Hey all,

So, I have been bitten by the bass bug and I am looking to do a sub for my MINI. I know how I am going to do it, with a shallow sub mounted onto a false floor in the boot, but I am not quite sure of all the details. My budget for just the sub and the amp is 300 dollars (a bit of room to move around but not much). I am not looking for stupid amounts of bass, I just want to round out my bottom end with some bass that sounds better than would I have now when I crank up the EQ on my HU. My process behind this is going to be choose the sub first and have the amp I go with follow that.

The first thing I need a bit of help with is the sub itself, I know I need a shallow mount, the question is how shallow. I know I want to go with a ten inch diameter and want to get as low in the frequncy range as i can while still keeping my budget and sounding decent. I will eventually make my way to a car audio shop, but I would like to have a real good idea of what to look for. So far I have narrowed it down to



-Kenwood (http://www.crutchfield.com/S-sR3sTcM...1000&s=0&cc=01)

Sorta fits in between the alpine and my next choice, this one has the advantage of being almost an inch thiner as far as mounting depth goes though. Single voice coil and not quite as much power handling as the others.

Pioneer (http://www.crutchfield.com/S-sR3sTcM...2541&s=0&cc=01)

My top choice. Power handling is the same as the Kenwood but the frequency range is huge, specifically the low end. That said I have no idea what to expect from the somewhat odd design of it.

ED: http://www.edesignaudio.com/product_...roducts_id=106

A very, very close second. I just need some input on it from people who have had experience with them and could probably go to first place. Plus the price is absolutely awesome.

I am of course open to suggestions but try to keep the woofer around a price that will also allow me to get an amp with my $300 budget. One more thing, crutchfield is awesome because they have a very liberal return policy, however, if anyone know another good online retailer worth looking into I will give them a shot.

 

I've debated this a lot myself and came to some similar conclusions as you did. The ideal sub for me (since I'm not trying to go super loud or too low) was the JL Audio 10W1V2 since I was using an amp I already own that perfectly matches its power needs. Then I saw this: http://www.fastmini.net/rosubox.html

The best advice, and what I did, was search through everyone elses installs on here looking for ideas. When I planned out everything I wound up with like a 4" mounting depth which really limits what you can run.

 

Get this, that was actually the inspiration for this. I saw that, then I saw the price tag, the I said "I can make that myself for far less". I am still debating how high I want the enclosure to be, that is whether or not I want it to line up with the top of the seats when they are folded down or if I want it to be shallower than that.

 

That price isn't too bad for that box. I am also thinking about getting a sub but haven't looked deeply into the options yet.

 

I think the JL Audio would be a good choice. Im still looking for a sub location myself.

 

When I priced out the MDF (well had a friend that does this sort of thing for a living give me an estimate) he told me $150. This was before I'd ever seen the Mach V box so when I saw that box at that price it really looks like a good deal. I'm waiting until April to do an install since I need the extra cargo-space for a move before then, but at that time I'll start seriously looking at the options again.

 

150 for mdf, well, there is something to look into. Is there any reason i couldnt use 3/4 inch plywood?

 

Wow....150 for MDF?!?! That's insane. I buy MDF on a weekly basis for various art and sculptures.....they sell 4' x 8' 3/4" MDF at Home Depot and Lowes...and that's close to $20. They sell 2' x 4' 1/4" boards for $3 for and a little more for the thicker stuff. You will probably spend $30 tops on MDF.

 

Wooh, that is a relief. A really big relief.

Aside from the JL sub I just stuck up there (which is bit tall) what is my next best choice? Again I am really looking for sound quality, not so much sound pressure. At this point it is sort of a toss up between the Alpine and the Pioneer. I guess the first thing to figure out how much higher I want the new floor to be over the old one. Which is really going to be dictated by how I like the sound of a given sub... Which means I am going sub testing this weekend!!

Anybody got any suggestions on what to look for/how to test, or is it just whatever sounds good?

 

Well, I think I found my amp.

http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Produ...75P3252&tp=115

It isnt super powerful, but is powerful enough to exceed the reccomened RMS of any of the subs I have looked at so far, plus it is flexable enough to run just about any coil set-up I could want (dual 2-ohm or single 4-ohm).

 

From what I understood of bass boxes, each speaker has a specific amount of open space that it needs behind the speaker... some sealed, some ported. I think that your design and the sq. footage of space you can squeeze into the box will almost pre-determine which speaker you use and get good audio quality.

 

Does the MINI headunit (HK) have RCA pre-amp outputs or are you going to have to lift signal from the rear speakers?

 

Have to pull signal from the rear speakers.

 

You make a very good point, that is something I will need to get a rough idea of before I go to much further. That said most of the subs i have looked at seem to have requirements between .5 cubic feet and 1 cubic foot.

 

From what i know, mdf is much harder and denser than plywood (and particleboard), it makes for a much better sounding surface, and most importantly, it will not resonate.

 

it's denser, but not harder. you can easily work it with sandpaper or split it with a file. if you use plywood, use 7ply Birch...it's 95% of the performance at half the weight.

I plan to do a box out of birch with a pair of Elemental SQ10's. Total weight for the box with subs will be < 30lbs and it will be removable and create a flat load floor.

I'm currently using a pair of old school Kicker 6x9 free air subs with a Rockford Power T600-4. Lots of bass, but it only sounds good on certain types of music (one of the issues with infinite baffle setups)

 

The only issue you run into with plywood will be making the box. With MDF...there is no grain so you can efficiently glue any edge to any other edge. With a peach of plywood you lose an astounding amount of strength by gluing an end cut to the grain face.

The lack of a grain also means that it will warp less often....this is partially solved by getting 7 ply like PGT mentioned....but I've seen even 9 ply warp in humid conditions. (probably not an issue unless you let a lot of water into your car )

That may not play a large part if you're fastening with nails or something...but you will lose the strength and seal that glue offers.

 

Ehh, now that I have looked into it MDF is certainly cheap enough to be feasible.

Still looking for suggestions on the woofer though. Preferably one that goes well with that amp.

 

nails??? glue and screw baby...the only way once dry, you go back and hit all the joints with caulk, then spray the inside black (wood is porous). Add some polyfill, and it's a pro-level box. If you do more than one driver or some serious ones, add some bracing between drivers and in the corners or along seems.

check out www.edesignaudio.com - you'd be hard pressed to find better drivers for less. great guys, great designs, great site and a woofer for every budget. they'll even build the box to your specs with their CNC router ($150ish carpeted).

 

On the subject of building the box. How high does the magnet side of the woofer need to be off of the inside of the box. Can the magnet be almost touching the box and not create any problems?

 

You want to make sure that the magnet will never hit the inside of the box and create extra vibrations. Also magnets get hot... If i was you, i would buy that box for $150. I worked as an installer/fabber for a year or so and trust me, $150 is a great price. The pure facts of building a box; do you know what ohms you are running the speaker or exactly what the sub manufacturer suggestion of who many square inches the inside of the box should be? I dont want to sound like an ***, but you have $50 in materials at least (assuming you have a table saw and air nail gun) and 6-7 hours of (hard) work. I would pay $150 for an allready built/well thought out box. Just my 2 cents...

 

How about relocating the battery and flushmounting a sub in the battery box. You could fiberglass the walls of it and it looks like there is about .75 cubic feet of airspace in there. That would be a slick install and stealth for sure.

 

But then where would you put the battery. You could mount it on the floorboard behind one of the seat...maybe. Other than that, its an awsome idea. If you had the seat delete kit, you could make a mount for the battery on the sidewall that would look awsome.

 

Dont worry, you dont sound like an ***.

Good to know that bit of info on the magnet!

Depending on what sub I go with I will be able to build the box to the right dimensions. I can look up the specs on the manufacturer website, once I know that it is more or less basic carpentry (please correct me if I am wrong). I purposefully take on projects like this because I enjoy doing, so In a way if this takes a while to do well then I have myself a good project.

So he says now!

Really, 150 is a lot of money for me to spend, the only reason this project is really staring to come together is that I am willing to put the effort into doing it myself. I have access to all the tools I need for this so that is a non issue at this point. On top of all of that I get to learn a new skill!

Here is how my price list for the box looks now:

3/4in MDF------ $30-50 (until I can get a real price)
Binding posts----$10 (through Crutchfield)
Carpet----------$??? (no idea at this point)
Screws, etc-----$Free (sitting around my house)

So maybe I save 50-80 over the ready made deal? For me that is worth the time and effort, plus when somebody says "cool setup, where did you get it?" I get to say, "I built it myself!". That is worth far more than the 50 I may save.

 

I actually thought about this (want someone to do it real bad). But then I realized I wouldn't know where to put the batt. That your first idea for the battery is something I didn't think of. (stick in the boot!!! Doh, lol).