Audio: Speaker/ Sub enclosure help

[Turtle]

Howdy. Has anyone had any luck finding a custom solution to fitting a small subwoofer and amp set up in the rear compartment(s) of a 78-82? Thanks

 

[Chas]

no sub yet...

i am looking at a sub called Bazooka...it has a amp built in and it is a nice neat pkg...try crutchfield for details...good luck.
Chas

Howdy. Has anyone had any luck finding a custom solution to fitting a small subwoofer and amp set up in the rear compartment(s) of a 78-82? Thanks

 

[Turtle]

i am looking at a sub called Bazooka...it has a amp built in and it is a nice neat pkg...try crutchfield for details...good luck.
Chas

Oh - I should probably clarify - I was hoping to find something that would fit inside the rougly 12"L x 9" W x 4" D rear glove box next to the battery. I saw a photo once and just wanted to see if anyone was actully making and selling custom enclosures or something

 

[80vette_ca]

The main problem will be sound quality, as some subs need a bigger box to sounds good and some will require a small box. Also one thing to consider is do you want sound quality or do you just want to rattle everything apart. That question will make a big difference in the type of sub you get. You can go buy a sub for $100 or so and it will sound loud but not very clear and tight for the bass...As well the type of amp you get can make a difference, the closer you can get to matching the RMS power handling of the sub the better it will sound. What type of head unit are you using? As far as an enclosure have you thought about playing around with fiberglass as you can make an enclosure for just about any space and it will be strong.It may be easier to work with then trying to make a custom enclosure for that compartment out of MDF. Just my thoughts but good luck in your search

 

[goingballistic]

I built a custom sub box, 45 degree lean angle for the face plate, 13" Kenwood sub installed, carpeted, fits very nicely between the Sony 6x9's in the rear. Only problem is placing the T-Tops back there, I can get them in but it's not ideal and they sit on top of the box. This is not a huge deal as the sub is not directional so you can still feel the bass............it does rattle the tops though

I also placed an amp in the glove box next to the battery compartment. I am in the process of building a custom shelf for it but for now it just sits in the box, again not ideal but it serves the purpose and the door closes so astectically it looks clean.

 

[BarryK]

Oh - I should probably clarify - I was hoping to find something that would fit inside the rougly 12"L x 9" W x 4" D rear glove box next to the battery. I saw a photo once and just wanted to see if anyone was actully making and selling custom enclosures or something

Hi
I use to be in the car audio industry but i've been out of it for a number of years now so I'm not current on what all the latest offerings are from the various sub manufacturers. The size in that compartment is fairly small but not unreasonable to work with - especially considering the small size of the interior of the car. Don't underestimate what amount and quality of low-end bass you can get from even a single 8" subwoofer and many 8" subs are designed to work in very small enclosers like your trying to do.

One of my favorite Subwoofer manufacturers was JL Audio.
WWW.jlaudio.com
do a search on 8" subs and look at the models 8W0 or 8W3v2. Both work well in very small sealed enclosures which is what I would recommend to you.
When I use to deal with JL Audio they were also great with customer service and tech support. You could call them up, tell them the car you had and the space you have to work with and they would bend over backwards to help you select the right sub and also recommend the best type of enclosure to use it in for the best sound possible. No other company came close to that level of service. The company has grown a lot since than but since MANY of the same people are still there (I looked on their website) I would venture a guess that their customer serviceand tech support is probable still excellent. They really do want their speakers to sound good for you.

If it was my car, I would probably consider do this: (unless JL Audio suggests something better of course)
line the inside of the compartment with a layer of fiberglass to strethen the plastic. Fiberflass has great acoustic advantages because it won't resonate. Using 3/4" MDF wood, make a top cover/mounting plate for the enclosure and cut out a hole to drop in the sub to mount it. Also try to fiberglass the top plate in to the rest of the enclosure. Depending on your skill level you could also tilt the angle of the top so the sub is somewhat angled towards the top rear of the car so the sound "loads" against the rear glass instead of just firing straight up. This would help increase the amount of bass produced.
If you have more advanced fiberglass skills, you could even go a step further and make a mold of the compartment and make the enclosure completely from fiberglass outside the car and than just drop it in. This would have the advantage of being removable if needed and not causing any permant changes or damage to the car.
Depending on just how fancy you want to get, you can make it completely stealth so nobody even sees it. It all depends really on your skill level of working with fiberglass and/or wood.

You may want to check out some of the high-end car audio shops in your area and have them make suggestions also. While you are there look at some of their work they have done either in actual cars or in pics they have of their work. Every high-end audio shop I knew had photos showing their work. A good installer can put a sub in that compartment for you and make it sound good. A better installer can do the same thing but also make it stealth so nobody even knows it's there until you turn the system on. I've always preferred stealth systems myself and besides, the less people know whats in your car the less incentative they have to want to break into it.

Barry

 

[stangmata50l]

BarryK has some great advice. JL Audio has some superior subs. I run 2 JL12W0's in the back of my truck and it adds a ton of bass with a crisp sound.

Since the area in the back of the vette is so small, I would definately reccommend getting into dual voice coil (DVC) subs. The JLW3 is a good start. This will provide a nice punch for you.

As far as custom fiberglass enclosures. If you have the skills and the patients, then by all means you should mold up a nice encloser to fit in that compartment. Fiberglass is the wave of the future in encloser design...it has so many advantages. If you build a wooden encloser: seal it like a condom...no leaks, no ports. I use window caulk and nails. Do not use liquid nails, it's flammable!!

Another option is a free-air style sub woofer. This requires little to no air space but will run a lot of money. If I were you, unless you have the cash to blow, I would rule this out.

To run the sub you definately want to match an amp. This is best to be done after you have decided on a sub. If running a low end SVC sub, then something like a Jensen will do just fine. If getting into DVC subs, you may want to consider companies such as California Audio and JL Audio.

What type of deck do you run now? Your going to want to compliment that bass with plenty of highs and mids. Remember a sub is only as good as what drives it.

 

[Turtle]

Thanks to BarryK and the others for the advice. I'm still hoping someone will actually have a plan to share with me for mostly hiding everything under the rear glove box/ battery compartment. You can see this guy made a mess of his setup: http://i13.ebayimg.com/01/i/01/f3/02/5b_1.JPG But perhaps someone has a cleaner solution and can say exactly what components and placement works best!

 

[BarryK]

You can see this guy made a mess of his setup: http://i13.ebayimg.com/01/i/01/f3/02/5b_1.JPG But perhaps someone has a cleaner solution and can say exactly what components and placement works best!

WOW! that is a real mess - a true amateur job!


Believe me Turtle, installing a sub and an amp in the rear and even some excellent mids and tweeters up front of the car CAN be done in a stealth, coherent, cosmetically pleasing, and professional manner. The Sub and Amp can be installed in the rear compartments.
It is very hard (at least for me) to try to explain more clearly than I did earlier just HOW to do it via this forum. It would be much easier to explain and show you if we were both looking at your car together.
My best recommendation if you don't have much experience in installing car audio (which is my impression) is one I made previously - find a high-end car audio shop in your area and explain what you want. What you want and the car needs is really just a fairly basic system but it required a GOOD installer to do the job properly.
One set of good front speakers and one sub all running off one 4-channel amp and a cross-over network (and you can get a good amp with the cross-overs built-in) will sound great. With the size of the car you really don't even have to worry about any rear speakers other than the Sub so don't waste your money on them.

Oh....I just checked the JL Audio site again. Look under their Stealthbox section and navigate to Chev. and corvette. They offer a stealth box for the C5 Vettes. I know it won't fit your C3 but it will give you a good idea of what I was trying to explain earlier about fabricating a box from fiberglass outside of the car than just dropping it in the compartment. This is what they have done with all the stealth boxes they make simply by taking a mold of the area first. Once the box is made they also know the amount of air volume inside the box so they can calulate what sub will sound best in the box. You can get carpet to match your interior to wrap the box and it looks great. Again, a good installer in your area will be able to handle this for you.

Sorry I can't be more help via typing on here how to do it. There are so many different ways you can accomplish what you want it's not like asking the proper way to rebuild a distributor where that is basically a proper step-by-step procedure and not too many ways to change it.

Good luck

Barry

 

[Ludigdrums]

Check out the new Pioneer (Premier) TS-SW124D. It's only about 3" deep. I made a custom box for it that only takes up about 5 or so inches. I can still fit my T-Top and everything. Sound is AWESOME! It's powered with an Eclipse amp as well as the rest of the speakers being Eclipse along with the head unit.

I know this is not what you were asking for, but I will take a picture and upload it anyhow. It's another idea to consider. When you pull the shade in the back, you can't see anything. I was originally thinking of doing the same thing you were describing, but this just worked out better for me as I still have the use of the compartment as well as the neccessary space for the T-Tops. PLUS, it sounds awesome!

- Jeremy

 

[Ludigdrums]

Pictures

Here are some pictures. Please keep in mind it's not totally finished yet...but you get the idea. And also disregard the messy window.

- Jeremy

 

[C3RVETTE]

I've currently got the leftovers of the previous owners stereo in my '79.The amp is in the middle compartment of my 3 door layout in back.An equalizer is taking up half of my glove box,and I've got what must be a 1980's Alpine tape deck,and really cheesy rear speakers fastened right next to the factory ones.I have a Pioneer CD deck w/50 x 4 amps ready for installation,and was also considering an amplified bazooka,after I change the other speakers.