The install was done by me in my 98 max.

The driver. A 12" Alumapro Alchemy MX FA.




Rear deck with all the finishers and factory sound deadeniong removed. , The hole was positioned so that the basket clears both the trunk torsion bars and the metal trunk projections for the rear cabin vents. There is only about 3/8" clearance fore and aft of the basket.




Rear deck with factory speaker holes covered and sound deadening applied. The deadening material was more for sealing all the openings than for actual deadening purposes.




The baffle board, a 3/4" plywood section was made using the original deck finsihing cover as a template. Here it is being test fit to make sure that the driver will clear the rear window glass.




The baffle board is being covered with vinyl so all the surface imperfections are filled and sanded. T-nuts are used to bolt the board to the metal rear deck.

 

The vinyl baffle board is bolted down as well as glued using construction adhesive. I had the rear window tinted to 5% so that the driver would not get "cooked" The voids between the metal deck and wooden baffle are filled with expanding foam.




The "useful" passthrough area was eliminated. A piece of 3/4" plywood was routed out to nest into the steel backing plate that bolts in behind the rear seats. The routed out section was covered with a black canvas as this area will be visible when the centre rear armest is lowered. The back of this board will also serve as the mounting surface for the amplifiers and other goodies.




Here is a view of the above plate installed. It is also through-bolted, glued and voids filled with expanding foam. It will be covered with a black canvas before the electroncs are mounted.




Here is a nearly complete shot with the sub and backseat installed.




I fabricated a grille to protect the cone from the occasional projectile that gets launched back there (3 young kids)

 

Grille installed. The color grey was chosen to match a two-tone black/grey leather interior I will be installing in a few weeks.

BTW the line across the grille cover is being cast from the overhead garage lighting.

 

Very nice install! Now you got more room for your groceries; JK! Are you planning on re-routing the two speakers you removed or just run only the two up fronts?

 

looks really good!! Nice work.

 

nice work, you seem to know what you're doing. hook it up yet?

 

Thanks.

No, I am of the school that if you have a decent front stage, no rear "fill" is necessary.

I have a set of SLCs up front currently which will be replaced with a nice set of 3-ways in the not to distant future.

 

Thanks. I tried to put some thought into it.

I still have to seal up two small areas in the lower corners behind the rear seat. I have them left open to pull some larger power wire and additional speaker wires for a future 3-way setup.

I have it temporarily hooked up to the sub channel on a 5 channel RF amp so I can get the break-in process over with. It has been over 6 years since I have had a sub in my car. I had almost forgotten what Pink Floyd was supposed to sound like (big classic rock fan)

 

VERY nice job!

 

After sealing everything up for this IB install, I have noticed one thing that is different.

Normally when you close your door(s) with the windows up, there is a compression wave that is relieved through the cabin vents at the base of the rear window. This no longer happens so the increased air pressure pushes open the fresh air vent behind the dash.

I currently have the dash removed and I noticed this the first time I got in and closed the door.

It is a good thing the motor/vent linkage allows this to happen otherwise the sub cone would deflect somewhat and your ears would pop.

Just an observation.

 

Looks amazing man! I love how you have only one sub and not two. Are there any problems with the driver being so close to the back windshield?

 

Lol... really? Why's that?


The only problems he'd have from havnig the drive there is if it was hitting the glass, which it doens't look even close in his setup.

 

very nice.

 

Cause one in the center looks cooler, plus ideally it's how car/home setups are supposed to be (2/5 channels & 1 sub). So even if it's not hitting the class, there's no risk in the vibrations weakening the glass over time?

 

The .1 in 5.1 or 7.1 is one sub channel, not one sub driver.
As long as they are all in phase, you can have as many as you like.

Check out some of the real hardcore home theatre crowd sites. Some of them utilize entire rooms for the unloading chambers in their IB setups and they may use half a dozen or more large drivers (eg. 15", 18")

I went with a single driver both for simpliicty and asthetics.

I am certainly not the first to do this. The rear deck does not really vibrate, it is pretty rigid. The only force you feel is the air pressure which is not significant enough to pop the window seal. That particular driver only has an xmax of 12mm so it is not moving that much air.

 

But then you'll have so much more bass than you do the mid and high frequencies, which would drown out vocals/instruments. Every time I hear of multiple subs, the only thing that comes to mind is the punks with their 20" rims and rattling trunks.

 

You're talking CA. I am talking HT.

Two completely different ballgames.

In a typical room you need a lot more cone area to get to the same amplitude compared to a vehicle.


They need the SPL though to mask the sound of the exhaust inside the cabin.

 

orly?


LOL.

I could read your posts all day and laugh my *** off.

 

Parag likes car audio.

 

Excellent work Dave and a very nice choice on a sub.

 

Oh and if ya wanna add some Bling, I have the Alumapro polished grills.

 

Dam that looks good. Congrats on a great looking setup.

Very interested to know how it sounds back there...do you feel deeper/stronger bass? I know you are waiting for a real amp to hook up (currently using 5 channel right?). I know its been done before but first time I've seen it, especially on a Max.

 

I just fired it up yesterday and I really have no point of reference for comparison.

I am of the "slightly" older generation (40+) and do not know a single person with an aftermarket sub in their vehicle. The last time I had a sub ended about six years ago when I got rid of my Supra where I had a pair of 10's in a ported box.

However, I could definitely feel it this morning coming into work pushing on the back of my seat (P.Floyd - Welcome to the Machine)

This is still very much a work in progress though so I will keep you updated.

 

that is one clean *** job!

 

Just wait til ya get that 'special' package coming.

 

I am curious.... if someone wanted do you think that there would still be room to run a set of 6.5" speakers back there?
Would there be any ill effects? THis car audio is really new to me and I like what you did.
Also, which did you get as far as the sub goes? DVC 6ohm? etc?
and what amp are you running with it? wattage?
This setup seems to make a whole lot of sence for me as I have a family and need the trunk space for grocery trips/ camping what ever. I want a new system with bass and not having to sacrifice trunk room.
thanks for any input.

 

You don't wanna add 6.5's with that, focus on the front stage.

Dual 6 is "proprietary" to certain manufacturers like JL and a few others, pretty lame. His Alumapro is probably either d4 or d2 more thjan likely.

 

IMO a midbass driver should have some sort of enclosure. Be it a door or a small box.

I may be a little out on a limb here, but I would question whether the backwave off the IB sub would color the sound coming out of a simple baffle mounted midbass.

I would probably either mount them in the rear doors or in a small enclosure attached to the underside of the rear deck.

What am I saying? I would sell them and my extra amps and buy a much nicer set of front comps.

4 ohm SVC

Power handling of a sub is generally reduced when run IB because you do not get the cone dampening to control excursion that an enclosed driver has.

This particular sub is nominally rated at 300 W RMS but derated to 200 for free air use.

 

You're on the money there with teh backwaves. Not all midbass's need a door though or some enclosure, many can do fabulous IB. But definitely not coupled with a sub on the same plane, IMO.

 

very very clean install man.

 

ok so the back waves would negatively affect the sound quality coming from the 6.5" co-axes unless they were somehow sealed against the sound waves coming from the ib sub. It would then be better to mount the rear fill speakers in the rear doors?
It would be possible to build the rear deck in such a way as to mount the rear fills against that wouldn't it?

I have already purchased my speakers and am doing this build in stages.... I have rear fill speakers and was planning on getting an alpine pdx-5 amp for powering everything. I bought a really good set of polk audio front components. Nothing like what some of you guys/girls on here have with your 3 ways and such.... handmade. Should be sufficient I would think.

Also, how do you like the new low end. How does an infinite baffle compare against a sealed box? or even a ported box. Lets say the same sub. I also listen to some of the old school rock. Top 40 I guess would be my music style. No real dance/heavy bass lines.
I take it your really happy with how it turned out or would you still go with a traditional box design? If you were to do it again.

Sorry for all the newbie questions.
Thanks in advance for your answers.

 

You should not put in rear fill at all.

IB is a totally different sound, the sub is right there so you get a ton more detail out of it, or lack thereof if its a pos sub . I prefer IB over any other type of setup since I began running it ~1.5 years ago.

 

^

I would definitely do it all over again.

The only saving grace that rear fill may have is at very low volumes when there are people in the back that you want to have a normal voice level conversation with. Everyone can enjoy the music at the same volume level yet speak normally.

That is not an issue in my situation as I never have adults back there and I do not normally have the stereo on when my children are back there.

EDIT:
On long trips, if you have small children and do not have a mini-van/SUV, rear speakers are nice so that you can fade the annoying animated movie soundtracks to the rear.

 

no mini vans and I would be keeping the volume at a reasonable level as I have 2 children who enjoy music as well. At times though I would crank it up when I am by myself in the car. I think I need that rear fill so that I can fade that annoying voice from nemo and cars and any other disney pixar movie once I install the video system.
Also.... Can any sub be used in an IB setup?

 

You should get a dual zone HU.

Any sub can be used IB, however some will not perform well. There are certain characteristics you should look for or look for IB capable subs in general.

 

hahaa, at a "reasonable volume from 9 to 11." Can anyone name this pull?

 

damn! that is hot! i wish i had the skills to build something like this! its BEAutiful! i wonder what it would cost to get something like this at a shop... hundreds just for labor probably... but damn! again!

 

that's already planned and in the works with the dual zone hu. So, because I am still new to this what characteristics should one look for when shopping for an ib capable sub?

 

hard to say sometimes, I've had subs that had very unfavorable IB specs and did VERY well IB.

You could try Exodus Audio DPL-10's that are pretty much meant for IB and cost aroudn 65 a piece + shipping. www.exodusaudio.com I'll be running a pair in my Alti soon, IB.

 

thanks for the link.
If you could when you get it up and running would you post a review?
Also, what would your musical style be? Nismos14?