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When you had the stock enclosure out did you happen to measure the maximum mounting depth of it? I'm curious if some other 8" subs would fit in there.
I sure did.... with trimming the plastic from the stock enclosure you'll have about 3 7/8 of depth. The alternative which is very doable is to use a 3/4" spacer which will give you more depth and sub choices. Remember the plastic trim fit together like a tight puzzle so you will most likely have to do some customizing. You would need to cut a larger hole in the trim that sits over the sub and then buy an aftermarket grill. Cutting the trim piece would be a challenge since it's awkward to work with and the plastic looks to be hard and possibly brittle. This is an option I thought about but the JL sub I suggested sounds wonderful and fits the box so well so I didn't see a reason to go in any other direction. If I was going with a larger sub I would be going with the the JL Audio 8W3V3-4 which has a 4.63" mounting depth which is pretty on par with subs in this category. The sub would stick out about 3/4" and the rug would probably hit against it and roll up. There isn't a lot out there that can work in such a small enclosure anyway. I felt that the original sub I selected would be best. I'd love to hear any ideas you have but when you get a chance take a look at the sub grill you'll see how it sits and what I mean.
The next important item that is needed for the install is a sound processor. Many are on the market some good and some bad. Audio Control sells a bunch of models which are good but the processor I thought fit my needs the best is the Audison Bit Ten. What is really nice about this unit is you can plug in a computer with a long usb cord and sit in the driver's seat and play around with tuning your car. It has crossover points for each channel, equalization, etc. With some of the Audio Control products they use analog dials so once you install the processor it's hard to tune because most of use will mount the processor in the hatch area so how do you sit in the driver's seat and make adjustments. The Bit Ten allows the user to take a signal from several speakers and the unit will remove all equalization from the HU and clean up the signal.
Provided with a 32 bit, 147 MHz clock speed DSP as well as 24 bit A/D and D/A converters, bit Ten is controlled by a software especially developed for signal treatment according to the vehicle acoustic peculiarities
Setting the parameters of each input single channel, setting the delays according to the listening position, adjusting crossovers and equalizers for each of the 5 output channels; all of these operations can be managed by the PC.
The user can configure the output mode of each channel relative to the installed system.
I sure did.... with trimming the plastic from the stock enclosure you'll have about 3 7/8 of depth. The alternative which is very doable is to use a 3/4" spacer which will give you more depth and sub choices. Remember the plastic trim fit together like a tight puzzle so you will most likely have to do some customizing. You would need to cut a larger hole in the trim that sits over the sub and then buy an aftermarket grill. Cutting the trim piece would be a challenge since it's awkward to work with and the plastic looks to be hard and possibly brittle. This is an option I thought about but the JL sub I suggested sounds wonderful and fits the box so well so I didn't see a reason to go in any other direction. If I was going with a larger sub I would be going with the the JL Audio 8W3V3-4 which has a 4.63" mounting depth which is pretty on par with subs in this category. The sub would stick out about 3/4" and the rug would probably hit against it and roll up. There isn't a lot out there that can work in such a small enclosure anyway. I felt that the original sub I selected would be best. I'd love to hear any ideas you have but when you get a chance take a look at the sub grill you'll see how it sits and what I mean.
That is exactly what I was wondering, if the 8W3 would fit or not. There are a lot more subs to choose from that are under 5" mounting depth, but not very many that are under 4" mounting depth. You made the same choice I would for the sub considering the restrictions.
What amp are you going to go with? With the 8W1 only needing 150 watts RMS, have to considered any of the super small footprint amps? I think a good candidate would be the Zed Audio Mikro I. It will put out 200 watts RMS at 4 ohm with a 9”x1.64”x5.3” footprint. They also have a fully regulated power supply so they'll give consistent rated power no matter what your battery voltage is at. I really like that amp
The owner of Zed Audio, Stephen Mantz, has been the designer behind some of the best amps ever made. He recently helped Phoenix Gold design their new SX Series amps would would also be a great choice for a highly efficient sub amp. They make a little SX400.1 that puts out 250 watts RMS at 4 ohm with a 7.4L x 6.9 W x 2.0 H footprint.
There aren't a lot of choices for drivers that will take advantage of the stock sub enclosure. Also, I already have an Alpine MRX 300 watt @4ohm mono amplifier so I'm going to make that work. For my main amp I'm going to use an Alpine PDX F-6. I've used Alpine amps before and they are very musical and noise free. Having extra power is great for head room and keeping the amp cooler since it will not have to work as hard.
Originally Posted by 95bat
That is exactly what I was wondering, if the 8W3 would fit or not. There are a lot more subs to choose from that are under 5" mounting depth, but not very many that are under 4" mounting depth. You made the same choice I would for the sub considering the restrictions.
What amp are you going to go with? With the 8W1 only needing 150 watts RMS, have to considered any of the super small footprint amps? I think a good candidate would be the Zed Audio Mikro I. It will put out
200 watts RMS at 4 ohm with a 9”x1.64”x5.3” footprint. They also have a fully regulated power supply so they'll give consistent rated power no matter what your battery voltage is at. I really like that amp
The owner of Zed Audio, Stephen Mantz, has been the designer behind some of the best amps ever made. He recently helped Phoenix Gold design their new SX Series amps would would also be a great choice for a highly efficient sub amp. They make a little SX400.1 that puts out 250 watts RMS at 4 ohm with a 7.4L x 6.9 W x 2.0 H footprint.
First off kudos to the OP. You obviously have your **** together reference audio and the associated customization.
It is quite puzzling why you have chosen to spend some much time/effort to modify the OEM plastic sub box to accept a 8" JL. Although it is not the most cost effective at $700, the JL corner Stealthbox appears to be far superior.
Please provide some insight into the rationale. Thanks in advance.
First off kudos to the OP. You obviously have your **** together reference audio and the associated customization.
It is quite puzzling why you have chosen to spend some much time/effort to modify the OEM plastic sub box to accept a 8" JL. Although it is not the most cost effective at $700, the JL corner Stealthbox appears to be far superior.
Please provide some insight into the rationale. Thanks in advance.
In the last sentence in the OP, he said it would be a total stealth build. I'm interested in how this turns out too, since there is the only one other post I remember where the stock box was retained, but this one takes it to a new level. I wouldn't want to add an aftermarket sub enclosure either.
Well far superior is an opinion and unless I did an A/B of both enclosures and drivers I wouldn't know for sure. The stealth box is very small and is a sealed enclosure. JL crammed a 10" driver into a space that looks way to small. Sealed subs by design use the air in the box as a spring to move the cone. After reading some of the reviews which in all fairness were mixed some of the complaints was that the sub didn't hit hard enough.
Sealed enclosures are known to be quieter and a bit more musical. A ported box done well sounds just as musical and is 3db louder and to me is the way to go. I've built several subs over the years and at first I always went with a sealed design because the box was easier to build and smaller than a ported design. Then on my last two home subs I built ported designs and they sound as musical and play much lower notes.
The stock enclosure seems to fit the exact dimension for the JL shallow driver and is ported. Fitting the right sub with the right enclosure is more important than Xmax, the size of the BL motor structure, etc. My plan is to try the driver ported and sealed which is an easy A/B with a port plug I made.
Lets talk cosmetics and functionality. The Stealth box will take up valuable hatch space and can easily be stolen since it just pulls out of the rear cubby. Also, I would have no other option but to bury my amps under the trim pieces that cover the subwoofer. In my plan I save about 550.00 by not buying the stealth box, possibly have a better sounding, lower playing sub and can install the amps in the storage well which will give me access to all the controls for tweaking.
Replacing the top with a DIY screened cover will promote air flow too. Contrary to popular belief class D amps can run from warm to hot depending on how you push them.
Originally Posted by RonBurgAM
First off kudos to the OP. You obviously have your **** together reference audio and the associated customization.
It is quite puzzling why you have chosen to spend some much time/effort to modify the OEM plastic sub box to accept a 8" JL. Although it is not the most cost effective at $700, the JL corner Stealthbox appears to be far superior.
Please provide some insight into the rationale. Thanks in advance.
Last edited by traderfjp; 01-20-2016 at 04:51 PM.
Reason: typos
Well far superior is an opinion and unless I did an A/B of both enclosures and drivers I wouldn't know for sure. The stealth box is very small and is a sealed enclosure. JL crammed a 10" driver into a space that looks way to small. Sealed subs by design use the air in the box as a spring to move the cone. After reading some of the reviews which in all fairness were mixed some of the complaints was that the sub didn't hit hard enough...
Sincere thanks for the detailed response. I understand your suspicion of the Stealth box. It is a 10" but still a small enclosure. My preference has always been sealed enclosures but an open mind is beneficial.
I appreciate the rest of your points. Best of success, subscribed to see the results.
I'll let you know how everything sounds with a sealed and ported enclosure. Hopefully we get some warms days so I can do the install. I probably should have waited for the summer. Thanks for subscribing.
I did not know the stock system had a little 8" I could play with, I am totally going to do a build now. I found a couple more subs with a 4" mounting depth, I might play around with the box to see what kind of space I can find with it.
If the stock box is ported, I bet it is ported ridiculously high, so sealing it up will probably be best. I wonder if adding some dowels to brace the sub cutout would help with flex and increase output considering the box looks a little flimsy.
Originally Posted by Steven Popham
here is the wiring for the vette.
I am going to do a morel ultimo TI sub or a hybrid audio Clarius in our car
I can recommend the Hybrid Audio with 100% confidence! I ran a Hybrid Audio setup in my G8 and it was incredible. That was my "all out" system though. Hybrid components, Audison BitOne processor, 15" Hertz sub, Hertz amps... I miss that system.
IMO Morel will sound great, but they're a little power hungry.
The stock box is actually very strong but it's made out of plastic so it needs sound deadening to fix the ringing. There really isn't any places to brace the box. There is an opening for the sub then a long thin chamber that goes into a larger chamber. It's very strange. It sounds like you had a great system. I had bought a Hertz sub and was going to mount it in the storage bin but then re-thought my plan once I saw how the bin was constructed.
The stock box is actually very strong but it's made out of plastic so it needs sound deadening to fix the ringing. There really isn't any places to brace the box. There is an opening for the sub then a long thin chamber that goes into a larger chamber. It's very strange. It sounds like you had a great system. I had bought a Hertz sub and was going to mount it in the storage bin but then re-thought my plan once I saw how the bin was constructed.
If you were to run a 1/4" or 1/2" dowel from the subwoofer mounting holes straight to the back of the "box" the subwoofer magnet should still clear and provide quite a bit of stiffness to the box. The subwoofer would then screw into these dowels. They do this with home theater boxes a lot, since you can have a subwoofer weighing 80+ pounds sometimes and they need quite a bit of support. My 18" subs in my living room weigh about 150 pounds each with the sub and box... lots of MDF was used for those lol.
Yeah. That might work. I'm not sure if you would gain much since the rest of the box isn't braced but it couldn't hurt. All my subs boxes are doubled walled but I use Baltic birch if I can find it. I hare working with MDF but it's very dense and makes a great sub enclosure. If the snow isn't too bad I may change out the tweeters in the dash this weekend. I don't have a lot of time with work.
O.K. I finally found a nice Saturday to work on my sound system. I have some great news. The new sound system, with the OEM HU, sounds as good as any high-end system I've heard.
A couple of highlights. I used an Audison Bit Ten to sum the input channels and then sent the full range signal to four channels and a sub. The Audison will remove all the factory EQ and is crucial to a great sound system. There are provisions, with a PC to set Bandpass crossover points (which means you can set a low pass and high pass filter for each speaker).
Don't even think about not using a good processor. IMHO trying to balance your system with just gain controls is fruitless and in the end you will not be able to get the best out of your system.
One of the cool features is that you can also set speaker distance, from the driver seat or anywhere else you want, and time delays. Each channel also has an EQ to contour the sound to one's liking.
The Audison Bit Ten is relatively small and works great. My system is dead silent and the Audison comes with various wave files to help the user dial everything in.
Our car's battery offers a chassis ground close to the battery and a power block to get your 12v power from. It's so nice not to pull wires through the firewall or run RCA cables form the HU to the back hatch.
Anyway, the 8" PE Reference woofers, I installed in the doors, are a standout. Lower frequencies and mid bass are super clean and punchy. I can't get enough. I have a Bandpass filter on them. Crossover points are set at 150hz low pass and 1500hz high pass.
In the rears I have 5.25" Morel speakers passively crossed over to soft dome tweeters that are installed in the door panels. The rear speakers add much needed imaging and fill. The tweets in the door are super clear and non-fatiguing. I have the speakers closest to me on a time delay which also helps with imaging. I left the dash speakers, for now, which are powered off the OEM HU. They add fill and also help with imaging. I have Morel tweets for the dash but getting the dash tweets out might not be worth it.
The JL sub sounds wonderful in the stock enclosure. The sub is loud and punchy melding perfectly with any music track that offers lower frequencies. I have a bass **** too that I mounted under the steering wheel to add or remove bass as I see fit. This is a must have. The sub is crossed over at 100hz with a little eq since my sub amp is probably 20% under powered.
Next, I decided to remove the liner fin the storage well to get more room and lined it with a foil that is sticky on one side and has a neoprene center. I think it's used for insulating duct pipes. Anyway, it made a good cushion. I mounted all my amps in the storage bin and left the top off for ventilation.
Overall I am very happy with my new sound system. It doesn't distort and is world's better than the stock system. That said most owners will probably be content with the stock system. However, I'm glad I spent the money on this upgrade.
Money spent:
Moreal two way component speakers: 200.00 (originally 800) bought open box.
01-19-2016, 09:23 PM
