviously easy to work with (I have all the tools I need) and is very dense. I recently made the most awesome infinte baffle in my attic for my home theater. The glass would be only for the option of forming an enclosure and cool factor. I could build a false floor all out of MDF but that would be quite heavy. The only problem would be spare tire access.

I like the satisfaction of saying "I made that", so I am not taking it to an installer.

I think one or two 10's would be fine for me, so maybe this is going beyond what is needed. I would like to glass just cause I like to try different things.

A simple MDF enclosure behind the seats would be very easy to build. My question regarding this is, would you face the woofers towards the back of the seat or into the hatch? Facing them in towards the seats would allow a false front in the trunk so you would see nothing and would be preferred.

Decisions, decisions...

 

[macklum]

I have had hatchs in the past and ran the woofers both ways . i prefer facing the woofers to the rear of the car rather than into the seats .

 

[Minus]

im looking to do some fiberglassing, but i really want to go all out in the trunk. practically replacing the walls with fiberglass.

im not doing a very good job explaining it, but i want to hold 2 12"s and 2 amps and sort of work around the spare tire well, so that i can still have a spare just in case

 

[Rider69]

How about 1 12" sub in the right hand side of the hatch area?