Custom Subwoofer Enclosure and Amp Installed - Page 9

m5james · #1 11-04-2009, 01:12 AM

After talking to the guys over on SI and my buddy suggestion, I decided to stay w/ the L5 8". Depending on if I do the Zerochief box (.45 cu/ft) or my slightly larger addition added to the face (.70 roughly), more that one person suggested that I'd be better off using the 8" (which only requires between .33 and .75). The general consensus is that it's better to use the 8" and give it more room to breathe instead of say using the 10" (which requires .65 to 1.0) and having it sitting at almost the bare minimum of it's requirements. Trust me, for bragging rights alone I wanted to get the 10", but I'm going to listen to these guys suggestion that these subs will perform better in more airspace as opposed to a tighter box.

The newer L5's (black face, not the silver) can be found all over ebay for $75 shipped w/o a warranty. Unfortunately I had to pay $95 for mine to use up the credit, but I only had to pay the $42 difference and I get a 1yr warranty, which I could really care less about.

BimmerNoob · #2 11-04-2009, 02:49 AM

did you look at the MTX TT6510-02 Thunder Thin 10" 2 Ohm Subwoofer

I think i can get a deal on these from a local stereo wearhouse... maybe $300 for amp & sub....
The amp i was looking at was a Hifonics Zeus ZXI 1010
2 x 250 W @ 4 Ω
2 x 500 W @ 2 Ω
1 x 1000 W @ 4 Ω

Thanks for the input

m5james · #3 11-04-2009, 11:48 AM

My MTX JH300 Car Audio Amplifiers - JackHammer JH300 | MTX Audio(paid $89, guy happened to be selling it locally when I was visiting family in Seattle) amp is only 2ohm stable and the Kicker L5 8" (paid $99 for mine, but Ive seen the 08+ version for as low as $75) I got is a 4ohm dual voicecoil sub, so they're both a perfect match being 300RMS/600Peak when pulled down to 2ohms.

I looked at a lot of thin subwoofers, but after doing vague searches on opinions using Google, they just seem to not quite hit the same deep notes a normal woofer can, which makes sense since they have limited excursion. If staying w/ the size of the box that ZeroChief created, a thin isn't the only option. Essam's box doesn't have the complex cuts and depth, so a 10" thin woofer might be the only option unless someone goes down to an 8".

BimmerNoob · #4 11-04-2009, 02:37 PM

Well I gonna try out the the set up mentined before with the Zero box.
Unless I can find another sub at the stereo wearhouse tomorrow...

I'll buy equipment & install electronics tomorrow.
Build box & install sub friday...

I'll let you know how it goes...

m5james · #5 11-06-2009, 12:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BimmerNoob

Well I gonna try out the the set up mentined before with the Zero box.
Unless I can find another sub at the stereo wearhouse tomorrow...

I'll buy equipment & install electronics tomorrow.
Build box & install sub friday...

I'll let you know how it goes...

Is it Friday yet?

m5james · #6 11-04-2009, 02:50 PM

Honestly, they all probably sound fine. As long as I can feel it, i'm happy.

My sub won't arrive till Tuesday, but I should probably start building the box in the meantime...maybe this weekend.

KidSquid · #7 11-05-2009, 03:13 AM

I was going to build a wood box, but thought I could never maximize the airspace that the factory plastic box has.

I measured the volume and I believe it was around .53~.55 cu ft so it was a perfect fit for an 8" woofer.

Cut the face of the box off, fit a piece of MDF to it, fiberglass'd it on, and bolted in the subwoofer.

Just did a quick and dirty job cause no one will ever see it.

I was so tempted to stuff a 10" woofer in there.. but it would have been choked.

Sounds great... hits harder than I ever thought an 8" would.

I highly recommend it!

m5james · #8 11-21-2009, 11:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KidSquid

I was going to build a wood box, but thought I could never maximize the airspace that the factory plastic box has.

I measured the volume and I believe it was around .53~.55 cu ft so it was a perfect fit for an 8" woofer.

Cut the face of the box off, fit a piece of MDF to it, fiberglass'd it on, and bolted in the subwoofer.

Just did a quick and dirty job cause no one will ever see it.

I was so tempted to stuff a 10" woofer in there.. but it would have been choked.

Sounds great... hits harder than I ever thought an 8" would.

I highly recommend it!

Depending on the price after shipping, I might be able to get my hands on a factory subwoofer enclosure and do the same thing you have done. I finally relocated and rewired my amp this evening, but I have yet to finish the templates of the custom MDF enclosure I was going to make. I made a cardboard version of Zero's box, but it left a lot of room around side. I'm hoping that if I can get my hands on the factory enclosure, I'd do the same fiberglass/MDF combo you've done, along w/ enlarging the left, upper rear corner since I removed my gas door lock, so I'd fiberglass a bumpout for that extra bit of airspace.

How much, if any, polyfill did you stuff in there? I got the L5 instead of the L7, so I know it'll fit for sure after you posted up your initial pics

KidSquid · #9 01-11-2010, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by m5james

Depending on the price after shipping, I might be able to get my hands on a factory subwoofer enclosure and do the same thing you have done. I finally relocated and rewired my amp this evening, but I have yet to finish the templates of the custom MDF enclosure I was going to make. I made a cardboard version of Zero's box, but it left a lot of room around side. I'm hoping that if I can get my hands on the factory enclosure, I'd do the same fiberglass/MDF combo you've done, along w/ enlarging the left, upper rear corner since I removed my gas door lock, so I'd fiberglass a bumpout for that extra bit of airspace.

How much, if any, polyfill did you stuff in there? I got the L5 instead of the L7, so I know it'll fit for sure after you posted up your initial pics

Not that much... as a guess I'd say loosely filled bottom 2/3 of the way and the top about 1/3ish. I just wanted to slow down the waves to quiet down any noise from the enclosure being plastic.

Sorry it took so long to get back to you...

It's funny, I actually get alot of PM's about this... maybe I should start a new thread with my info heh...

m5james · #10 02-01-2010, 11:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KidSquid

I was going to build a wood box, but thought I could never maximize the airspace that the factory plastic box has.

I measured the volume and I believe it was around .53~.55 cu ft so it was a perfect fit for an 8" woofer.

Cut the face of the box off, fit a piece of MDF to it, fiberglass'd it on, and bolted in the subwoofer.

Just did a quick and dirty job cause no one will ever see it.

I was so tempted to stuff a 10" woofer in there.. but it would have been choked.

Sounds great... hits harder than I ever thought an 8" would.

I highly recommend it!

So I got a (free, minus $20 shipping) stock enclosure in the mail today, figured out how BMW wired the DVC subs by battery testing the signals, and hooked it up into the X using my current amp....WHAT A JOKE!!! My current dinky little generic 8 that was given to me sounds better than this thing! I'll give BMW credit for using DVC subs, but dual 6.5's...c'mon. So anyways, I felt around the box, and I can't believe how much wasted space there is around the enclosure. The back of the box got cracked in a corner during shipping, along w/ me needing to fiberglass the MDF face on anyways, but I'm thinking that I'm also gonna fiberglass these indentations and make them bigger as well. It's already got foam type stuffing in there...should I remove it and use real polyfill?

The L5 8" wants like .33-.75 airspace, and even though you said it measures out to like .5, but bigger the better, right? For those who don't have this enclosure, the 1st pic is where the airvent is for closing the hatch/door so you're ears dont pop. There is still plenty of room behind it if I unrecessed that and made it flush w/ the rest of the enclosure. The 2nd pic is for the fuel door locking mechanism, which I removed long ago when I was still fabricating a box from MDF and trying to find as much space as possible. The 3rd pic, I have no idea what that's for and it's not touching anything. The 4th pic is so you don't have to remove the enclosure to get access to the taillight bulbs. I'd rather go for the greater good and get airspace that I can use daily over function that I use once every couple of years. I know it'll be more work, but I still wanted your .02 before I started fiberglassing this week.