Subwoofer in front trunk?

[Superman]

Interestingly, the smaller the bass speaker, the larger the necessary air volume behind the speaker. In other words, small woofers require large boxes and vice versa. Back in the olden days of tube amps (and REAL rock and roll) Ampeg made a bass cabinet with a plethora of 4" speakers that sounded great. You don't need 12" or 15" speakers, but they SAVE space. Go figure. Another thing is that bass speakers require some room to develop their sound. Particularly large ones. This is why we can hear those mega-bass stereos better from across the street than the car passengers can. And bass frequencies are hard to muffle or absorb. They cannot effectively be absorbed by a thin wall. Their waves are too long.

So the point is I agree with the above post. I'd like to find a spare smuggler's box door, cut a hole in it for perhaps a 6" or 8" woofer, and this would make a baffle out of the entire trunk. Actually a very high quality 4" speaker (JBLs are probably still the standout favorite among pros, though you have to be careful to stay away from their 'consumer' line for the application I am describing) driven by a clean, high-power amp would probably produce stunning results, believe it or not.

[89911]

Am I alone in thinking the cutting a few holes in some particle board and glueing carpeting on it and then mounting in the rear footwells of your car so no rear passengers can use it plus blocking the rear travel of the front seat is a lame idea? I know the guy is nice but these seem like a compromise at best. Sort of borders on the Honda crowd with the trunk filled with speakers so its useless. We just removed the AC out of an 87 and those that mentioned before are right, the smugglers box would be the perfect housing for a subwoofer. Most car stereo shop worth anything can quickly build a custom box to fit in there. You can then port it right into the car behind the floor board. Nice idea.

[piedogger]

Originally posted by 89911
Am I alone in thinking the cutting a few holes in some particle board and glueing carpeting on it and then mounting in the rear footwells of your car so no rear passengers can use it plus blocking the rear travel of the front seat is a lame idea? I know the guy is nice but these seem like a compromise at best. Sort of borders on the Honda crowd with the trunk filled with speakers so its useless. We just removed the AC out of an 87 and those that mentioned before are right, the smugglers box would be the perfect housing for a subwoofer. Most car stereo shop worth anything can quickly build a custom box to fit in there. You can then port it right into the car behind the floor board. Nice idea.

[piedogger]

A free air woofer as it is called,uses the air in the trunk for volume but is misleading they really just make the suspension very tight so the woofer won't bottem out not real high sound quality usually. I don't know where you got your info on speaker size but most 8's in the industry use about .36 air space while 10's use .50 and so on. the reason they use to (and still do) use many small speakers is for tightness of bass sound.It all has to do with how much air is moved ie 10 4's = 4 10's thats why alot of people in the industry goe for 3 woofers now, 3 10's = 30", 2 12's = 24" but they use appox same airspace the 10's will be tighter and have more impact according to theory the 12's how ever will play lower. I have a encloser for the smuggler box for a coupe,it is alot louder than you think. Not having to pass through any interior and being in front makes an excellent soundstage It is for sale.

[Epster77]

Originally posted by 89911
Am I alone in thinking the cutting a few holes in some particle board and glueing carpeting on it and then mounting in the rear footwells of your car so no rear passengers can use it plus blocking the rear travel of the front seat is a lame idea? I know the guy is nice but these seem like a compromise at best. Sort of borders on the Honda crowd with the trunk filled with speakers so its useless. We just removed the AC out of an 87 and those that mentioned before are right, the smugglers box would be the perfect housing for a subwoofer. Most car stereo shop worth anything can quickly build a custom box to fit in there. You can then port it right into the car behind the floor board. Nice idea.

..

Who in this world has short enough legs to fit in your rear seat? I would love to meet them so that I could feel tall for a day. The enclosure does not interfere with seat travel as well. Also, removal of the A/C system isn't a compromise for some? You should visit me here in Atlanta mid summer with 95% humidity and 105 degrees!

[CamB]

Phew, a few things going on here.

1. If you ran a woofer mounted into the top of the smugglers box as infinite baffle then it may sound crappy as both the smugglers box and the trunk are (more or less) vented to the cabin. If you are installing a speaker infinite baffle then unless the front and back wave are well separated you will lose output (and bass is first to go). So without trying it I would estimate it would not sound so good.

2. 4x10" woofers has a cone area of (roughly - not exactly 10" for a start) 4 x (10/2)^2 x pi, or 314sqin. 10x4" woofers has a cone area of 125sqin, or less than 50% of 4x10". Plus to get the same output you need the same cone area and same cone travel (a good 10" woofer should be able to go about 1" peak to peak). Plus you probably need more power to run 10x4" woofers. Thus bigger usually better.

My solution would be.... haven't decided , but it isn't easy. Anyone have dimensions of the smugglers box, by the way? I would probably try a sealed 10" woofer (estimating smugglers box will fit a big enough box) firing toward the passengers feet OR out the top.

[Kurt B]

Bought a subwoofer. Put it on a scale. Grimaced. Considered the additional weight of the particle board, ***** my pants and went with 4 Polk speakers 6x9 rear, round front.

Sounds very good--yeah a subwoofer would be nice, but not when it weighs half of what a (slim asian female) passenger weighs! Not worth it.

[piedogger]

Just using those #'s to illistrate a point. When using the three 10's to two 12's it is very close and the sound I described, 10's being
tighter and 12's being lower is true in the right encloser and same type type of encloser ie sealed against sealed.As long as the empedence is right the effincincy of the group of woofers have more to do with how much power to run than size to a point unless your going for db's. As far as making the box to fit in the hatch I dont have the air space in front of me but what I do know is that because of the angles, and the steering I found it easier to take a mold off of the a/c unit which barely fits in there as is.
This is around .4 cu. ft. I sealed this against the fire wall. I then made a baffle board for the 8" woofer mounted this inside the cabin I then cut out the whole for the woofer in the firewall. I then sealed the two parts sandwiching the fire wall between them this gave me appox .36 cu. ft. which is what the JL audio 8W3 requires. I then cut out the footboard and covered it with metal mesh,replace the carpet and it is completly stealth. This woofer has an excursion to rival most 10's. I have children that ride in my back seat need the floor space

[bell]

i know where superman is going with the 4" concept. i have a good friend that is running 144 4" in EACH of his 2 custom speakers. they're running off of a 125 watt krell amp, all i can say is those things are freaking spooky, they are the most impactfull home speakers i have ever heard.
unfortunately using a 4" in a car can be very limited as far as output goes. more so for the limited power handling of most all 4" speaks.
a "freeair" sub is more than a tight suspenson, although the tight suspension is needed for what it is doing. the airspace in the hood would be the average needed for a single "freeair" 12" woofer, CamB is correct in saying the hood and cabin is vented to each other, you would have to isolate the 2 to get a "freeair" to work properly in our cars (ALOT of work/weight)
i have heard a few 911's that used the "freeair" sub on a board in the hood over the smugglers box, they had bass but they always lack the punch. for usable lowend stick with a box and stay away from "freeair" for a 911.
again......this is my .02

[CamB]

Piedogger's setup sounds like exactly the way to go (except you have to cut the firewall - but there have to be some sacrifices). I have a JL 10W6 (which is too big) but can vouch for the quality of the W6 line.

A 10" might fit if you put the baffle board on the floor in the cabin out another few inches (you need to raise the box space to about 0.60cu ft for the 10W6.

Kurt - a quality 8" sub puts out a surprising amount of bass, and probably doesn't weigh so much. We would still be talking 30+ lbs with the enclosure though.

[89911]

Originally posted by Epster77
..

Who in this world has short enough legs to fit in your rear seat? I would love to meet them so that I could feel tall for a day. The enclosure does not interfere with seat travel as well. Also, removal of the A/C system isn't a compromise for some? You should visit me here in Atlanta mid summer with 95% humidity and 105 degrees!

Maybe when you have kids you'll realize that there are some beings that actually fit in those seats!

[bell]

you can save more weight than that by simply turning the smugglers box into a box. cut a board for the pass footwell for your sub and build it out a little if you need room for the speaker.
then get into the smugglers box (not literally )and use an all weather silicone to fill any open welds/holes/whatever (clear is nice for cosmetic reasons) then build a "replacement" panel for the smuglers door. THEN grab a calculator and a tape measure and see how much internal airspace you have in the box (get as close to accurate as you can, if it's off a little don't worry about it) take that airspace of the box then get the airspace of what the sub calls for.
once you have those 2 numbers take the difference and cut yourself some wood that equals that amount. screw those pieces onto the underside of your replacement door (this is where multiple pieces make this easier). now simply take some weatherstriping/rubber/whatever and make a seal for your replacement door. secure the door with either screws (means using screws into metal on your pcar) or fabricate brackets to hold the door tight utilizing the stock door hinge/latch holes.
hope this gives you some insight, it's gotten me thinking of pulling my A/C

[piedogger]

Bell you have the right idea although it would be really hard to seal the steering column theres also a plastic cover over the steering column. Being that I'm making some of these to sell I have done a lot of research and have found three different hole configurations in the firewall, from no hole to 4"x5" to 5.5"x10". Also what has slowed me down is the cab/targa firewall is much thinner because of the extra bracing in the kick panel it is barely larger than the woofer. In the coupe I made a wooden baffle but
for my cab I had to make a fiberglass mold just bigger than the woofer. In a not quite sealed enviroment a free-air 8 might work OK. Another consideration is that a metal enclosre can "ping" which colors the sound of the bass I find the same problem with fiberglass so I usually put sound deadining on the encloser walls

[bell]

when i get my stuff pulled from under my hood i'm gonna get in there and see what you mean. i didn't realize the targas and coupes were that different under there.
i've been doing high end audio for 11 years.......we're on the same page
learn something new everyday

[piedogger]

Its inside the car thats diff. not the smugglers hatch it self

[bell]

ok i know where you mean. i did think my pass. footwell opening seemed a little small
thanks

[Epster77]

89911,

That is a pretty good point...hopefully I will stay a batchelor and will not have to worry about rear seat occupancy

[bell]

i am a bachelor, still looking for the right "passenger" for my 911, anyone have sisters?)
never though about hiding stuff in there, but then i never needed to i guess

[tkrefeld]

I'd like tio see some poics of front trunk install. I am considering the same. Please post some if you can

[billwagnon]

bell I have two sisters

but they aren't lesbians

oh and one is married

nevermind