first off, my car's actually at the frame shop getting the rear passenger frame rail straightened, i just got it at a salvage auction, its a 3.5L 6 speed manual with the factory bose subwoofer, i also purchased an 01 parts car for the rear bumper, impact bar, and any other small parts i need, that being said, i just spent alot of time measuring the rear deck area on the 01 model thats at my house now, and looking things over, i really think i could get two twelves in the rear deck providing i remove the decklid strut bars, i was going to make brackets to install some gas charged strut bars on the deck hinges, this would allow me to build a proper box for two twelves while keeping as much trunk space as possible.

the reason for twelves is ive already got three american bass VFL twelves that i took out of my contour SVT while i was prepping it to sell. i also think that placing them in the rear deck rather than in the trunk is going to give me alot cleaner sound, from what i can tell, i should be able to build a box for about 1.25-1.5 cubic foot sealed each sub, OR, i could do a 3.5 cubic foot box slot ported and fire the port up into the rear deck area also.

does anyone have any insight into any of what im comtemplating? i plan on testing everything on the parts car first so i dont tear anything up on the keeper, i have not paid much attention to how the bose setup is really done, i dont plan on keeping it though, it will never be enough base for me at high volumes, that being said i prefer clean SQ bass over SPL in general, but i also want some thumpin bass on command when i want it. my front staging will be powered by a 160 watt american bass amp, and the twelves will be powered by either two sony mobile ES 5046 amps, or one american bass 1800 watt amp. or my last option would be three sony mobile ES amps, i own two 5046's and two 3546 amps, the mobile ES line was one of sony's highest sought after lines for their sound quality.

thoughts or comments?

matthew

 

this is the mock up car, this is in no way the car im fixing, but its working out great for test fitting stuff, its a parts car 01 maxima






thats the test fitting of the box, *IF* i change over to 3/4" MDF instead of this 1.25" particle board then ill gain some extra airspace inside the box, but im wondering if the particle board is stronger due to its thicker nature.

i had to remove the rear decklid hinges, im going to use some gas shocks i removed from another car to make gas struts for holding up the rear decklid.

matthew

 

Looks like a fun project! Nice to have a parts car to play around with on dimensions, etc.

 

wow, i was starting to think no one on maxima.org ever commented on audio stuff, i posted the same thread on my pontiac fiero forum under the "other cars" option and got several replies first few hours.

back on subject, i just had a minor outpatient surgery so it may be a few days before i can get back to this project, i scrapped the first box i was building, im going to go back and buy some 3/4" MDF so i can get more airspace, im also going to modify the original design to be more conformed with the angle of the back seat, thats atleast a 1/2 cubic foot of space that im loosing right there, *IF* i can get the box just right, i might be able to squeeze about 1.5 cubic feet per sub. id love to do 4 8" woofers instead of the two twelves, but i down own any 8" woofers good enough to install, so the two twelves will remain.

matthew

 

lookin good man, looking forward for more pics

 

Looks like an interesting project.

I'd recommend contacting PWK Designs, they can help you optimize your design to get the maximum allowable performance from it. I've watched several of his Youtube videos and its amazing how he builds smaller, less powerful systems that outperform larger, more powerful systems.

 

btw, you might want to pre-drill before you screw your boards together...I see some cracking in a few of those panels.

 

everything was pre-drilled, just used too small of a drill bit i suppose. anyway.

ok, new box is built using MDF, after accounting for .15 cubic foot for the size of the woofer, im at 1.28 cubic feet per subwoofer, thats after modifying the box.

heres the first test fit of the box into the "parts car"



as you can see i made the box too tall and couldnt get it to roll up into the decklid, needless to say i modified the bottom of the box, i cut 1.25" off one side of the side legs, and .50" off of the back side of it, i probably didnt need to, but i did anyway, the box isnt sealed up yet, its only screwed together.

here's the results of me modifying the box.



its not level, and its not complete yet, but it fits, i can already tell that im going to have to cut the final opening on the car to 38.5 inches wide, and 12.75" deep, the current opening is 38.125" wide and 12.50 inches deep and the box is super difficult to get into place.

i got the car im fixing back from the frame shop yesterday, the factory bose system sounds like crap to me, it didnt pop or crack or anything, but just didnt have a good clean sound to it, im hoping with all this work im putting into the car it will have an awsome sound.

matthew

 

very nice design you have there. Do you have any more photos? particularly of how the box will be supported. From the bottom pic it kinda looks like its floating. I hope you get the good sound your looking for.

 

right now i havent decided how i want it to mount, ill probably make some brackets out of 1/8th inch alloy i have at work, something thats strong enough to support it, ill probably make some L brackets to bolt from the existing deck to the side of the box also, this way its supported on the top as well, ill put dynamat between the brackets and the box to keep vibration down also. The "parts car" had about $100-150 worth of dynamat stuck to it, ive been trying to peel it all off, im hoping i can re-use it.

matthew

 

Have you considered going with an IB setup?
Seal all the holes to the cabin, and use the entire trunk as your box? You would get a lot more responsive bass from this setup, and it wouldn't take nearly as much power.

 

but sound quality will suffer greatly, I definatly love the amount of air that can be moved with large boxes, but sound quality is not as good, and ive got plenty of power to provide.

matthew

 

Actually, IB is the best design for SQ if you aren't trying to blast your music. Just a FYI.

 

I like your idea. Ill check back for more pics.

 

nothing new to report, i got my 02 back from the frame shop and put everything back together on it, however i still need to cut its rear deck, im going to have to remove the center shoulder belt assembly but im going to add a lap belt for the center person (for the rare time ill have 5 people in the car) ive still gotta get a headunit and door speakers, but the car has some broken lug studs that will need repair asap as well. so its time consuming and im stripping my parts car down as people need parts so ive been super busy with maxima's (mental note, the swaybar is a ***** to remove on a maxima with the engine in the car)

matthew

 

been working on the 2002 maxima since i got it back from the frame shop, it cut the deck and started in on the box, i recarpeted the rear deck cover, im not fond of the factory beige color so i did it in a charcoal color, i realize that the rest of the car will be tan, but i dont think it will be a problem it matches the speakers better now.

anyway im still a LONG ways away from completion, but ive got a pioneer DEH-80PRS headunit along with the PAC steering wheel control adapter, ive still gotta get my sound stage speakers, i dont have a clue what i really want but ive got high bid currently on a set of infinity kappa speakers for front and rear.

still no clue if i want to run the sony mobile ES amps, or the american bass amps.

here's my rear deck.'

 

Looking good man, definitely Nice Work.....

 

i finally got everything hooked up and got to listen to the system, i really wish i would have done one single 12 in a nice slot ported box now, the twelves make the rear glass vibrate quite bad, it sounds amazing, however i fear that the seals around the back glass will fail.

im still working on the system, but i hope to post more about it when its finished.

i have some Q-Form kick panels coming for the car at the moment.

matthew

 

Post up a Youtube video of it whenever you get the chance.

 

still got more to do, im having voltage problems and im going to have to add a battery pack to the rear of the vehicle, im also going to have to upgrade the "big 3" in notes around 60-80HZ my voltage drops to 10.6-11 volts and starts to distort the sound.

matthew

 

bump for people to see