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  #1  
Old 02-04-2004, 12:03 AM
Mopard Mopard is offline
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Lightbulb Sub in spare tire well of hatchback??

Has anyone ever placed a single or even a dual sub in the spare tire well of their hatchback? If so how well did it work? Also how did you turn it into a box?
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  #2  
Old 02-04-2004, 12:44 PM
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The spare tire well is the box. All you need to do is cut a sheet of 3/4" MDF in the shape of the top of the well. A lot of people just lay an MDF floor in the trunk so it looks even. Figure out how much air you need to move the sub, and then see if the well holds that much air. Cut out the necessary hole(s) to mount the sub. To seal the well, I would probably take some weatherstripping and lay it around the circumference of the well so it seals against the back of the MDF. Then, you can finish it however you want.

Dan

PS: The formula for determining the volume of air in a cylinder (your tire well) is the circumference x the height. Circumference is Pi x diameter. Just in case
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  #3  
Old 02-05-2004, 07:58 PM
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Thanks for the detailed info. What was the results of this application? How well did it do?
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  #4  
Old 02-07-2004, 10:40 AM
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It didn't end up being too bad. If you want some bump, it'll definitely do that, depending on what type of sub you have, the size, how much power, etc. If you're looking to win competitions, I'd design a specific box for a specific sub.

Dan
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  #5  
Old 02-07-2004, 02:55 PM
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You may want to throw some dound deadening on to the tire well floor to stiffen it up. Usually these boxes dont sound too bad, just remeber to put a grill on that sub before you store any stuff in your hatch . Also if you're handy you can easily counter sink your amp into the same piece of wood for a real clean look. If the box is going to be pretty permanent, either glass it in, or run a bead of expanding foam around the tirewell lip and drop the wood in while it's still wet, then you get an awesome seal. But that makes it a pain to remove.
If you are going to glass it in, you can lay aluminum foil in the well first and glass to that. This gives you a removable box.

Good luck,

Julian
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  #6  
Old 02-07-2004, 03:02 PM
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I already have a box with 2 12'' subs but I wanted to add a thrid sub to the system.
The sub in the well will be completely covered by the box I already have.
Will that cause the sub in the well to perform the way it should or will it work out ok?
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  #7  
Old 02-07-2004, 03:04 PM
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If the sub is completely coverd it probably won't sound all that great. Are all 3 subs the same? what kind are they? What kind of car?


Julian
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  #8  
Old 02-07-2004, 03:31 PM
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Quote:
Originally posted by landyacht67
You may want to throw some dound deadening on to the tire well floor to stiffen it up. Usually these boxes dont sound too bad, just remeber to put a grill on that sub before you store any stuff in your hatch . Also if you're handy you can easily counter sink your amp into the same piece of wood for a real clean look. If the box is going to be pretty permanent, either glass it in, or run a bead of expanding foam around the tirewell lip and drop the wood in while it's still wet, then you get an awesome seal. But that makes it a pain to remove.
If you are going to glass it in, you can lay aluminum foil in the well first and glass to that. This gives you a removable box.

Good luck,

Julian
I never thought about the sound deadening. I will try that. I will use the wood to seal it in instead of the glass.

I am not sure if I will use a 12'' like the other two subs to match them or if I will use a 15''. It will not be seen anyway but I sort want the sound to match.
Should I use a port or make it a sealed encloser?
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Old 02-07-2004, 04:25 PM
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If the sub is firing straight up against the bottom of your other box it'll sound crappy. As far as ported or sealed goes, it depends on what you want to do. Just use a sealed box if you want crisp, clean bass for especially rock music. If you want hard bass, go with a ported box, but make sure you get the port the right size, the box the right size, your T-S parameters are good...

Dan
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  #10  
Old 02-07-2004, 07:51 PM
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Quote:
Originally posted by landyacht67
If the sub is completely coverd it probably won't sound all that great. Are all 3 subs the same? what kind are they? What kind of car?


Julian
Two subs that are in the box are the same but the third will not be. I have not decided what brand it will be. The two I have now are Cirwin-Vega 12'' XL series. They are no longer made. The car is a Daytona.
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  #11  
Old 02-07-2004, 07:58 PM
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Quote:
Originally posted by DANS66DART
If the sub is firing straight up against the bottom of your other box it'll sound crappy. As far as ported or sealed goes, it depends on what you want to do. Just use a sealed box if you want crisp, clean bass for especially rock music. If you want hard bass, go with a ported box, but make sure you get the port the right size, the box the right size, your T-S parameters are good...

Dan
The box has to be on top of the third speaker. Their is no room for the box. Is thier any other choices.
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  #12  
Old 02-07-2004, 09:05 PM
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can you build a new box to house all 3 woofers?
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  #13  
Old 02-07-2004, 10:22 PM
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That is a good idea but the subs I have now takes up 2.2 cubic ft per sub. A total of 4.4 cubic feet and the trunk is already full.

I had thought about putting a sub in a seperate box and put the box in the well itself but I can not find a box small enough and the subs I have looked at need a much bigger box.
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  #14  
Old 02-10-2004, 09:42 AM
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I would check out 2 sites that may help you with your problem. The first, www.sounddomain.com is nothing but people showing off their stereos in their cars. It has a few filters you can use to narrow down the results to your particular application.

The second is www.the12volt.com They have good stuff on mixing brands, installing problems, etc.

Dan
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  #15  
Old 02-13-2004, 09:52 PM
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I will check them out. This is going to be one of my first spring projects. So I have time to decide how I will do it and what it will look like. I hope it sounds half way decent.
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  #16  
Old 02-17-2004, 03:49 PM
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Found this, thought it might help

Dan

Go here!
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  #17  
Old 02-19-2004, 12:41 AM
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Question

Someone told me at a car audio shop that if I cover the speaker in the well I will not be able to here it at all. I told him I should be able to hear some bass bacause of the sealed air inside of the well/box. He said not at all. Could this be true?
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  #18  
Old 02-19-2004, 09:38 AM
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If you mount the speaker in the well and then do something like cover it with another box or decide to hide it completely and put a sheet of MDF or something over it, he's right, you won't hear it. If you put a piece of carpet over it, make sure the carpet is acoustically transparent or your sound will be very muffled, but you should still hear it.

Dan
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  #19  
Old 02-25-2004, 08:50 AM
Mopard Mopard is offline
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Thanks for the info. So their is no way I can mount this speaker in the well and cover it with the other speaker box and hear it?.
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  #20  
Old 02-25-2004, 12:37 PM
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Honestly, the only thing you would hear if you did it like that would be the sound of your time, money, and energy rapidly accelerating in a clockwise receding motion (whoosh!)

Dan
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  #21  
Old 02-25-2004, 10:47 PM
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Thanks that was nicely put. I understand better now.
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  #22  
Old 02-26-2004, 01:34 AM
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Quote:
Originally posted by Mopard
Two subs that are in the box are the same but the third will not be. I have not decided what brand it will be. The two I have now are Cirwin-Vega 12'' XL series. They are no longer made. The car is a Daytona.
I may have missed it, but what's your reason for adding the third sub? If it's for increased SPL, you may be better off replacing the two Cerwin-Vegas with a different model that has a higher power-handling capability, but the same airspace requirements. If I'm not mistaken, the CV XL 12" can only handle 300 Watts RMS. There are several 12" models out there now that can handle 1000+ RMS, providing excellent sound quality and SPL levels. Replace your two CVs with two new speakers, get a larger amp, and you're in business.
Also, how were you planning on wiring the subs, and what overall impedance are you aiming for? Adding a third sub usually results in a wacky overall impedance, unless you have three dual-voice-coil subs, with a 6-ohm impedance for each coil. I believe the 12" XL model had a single 4-ohm voice coil. Do you currently have them bridged or are you running them stereo? If you're running them bridged, there's not going to be a good way to wire a third sub in and keep a reasonable overall impedance, and if you're running them in stereo, adding a third is going to be near-impossible, unless you go with a weird mixed-mode mono/stereo setup. What kind of amplifier do you have, and are you planning on changing the amp or adding an additional amp along with the third sub?
I'm new to Mopars, but have been doing the car stereo thing for a long time. Let me know what you have and what you want, and we can get you from here to there.

Scott Gardner
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  #23  
Old 02-26-2004, 01:42 AM
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Quote:
Originally posted by Mopard
That is a good idea but the subs I have now takes up 2.2 cubic ft per sub. A total of 4.4 cubic feet and the trunk is already full.

I had thought about putting a sub in a seperate box and put the box in the well itself but I can not find a box small enough and the subs I have looked at need a much bigger box.
I posted a longer reply before this one, but you may be able to kill several birds with one stone just by getting rid of your current speakers and starting over. To use an example, a JL Audio 13W7 subwoofer will handle 1000 Watts continous power, which is more than your two Cerwin-Vegas combined, and the recommended sealed enclosure size is only 1.9 cubic feet. You would have more power handling, a better-sounding sub, and you could reclaim more than 2.5 cubic feet of hatch space. You also wouldn't have to worry about impedance-matching three subs from two different manufacturers.

Scott Gardner
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