Storage Compartment Door with 8" sub built in

[FABombjoy]

The other thing I was thinking of, for those of us looking to have a stock look", is to go along the rear bulkhead, between the engine compartment and passenger compartment. There's about a good 4" of width which would be plenty to put an amp in there.

This is what I did. It's been working fine since 2006 and is a great use of the space.

[dmc3130]

Take a look at the pics of the unit from Dave from DMCMW

http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?26...oofer-question

It looks really low-profile and I'm wondering if it's at all possible to mount the amp to the rear of the sub itself? The depth of the amp is just over 2".

I'm thinking another option might be to mount the amp to the far rear wall of the cubby. I'll have to take another look at mine when I get home to see if something like that would work.

Or maybe there's a very small mono amp available to only power the sub since that's really the only reason why you'll need an amp in a basic setup.

And one more question on that note: is there a benefit to making the sound in the system better by using the amp to drive all of the speakers AND the sub rather than using the head unit to power the speakers? If I push more power through the speakers with a power amp, is that better than the head unit's amp?

There's gotta be a way to make this work and keeping it all tucked in the cubby!

Thanks!

Alex
6575

In my set up, the amp only drives the Sub. My head unit can manipulate the frequencies that go to all the speakers (in pairs). I.E. Highs to the front pair, mids to the rears, and lows (120hz and lower to the sub. By doing that your head unit will definitely have the power to drive the fronts and the rears since it takes less power to produce the mids and highs (most of the power will be needed to drive the lower fequencies to get the same volume) Hope this helps.

[cybercusp]

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1353034755.135818.jpg
Sub installed and it sounds great. Really adds to the wall of sound. The JL amp drives it just fine..no overheating or clipping. The Kenwood head, KDC-bt948hd, allows for fine tuning the sub and multiple controls over equalization and cross-over points which fine tunes the whole set-up. I think the Kenwood really makes the difference as there is so much control over the spatial orientation of the speakers and the signal processing. Sounds phenomenal. And other than the sub behind the seat it looks completely stock, save for the head unit. I would prefer to have a grille over the speaker-not comfortable with having an unprotected speaker..thoughts?

[Totally 80s]

If this seat is all the way back does the seat rug against the speaker? I can't tell but it looks like it might.

[Spittybug]

Like this?

[cybercusp]

Like this?

That's it.

The seat doesn't rub as far as I can tell.

[kings1527]

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1353034755.135818.jpg
Sub installed and it sounds great. Really adds to the wall of sound. The JL amp drives it just fine..no overheating or clipping. The Kenwood head, KDC-bt948hd, allows for fine tuning the sub and multiple controls over equalization and cross-over points which fine tunes the whole set-up. I think the Kenwood really makes the difference as there is so much control over the spatial orientation of the speakers and the signal processing. Sounds phenomenal. And other than the sub behind the seat it looks completely stock, save for the head unit. I would prefer to have a grille over the speaker-not comfortable with having an unprotected speaker..thoughts?

Mike,
Very nice setup there! I like how it came out. I hear what you're saying about having a grill over it. I don't think it's a major issue but if you oculd do something like Owen's setup (and the lock on the cabinet looks cool, too), then I'd go for that. In fact, that's exactly what I'm going to do. So here's my idea for my system, with a question or two to go along with it:

1) DMC CA sub with Owen's grill

2) Infinity Kappa 5.25 in the rears and 3.5" in the dash

3) JL XD700 5 Channel amp to power everything. I'm going to put it underneath the rear window in that space in the bulkhead and you'll never see it. That should be plenty of room and DMC CA has done several installs that way. It's pricey but I'm willing to splurge: http://www.jlaudio.com/xd700-5-car-a...plifiers-98264

I don't see any reason to not go with a 5-channel? Two channels for the rears, two channels for the dash, and one for the sub.

4) Retrosound model one head unit. I want to keep that stock-look and I like the head. But are there any limitations to running the signals to the amplifier? Do I just run the wires from the speaker outputs on the head to the speaker inputs on the amp? But the head doesn't have a sub output and the amp has a sub input. Do I just ignore the sub input and wire the sub through the sub output on the amp? If I'll be REALLY limited on flexibility to adjust things on that head, then I'm open to finding a more modern looking head unit. But I'd rather not.

5) Since I'm going for smaller speakers and a decent but not outstanding head unit, I'm going to have to tighten up the cab of the car and insulate it from exterior road noise. I'm going to go with Damplifier Pro (instead of Duramat, but similar stuff) http://store.secondskinaudio.com/b-stock-bulk-pack/ for the layer against the fiberglass and Luxury Liner Pro as a closed cell sound absorber http://store.secondskinaudio.com/lux...q-ft-4-sheets/ Why there's a picture of Indiana Jones on their website to sell sound insulating devices, I have no idea. After that, I'll go with Hervey's rubber damper set for the exterior of the "sandwich". http://www.specialtauto.com/delorean...lation-set.jpg

So, Damplifier Pro (inside), Luxury Liner Pro (middle), and Hervey's rubber pads (outside). I think that'll quiet things down a lot inside the cab and really get the most out of the speakers and head unit, particularly while coupled with the power amp. Let me know if anyone has any thoughts on all that.

Like this?

Awesome finishing touch, Owen. Where can I get one of those?


Alex
6575

[dmc3130]

Mike,
Very nice setup there! I like how it came out. I hear what you're saying about having a grill over it. I don't think it's a major issue but if you oculd do something like Owen's setup (and the lock on the cabinet looks cool, too), then I'd go for that. In fact, that's exactly what I'm going to do. So here's my idea for my system, with a question or two to go along with it:

1) DMC CA sub with Owen's grill

2) Infinity Kappa 5.25 in the rears and 3.5" in the dash

3) JL XD700 5 Channel amp to power everything. I'm going to put it underneath the rear window in that space in the bulkhead and you'll never see it. That should be plenty of room and DMC CA has done several installs that way. It's pricey but I'm willing to splurge: http://www.jlaudio.com/xd700-5-car-a...plifiers-98264

I don't see any reason to not go with a 5-channel? Two channels for the rears, two channels for the dash, and one for the sub.

4) Retrosound model one head unit. I want to keep that stock-look and I like the head. But are there any limitations to running the signals to the amplifier? Do I just run the wires from the speaker outputs on the head to the speaker inputs on the amp? But the head doesn't have a sub output and the amp has a sub input. Do I just ignore the sub input and wire the sub through the sub output on the amp? If I'll be REALLY limited on flexibility to adjust things on that head, then I'm open to finding a more modern looking head unit. But I'd rather not.

5) Since I'm going for smaller speakers and a decent but not outstanding head unit, I'm going to have to tighten up the cab of the car and insulate it from exterior road noise. I'm going to go with Damplifier Pro (instead of Duramat, but similar stuff) http://store.secondskinaudio.com/b-stock-bulk-pack/ for the layer against the fiberglass and Luxury Liner Pro as a closed cell sound absorber http://store.secondskinaudio.com/lux...q-ft-4-sheets/ Why there's a picture of Indiana Jones on their website to sell sound insulating devices, I have no idea. After that, I'll go with Hervey's rubber damper set for the exterior of the "sandwich". http://www.specialtauto.com/delorean...lation-set.jpg

So, Damplifier Pro (inside), Luxury Liner Pro (middle), and Hervey's rubber pads (outside). I think that'll quiet things down a lot inside the cab and really get the most out of the speakers and head unit, particularly while coupled with the power amp. Let me know if anyone has any thoughts on all that.



Awesome finishing touch, Owen. Where can I get one of those?


Alex
6575

Just a suggestion, if your head unit does not have a frequency selection for each pari of speakers you'll need to put in line capacitors to block out the selected ranges, That way you wont be sending the lower tones to the smaller front speakers that aren't designed to handle it. Same goes for the rears, but you can cap them off a little lower. Then your amp may have a selection for the 5th channel for your sub. 120hz or 250hz and lower. Then your sub doesn't try to reproduce mids and highs.

[kings1527]

Just a suggestion, if your head unit does not have a frequency selection for each pari of speakers you'll need to put in line capacitors to block out the selected ranges, That way you wont be sending the lower tones to the smaller front speakers that aren't designed to handle it. Same goes for the rears, but you can cap them off a little lower. Then your amp may have a selection for the 5th channel for your sub. 120hz or 250hz and lower. Then your sub doesn't try to reproduce mids and highs.

Thanks for that. I had no idea about all that!

Alex
6575

[dmc3130]

Thanks for that. I had no idea about all that!

Alex
6575

No problem, it's a simple thing to do when your doing all the other wiring. Ask a good car audio guy in your area and he/she can point you in the right direction for the right in line capacitor