Hi there, I am looking into redesigning my boot to make better use of the space, and keep some luggage room.

Is there any reason why Sub boxes have slanted fronts on them? And are there any rules of thumb as far as mounting the amps and subs in the same side of the boot.

Possibly looking to build a shelf over the amps to attach a new sub box to. Perhaps with a vertically firing sub to save a bit more space.

Basically trying to make the most efficient use of space. Got 2 largeish amps and a 12" sub in there at the moment. I'm not looking to spend much money at all, certainly not after changing the equipment. Basically a solution that uses MDF and some new carpet which I hope maplins still sell is what I'm after.

Any help would be appreciated, cheers,

-Rich

Edited 26 December, 200718 yr by Rich9804

The slanted front is just so the box sits flush to back of rear seats. May add a little volume to internal dimensions of box but this can be replaced by other means.

I can't see anything wrong with mounting sub and amp on same side of boot as long as the amplifier isn't going to get rattled by the sub working (i.e vibration) as this can damage the internals of the amp and vibrating metal on amps can drive you mad!

Sub boxes are available that fit flush to the side of the boot and are often made with fibreglass. These do a better job of creating more room but they can be expensive to buy new.

Not quite sure what you mean by attaching a box to a shelf so can't help much there.

Not much, but i hope it helps.

J

I've just read one of the pinned topics and found that the shape of the box doesn't matter, as long as it's got the correct volume and is completely sealed it'll be all good. Any idea where I can find out the correct volume for my sub? It's a JL Audio 12W3 sub with a Directed Audio 600d amp if the amp makes any difference.

I've also got a Phoenix Gold Tantrum 200 amplifier to fit into the install.

By a shelf I meant basically layering the two amps and the sub on seperate shelves somehow....

That kind of thing

Is this going to destroy the amplifiers? Any other sujestions?

I'm hoping that the sub will fit in that orientation, it's pretty much full height in its standard orientation. Sorry about my paint skills

(Just checked th JL Audio site and it says the mounting depth is 167mm) What kind of aditionial clearence should I have as I assume it will get rather warm.

I'm quite a n00b when it comes to ICE, I've just got all of this kit with my new car, but none of it was set up and it sounded pants. I'm just trying to make good what I've got.

And the main reason is getting some useable boot space into the bargain.

Edited 2 October, 200718 yr by Rich9804

Ello mate, all i can think is that from your "diagram" the space where the 2 amps are, i assume are enclosed, bar the space for the wires etc- and its pretty imperative that they have some degree of free flowing air around 'em, to keep them cool etc, otherwise they get incredibly hot and dont preform as you want or worse, deteriorate (although I've never heard of this in practice, the theory is there)... correct me if I'm wrong about the diagram or whatever and its not actualyl enclosed!

-charlie

Hey Charlie, hope all's well with the motor :)

I was thinking to include 2 fans on each level, one in and one out. Hoping that would solve the heat issues. I've got plenty of 12v fans around at home that I can utalize :)

Yep all good, just ironing out pickety things cause I'm a perfectionist- and got the V5 through today...

Yeh good thing you got those fans, just make sure you put them in the right way, one in one out haha!

only other space saving thing i could think of is since polo boots are quite deep, creating an area just over the height of the sub with space for the amps either side and making a fake floor, with a raised area of think perspex or clear plastic over, so you would still have all the floor for whatnot, just a little less deep!

I'm not really interested in clear panels, I'm building this for practicality not for showing off. I'd rather re-arange the stuff in there to get a more efficient use of the space than take it all out :) So that's what my plan is.

Anybody know how to decide on a volume for the enclosure?

hi buddy ,well depends on what your after really cos if u want space an a box like that u won't get good sound trust me , if u want put the amps on the back of the seats an build a box on the side . go on google an type in the product code an look on jl site it may tell u on there the air space that u need , i've just had the kinder same problem the site thats on the bottom thats what i need 4 it 2 sound right .oh yeah don't put long screws in the bk of the seats it may b very painful 4 someone and if your worried about damaging you are amps put some brackets around it , well good luck buddy hope this helps post some pictures up when u have done it :-D

http://www.diamondaudio.com/PDF/archive/M3...osure_Specs.pdf

I don't really want to go down the ported box route. I think that's just more hassle than it's worth from some of the things I've read, but I'm willing to be corrected.

Having found that the basket of the sub is only 6.5" deep I am seriously considering the vertically firing design above. Is this going to be a problem in itself?

(done some more research and found that ported boxes need to be bigger than sealed, so I'll defineately go down sealed - and the recomended size is 1-1.5cufeet

Is this the box without the sub in it, or do I have to take into acount the basket too?

Cheers guys :)

Edited 2 October, 200718 yr by Rich9804

SO I did a bit of research on the sub and some enclosure stuff.

I've come up with a box with internal dimensions 8"*14"*19" which gives me 1.23 cufeet (about middle of recomended)

I'm hopping that the amplifiers with the cables stuck out the sides will fit within those constraints, but I'm not with my car at uni unfortunately.

I also have no idea how much space I've got in the mk4 boot, obviously the more compact into one end the better, in my head i've placed it behind the single fold down seat so that the others can still be used folded down, but if it's too big it'll have to go behind the two seater leaving just the small seat opening.

I've done a better drawing, again only in paint, of my design.

As far as having a sloping front on a box, aparently this is to prevent standing waves in the enclosure - but enough wadding inside the box should surfice. On that note, how much is enough? surely it's not supposed to come into contact with the cone, or the voice coils due to heat?

From the above design I'm thinking to add sides to the amplifier shelves held on with magnets. With the two ends probably fitted properly for structural integrity and fan instalation. These panels don't need to be made from anything more than 12mm MDF so I haven't included them here.

And a final question if I may, how do people attach their builds to the floor? It's got to be removeable to get access to the spare wheel and tools which I want to keep.

Cheers,

-Rich

Create a floor in your boot with the amps under that with cooling fans, didnt read the whole thread so it might have been said already, but thats what I did,

a sub will work whichever way its pointing, as long as nothing comes into contact with the cone obviously.

As for your design, i can't see any major problems with it although i can think of a couple of things you may want to work on :

amps :- May need to be sat on/screwed onto rubber - the whole structure will resonate from the sub working and the amps may rattle.

structure :- would have to be re-inforced as it will be top heavy and topple over. Screwing the base into the floor of the car and re-inforcing every corner with brackets should help.

If you want the whole lot to be removable, Vibe sell plugs which you wire into the system and then you can plug/unplug all 3 cables at once (power, earth and remote). Think they are £20 iirc. Saves undoing wires from your amp everytime.

Create a floor in your boot with the amps under that with cooling fans, didnt read the whole thread so it might have been said already, but thats what I did,

Would be a nice idea, actually. A bit awkward to wire up though I can immagine?

But if I could get it all low enough profile then just building a sub enclosure into the side could make for a very efficient build. The only other thing then would be access to the spare wheel.

Hmmm

what I've done is turn the 2 amps vertically and screw them to the back of the back seats, then put the sub box flat against the back of the back seat in the gap in the middle.

saves lots of space, which i need for work.

what I've done is turn the 2 amps vertically and screw them to the back of the back seats, then put the sub box flat against the back of the back seat in the gap in the middle.

saves lots of space, which i need for work.

I don't really want to do it this way,I'd rather make it all tidy and away with no wires. - But thanks for the advice, it might help someone else in my situation

good luck buddy hope this helps post some pictures up when u have done it :-D

Create a floor in your boot with the amps under that with cooling fans, didnt read the whole thread so it might have been said already, but thats what I did,

Would be a nice idea, actually. A bit awkward to wire up though I can immagine?

But if I could get it all low enough profile then just building a sub enclosure into the side could make for a very efficient build. The only other thing then would be access to the spare wheel.

Hmmm

Well several weekends later and I've finished work on my new boot install. It was an absolute pig to do - I wanted to make a guide, but if it had turned out pear shaped it would have been better! So I'll just leave the pictures for ideas!

Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of it before I started, but here goes:

The kit i had to play with.

What a mess. What was left underneath the old false floor.

Cut a hole in the old floor with a jigsaw big enough to get the spare wheel out.

Still a right mess

Fibreglassing the side of the boot well under way

Up close and high on the fumes!

Some idea of what the finished articel is going to look like

Extra layers of FG to strengthen the whole job

The big re-wire begins! This was the third fit of the amps and components to get it all to fit nicely! XOvers wired up

More wires - RCAs in place

Remote wires and some gaffer tape :)

Power cables!

Some box terminals, and you can make out my now concrete lined box (actually used stone floor tile adhesive - same difference)

Some fluffy wadding attached inside, and lots of filler to smooth out the exterior

The first bit of carpeting going in here

How on earth do you capet such a complex shape? Skillz

Check out that mitre joint!

The finished box!

Finally several weekends later I boot with some space!!

Job's a good-un! :) Just need a grill to go over the sub now!

I encountered countless problems doing this job, but gained some experience in using fibreglass and it kept me busy at weekends, and now I actually have a useable boot!

Hope it inspires some others to undertake such projects! But all I'm going to say is Good Luck! lol!

-Rich

looks good, you should carpet the back of the rear bench too like i have

Very impressive work there, realy like the finnished look, Need to hide them wires tho! lol

Dan

how are you getting to the lights? (to change a bulb etc.)

can you take it out or is it bolted in?

looks very good tho. well done

Thanks for the comments guys and grills :)

Amy: The sub box can be easily removed, it's velcroed at the back, and there is a little switch mounted in the floor to turn the subs remote wire off So if i need all of the boot space I can just whip it out and not risk blowing/shorting anything!

Mike: Cheers mate - I did think of doing that too. I'll have to see how much carpet I've got left next weekend when I'm home again. I've got a split bench though so I'd still have the joint in there. Looks great on yours though so I'll hope i've got enough spare. That'll cover the rest of the cables too :)

Here's mine, quite crappy quality though. Got some work on the finish left, will probably finish it tommorow. I used the spare tires place as a box, sounds quite ok actually, and I have the entire boot for luggage as well. :)

Here's mine, quite crappy quality though. Got some work on the finish left, will probably finish it tommorow. I used the spare tires place as a box, sounds quite ok actually, and I have the entire boot for luggage as well. :)

I can't see how anything that you put in there isn't going to fall straight into your sub though mate? Or are you going to be putting a grill over it? I'm yet to find a grill suitable, I'll probably end up making my own :)

Otherwise looks quite nice, just need to sort out the trailing wires if at all possible.

The wires will be removed as much as possible, won't be that visible when I'm done. I'm buying a grill next tuesday. :)

looks real neat.. but what about overheating? i no wen i run my amp for a while it gets sh*t hot & mine is mounted on the back of rear seats.. got so hot it turnt itself off in traffic once. lol