Subwoofer Install Tutorial: TONS of pics, none of my buttcrack

[StereoInstaller1]

JBL GTi1200 in 4 cubic feet of bandpass...clean and fucking violent.

I also did 2 XTR DVC 12s in 6.5 cubic feet bandpass tuned for LOUD...hit 148db at 52Hz on 88 watts of Autotek. Well, actually half of that because it was a 4 channel running the whole car ('79 Monte)

Would not play ANYTHING below 35Hz, but unbelievably loud above that.

[einstein57]

Very true. Last one i liked was the orion extreme.

[StereoInstaller1]

Bandpass in that tiny trunk? I wouldn't think so....plus woofers that work well in bandpass are hard to find.

[papajetta]

how about a 4th gen band pass firing into the cabin? have u had any experience with this setup. or would it be the same concept ( being out of phase with the driver?

[StereoInstaller1]

does the driver facing the inside have any effect? or are the ports actually driving most of the base in ?? I ask because i have a convertible ( and am closely following the cabrio subwoofer thread ),
how do u thing this setup would work on a vert, minus the driver facing inside? so both ports would befacing in

In my experience the ports need to be in the same airspace as the woofers output. I tried a few cars using the "woofers in the trunk, ports in the rear deck" approach.

Crap-ola.

I really have no clue about that type of install in a 'vert, and trust me, this shit cannot be calculated...but my guess is that it would suck.

Trying to explain how a hemholtz resonator actually works is tough, but that is actually what a port is. Basically, a "slug" of air that acts as if it were heavier that the woofers cone...so it operates at a lower frequency than the woofer does, but 180 degrees out of phase.

if the woofer is in the trunk and the port is in the car, it has nothing to be out of phase against, so it really cannot operate properly.

[papajetta]

does the driver facing the inside have any effect? or are the ports actually driving most of the base in ?? I ask because i have a convertible ( and am closely following the cabrio subwoofer thread ),
how do u thing this setup would work on a vert, minus the driver facing inside? so both ports would befacing in

[einstein57]

any locals have this set up? Curious to hear it

[franco90]

wow nice work luke

[passdanachos]

Great job! Love the pics. One thing.

Clean your shop, it's a frickin mess! :)

I love the smell of Landau adhesive curing in the morning and peeling that shit off your fingers in the evening.

[BeirBrennerE30]

that looks awesome... i am lookin to redo my car audio and i would love some feed back from you. I am looking to do something every similar to this. I have mostly alpine type r stuff

[ia_e30]

Thanks man! I'll be doing my sub install this weekend.

[240zs30]

Awsome! I will PM you for more details As I don't want to get too OT. Can't wait. I hate that Harmon Krapton radio too.

[StereoInstaller1]

Does that speaker replace the mids and lows? I suppose it has a better output range than the 4.5.

Well, um, yes and no. You certainly can raise the crossover point and get something approaching midrange out of this subwoofer...more like mucky "voice" and I certainly would not recommend it at all...the good news is that the rear speaker locations suck ass so hard in an E30 that you are far better off without them at all!

Actually, it isn't that the rears suck so much as the fronts are just so fucking miserable (Mr. Bangle, hire my crazy ass to design audio in BMWs until I die, please!) that the barely adequate rears drown out the front.

Trust me on this: If you have a decent set of components, OE or not, you will not miss the rears. She has a little bitty Alpine 4 channel amp, reworked "Premium Sound" fronts and a single 12. It sounds terrific and adds so much depth and clarity to the overall sound it is just amazing.

Thought I was the only one who hated terminal cups. After going through some of your old thread and posts OP you're the man to talk mobile audio with. I do quite a bit of it (decent quality), not professionally, but enjoy it so don't be surprised if I bounce ideas/questions off you (if that's cool).

Hey man, thanks. You are very welcome to ask questions, but keep in mind I answer generally as best I can and I suck at typing, so it can be a slow and shitty process.

That was OT, but that setup looks clean inside and out. Now you have me questioning my allegiance to sealed enclosures for my bimmers. Might have to plot a graph for a ported enclosure for my 12" Type R that's going into the e30.

Look at it like this: 99.9% of all of the most respected home subwoofers are ported designs. There are good sealed, ported, transmission line...as long as it is well designed, it should sound good, right?

Here is the bitch: E30s are just fucking bass proof. I mean, seriously, a great sounding subwoofer in nearly any car will be really weak in an E30.

In my opinion, the solution is to get 100% of the energy into the cabin. Plus, Vented boxes being so much more efficient keeps the power demand down AND I can control the output of the lowest frequencies better...thus the rather low tuning frequency of this design and more port area than average.

Anyone who says they like "tight, punchy bass" should hear one of these. Yes, they can boom with the whole ghetto bass thing, but in my opinion, this box is the best compromise between the two worlds.

Wow. I love the ports where the factory speakers were. Very clean! If only you had done this group buy before I spent weeks on mine. I'm a fan of the sealed enclosure also and would love to see how it compares.

So I already know you are a badass with the e30. Do you have something like this the E46 coupe?

Oh man, you beat me to the punch! I have an E46 coupe coming in this monday for a custom box...it has been a while on the E46, so I get to sharpen up the calculator. But, yes, the E46 box is coming.

Thanks for all the kind words, guys!

Luke

[moatilliatta]

Does that speaker replace the mids and lows? I suppose it has a better output range than the 4.5.

[240zs30]

Wow. I love the ports where the factory speakers were. Very clean! If only you had done this group buy before I spent weeks on mine. I'm a fan of the sealed enclosure also and would love to see how it compares.

So I already know you are a badass with the e30. Do you have something like this the E46 coupe?