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For some reason, I've never really been satisfied with the bass reproduction in the C6. I was running a JL 10w6v2 on a 500/1 amp that absolutely rocked my old mustang hatchback to an uncomfortable level of bass. I started with an IDQ10 and modified the box to fit the bigger JL motor. Off the shelf solutions for this car were frankly unimpressive. In the C6, the sub seems to have suffered from cancellation in the common corner loaded box. Since I know the sub and amp are very capable, I'm left with the (sealed) enclosure or car itself as the culprit.
I temporarily ran the 10w6v2 in a ported enclosure sitting in the middle of the hatch. This was an improvement due to position and porting, but ultimately unacceptable for regular use when the box takes up room right in the middle and isn't secure.
So I committed to cutting up the corner box to allow a new enclosure to share that airspace and anchoring mechanism for a larger Dayton 15" HO driver. Putting the driver closer to the center of the hatch, pointed up at the glass seemed to work, so I kept that layout and made sure it fits under the sun shade. I never store my glass top, so I don't miss that feature. (I'll probably remove the wheel well brackets and get a Z06 carpet piece to cover it)
Initial fiberglass structure is almost done. I'm still undecided on final finsh for carpet and/or paint.
I still need to add the port and decide on a final finish, but this is the structure of the new enclosure. This is the rear view as seen from what will be up against the back of the hatch. You can see the extension that goes into the drivers side cubby extending down into the bucket. The 3” flared port will be installed on the right hand side here, facing the center of the hatch.
I've moved on to a different project. If anyone is interested in buying this 15" drop-in enclosure with the Dayton RSS390HO subwoofer, let me know. It's currently painted flat black, so it would be simple to go with a vehicle color match paint or carpet finish if you want something different for your install. It fits very cleanly under the fabric privacy cover and leaves plenty of room for several weekend bags in the hatch. Overall bass extension to the low end is absolutely great, with significantly more output than any of the corner boxes I previously ran at 500WRMS. It's currently located outside of Detroit. Shipping this will be awkward, so local pickup is much preferred.
Here’s a couple pics of the enclosure outside the car. You can see where I built off the previous cubby enclosure base, using the binding posts for speaker leads and retaining tab the fits under the hatch seal. No additional anchoring was needed to keep it in place.
I ran the in-dash version in my 02 coupe to a JL 12w6 and that really livened up the space. I use one in my truck now with a stealth-box mounted Jl 10w1 and it's really fun to play with.
I'm familiar with the Epicenter, they've been around since I got into car audio back in the 90's. They work great to restore missing bass when your source has compressed the signal bandwidth and clipped the ends. I typically listen to CDs in my Corvette and have a high end Alpine head unit feeding JL slash amps, so there is no loss of raw signal heading into the amps. If you don't have a speaker/enclosure capable of producing those frequencies, then it just becomes another EQ. The simple fact here was that the cone was moving on my 10" in the corner, but I wasn't getting the response at the driver's seat. That's a vehicle/enclosure problem, not a signal problem. The center mounted 15" absolutely solved that.
10-18-2017, 12:33 PM
Project bottom octave: 15" sub in a C6 hatch
