Some people are adamant about using MDF, I never was. I'd use 3/4 and double on baffle is good idea with 12 or above HD sub, you can get away without if you have supported baffle close to sub so baffle is not spanning a larger area. On other hand if you have little wood next to driver you should double it too. Sometimes I use 3/4 ply and lay 1/2 or 3/4 mdf on top of it w/ glue & screws. That way I have some mdf and don't have to mount the driver to it, is easy to do, etc.metaverse said:
Yes I put weatherstrip on the car to wood touching areas as I did not want to make it permanent. Also did the baffle to frame so I can take out just the baffle board and change sub size with a new board.
RCA that come in kit seem about right, 15'? I did not look but you can estimate just don't be short. Scrap copper dropped here.
Yeah mount amp anywhere, I like to make a board to mount them on. Just saying vibration from the sub is not at all good for the amp it likes to break solder.
My baffle is on a frame of pie shaped supports that run from bottom of deck about 8+" wide down to floor at near 0" wide. There is one in center and one each side, a frame that covers the deck, then baffle covers the whole back of it. I put a piece on the floor behind seats to seal the bottom off and pieces on sides, could not go quite as wide as the hole. The frame is mounted on rear deck and bottom mostly, so the chip board around it is not really a bearing point and it was laying around for me to use to close off sides. Note the foam you can see in the photo of subs mounted. Think it was truck topper foam. Now there are bolts between the top/bottom subs that are wired to amp, so wires are behind seat and come out under end of amp.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
I went cheap and instead of buying deadening mat for car stereo I use peel and stick. Is a roofing material and similar to what sound deadeners are. It can fall off it used on vertical or upside down surfaces. I put it on edge of baffle and near everything else behind seat and under seat, and on rear deck before putting all the panels back in. I need to put more in the trunk I can hear road noise through the subs on the rare occasion I have the music off. The wood itself is sealed with foam weatherstrip and screwed to the car.
Thanks for the kind words, but you ain't done yet! There's plenty of time left to call us (or at least me) a bunch of idiots.
Here’s the baffle from my ’92 Maxima. The ‘ribs’ were dual purpose for added rigidity and a skeleton for trim work around the amps.
It was built from what I had laying around. I would have skipped the ‘ribs’ if there had been enough ¾” sheet for two layers down in the basement.
(Photo obviously taken in my younger days)
Here's a pic of the Maxima Bose door enclosure fitted with a baffle for large 5-1/4".
IMHO, this is one of the best attributes of the Bose system. It’s a pain to make a box to fit in a door. The Bose boxes are ported, and usually work better with aftermarket speakers if the port is plugged, stuffed, or covered. In this case, I removed the duct to gain that little extra bit of volume.
This pic was included for your future plans, because once you hear the improvements you’ve made...
Here’s the baffle from my ’92 Maxima. The ‘ribs’ were dual purpose for added rigidity and a skeleton for trim work around the amps.
It was built from what I had laying around. I would have skipped the ‘ribs’ if there had been enough ¾” sheet for two layers down in the basement.
(Photo obviously taken in my younger days)
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Here's a pic of the Maxima Bose door enclosure fitted with a baffle for large 5-1/4".
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
IMHO, this is one of the best attributes of the Bose system. It’s a pain to make a box to fit in a door. The Bose boxes are ported, and usually work better with aftermarket speakers if the port is plugged, stuffed, or covered. In this case, I removed the duct to gain that little extra bit of volume.
This pic was included for your future plans, because once you hear the improvements you’ve made...
tsmith1315 said:
LOL!!! I had a bad [and good] feeling it would come down to that haha ... i'm hoping with the new deck that it can really bring out the remaining character in those stock speakers. I figure its got 6v preamps and a built in crossover so i'm hoping that it'll be enough to satisfy me lol ... On the other hand it is the full moon in scorpio tomorrow , which is said to bring out ones desires so we'll see what happens haha ...
A wood working friend of mine is stopping by tomorrow and we're going to take measurements and do some woodcutting ... I'll see If I can take some pictures to document this journey.
Hey ... I've got an update ...
Everything is on its way in the mail ...
The back was DEFINETLY much smaller than I had thought , especially when it was based mostly on memories in comparison to Jol's photos ...
One 15" is the quite the fit. There's only a few inches left on the top and bottom but it'll fit with a bit of breathing room.
Its sitting about 4 or so inches from the back seat.
No holes have been cut in it yet since I dont have the sub but the main section of the baffle has been cut.
We used some metal self tapping screws and ran a piece of wood that will act as a frame along the bottom and then the same thing on the top. We'll then add a couple of scribed pieces of mdf to the left and right sides to seal up those holes. Any suggestions on what I should use to seal up the gaps? Expanding foam? Caulking? Tiny inserts with either the foam or caulking? Rubber tape ??
Also there is a piece of MDF that covers the middle of the 3/4" plywood baffle. The MDF is placed on the face looking towards the front of the car ... I wasn't sure if I should've put it behind the baffle board facing the trunk side or not ... here's some pics:
BEFORE:
AFTER:
MDF:
Everything is on its way in the mail ...
The back was DEFINETLY much smaller than I had thought , especially when it was based mostly on memories in comparison to Jol's photos ...
One 15" is the quite the fit. There's only a few inches left on the top and bottom but it'll fit with a bit of breathing room.
Its sitting about 4 or so inches from the back seat.
No holes have been cut in it yet since I dont have the sub but the main section of the baffle has been cut.
We used some metal self tapping screws and ran a piece of wood that will act as a frame along the bottom and then the same thing on the top. We'll then add a couple of scribed pieces of mdf to the left and right sides to seal up those holes. Any suggestions on what I should use to seal up the gaps? Expanding foam? Caulking? Tiny inserts with either the foam or caulking? Rubber tape ??
Also there is a piece of MDF that covers the middle of the 3/4" plywood baffle. The MDF is placed on the face looking towards the front of the car ... I wasn't sure if I should've put it behind the baffle board facing the trunk side or not ... here's some pics:
BEFORE:
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
AFTER:
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
MDF:
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Looking good. I bought a roll of truck topper tape to seal mine. Also used some other weatherstrip, stuff is cheap. Large holes you may need something else, expanding foam works nice but can be messy and permanent.
Yeah pair of 15s is all that would fit in the seat hole in my car. I had to lean my baffle back and run up to rear deck to fit quad 12s. Actually the 12s are half in the rear deck in a sense, but deck is covered with 3/4 ply of frame. IIRC my hole is roughly 39"x20.
Yeah pair of 15s is all that would fit in the seat hole in my car. I had to lean my baffle back and run up to rear deck to fit quad 12s. Actually the 12s are half in the rear deck in a sense, but deck is covered with 3/4 ply of frame. IIRC my hole is roughly 39"x20.
Hey Tim ,
I haven't posted because i've been floating in purgatory over here ... Staring at a brand new head unit , the earthquake amp and the 15" sub sitting on my desk ... collecting dust along with the wiring harness and everything else ...
I ended up ordering my head unit and amp installation kit off of online car stereo ... Well it turns out that this kit I already sent the money order out for :
http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=19312
is NOT IN STOCK. I REALLY wish they would update their site before people send their money in ... Really gets on my nerves as this is the third seperate store that this kind of thing has happened on. Site says its in stock and i get a message saying "oh , we're sorry , that item isn't in stock" ... I say "but it says on the site it is ..." yeah , its not ... Anyhow moving forward
So at this point i'm wondering what would be a good replacement for that wiring kit ??
Do i need a 700w wiring kit with an ANL fuse? Since the sub will only be taking about 100watts RMS (says the sheet that came with it) could I use a smaller kit? Would I want to?
Also a friend of mine who has a little experience with car stereo mentioned the possibility of hooking up the sub to only 1 of the 2 channels on the amp since I only need 100 watts RMS ... what do you think ?
Also as you can see in the last picture my buddy slapped on a piece of MDF in the middle where the sub will go - the mdf is facing the front of the car on the face of the board ... thoughts ?? It seemed like he was going more on logic than experience so i'd like to know if you guys feel that is a good choice or not ...
With the gap filling , there are a couple of spots where I think instead of using the foam , i'll just use layers of the tape stacked on each other along the face of the wheel well - than put the scribed pieces of MDF over them and then seal them up with tape on the outsides of the point where they meet ... ??
ON a positive note everything else that I ordered seems to be great , even though its still in the packaging LOL ... we'll see what happens ...
Happy holidays
I haven't posted because i've been floating in purgatory over here ... Staring at a brand new head unit , the earthquake amp and the 15" sub sitting on my desk ... collecting dust along with the wiring harness and everything else ...
I ended up ordering my head unit and amp installation kit off of online car stereo ... Well it turns out that this kit I already sent the money order out for :
http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=19312
is NOT IN STOCK. I REALLY wish they would update their site before people send their money in ... Really gets on my nerves as this is the third seperate store that this kind of thing has happened on. Site says its in stock and i get a message saying "oh , we're sorry , that item isn't in stock" ... I say "but it says on the site it is ..." yeah , its not ... Anyhow moving forward
So at this point i'm wondering what would be a good replacement for that wiring kit ??
Do i need a 700w wiring kit with an ANL fuse? Since the sub will only be taking about 100watts RMS (says the sheet that came with it) could I use a smaller kit? Would I want to?
Also a friend of mine who has a little experience with car stereo mentioned the possibility of hooking up the sub to only 1 of the 2 channels on the amp since I only need 100 watts RMS ... what do you think ?
Also as you can see in the last picture my buddy slapped on a piece of MDF in the middle where the sub will go - the mdf is facing the front of the car on the face of the board ... thoughts ?? It seemed like he was going more on logic than experience so i'd like to know if you guys feel that is a good choice or not ...
With the gap filling , there are a couple of spots where I think instead of using the foam , i'll just use layers of the tape stacked on each other along the face of the wheel well - than put the scribed pieces of MDF over them and then seal them up with tape on the outsides of the point where they meet ... ??
ON a positive note everything else that I ordered seems to be great , even though its still in the packaging LOL ... we'll see what happens ...
Happy holidays
metaverse said:
Did you get my email? It went something like this...
>>Do i need a 700w wiring kit with an ANL fuse? Since the sub will only be taking about 100watts RMS (says the sheet that came with it) could I use a smaller kit? Would I want to?<<
Given that amp being a high-current old school model, I wouldn't cut corners on wiring. Low voltage/lack of current is a sure way to roast transistors in those amps. As a reward, you'll have an amp that can last a lifetime with minor service.
>>Also as you can see in the last picture my buddy slapped on a piece of MDF in the middle where the sub will go - the mdf is facing the front of the car on the face of the board ... thoughts ?? It seemed like he was going more on logic than experience so i'd like to know if you guys feel that is a good choice or not ...<<
Structurally, that shouldn't matter. For ease of installation and service, you'll want to mount the woofer from the back. I assume that woofer is heavy
, so t-nuts may make it an easier task.For big woofers, I've also used ~3" long 8mm bolts fed from the front of the baffle. To do this, go ahead and secure the bolt in place with a nut and washer, it'll most likely clear the cutouts in the gasket on the front of the woofer with room to spare.
>>With the gap filling, there are a couple of spots where I think instead of using the foam, i'll just use layers of the tape stacked on each other along the face of the wheel well - than put the scribed pieces of MDF over them and then seal them up with tape on the outsides of the point where they meet ... ??<<
I can't quite get the visual, but it sounds fine. Don't drive yourself nuts over sealing things up. Remember this is roughly a 20 cubic foot enclosure. An inch or so here and there with a thick foam seat in front of it isn't that significant.
I'd save those details for later, after you've enjoyed it around for a while and feel like tweaking things to see what you can improve.
Please DO be sure that the factory speakers have an effective high-pass on them so the woofer will be doing the hard work.
I really am interested to hear about the results and your impressions of the system.
Sorry about that , I had assumed you'd just respond here and the email I used to create this account isn't in use much these days ...
And just to clarify , I tend to learn like a 3 year old so I just want to double check on your response.
about the wiring = you're suggesting finding another 700w , 4gauge with ANL fuse kit ?
Could you clarify what you mean by mount it from the back? Because when you said you've used 3" 8mm screws fed from the front of the baffle I ran into some
I'll definetly be reporting back here and posting pictures once everything is secured
And just to clarify , I tend to learn like a 3 year old so I just want to double check on your response.
about the wiring = you're suggesting finding another 700w , 4gauge with ANL fuse kit ?
Could you clarify what you mean by mount it from the back? Because when you said you've used 3" 8mm screws fed from the front of the baffle I ran into some
I'll definetly be reporting back here and posting pictures once everything is secured
It's too aggravating to post from the office, as I'm usually logged out of the forum before I'm finished typing... email is easier there. One day I'll take the time to figure out what's happening, but PC time is limited there.
No smaller than 8 gauge for a 300W RMS amp. The Earthquake is likely to be current hungry, so go up a size for safety margin. In the future you may find yourself wanting to run it at 2 ohms, and you'd need a larger gauge then.
The baffle is in place, take the woofer in through the trunk and stick it up to the board. It's now on the back of the baffle.
That's just a method I found convenient in the past. I used 8mm because something we sold came with several long 8mm bolts, and we never used them. I still have a bag full 15yrs later.
Method:
- mark where the bolts (1/4", 3/8", whatever will fit the basket nicely) should be,
- drill holes just big enough for the bolt to go through (no slop),
- while sitting in the trunk, reach through the woofer hole and feed the bolt through from the seat side so that the threads are coming back towards you,
- put a washer and a nut on and tighten to hold the bolt firmly in place.
This way you have "studs" sticking out of the baffle. You just silde the holes in the woofer basket over the studs and twist a washer and nut on the stud.
Reasons for doing so:
-When handling heavy, akward woofers in the confined area, it helps to have both hands on the woofer while positioning it.
-If you're trying to hold the woofer in place with one hand and feed screws through the basket and into a t-nut with the other, it's aggravating.
**Gotta be very careful not to poke the surround with the stud while getting it into position.
I ended up ordering this :
http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=20367
the only thing that has me and my novice mind slightly worried is this statement at the bottom:
"Designed for systems up to 600 watts" and i've got a high current 700w RMS earthquake amp ... should I be worried ??
http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=20367
the only thing that has me and my novice mind slightly worried is this statement at the bottom:
"Designed for systems up to 600 watts" and i've got a high current 700w RMS earthquake amp ... should I be worried ??
That will work fine. If you plan on running it hard bridged at 4ohm in the future, it wouldn't hurt to add another 4 and run two in parallel, but 4 will work great for your sub. And the fuse holder looks like the mini wafer type in our kits, way better than the glass tube type. I would totally bridge the amp and not run one channel, the amp is designed to run 350rms bridged at 8ohms so you will be able to adjust it just right with the amp gain and deck eq to keep the power level low enough for your woofer.
PROGRESS!
well ... some progress ...
I've got the sub mounted to the baffle in the trunk with the battery wire, remote wire and rca's all run to their spots
BUT
The deck isn't hooked up because all these wires are doing my head in - LOL
Especially the wiring method that tsmith and ppia were helping me with in my other thread with pictures , explaination and questions here :
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=132412
please stop by, please lend a hand if you can
well ... some progress ...
I've got the sub mounted to the baffle in the trunk with the battery wire, remote wire and rca's all run to their spots
BUT
The deck isn't hooked up because all these wires are doing my head in - LOL
Especially the wiring method that tsmith and ppia were helping me with in my other thread with pictures , explaination and questions here :
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=132412
please stop by, please lend a hand if you can
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