Not sure if this has been done before but I'm seriously considering trying it out. To start i have a 5th gen and i want some more bass out of my sound system. I have alpine type S speakers all around right now and a Pioneer DEH-P3900Mp head unit. They sound great and have more than enough bass for standard rock and pop music, but for rap and metal it just isn't enough. I want to mount two 8" or 10" subs in my trunk, but not in a standard box. I don't want to give up trunk space as this is my DD and i use the car to transport stuff all the time.
I want to put them on the sides of the trunk walls. Like in the hole that the spare tire jack is located now. There is a similar hole on the other side of the car. I figure if i relocate the jack down to the spare tire well i can put 1 speaker on each side. For the amp, i was just planing on mounting it vertical on one of the free walls. I have no problem building custom box's for the speakers.
Other than issues with making box's for the subs and finding ways to secure them in place, are there any other issues that anyone sees with this plan? Also, if anyone has new/used amps or subs for sale let me know. Already looked over TNT's Lude's thread for amps, anyone still have subs for sale? Or more amps?
Pretty sure if you search you can find a fiberglass box writeup to mount subs on the sides of the trunk. I mounted one in a box and built it into the floor, now I have to put stuff in the back seat because I don't have a trunk.
I guess i didn't really explain too well. What i want to do is cut holes in the sides of my trunk lining and put the subs buck in there.
Also, update. I have found some subs locally, two 10" Bazooka subs and an amp for $100. All contained in a single box. Kid says that the amp is removable so i figure i can get the subs out one way or another as well. From a friend of a friend. Weren't used much apparently and sound pretty good. Seem reasonable as long as they aren't messed up?
Bazooka is one of the lower end audio manufacturers. That deal does sound dirt cheap, but you get what you pay for. I have a 12" bazooka sub and I had it in my car for less than a month before I couldn't stand it anymore and I bought an mtx to replace it. I have a bunch of cheap car audio stuff that just sits in my garage because I cheaped out when I bought it the first time, and then I had to replace it all later to get a system I was happy with.
Anyway, if you look behind the trunk lining you will find there is a good amount of metal on the drivers side right below that little door for the jack. That would make it impossible to mount a sub there without cutting out a lot of metal that is probably there for a reason.
I don't need alot of bass. I just want a bit more kick than i currently have. My last car was a Sentra GXE, that came stock with a 6" paper sub. Once i upgraded the other speakers and head unit that system was good enough for me. Are the Bazooka's gonna sound really bad? Like static and bad tone or something? Or just not hit very hard? Sorry for all the noob questions, i have no experience with sub's, and little experience with car audio to begin with.
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Originally Posted by indylude18
Anyway, if you look behind the trunk lining you will find there is a good amount of metal on the drivers side right below that little door for the jack. That would make it impossible to mount a sub there without cutting out a lot of metal that is probably there for a reason.
I'm really not sure, but i believe that the metal your referring to has only one purpose. And that's to hold the jack in place. I also saw a bolt or screw down there at one point, and i think it may be to remove part or all of that assembly. There might even be enough room to mount above the jack holder. I have to take some measurements today.
Anyone else have opinion on this? Even if your not that experienced i'd like to hear more people weigh in on this.
The Bazooka sub I had sounded awful. It popped and crackled every time there was a bass drum hit, even when driven by a pricey mtx amp. Drove me nuts. From my experience, stick with well known brands like kicker, mtx, some pioneer, rockford fosgate, or if you can afford it, JL makes the best subs and amps around.
I just double checked how the metal piece is attached, and it is bolted on the side and welded to the trunk floor. There just isn't enough room in there to fit a sub enclosure, even if you cut out the jack holder thing, the wheel wells are in the way.
For what you are looking to do, you might just want to invest in a good set of 6x9's for the rear deck and a good amp to drive them. That would get you more bass than the old 6" paper sub had.
I have a new set of Alpine Type S's in there right now. You think amping them would get more bass? TNT's Lude has a few amps for sale here Amps, tweeters and a sub F/S - WI. Anything you think might help? Looking to spend as little as possible here all i want is a little more bass, nothing serious. I'm not looking to be blowing out windows or eardrums here.
And i was planning on making a fiberglass enclosure for them, using up a decent bit of that empty space between the body of the car and the trunk lining. I'm referencing the molding of the trunk because that's the point that i want to to have the fronts of the sub's at. Than have an enclosure that uses as much of the void behind them as possible.
As long as you have to correct amount of airspace in your enclosure for the speaker, then yes, I think it will be a good idea. There are a few enclosure companies that offer prefab enclosures that do exactly what you're wanting to do, although I don't think anybody offers one for the Prelude.
Those amps wouldn't work well if you amp up just the 6x9's because they are one channel monoblocks, so you wouldn't get stereo sound anymore. Both rear speakers would always make exactly the same sound, and you wouldn't be able to shift balance from left to right. I have heard good things about JBL, and I own some Infinity and it's good stuff.
You could wire that JBL 4 channel up to all 4 speakers and that would greatly improve the overall sound in the car, but it doesn't have enough power to make too much bass. Your type S's should easily be able to handle the power that amp puts out, and your head unit just isn't strong enough to push them to make any bass.
As far as mounting a sub in that hole in the trunk, I don't think anybody makes a shallow mount sub that is small enough to fit, so I would give up on that idea or give up a some trunk space to make one fit.
Short of spending that much what are my options? New head unit and amplify the rear speakers with a good stereo two way amp? Any cheaper amps or woofers even worth buying?
HA....I have that exact MTX amp in my car right now. I use it bridged to drive a single mtx 12" sub in a ported box and it will shake the whole car if you're brave enough to crank it up. In addition to that I have a 2x350 watt rms kicker amp driving my 500watt pioneer 6x9's and another 100x2 rms kicker amp driving the front door speakers. It is LOUD. If you turn the volume up much past half way if feels like you head is about to explode. If you just want a little bump in your system your going way overkill.
As you described about what you want out of your system, that amp and one 10" sub would do it and then some. I like 12's myself, but I had to sacrifice most of my trunk to fit one in there (check out my setup on in the member's rides thread, I have almost no trunk left). I would take that $80 you saved on the second sub and buy that 4 channel JBL from TNT to drive the alpines you already have. That would be a pretty nice all around setup.
Replacing the head unit won't help, they all have a wimpy built in amp and really can't drive those alpine's you already have to their full potential. I have a $500 head unit that puts out 35rms to each speaker and it still didn't cut it for me, everything is run off an amp.
Also you can get a good setup for less than that, JL is expensive, but it is the best stuff out there. Crutchfield is running special's on mtx 4500's and kicker cvr's, and they are still real nice subs and they are cheaper($50 and $60) if money is an issue. I have bought stuff from crutchfield and they are awesome, that little info sheet they give you can be a big help if your new to car audio, and they used to run free shipping if you spend $100 and that adds up quick.
Set what exactly you want out of your sound system, then how much you are willing to spend and go from there.
Helps a massive amount. Thank you. Noticed that they are running a deal on a free box if you get two subs. I'm considering that as a back up in case the custom enclosures don't work out. Seeing as its only an extra 50 bucks, why not go the extra mile and go overboard?
Has anyone seen that article about the custom enclosures for a prelude? It was linked to a while back but the link is dead now.
Right now my plan is to get the MTX amp and the MTX subs. Looks about 210 for everything, than wiring. Any recommendations on wiring kits? As i said before, i don't have much audio experience so a kit would be best i'm guessing. Should i be worried about needing a new battery or anything? Thanks in advance again for all your help.
Your electrical system in the car will be fine without any upgrades. As far as amp kits, 8 gauge would do it if your only running that one amp, and if you are only running subs off it cheap-o rca's would probably be ok. Just run the power cable and the rca's on opposite sides of the car if you go with cheap-o or it makes high pitched noises all the time from interference.
or this is a better quality version of the same thing, but with your setup you probably wouldn't notice a difference and you might save $20-$30 with the cheap-o. I didn't check the prices on them, shop around a little bit first.
Or you could up it to 4 gauge, but that wire is harder to run, slightly more expensive, and it would be more than you really need, but you would already have it if you decided to add more stuff later.
That free box on crutchfield is way too big to fit in the trunk, but hey, it's free if you get 2 of them. You could always ebay it.
Glad I could be of assistance....hope I answered all your questions so far. Keep askin em and I'll keep answering them, as I just recently transplanted my system into my lude from my old car so I still remember how I did most of it.
It's 2 ohm stable, so you can get more watts for your buck if you wire the subs down to 2 ohms, and it is only $10 more but qualifies for free shipping so it might end up being the same price. That other amp would work, but this one would work better. If you go with 2 subs, get the monoblock, If you go with one sub, use the 2 channel. Sounds backwards doesn't it?
Is wiring the amps down a big deal? I'm planing on getting the two subs to get the free box, and than selling the box. Should be able to get 50 for it i figure so that more or less makes the second sub free. And yes haha, it does sound backwards.
Another stupid question though, do i need two wiring kits for two subs? or just get a bigger kit? doesn't seem to say anywhere how many subs each kit supports. I'm guessing only one for the cheaper kit at least.
Another question. If i end up putting both the subs on the same side of the trunk(passengerside) do i need to make the enclosure twice the size? So if the woofer recommends .6 to 1 cubic foot do i need to make it 1.2 to 2 cubic feet? Because right now it looks like i only have about half a cubic foot of space behind the trunk lining, and that's before i put half an inch of fiberglass in there and brace it. I am probably going to end up having to build it out into the trunk space. probably only about 8 inches or so at the rear wall of the trunk, than angle it in towards the wheel well. That would also give me an angled face to mount the sub's on though. Think its worth it to build a second enclosure on the other side? That one will probly be more difficult as there is the whole mess from the spare tire jack. And my plan right now is to mount the amp on that wall in from of the tire jack and just keep a screwdriver on hand in if i ever need to get to the jack in case of a flat.
1) Wiring them down is just as easy as wiring them any other way...check out crutchfield for some more details on the subject...I don't feel like writing a book here to explain how it works, the only difference is if you wire them in series or in parallel to affect the load the amp sees. You probably have no idea what that means, but check out the info on crutchfield if you really want to know, but be prepare to do a good amount of reading.
If you get a monoblock amp you should wire it like this:
2)Only 1 amp kit needed for 2 subs.
3)Yes, you have to add the recommended sizes together if you put 2 subs in the same box.
4)If you made 2 boxes, they would be easier to fit in the trunk, an no, it won't fit in that spot behind the trunk lining. There will be no noticeable difference is sound quality between one box or 2 if they are both in the recommended size.
5)Stick the jack down in the spare tire well, then you won't have to unbolt your amp. Also you could mount the amp to the trunk lid or the back of the rear seat. I don't have either a spare tire or a jack, because my sub occupies much of that space. Living on the edge I know....that is what AAA is for.
There I think I got em all answered......Anything else?
Last edited by indylude18; 05-29-2009 at 08:46 PM.
Thanks. And i'm done with the questions for now haha. I do know a bit about electrical wiring, did a project freshman year of college on hydrogen fuel cells. Thanks again for all your help, ill let you know how the project turns out.
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probably only about 8 inches or so at the rear wall of the trunk, than angle it in towards the wheel well. That would also give me an angled face to mount the sub's on though. Think its worth it to build a second enclosure on the other side? That one will probly be more difficult as there is the whole mess from the spare tire jack. And my plan right now is to mount the amp on that wall in from of the tire jack and just keep a screwdriver on hand in if i ever need to get to the jack in case of a flat.
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