I believe the c6 has 8" subs in the door. Would it be possible to swap these out with some of the new thin subs available, like Rockford? If I did this I would have enough deadening material installed so there wouldn't be any rattles. not trying to shake the earth like I did years ago when I had 2 twelves and fifteens, just want a little more bass and am thinking about upgrading those speakers and maybe the tweets. Any ideas would be great.

 

It would be better than stock, but not near as good as a real sub in the trunk.

 

Seriously ... subs in the doors? Doesn't sound quite right eh. Put 6.5's in the doors and subs in the trunk where they belong ...

 

You'll probably find the 8's in the doors are full range woofers, not subwoofers. If you do want to put subs in there, look for Infinite Baffle subs that don't require an enclosure so to speak. They work in very large volumes like a trunk that doesn't provide any pressure to control the cone. I'd suggest sticking with a full range if there is no real enclosure in the stock mounting location. Sundown Audio do a Neo magnet which performs very well in doors.

If you want some thump, I vote the same as the others. Get a sub in the back.

 

I think that a guy did it using some slim drivers, and he said that it sucked.

You might do a search to see if you can find it... he ended up putting the subs into 'real' enclosures into the back of his car. (A Vert, if memory serves.)

The amount of flex that you are going to get from the door is huge... you would need not only sound deadening, but structural support as well.

As the other guys said, if you want good bass then you need to upgrade to a 'real' sub in the back of the car.

I'm not sure what system came in your car, but I have the factory Nav with the Y07 + U65 RPO codes. (7-speaker premium sound system.) My car has a 10" driver in the lower portion of the doors, and 3.5" drivers L-C-R. The rear's are 5.25" drivers, but are a mono signal vs. stereo. (Probably just 'fill' in that regard.) There are no real "tweeters" in the car, just the typical Bose single-driver crap.

That being said, people have upgraded the 3.5" drivers using coaxial sets and had good luck with it... the highs were more pronounced with an actual tweeter installed, and if I had to guess, the new drivers were more efficient, too. That, along with a sub/box/amp should put a grin on your face... until you decide to upgrade to a nice set of components in the doors.

 

The reason I mentioned the subs in the door is because there have been some award winning cars with front-stage bass. THought it might sound good. I have to be careful with what I put in the back though because I'm a professional musician and have gigs where I need my congas. Right now I can fit everything back there, I can't have anything take up space. Some of you baby your cars and may call me crazy, but there are some other famous drummers who have vettes so we aren't crazy, just love the ride!

 

if done right it will sound ok, but dont expect same sound quality as a box. If it were my car i would put a box in and be done with it and have better sq

 

Leave it alone or put subbox in trunk.

BTW, Pioneer makes an 8" shallow mount sub that is designed for a free-air application. Not sure how it sounds.

 

Front stage bass is good, but I'm sure those cars are running the front woofers in enclosures. And I haven't seen anything that relies on the front stage for all of the bass reproduction - usually there are additional bass drivers located in the rear.

I have 8's running in my doors, but I can't imagine using them as the only bass reproduction. They run well in the 70-80 hz range, but don't sound very good below that. I didn't build enclosures though. With shallow mount speakers you could probably fiberglass an enclosure that would make 8's sound good, but it would be lots of custom work, and you'd still be missing the real low end.

Do you really use all of the space back there? The corners above the storage cubbies are kind of a weird shape to fit much, so most of the pre-fab boxes don't take up much useable space.

 

Excellent observations. For years I just had one Boston Accoustic G5 sub and it as lots of bass. The voice coil is too big but maybe one ten in the cubby would work. That way if I need to angle the drums i can. But yeah I need pretty much all of the space when the congas are in cases. But Rockford makes a crazy small amp now that would work for the sub and front speakers and I could just use one 10 in the back. Saw someone do a stealth install, looked great.

 

Went to a car audio shop in Atlanta and the guy was trying to sell me on custom fabricated enclosures in the door for 10's and it would take 2 days. In my head I thought $$$$. I mentioned putting a sub in the rear and if I needed to I could easily take it out. He didn't really want to hear that, he kept pushing the higher cost application. So came back to Montgomery and went to another shop and they had a ZR1 in the back getting a very nice install. Asked about both and he was pretty easy to work with. He did push the stealth box, but I'm still not sold on that because I believe I would have issues getting the congas in. One thing I did mention is getting a regular box (10) in the back, and when I needed to for a car show or gig I can just remove it. Then in the spring get a custom fiberglass enclosure in the corner. He said that is doable, but still said he preferred the stealth box from JL. Any thoughts? I do not want to spend a lot on this because I have already put a lot into the interior mods and exterior mods with body kit and new paint and wheels. So For something that won't be judged at a show, I want decent sound but not willing to spend $900 on a set of components. (that's not including amp, sub, or labor). Thanks for helping me with these decisions!

 

There is a website and a guy in Tenn who makes the same JL sub box for hundreds less. It's Vette Nuts. He can do an 8" or a 10." They have some postings in the Audio Section here.

JL makes two subboxes for the C6. They make one for the coupe that fits in the cubby. They make one for the Vert that is actually a two-sub setup that fits behind the seats.

VetteNutts came up with a box very similar to the JL box but it's for the Vert cubby.

And I gotta tell you, I have been doing a lot of research since I bought my subbox from Vette Nuts. I have also been studying the audio profiles of convertibles as well as other OEM installations for other car manufacturers.

First, you need to understand about Verts and subboxes. With the top up, if you have one subbox in the trunk, it sounds like a symphony hall. Unbelievable. With the top down, you have very little bass unless you go with a two-sub setup - one for each cubby. And that takes up a lot of the trunk.

Now about front-stage bass. I bought into that "it won't work" stuff. But one of the best OEM stereos I have heard was the stereo upgrade we got with my wife's Durango. I believe it's an Infinity system. It has two 8" subs in the front doors - they may actually be mid-bass units - and the system sounds unbelievable.

So I started researching. Then I found out manufacturers have been using front stage bass for years. The problem is that we haven't figured out how to do it effectively in an after-market system. And the interesting thing is, in a convertible, that front-stage bass doesn't disappear as easily as it does if it is in the trunk.

That's why I have slowly come around to the thinking that convertible Vette owners ought to leave the OEM system alone. Maybe change out the HU if you want.

In other words, there is decent bass in an OEM system in a convertible. Maybe not great. But I am beginning to think it's just as good as any bass system in a top-down convertible unless that person has a trunk full of amps and subs.

Just an opinion from an untrained ear.

 

The stealthbox sounds good, and it's a very well done box, but it is really very costly for what it is. I had one, but it wasn't worth 50% more than the setup I have now. Going with a box from one of our forum vendors you'll end up with great sound, an amp, and cabling for about the same price as the JL box. Vettenuts, Subthump, Boxology, all make good solutions for about $300 (box only). A great sub will run $125-$175. Amps are cheap.

The issue with front stage bass is you really need an enclosure in the door, and a woofer that will work well in it. The enclosure is the hard part. Custom making one is time consuming (costly), compared to designing and building it in volume. And most aftermarket woofers just don't aren't designed For that type of use. Long throw, high power handling, low resonance frequency... All are common in woofers, but arent ideal for front stage bass. EOMs have speakers made for their specific applications, and can be designed to work well with front door constraints.

Verts are especially hard - bass depends on the movement and pressurization of the airspace. If you remove the top on the car, and block most of the airway from the woofer to the listener, you have a huge obstacle to overcome. You also give up the natural amplification properties of a small space ("cabin gain"). So closer speakers, designed to be extremely efficient, are very helpful, but that gets us back to the earlier issue. So Tampatopless, you're right - its likely that any "upgrade" in a vert could be counterproductive.

 

Forget about the stealthbox, get a corner box from one of the forum vendors

You could try just installing a set of very low playing mid-bass speakers. I have a pair of CDT ES-06 getting 160wRMS each and they make the low end sound pretty good even without a sub. They're rated for 10Hz-4000Hz, but below 80Hz it just isn't the same as a sub.

 

Damn. I was considering a setup like this - Memphis makes a very nice 8" mid-bass that would have gone in the door - but everyone talked me out of it.

But, with the top down, it's gotta sound at least as good as my trunk box.

 

Since I have a coupe I don't have to worry too much about the convertible problem, except when I take the top off which still isn't as exposed as a vert. Thank you so much for the ideas of the other companies that do stealth boxes, didn't know there were others. I think the guy here could make a custom enclosure for around 300-400 also. I would prefer doing this than, what 600-700 for the JL set-up?! That's just too much and its only a W1, its like paying 500 for the box and then a little for the sub. Great ideas, thanks!
Also, anyone see the Rockford amps that are super tiny?!

 

are there any of the Rockford Fosgate subs that would work with the enclosure from VetteNuts? I sent him a message because I'm actually close enough to get the install done there. It would be less to drive up there and get that done then to spend a ton on the JL box they are trying to push here and the mark-up on install for bringing in something from a different store.

 

Absolutely. He just uses JL because they're excellent woofers, made in the Florida panhandle by American hands and retails for about $100.

But the brand is really your choice. But JL gets awfully good reviews.

 

A cubby box from Marc and an Arc 10 sub from Dennis would run you about $400 or so

 

That's a good deal. Arc makes quality stuff, too. A lot of Vette folks on here are using Arc stuff.