Hey ya was just wondering what every one has for a subwoofer box im planning on making a new one for my car so looking for ideas soo just post up your pics of your custom boxes or just your plain square boxes. thx
front back sides and top and bottom. frotn and back are usually the same size as well as the sides being the same and top and bottom.
yah i know I just want some creative designs some people have done with boxes and amps
best bet is to use cardomain or sounddomain. most of us have pages over there.
my plan,
2 boxes, one in each corner, will likely have to make a cut out for the truck arm(and it will still be sealed), to make the boxes the right size, I want to make it using mdf for as much as I can, and the really hard curvy parts I will use some fiber glass, then carpet it,
the amp I want to mount on the trunk lid so when you lift it, it will be facing you,
I know they should likely not be facing down, but I figure it should be ok,
well, that is the plan anyway,
fo now, I went for a cheap box from futureshop and had to add some wood to the back and put the amp on the top.
I want to do this so I can still use my fold down seats
I built a fiberglass box that fits perfectly into the left side of the trunk behind the wheelwell. It holds a 10" sub in a flush mount so I can cover the whole thing with carpet and it disappears. I did this after my cav was broken into and I lost about $1500 in stuff, including my old store bought box. This one actually bolts to the body of the car from the inside. You can't remove the box from the car without first removing the sub from the box. I felt bad about having my old sub stolen, but it would really suck if I lost 2 weeks of effort on this box. I'm at work now so I can't post pics. I will later though.
It's nice because I can take twisties without worrying about a MDF box flopping around in the trunk. Also, the sub is pretty high off the floor of the trunk, so I don't have to worry about stuff in the trunk denting up the cone. I can also get all the space when i fold down the rear seat so i can fit things like my bike and computer desks with no problem.
2002 Cavalier 2200 5spd
Solid Snake
ya it you can post some picks, I am wondering how you got everyting to fit, how does it sound?, and better yet, how hard was it to build(how did you do it?
thanks
Still at work...
First I took out all the carpet in the trunk. Then I duct taped the area behind the wheel well all the way back to the tail light. I fiberglassed the bottom and the sides. I couldn't add glass upside down to make the top, so I just let it go for later. Then when I had a single layer mold, I took it out and made it stronger. It was important that I only did a single layer. It was weak and flexible and cracked in a few places, but that's the only reason I could pull it out of the trunk! It was easy to strengthen it later.
I drew a line in the trunk where I wanted the front panel to be. It couldn't stick out too much because the trunk arm couldn't interfere. Then I took a big piece of cardboard and made a pattern for the front. I taped it over a piece of MDF and rotozipped it.
I rotozipped a 10" hole in the wood, not to lay the sub on top, but big enough to go around the entire sub. Then I rotozipped a ring of MDF to glue behind the 10" hole in the board to get a flush look.
I put fiberglass mat all over the face of the MDF, then I added resin to it. I didn't go all the way to the edge with the resin so the overhang would remain workable.
I put two screws through the fiberglass mold to the MDF to hold it together. I joined the overhanging glass on the face to the rear with resin and let it harden.
For additional strength I added a puddle of resin from the inside of the box along the joint where it met the MDF.
The final step was glassing the top of the box. I didn't want to glass upside down while it was still in the car so I had to do it last. I used packaging tape that just barely hung on to the face and the rear, by maybe 1/2". I added a few layers of glass to that, and the box was done.
I temporarily installed a sub, taped over the bolt holes and played a loud 30hz tone through it to inspect for leaks. I added resin to a few pinholes I found. I got some thick foam weatherstripping from home depot and added it to the car where the box would contact the car to prevent buzzing/rattling and then I installed it into my car. I added some thinner weatherstripping to the MDF where the speaker sits to make sure there was no air leakage.
The fit is PERFECT. Nearly every square inch available is used and even without bolts, I could autocross and the thing wouldn't come out. Because of the weatherstripping, it doesn't buzz or rattle. Since it's airtight, there's no whistling or power loss. I would say it sounds even better than MDF boxes because it's positioned in the corner of the car so you don't get any weird standing waves or delayed response from it facing the back of the car.
It took me two weeks to build from start to finish. Most of that was standing around to watch the resin dry. It's important to take your time and let one area dry before moving on. You've got to let gravity do its work. If you try to do too much at once, resin will run from where you want it to where you don't.
2002 Cavalier 2200 5spd
if your looking to fiberglass i suggest buying the 25 dollar or so heat gun from loews. i just fiberclass a arm ret with ipod cut out and the heat gun help the drying time. just a suggestion.
very nice, do you know how big the box is(volume) off hand, I was kind of worried that it would be too small for the sub, so I was going to make it farther out and cut a hole for the trunk arm and seal it up with more MDF, but if the way you did yours worked, I am jus going to do it that way. where did you get the carpeting and how much did you have to pay?,
looks good, I picked up a spare trunk liner to do this so I could cut all the carpet so I could get in all the spots I wanted.
I don't know how big the volume is due to the odd shape. It's bigger than it looks though, because of the height and width. I wasn't sure how big it was going to be so I made it a 10". I generally like the sound of 10" subs better than 12", and a 10" in a box that's too big sounds better and will actually go deeper than a 12" in a box that's too small. The easiest way for me to determine the volume of the box now is to measure the sub's resonant frequency in and out of the box and do the math.
I'd advise against making the box stick out further than the trunk arm. It's not just the box that has to clear the arm, but the frame and magnet of the sub once you install it. If you wanted more volume, you could just widen the box around the wheel well.
The carpeting is actually garage floor liner with rubber backing that I got from Pep Boys for $10. I believe it's a 3x8 foot roll.
2002 Cavalier 2200 5spd
Solid Snake wrote:I don't know how big the volume is due to the odd shape. It's bigger than it looks though, because of the height and width. I wasn't sure how big it was going to be so I made it a 10". I generally like the sound of 10" subs better than 12", and a 10" in a box that's too big sounds better and will actually go deeper than a 12" in a box that's too small. The easiest way for me to determine the volume of the box now is to measure the sub's resonant frequency in and out of the box and do the math.
I'd advise against making the box stick out further than the trunk arm. It's not just the box that has to clear the arm, but the frame and magnet of the sub once you install it. If you wanted more volume, you could just widen the box around the wheel well.
The carpeting is actually garage floor liner with rubber backing that I got from Pep Boys for $10. I believe it's a 3x8 foot roll.
that box just rocks. i remember seeing a guy with a box almost like that one but had a image dynamics idq 12 in it on the other side of the car in like a honda. the guy was pushing 135 db's from one sub in a sealed box any ways it was in car audio and electronic mag. and the box was made from carbon fiber go figure why it made it. still that's cool 135 from a sealed box and one sub
Since I'll be bolting the thing to my car from the inside, it will be theft proof too. The only way to pull the box is to pull the sub first, and since I'm going to fasten it with some of these:
http://www.tamperproof.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=products
I doubt your average thief is going to be able to pull it off. I figure the only reason someone would take the box is because the sub is attached to it. Because of all the hard work I put into the box, I want to make sure that doesn't happen. I'd sooner give up the sub than the box!
Oh, and please excuse the crappy kenwood sub, I had a great Infinity one before it got stolen
2002 Cavalier 2200 5spd
I did what solid snake did, my first box so took me 3 weeks.
I went for a road trip over a weekend, came back home and all my crap was gone.
the theifs took their time though,
everywire was unplugged from the amp, no cut wires.
they punched out my door luck to get into my car. :-(
still don't have a new amp/sub, but I miss the sound.
just don't loose the tool to get the screws out,
I think the magnet should be ok, I kinda held it up and had a look and it looked like it would fit ok, but I think I will tuck it back like yours,
do you think that if i took some MDF and drilled some holes in it and covered it with carpet it would still give me a good sound or would it make it sound crappy,
I want it to be very clean looking, if it makes it sound like crap I will just put a metal cover over it so I don't break the sub, but this gives me confidence that I can do it,
and my girlfriends dad has just about every wood working tool that you could want or need, hahahaha
thanks for the advice and picks, I am going to get started on this very soon I think, I still don't have the carpet put back in my trunk, so I am in good shape, did it smell really bad in you car while you were doing this and were you still driving the car.
on a side note, girlfriends brother got himself another z24, the light metallic blue one, I think it is a 99, very clean
Quote:
just don't loose the tool to get the screws out,
I think the magnet should be ok, I kinda held it up and had a look and it looked like it would fit ok, but I think I will tuck it back like yours,
do you think that if i took some MDF and drilled some holes in it and covered it with carpet it would still give me a good sound or would it make it sound crappy,
I want it to be very clean looking, if it makes it sound like crap I will just put a metal cover over it so I don't break the sub, but this gives me confidence that I can do it,
and my girlfriends dad has just about every wood working tool that you could want or need, hahahaha
thanks for the advice and picks, I am going to get started on this very soon I think, I still don't have the carpet put back in my trunk, so I am in good shape, did it smell really bad in you car while you were doing this and were you still driving the car.
on a side note, girlfriends brother got himself another z24, the light metallic blue one, I think it is a 99, very clean
What do you mean by drilling some holes in the MDF? What kind of holes, for the sub? If you're talking about an enclosure that's not sealed, yes, air leaks will make it sound crappy. That's why I have duct tape over the bolt holes. Even the hole where the wires leave the box must be airtight. You wouldn't believe how audible a pinhole leak is from fiberglass box.
The car did smell while I was laying down the first layers of the back. The resin will continue to stink until it has cured 100%. In my case, there were spots that didn't cure at first, so it continued to smell. This car is my daily driver, so yes I had to drive to work with a half completed form in the back. I just turned the vents on so the fumes didn't make me retarded. After I laid down some very hot batches of fiberglass and resin on the outside, any uncured areas stopped smelling.
When you put down the duct tape, you have to make sure you don't create any shapes that will prevent the mold from coming out, like going too far up along the side of the wheel well. Also, make sure you leave enough room around the taillight. I didn't leave enough room as I should have and the wires around the tail light are kind of cramped.
I laid down some glass, waited for it to dry, pulled it off the duct tape, put it back down and added more to it. This way, I only had to pull off a little bit of glass at a time. If you do the entire form on the car without pulling parts of it up, you'll have a very hard time getting the whole thing off your car at once.
Michal, that sucks man. Did you have any valuables in sight when they broke in your car? I made the stupid mistake of leaving my XM radio and GPS in the car. They got those, and a lot of other stuff as bonus items
If you want this box to be a permanent part of the car, I suppose you could always apply glass directly to the metal. I didn't have the stomach for that though.
2002 Cavalier 2200 5spd
Oh another thing...
The fit between the box and the car is so tight that it will not fit with the carpeting installed. I took a razor and cut the shape of the box out of the carpet. The carpet extends for maybe an inch or two under the box, then it stops. Also, I had to remove that gray padding from underneath the carpet because it would not allow the box to fit.
2002 Cavalier 2200 5spd
ya, the holes in the mdf I was thinking about is to make a cover for the sub, I would just drill alot of hole so that the sound could get out but the wood would still be able to protect the sub, as long as the sub would not hit the wood, do you think it might work
kinda like this
yes it is rough, but not bad for a few minutes in paint
Yeah that would sound terrible. Drilling holes gets you MAYBE 10% exposure, while a decent grille gets you about 90%.
What you could do is recess mount the subs using a thick front piece of MDF and a speaker ring. In my box, the subs sit flush. In yours, they should actually sit further back, so when they swing out, they don't hit anything. If you're using 10" subs, get a 12" or 15" speaker grille, cut off the outer part where it's raised so you have a flat grille and just screw it to the box. Then put your carpet over that.
2002 Cavalier 2200 5spd
that sounds like an idea, it should still be good going through the carpet though,
haven't done this yet, just getting ideas,
thanks
Solid Snake wrote:Since I'll be bolting the thing to my car from the inside, it will be theft proof too.
Nothing is theft proof.
Thieves pried my 2 JL 12W6s out of the box. Doubled-up 0.75" MDF, 1.75" screws and they still crowbarred them out. I can't see the subs doing well after that, since the box was destroyed (bolted down so they couldn't walk off with everything).
What would better deter thieves are tamperproof bolts (with washers) so they couldn't easily be ripped out. I've bolted in every sub since my W6s, but haven't had any breakins to see if my theory made any difference.
GAM (The Kilted One) wrote: if you think you're that much better than them because you're "correct" I hope your progeny don't turn out as screwed up as yourself.
Okay, maybe theft resistant.
Prying the subs from my box will be difficult because they are recessed. Trying to pry them will just bend the basket of the sub sideways, not outwards. I've been looking for tamperproof screws. I found some that have weird patterns but also reverse spirals so that if a thief tries to unscrew them somehow, he's actually tightening them.
I also considered hardening the trunk against attack by stopping the seat from folding down and disabling the electronic trunk release, or at least wiring it up so it only works with a key in the ignition.
2002 Cavalier 2200 5spd
not a bad idea, I know there are alot of vehicles where you have to pull the seat down through the trunk, I wonder if the release could be modified to do this aswell
