anyone got any ideas for a sub box?
07-08-2003
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anyone got any ideas for a sub box? I have 2 alpine 12 inchers i just bought and wanna build a box that can incorporate fiberglass, neons, and maybe even plexiglass but i wanna be able to do it myself.......any ideas?
07-09-2003
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Rep Power: 314 alright, ive got it now.
start with the box. its just a simple box, one angle, the same angle as your back seats. this way, with the box sitting in yoru trunk, you can push it right up agsaint the seat, itll be the same angle.
alright! so we start with the simple box. now time for the countour of fiberglass. cut out three or four MDF rings from yoru scrap, they dont have to be perfect (except for one on the inside edge, and it doesnt have to be perfect, just not messy)
each ring will be 1/2 to 1 inch wide (from inner to outer radius). one ring the inner radius will be the outer radius of the basket. when you test fit it, youll be able to put the woofer all the way through it. Should be a little bit bigger (couple milimeter) but not too much larger than the woofer. the woofer should slip right through it!
the other 2-3 rings will be standard mounting rings for the woofer. when you test fit them, they should slip under neath the woofer and rest on the inner lip (ie, the inner diameter should be the cutout diameter)
so now you have 3-4 rings, one of which is bigger than the rest, too big to mount the woofer to.
you also have an MDF box, unfinished (no carpet, paint, anything else) but otherwise ready to go. you could right now screw your subwoofers into it and call it done. but not yet!
so you take your one big ring, and mount it to the box on one side, so the woofer still mounts to the box like it normally would, at the same position, now is just surrounded by a ring of MDF.
the rest of them you mount to the other side, all layered up. if you made three rings, mounting the woofer in this side will push the woofer out 2.25 inches from teh surface of the box, 2.25 inches forward of the other woofer (phasing wont be an issue) ideally, for maximum cosmetic effect, the top most ring wont be significantly larger than the outermost edge of the woofer.
now on to the "fiberglass". we will use a glass illusion here, to avoid doing any work with cloth and resin. its jsut a larger guarantee of sucess, failure only means more sanding, not having to scrap the layup completely.
Go out and buy a galon of standard automotive bondo from home depo, it only costs $15 a gallon. its REALLY difficult to sand, however. so pick up some 60 grit, maybe a bit of 36 grit while your there. Even better, grab a 4" angle grinder, only costs $30-40, and youll feel better knowing knockdown wont be such a pain.
your baffle would look kinda like this:
except the side with only one layer will have a lip on the inside too, where the subwoofer mounts.
this is what it would look like on the other side, you cna see the recessed inner ring, for flushmounting a speaker.
using a plastic putty knife, spread the bondo ALL over the surface of the box. youll be making your own contour between the rings. id set teh woofers a good space apart (not 2 inches) so that you have an easier time making a good looking contour. avoid putting bondo on top of the ring of yoru small rings, but for sure put it on top of the larger ring that sits alone. youll not want the illusion there is a ring there later. youll never see the ring of the large raised section due to the subwoofer mount.
its messy isnt it! too much isnt a problem, grind it off after its dry! too little isnt a problem either, just add more!
after sanding, your baffle will look somewhat liek this:
main difference being one side will be GROSSLY higher than the other, and the low side will have an inset ring for subwoofer mounting.
Alrighty! Now we have a sweet looking baffle! now for the rear of the box, you didnt think we'd leave that alone, did you?
place the box in the car, take a look at it form the cabin with the seats folded down. youll be cutting a hole in the back of the box. as the general guideline, give yourself three inches of space from the outer edge of the box on all sides and consider that the largest hole you cna cut. based on yoru own aesthetic teste, make the hole smaller as desired. the finished product will have an even smaller window still.
check out my carpeting DIY, and grab some white carpet, and some carpet that matches yoru trunk interior color (grey, right?) with the hole cut, you cna work entirely on cosmetics now. carpet the inside of the box white, carpet the outside of the box matching your trunk. for the outside, start with the baffle, and work your way to the back. its important that the baffle be perfect, and that you get a uniform layer of carpet on the backside. if you cant do it, then do 5 sides of teh box, cut all the way around the back and past on a separate piece of carpet on teh back. dont worry, the seam will never be seen.
now you go out and buy a piece of .75 inch plexiglass, with a solid inch minimum around the edge of your hole in the back. take it to a plastics shop, and have them smoth the sides, polished, (at least one side, thats all thats really neccesary) drill holes for screwing it to the box around the outside (one every 5 inches or so) then here is the tricky part:
youll need to find a place that can engrave plastic. take yoru plexi and one of yoru woofers to a place that can engrave large sheets of plexi. tell them you want the alpine logo carved into the center of yoru sheet. you dont want it just scratched in there, you want actuall material taken out, like an 8th of an inch or so taken out, its really open. but not jsut scratched on the surface!
a plastics shop may or may not be able ot do it, grab a phone and a phone book, call around! if htey cant do it, ask if they know who can. this step is optional, but it really makes the box look that much sweeter.
now yoru neon lights. grab a 24" tube and a 6-9 inch tube. i assume yoru neon color scheme is blue? grab a large blue and small red light. different colors? doesnt matter, whichever color you go with to match your car lighting, palanning to get, grab it in a 24" size or so. then, find a color that contrasts GREATLY to it, like red to blue, or yellow to purple. get the small neon in that contrasting color.
take yoru 24" neon and screw it to teh inside of the box. it will go on the back of the box near the top. you want to be ABSOLUTELY SURE you cannot see the bulb under any circumstance, so after you screw it in, throw the box into the car and flod down the seats, make sure you cant see the bulb. it will ruin the entire project if you cna see the bulb! this is another good reason to make the lip, at least on top, a bit bigger.
alright, now you have a carpeted finished box and a sheet of plexi ready to go. screw your sheet of plexi on, its ok if its off center, this and that, jus tamke the logo look nice. the carpet is all teh seal it needs, itll be airtight. we will build a trim piece around it, youll never see the edges.
take your 9" neon in contrasting color, and screw it to teh box right next to the edge of the plexi. you can get pairs of them for cheap on ebay, you can put one on either side of the logo, itll probbaly look better, but remember, you install it directly next to teh edge of the plexiglass, here is why.
when you turn on yrou interior boxlight, itll light up the entire box, as well as the woofers. the white carpet is to ensure the natural color shines through. itll also look nicer in the daytime or with the neons off. when you turn the smaller neons on, the light will travel straight through the plexi. straight through! youll never see it. EXCEPT! where there is an imperfection in the plexi. every scratch, every mark will shine through in that color.... do you see why we engraved the alpine logo into the plexi? the entire alpine logo will show through BRIGHTLY in teh color of the contrasting neon! itll contrast all that bright light inside the box the proper color, and be that extra little touch that is ever so sweet, that gets your those extra little brownie points.
id suggest taping the light off so that its light shines exclusively into the plexiglass, you dont want it to shine ANYWHERE else but to show off that engraved logo!
now we build the final trim piece. take a piece of MDF, and stick it in teh trunk, butt it up agasint the rear seats, tight as you can fit it. then trace the contour of the trunk/cabin boundaryonto it. the more exact the better, naturally. pull it out, cut it with a jigsaw, make sure it fits in spot flush with the seatback.
cut a hole in it so that it covers anything you dont want to see behind the box. this includes the edges of the plexi window, possibly the edges of the actual hole you cut in the box. surely itll cover the small neon lights.
youll vinyl this matching the the interior of yrou car. if you cut it exact, friction alone would hold it in place flush to teh car.
throw the box in, and make sure you are able to bolt the piece so it butts aginst the plexiglass. if it doesnt, youll have to build layers, just liek you did for mounting the subwoofer. if you need a significant distance, you can build a frame from 2x3's, carpet it to match the interior paneling of the car, screw the vinyled board to that, then screw the frame to the back of the box, tight agasint the plexiglass.
if you dont need the frame, then you can cut the hole any neato shape you want, could make it a circle, or whatever.
the only thing you must still be wondering is why did i make the baffle all wierd and off center? the last little cosmetic touch! on teh super raised section, install the woofer like normal. on the wierd side? invert mount the woofer! when you open the trunk, youll see the cone on one woofer, the magnet on the other. look inside the box form teh cabin? you see teh same thing! one cone, one magnet. extra little showy touch. dont forget to wire the woofers out of phase! otherwise, one will push when the other pulls, and the box will make no noise!
stick the trunk/cabin trim piece in the car, push the box up agasint it, screw the two pieces together, so you know they fit right, and wire it up! its done!
......... any questions?
start with the box. its just a simple box, one angle, the same angle as your back seats. this way, with the box sitting in yoru trunk, you can push it right up agsaint the seat, itll be the same angle.
alright! so we start with the simple box. now time for the countour of fiberglass. cut out three or four MDF rings from yoru scrap, they dont have to be perfect (except for one on the inside edge, and it doesnt have to be perfect, just not messy)
each ring will be 1/2 to 1 inch wide (from inner to outer radius). one ring the inner radius will be the outer radius of the basket. when you test fit it, youll be able to put the woofer all the way through it. Should be a little bit bigger (couple milimeter) but not too much larger than the woofer. the woofer should slip right through it!
the other 2-3 rings will be standard mounting rings for the woofer. when you test fit them, they should slip under neath the woofer and rest on the inner lip (ie, the inner diameter should be the cutout diameter)
so now you have 3-4 rings, one of which is bigger than the rest, too big to mount the woofer to.
you also have an MDF box, unfinished (no carpet, paint, anything else) but otherwise ready to go. you could right now screw your subwoofers into it and call it done. but not yet!
so you take your one big ring, and mount it to the box on one side, so the woofer still mounts to the box like it normally would, at the same position, now is just surrounded by a ring of MDF.
the rest of them you mount to the other side, all layered up. if you made three rings, mounting the woofer in this side will push the woofer out 2.25 inches from teh surface of the box, 2.25 inches forward of the other woofer (phasing wont be an issue) ideally, for maximum cosmetic effect, the top most ring wont be significantly larger than the outermost edge of the woofer.
now on to the "fiberglass". we will use a glass illusion here, to avoid doing any work with cloth and resin. its jsut a larger guarantee of sucess, failure only means more sanding, not having to scrap the layup completely.
Go out and buy a galon of standard automotive bondo from home depo, it only costs $15 a gallon. its REALLY difficult to sand, however. so pick up some 60 grit, maybe a bit of 36 grit while your there. Even better, grab a 4" angle grinder, only costs $30-40, and youll feel better knowing knockdown wont be such a pain.
your baffle would look kinda like this:
except the side with only one layer will have a lip on the inside too, where the subwoofer mounts.
this is what it would look like on the other side, you cna see the recessed inner ring, for flushmounting a speaker.
using a plastic putty knife, spread the bondo ALL over the surface of the box. youll be making your own contour between the rings. id set teh woofers a good space apart (not 2 inches) so that you have an easier time making a good looking contour. avoid putting bondo on top of the ring of yoru small rings, but for sure put it on top of the larger ring that sits alone. youll not want the illusion there is a ring there later. youll never see the ring of the large raised section due to the subwoofer mount.
its messy isnt it! too much isnt a problem, grind it off after its dry! too little isnt a problem either, just add more!
after sanding, your baffle will look somewhat liek this:
main difference being one side will be GROSSLY higher than the other, and the low side will have an inset ring for subwoofer mounting.
Alrighty! Now we have a sweet looking baffle! now for the rear of the box, you didnt think we'd leave that alone, did you?
place the box in the car, take a look at it form the cabin with the seats folded down. youll be cutting a hole in the back of the box. as the general guideline, give yourself three inches of space from the outer edge of the box on all sides and consider that the largest hole you cna cut. based on yoru own aesthetic teste, make the hole smaller as desired. the finished product will have an even smaller window still.
check out my carpeting DIY, and grab some white carpet, and some carpet that matches yoru trunk interior color (grey, right?) with the hole cut, you cna work entirely on cosmetics now. carpet the inside of the box white, carpet the outside of the box matching your trunk. for the outside, start with the baffle, and work your way to the back. its important that the baffle be perfect, and that you get a uniform layer of carpet on the backside. if you cant do it, then do 5 sides of teh box, cut all the way around the back and past on a separate piece of carpet on teh back. dont worry, the seam will never be seen.
now you go out and buy a piece of .75 inch plexiglass, with a solid inch minimum around the edge of your hole in the back. take it to a plastics shop, and have them smoth the sides, polished, (at least one side, thats all thats really neccesary) drill holes for screwing it to the box around the outside (one every 5 inches or so) then here is the tricky part:
youll need to find a place that can engrave plastic. take yoru plexi and one of yoru woofers to a place that can engrave large sheets of plexi. tell them you want the alpine logo carved into the center of yoru sheet. you dont want it just scratched in there, you want actuall material taken out, like an 8th of an inch or so taken out, its really open. but not jsut scratched on the surface!
a plastics shop may or may not be able ot do it, grab a phone and a phone book, call around! if htey cant do it, ask if they know who can. this step is optional, but it really makes the box look that much sweeter.
now yoru neon lights. grab a 24" tube and a 6-9 inch tube. i assume yoru neon color scheme is blue? grab a large blue and small red light. different colors? doesnt matter, whichever color you go with to match your car lighting, palanning to get, grab it in a 24" size or so. then, find a color that contrasts GREATLY to it, like red to blue, or yellow to purple. get the small neon in that contrasting color.
take yoru 24" neon and screw it to teh inside of the box. it will go on the back of the box near the top. you want to be ABSOLUTELY SURE you cannot see the bulb under any circumstance, so after you screw it in, throw the box into the car and flod down the seats, make sure you cant see the bulb. it will ruin the entire project if you cna see the bulb! this is another good reason to make the lip, at least on top, a bit bigger.
alright, now you have a carpeted finished box and a sheet of plexi ready to go. screw your sheet of plexi on, its ok if its off center, this and that, jus tamke the logo look nice. the carpet is all teh seal it needs, itll be airtight. we will build a trim piece around it, youll never see the edges.
take your 9" neon in contrasting color, and screw it to teh box right next to the edge of the plexi. you can get pairs of them for cheap on ebay, you can put one on either side of the logo, itll probbaly look better, but remember, you install it directly next to teh edge of the plexiglass, here is why.
when you turn on yrou interior boxlight, itll light up the entire box, as well as the woofers. the white carpet is to ensure the natural color shines through. itll also look nicer in the daytime or with the neons off. when you turn the smaller neons on, the light will travel straight through the plexi. straight through! youll never see it. EXCEPT! where there is an imperfection in the plexi. every scratch, every mark will shine through in that color.... do you see why we engraved the alpine logo into the plexi? the entire alpine logo will show through BRIGHTLY in teh color of the contrasting neon! itll contrast all that bright light inside the box the proper color, and be that extra little touch that is ever so sweet, that gets your those extra little brownie points.
id suggest taping the light off so that its light shines exclusively into the plexiglass, you dont want it to shine ANYWHERE else but to show off that engraved logo!
now we build the final trim piece. take a piece of MDF, and stick it in teh trunk, butt it up agasint the rear seats, tight as you can fit it. then trace the contour of the trunk/cabin boundaryonto it. the more exact the better, naturally. pull it out, cut it with a jigsaw, make sure it fits in spot flush with the seatback.
cut a hole in it so that it covers anything you dont want to see behind the box. this includes the edges of the plexi window, possibly the edges of the actual hole you cut in the box. surely itll cover the small neon lights.
youll vinyl this matching the the interior of yrou car. if you cut it exact, friction alone would hold it in place flush to teh car.
throw the box in, and make sure you are able to bolt the piece so it butts aginst the plexiglass. if it doesnt, youll have to build layers, just liek you did for mounting the subwoofer. if you need a significant distance, you can build a frame from 2x3's, carpet it to match the interior paneling of the car, screw the vinyled board to that, then screw the frame to the back of the box, tight agasint the plexiglass.
if you dont need the frame, then you can cut the hole any neato shape you want, could make it a circle, or whatever.
the only thing you must still be wondering is why did i make the baffle all wierd and off center? the last little cosmetic touch! on teh super raised section, install the woofer like normal. on the wierd side? invert mount the woofer! when you open the trunk, youll see the cone on one woofer, the magnet on the other. look inside the box form teh cabin? you see teh same thing! one cone, one magnet. extra little showy touch. dont forget to wire the woofers out of phase! otherwise, one will push when the other pulls, and the box will make no noise!
stick the trunk/cabin trim piece in the car, push the box up agasint it, screw the two pieces together, so you know they fit right, and wire it up! its done!
......... any questions?
07-09-2003
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Originally posted by WhiteRabbit
alright, ive got it now.
start with the box. its just a simple box, one angle, the same angle as your back seats. this way, with the box sitting in yoru trunk, you can push it right up agsaint the seat, itll be the same angle.
alright! so we start with the simple box. now time for the countour of fiberglass. cut out three or four MDF rings from yoru scrap, they dont have to be perfect (except for one on the inside edge, and it doesnt have to be perfect, just not messy)
each ring will be 1/2 to 1 inch wide (from inner to outer radius). one ring the inner radius will be the outer radius of the basket. when you test fit it, youll be able to put the woofer all the way through it. Should be a little bit bigger (couple milimeter) but not too much larger than the woofer. the woofer should slip right through it!
the other 2-3 rings will be standard mounting rings for the woofer. when you test fit them, they should slip under neath the woofer and rest on the inner lip (ie, the inner diameter should be the cutout diameter)
so now you have 3-4 rings, one of which is bigger than the rest, too big to mount the woofer to.
you also have an MDF box, unfinished (no carpet, paint, anything else) but otherwise ready to go. you could right now screw your subwoofers into it and call it done. but not yet!
so you take your one big ring, and mount it to the box on one side, so the woofer still mounts to the box like it normally would, at the same position, now is just surrounded by a ring of MDF.
the rest of them you mount to the other side, all layered up. if you made three rings, mounting the woofer in this side will push the woofer out 2.25 inches from teh surface of the box, 2.25 inches forward of the other woofer (phasing wont be an issue) ideally, for maximum cosmetic effect, the top most ring wont be significantly larger than the outermost edge of the woofer.
now on to the "fiberglass". we will use a glass illusion here, to avoid doing any work with cloth and resin. its jsut a larger guarantee of sucess, failure only means more sanding, not having to scrap the layup completely.
Go out and buy a galon of standard automotive bondo from home depo, it only costs $15 a gallon. its REALLY difficult to sand, however. so pick up some 60 grit, maybe a bit of 36 grit while your there. Even better, grab a 4" angle grinder, only costs $30-40, and youll feel better knowing knockdown wont be such a pain.
your baffle would look kinda like this:
except the side with only one layer will have a lip on the inside too, where the subwoofer mounts.
this is what it would look like on the other side, you cna see the recessed inner ring, for flushmounting a speaker.
using a plastic putty knife, spread the bondo ALL over the surface of the box. youll be making your own contour between the rings. id set teh woofers a good space apart (not 2 inches) so that you have an easier time making a good looking contour. avoid putting bondo on top of the ring of yoru small rings, but for sure put it on top of the larger ring that sits alone. youll not want the illusion there is a ring there later. youll never see the ring of the large raised section due to the subwoofer mount.
its messy isnt it! too much isnt a problem, grind it off after its dry! too little isnt a problem either, just add more!
after sanding, your baffle will look somewhat liek this:
main difference being one side will be GROSSLY higher than the other, and the low side will have an inset ring for subwoofer mounting.
Alrighty! Now we have a sweet looking baffle! now for the rear of the box, you didnt think we'd leave that alone, did you?
place the box in the car, take a look at it form the cabin with the seats folded down. youll be cutting a hole in the back of the box. as the general guideline, give yourself three inches of space from the outer edge of the box on all sides and consider that the largest hole you cna cut. based on yoru own aesthetic teste, make the hole smaller as desired. the finished product will have an even smaller window still.
check out my carpeting DIY, and grab some white carpet, and some carpet that matches yoru trunk interior color (grey, right?) with the hole cut, you cna work entirely on cosmetics now. carpet the inside of the box white, carpet the outside of the box matching your trunk. for the outside, start with the baffle, and work your way to the back. its important that the baffle be perfect, and that you get a uniform layer of carpet on the backside. if you cant do it, then do 5 sides of teh box, cut all the way around the back and past on a separate piece of carpet on teh back. dont worry, the seam will never be seen.
now you go out and buy a piece of .75 inch plexiglass, with a solid inch minimum around the edge of your hole in the back. take it to a plastics shop, and have them smoth the sides, polished, (at least one side, thats all thats really neccesary) drill holes for screwing it to the box around the outside (one every 5 inches or so) then here is the tricky part:
youll need to find a place that can engrave plastic. take yoru plexi and one of yoru woofers to a place that can engrave large sheets of plexi. tell them you want the alpine logo carved into the center of yoru sheet. you dont want it just scratched in there, you want actuall material taken out, like an 8th of an inch or so taken out, its really open. but not jsut scratched on the surface!
a plastics shop may or may not be able ot do it, grab a phone and a phone book, call around! if htey cant do it, ask if they know who can. this step is optional, but it really makes the box look that much sweeter.
now yoru neon lights. grab a 24" tube and a 6-9 inch tube. i assume yoru neon color scheme is blue? grab a large blue and small red light. different colors? doesnt matter, whichever color you go with to match your car lighting, palanning to get, grab it in a 24" size or so. then, find a color that contrasts GREATLY to it, like red to blue, or yellow to purple. get the small neon in that contrasting color.
take yoru 24" neon and screw it to teh inside of the box. it will go on the back of the box near the top. you want to be ABSOLUTELY SURE you cannot see the bulb under any circumstance, so after you screw it in, throw the box into the car and flod down the seats, make sure you cant see the bulb. it will ruin the entire project if you cna see the bulb! this is another good reason to make the lip, at least on top, a bit bigger.
alright, now you have a carpeted finished box and a sheet of plexi ready to go. screw your sheet of plexi on, its ok if its off center, this and that, jus tamke the logo look nice. the carpet is all teh seal it needs, itll be airtight. we will build a trim piece around it, youll never see the edges.
take your 9" neon in contrasting color, and screw it to teh box right next to the edge of the plexi. you can get pairs of them for cheap on ebay, you can put one on either side of the logo, itll probbaly look better, but remember, you install it directly next to teh edge of the plexiglass, here is why.
when you turn on yrou interior boxlight, itll light up the entire box, as well as the woofers. the white carpet is to ensure the natural color shines through. itll also look nicer in the daytime or with the neons off. when you turn the smaller neons on, the light will travel straight through the plexi. straight through! youll never see it. EXCEPT! where there is an imperfection in the plexi. every scratch, every mark will shine through in that color.... do you see why we engraved the alpine logo into the plexi? the entire alpine logo will show through BRIGHTLY in teh color of the contrasting neon! itll contrast all that bright light inside the box the proper color, and be that extra little touch that is ever so sweet, that gets your those extra little brownie points.
id suggest taping the light off so that its light shines exclusively into the plexiglass, you dont want it to shine ANYWHERE else but to show off that engraved logo!
now we build the final trim piece. take a piece of MDF, and stick it in teh trunk, butt it up agasint the rear seats, tight as you can fit it. then trace the contour of the trunk/cabin boundaryonto it. the more exact the better, naturally. pull it out, cut it with a jigsaw, make sure it fits in spot flush with the seatback.
cut a hole in it so that it covers anything you dont want to see behind the box. this includes the edges of the plexi window, possibly the edges of the actual hole you cut in the box. surely itll cover the small neon lights.
youll vinyl this matching the the interior of yrou car. if you cut it exact, friction alone would hold it in place flush to teh car.
throw the box in, and make sure you are able to bolt the piece so it butts aginst the plexiglass. if it doesnt, youll have to build layers, just liek you did for mounting the subwoofer. if you need a significant distance, you can build a frame from 2x3's, carpet it to match the interior paneling of the car, screw the vinyled board to that, then screw the frame to the back of the box, tight agasint the plexiglass.
if you dont need the frame, then you can cut the hole any neato shape you want, could make it a circle, or whatever.
the only thing you must still be wondering is why did i make the baffle all wierd and off center? the last little cosmetic touch! on teh super raised section, install the woofer like normal. on the wierd side? invert mount the woofer! when you open the trunk, youll see the cone on one woofer, the magnet on the other. look inside the box form teh cabin? you see teh same thing! one cone, one magnet. extra little showy touch. dont forget to wire the woofers out of phase! otherwise, one will push when the other pulls, and the box will make no noise!
stick the trunk/cabin trim piece in the car, push the box up agasint it, screw the two pieces together, so you know they fit right, and wire it up! its done!
......... any questions?
alright, ive got it now.
start with the box. its just a simple box, one angle, the same angle as your back seats. this way, with the box sitting in yoru trunk, you can push it right up agsaint the seat, itll be the same angle.
alright! so we start with the simple box. now time for the countour of fiberglass. cut out three or four MDF rings from yoru scrap, they dont have to be perfect (except for one on the inside edge, and it doesnt have to be perfect, just not messy)
each ring will be 1/2 to 1 inch wide (from inner to outer radius). one ring the inner radius will be the outer radius of the basket. when you test fit it, youll be able to put the woofer all the way through it. Should be a little bit bigger (couple milimeter) but not too much larger than the woofer. the woofer should slip right through it!
the other 2-3 rings will be standard mounting rings for the woofer. when you test fit them, they should slip under neath the woofer and rest on the inner lip (ie, the inner diameter should be the cutout diameter)
so now you have 3-4 rings, one of which is bigger than the rest, too big to mount the woofer to.
you also have an MDF box, unfinished (no carpet, paint, anything else) but otherwise ready to go. you could right now screw your subwoofers into it and call it done. but not yet!
so you take your one big ring, and mount it to the box on one side, so the woofer still mounts to the box like it normally would, at the same position, now is just surrounded by a ring of MDF.
the rest of them you mount to the other side, all layered up. if you made three rings, mounting the woofer in this side will push the woofer out 2.25 inches from teh surface of the box, 2.25 inches forward of the other woofer (phasing wont be an issue) ideally, for maximum cosmetic effect, the top most ring wont be significantly larger than the outermost edge of the woofer.
now on to the "fiberglass". we will use a glass illusion here, to avoid doing any work with cloth and resin. its jsut a larger guarantee of sucess, failure only means more sanding, not having to scrap the layup completely.
Go out and buy a galon of standard automotive bondo from home depo, it only costs $15 a gallon. its REALLY difficult to sand, however. so pick up some 60 grit, maybe a bit of 36 grit while your there. Even better, grab a 4" angle grinder, only costs $30-40, and youll feel better knowing knockdown wont be such a pain.
your baffle would look kinda like this:
except the side with only one layer will have a lip on the inside too, where the subwoofer mounts.
this is what it would look like on the other side, you cna see the recessed inner ring, for flushmounting a speaker.
using a plastic putty knife, spread the bondo ALL over the surface of the box. youll be making your own contour between the rings. id set teh woofers a good space apart (not 2 inches) so that you have an easier time making a good looking contour. avoid putting bondo on top of the ring of yoru small rings, but for sure put it on top of the larger ring that sits alone. youll not want the illusion there is a ring there later. youll never see the ring of the large raised section due to the subwoofer mount.
its messy isnt it! too much isnt a problem, grind it off after its dry! too little isnt a problem either, just add more!
after sanding, your baffle will look somewhat liek this:
main difference being one side will be GROSSLY higher than the other, and the low side will have an inset ring for subwoofer mounting.
Alrighty! Now we have a sweet looking baffle! now for the rear of the box, you didnt think we'd leave that alone, did you?
place the box in the car, take a look at it form the cabin with the seats folded down. youll be cutting a hole in the back of the box. as the general guideline, give yourself three inches of space from the outer edge of the box on all sides and consider that the largest hole you cna cut. based on yoru own aesthetic teste, make the hole smaller as desired. the finished product will have an even smaller window still.
check out my carpeting DIY, and grab some white carpet, and some carpet that matches yoru trunk interior color (grey, right?) with the hole cut, you cna work entirely on cosmetics now. carpet the inside of the box white, carpet the outside of the box matching your trunk. for the outside, start with the baffle, and work your way to the back. its important that the baffle be perfect, and that you get a uniform layer of carpet on the backside. if you cant do it, then do 5 sides of teh box, cut all the way around the back and past on a separate piece of carpet on teh back. dont worry, the seam will never be seen.
now you go out and buy a piece of .75 inch plexiglass, with a solid inch minimum around the edge of your hole in the back. take it to a plastics shop, and have them smoth the sides, polished, (at least one side, thats all thats really neccesary) drill holes for screwing it to the box around the outside (one every 5 inches or so) then here is the tricky part:
youll need to find a place that can engrave plastic. take yoru plexi and one of yoru woofers to a place that can engrave large sheets of plexi. tell them you want the alpine logo carved into the center of yoru sheet. you dont want it just scratched in there, you want actuall material taken out, like an 8th of an inch or so taken out, its really open. but not jsut scratched on the surface!
a plastics shop may or may not be able ot do it, grab a phone and a phone book, call around! if htey cant do it, ask if they know who can. this step is optional, but it really makes the box look that much sweeter.
now yoru neon lights. grab a 24" tube and a 6-9 inch tube. i assume yoru neon color scheme is blue? grab a large blue and small red light. different colors? doesnt matter, whichever color you go with to match your car lighting, palanning to get, grab it in a 24" size or so. then, find a color that contrasts GREATLY to it, like red to blue, or yellow to purple. get the small neon in that contrasting color.
take yoru 24" neon and screw it to teh inside of the box. it will go on the back of the box near the top. you want to be ABSOLUTELY SURE you cannot see the bulb under any circumstance, so after you screw it in, throw the box into the car and flod down the seats, make sure you cant see the bulb. it will ruin the entire project if you cna see the bulb! this is another good reason to make the lip, at least on top, a bit bigger.
alright, now you have a carpeted finished box and a sheet of plexi ready to go. screw your sheet of plexi on, its ok if its off center, this and that, jus tamke the logo look nice. the carpet is all teh seal it needs, itll be airtight. we will build a trim piece around it, youll never see the edges.
take your 9" neon in contrasting color, and screw it to teh box right next to the edge of the plexi. you can get pairs of them for cheap on ebay, you can put one on either side of the logo, itll probbaly look better, but remember, you install it directly next to teh edge of the plexiglass, here is why.
when you turn on yrou interior boxlight, itll light up the entire box, as well as the woofers. the white carpet is to ensure the natural color shines through. itll also look nicer in the daytime or with the neons off. when you turn the smaller neons on, the light will travel straight through the plexi. straight through! youll never see it. EXCEPT! where there is an imperfection in the plexi. every scratch, every mark will shine through in that color.... do you see why we engraved the alpine logo into the plexi? the entire alpine logo will show through BRIGHTLY in teh color of the contrasting neon! itll contrast all that bright light inside the box the proper color, and be that extra little touch that is ever so sweet, that gets your those extra little brownie points.
id suggest taping the light off so that its light shines exclusively into the plexiglass, you dont want it to shine ANYWHERE else but to show off that engraved logo!
now we build the final trim piece. take a piece of MDF, and stick it in teh trunk, butt it up agasint the rear seats, tight as you can fit it. then trace the contour of the trunk/cabin boundaryonto it. the more exact the better, naturally. pull it out, cut it with a jigsaw, make sure it fits in spot flush with the seatback.
cut a hole in it so that it covers anything you dont want to see behind the box. this includes the edges of the plexi window, possibly the edges of the actual hole you cut in the box. surely itll cover the small neon lights.
youll vinyl this matching the the interior of yrou car. if you cut it exact, friction alone would hold it in place flush to teh car.
throw the box in, and make sure you are able to bolt the piece so it butts aginst the plexiglass. if it doesnt, youll have to build layers, just liek you did for mounting the subwoofer. if you need a significant distance, you can build a frame from 2x3's, carpet it to match the interior paneling of the car, screw the vinyled board to that, then screw the frame to the back of the box, tight agasint the plexiglass.
if you dont need the frame, then you can cut the hole any neato shape you want, could make it a circle, or whatever.
the only thing you must still be wondering is why did i make the baffle all wierd and off center? the last little cosmetic touch! on teh super raised section, install the woofer like normal. on the wierd side? invert mount the woofer! when you open the trunk, youll see the cone on one woofer, the magnet on the other. look inside the box form teh cabin? you see teh same thing! one cone, one magnet. extra little showy touch. dont forget to wire the woofers out of phase! otherwise, one will push when the other pulls, and the box will make no noise!
stick the trunk/cabin trim piece in the car, push the box up agasint it, screw the two pieces together, so you know they fit right, and wire it up! its done!
......... any questions?
Do you have a JOB 
07-12-2003
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Rep Power: 0 any other ideas? im pretty handy with building this kinda thing and im not wiring the thing so im not worried bout that cuz my friends a pro at it
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Rep Power: 314 just a standard false floor then, you cna use fiberglass to tilt the subwoofers away form each other and facing back just a little.
then you cna put neon lights under the false fllor itself, by making the window just a bit on teh small side.
and if you really wanted, you could make a plexiglass floor cover rather than one of mdf and grill cloth.
will take you three days to build tho, they go REAL quick, unlike the one i suggested above, which would take freakin weeks!
then you cna put neon lights under the false fllor itself, by making the window just a bit on teh small side.
and if you really wanted, you could make a plexiglass floor cover rather than one of mdf and grill cloth.
will take you three days to build tho, they go REAL quick, unlike the one i suggested above, which would take freakin weeks!
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Rep Power: 0 thanks rabbit.....i was thinkin bout mounting them in the spare tire well...i want to put a pelixglass window over top of the subs...is that better or worse for sound? and i dunno how to arrange them becuz i think id have to put them vertically instead of side by side and which way would i face them?
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Rep Power: 314 if you were using fiberglass, tilt them to the rear just a bit. both.
you should be able to fit them side by side, however, by squeezing the magnets together, face the cones away from each other a bit.
you should be able to fit them side by side, however, by squeezing the magnets together, face the cones away from each other a bit.
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Rep Power: 0 I kinda want to make somethin like this (check the link) but with 2 12"'s instead of 3 10"'s.....and then maybe put a piece of plexiglass over it.....will that work.....i know it will look tight with some neons.....but im not sure if it will work.....and what about the metal floor of the trunk.....wouldnt u have to slap a crap load of fatmat on the metal floor to keep it from resonating like hell? help me out here...you guys know more than i do
http://www.lowridereuroweb.com/tech/0112lre_basstech/
http://www.lowridereuroweb.com/tech/0112lre_basstech/
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Rep Power: 314 NO! and im really unhappy about that! i emailed the guy who took the pictures, cause he said that would be the best way to get through, but he doesnt email back. just gives me excuses when i talk to him. its really lame.
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Rep Power: 0 you going to the nor/so cal meet right, whiterabbit? Can you show it to me there? that subbox setup sounds awesome, althought i got no audio upgrade in my car, haha
that subbox setup sounds awesome, althought i got no audio upgrade in my car, haha 
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Rep Power: 314 definitely see you at the meet!
unfortunately, i cant show you the box, owner of the vehicle isnt gonna be there. I can show you a similar install, however.
you cna do an install like that, but just surface mount the amplifier and mount the subwoofer normal. you can then cut the display hole a bit smaller, and mount neons under the top to light up the cone and amplifier.
and top the whole thing off with plexiglass (the top hole doesnt need to be square, either)
unfortunately, i cant show you the box, owner of the vehicle isnt gonna be there. I can show you a similar install, however.
you cna do an install like that, but just surface mount the amplifier and mount the subwoofer normal. you can then cut the display hole a bit smaller, and mount neons under the top to light up the cone and amplifier.
and top the whole thing off with plexiglass (the top hole doesnt need to be square, either)
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