Put some bump in that trunk (Sub install with custom box)

R

Renhalt

Member
Location
Lexington, KY
Car
2008 fx35
Well guys, just like a lot of you I was not happy with the mediocre stock sub. So I looked at the different options, I did not want to loose my space with a speaker box, and I did not want to loose my spare. I also did not want to pay the inflated price for the magic box. SO, i made my own setup and I figured if bose used the spare tire I could as well. After a lot of research i zeroed in on planet audio as i knew their products were good and last but not least inexpensive. The entire set up ended up costing me about $250.00 total including the amp, sub, capacitor, fiberglass, resin etc. I did a 10 inch sub that is rated at 800 watts with a 1000 watt amp and bridged it. I wish I had gone with the 12 as after doing it I realized I had enough room for the 12 and i still may do it. All in all it was pretty straight forward and I wont bore you with every detail. I will however say that I had problems with the sub flattening out after 1/2 volume, I called planet audio and the tech was very familiar with our cars and said the problem was the signal i was getting from tapping into the stock sub harness as described on another post. the bose system is designed to reduce the amount of signal to the sub as to not overload it. Therefore when I was asking for more it was giving me less, If that makes since. Anyway i took his advise and tapped into the right rear door speaker which gives a full range signal and wow is all I can say. My system sounds the way it should and hits hard as hell! Anyway, check out the pics and if you have any questions just ask, Oh yeah, I bought everything on amazon and the sub, amp and capacitor and amp wire install kit was $168.00 shipped. Also while I was at it, I took it to a boat shop and had a mold casted if anyone is interested in maybe buying one.

I used a spray paint lid to make room for the knob that holds the spare tire in place. I obviously had to cut it down and rethread it to work.
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All tapped up and ready for glass
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First layer of glass
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Finished product
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I think it came out great and the only room I lost was where I mounted the amp not bad for the difference in sound!
 
Very cool. Impressive to put all that together for$250 and it looks great.
 
So how did u tap into the rear door speaker? Is it by the amp in the back? I also added an aftermarket sub but I made a box to replace the spare. Tapped into the wires for the Bose sub.
 
Ha, nice job. Did you thicken the enclosure? Do you know the volume (cubic inch) of your box. From my understanding, all that play a role of how good the sub would sound.
 
that's a fantastic project!

dumb question tho: from the enclosure, where were your cutouts? and is the enclosure fully sealed?
 
The fiberglass is about an inch thick and i used MBF for the top, when i put the two together I drilled holes all the way around and put a strip of fiberglass mesh in between and then one all the way around the lip. And no it does not hit the floor decking it is prob 1/2-1 inch away if i had to guess. As far as tying into the door speaker i took the door panel off and took two connectors and cut them in half to make a single prong plug and plugged them directly into the back of the stock speaker plug at the speaker then taped it so it will never come loose. I then ran the wire through the stock rubber connector in the door under the back seat and over the wheel well. In regards to the box, I called Audio Planet and the sub requires a box that is a minimum of .05-.09 with a max of 1 cft non ported. Anything from 1.2-2.0 required a 3x7 ported tube if my memory serves me correct. It didn't matter because from my measurements i was somewhere in the ball park of .07-.09
The hardest part of the whole job was running the power from the battery through the firewall. And running the wire for the remote gain controller, which I mounted in the ashtray, other than that it was pretty straight forward. I also put heavy duty speaker wire and left it long enough that if I ever have a flat, i can just set the speaker on the ground without even disconnecting it. I am very pleased with the way it turned out, but I wish I had gone with the 12inch. Not that the 10 doesn't do the job! Because it does! But because i have room for it and for $39.00 from amazon and with it also a shallow mount that only requires another 1/2 of depth and the circumference which is no problem. I will probably still do it in the future. The hard part is done that's a 10 minute job with a jigsaw, i need to check the box requirements with Planet Audio. By the way, I know Planet audio isn't JL or Alpine, but I did the research for months before i put everything together and they make very good quality stuff and their customer service is great. I am pleased with their products and for the price you cant beat it! Its not the Pyramid or flea market ALPHINE not ALPINE crap. Trust me its a quality product with tons of features that you would only find in high end brand names.
All in all Its really not a hard job to do but will take you the better part of a weekend. Thanks for the all positive comments! I thought it came out pretty well too, but I am also a little bias. Its nice to know you guys feel the same and approve. Thanks again, and if you have any questions just ask.

Oh yeah, I took the stock screw that ran down the middle of the sub and cut it down and rethreaded it.
 
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The fiberglass is about an inch thick and i used MBF for the top, when i put the two together I drilled holes all the way around and put a strip of fiberglass mess in between and then one all the way around the lip. And now it does not hit the floor decking it is prob 1/2-1 inch away if i had to guess. As far as tying into the door speaker i took the door panel off and took two connectors and cut them in half to make a single prong plug and plugged them directly into the back of the stock speaker plug at the speaker then taped it so it will never come loose. I then ran the wire through the stock rubber connector in the door under the back seat and over the wheel well. In regards to the box, I called Audio Planet and the sub requires a box that is a minimum of .05-.09 with a max of 1 cft non ported. Anything from 1.2-2.0 required a 3x7 ported tube if my memory serves me correct. It didn't matter because from my measurements i was somewhere in the ball park of .07-.09 The hardest part of the whole job was running the power from the battery through the firewall. And running the wire for the remote gain controller, which I mounted in the ashtray, other than that it was pretty straight forward. I also put heavy duty speaker wire and left it long enough that if I ever have a flat, i can just set the speaker on the ground without even disconnecting it. I am very pleased with the way it turned out, but I wish I had gone with the 12inch. Not that the 10 doesn't do the job! Because it does! But because i have room for it and for $39.00 from amazon and it it also a shallow mount that only requires another 1/2 of depth and the circumference which is no problem. I know Planet audio isn't JL or Alpine, but I did the research for months before i put everything together and they make very good quality stuff and their customer service is great. I really not a hard job to do but will take you the better part of a weekend. Thanks for the all positive comments! I thought it came out pretty well too, but I am also a little bias. Its nice to know you guys feel the same and approve. Thanks again, and if you have any questions just ask.

---------- Post added at 02:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:47 PM ----------

The same way it was stock, I just cut it down to the length I needed and re threaded it. That is why the first picture has the Paint can cap in the center of the wheel to build it up so there was room for it.
 
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