GTU_FAN

After I got my FC one of the first things I did was replace the deck and speakers. But before long I wanted more power and subs. However I didn't want the added hassle and weight of a big box taking up all the cargo space. I decided to convert the storage boxes behind the seats into sub-boxes. I'm no genius when it comes to speakers but I figured the boxes were about the right size for 10's. I unscrewed the lids and cut out holes with a jig saw then I dropped in the subs and screwed them down. You have to remove the key locks too unless your using 8's.
Then I added some hard foam padding beneath the lid with adhesive trimming it to an exact fit. If you dont put some sort of insulation in there the lids will vibrate too much and the sound quality will suffer. (Believe me they didn't sound good at all until I did that.) I figured since speaker boxes are usually made of MDF and other dense materials I should probably do my best to imitate them. You can drill a hole in the top and squirt in some liquid foam as sealant for the speaker wires or just carefully arrange them so that the latch prong on the lid slips between the wires when you close it. That still keeps a tight seal if your wiring isn't any bigger then 8 gauge.
I know it sounds ghetto but if your patient and do a good job cutting the plastic and trimming the foam they sound good and look factory-installed. Another upside is cost of course.
I'll take pics tommorow if anyone wants to see

tie pilot

I'd like to see some pics.

domesttuner

me too. if you sell yours, m, i'll take em...it'll give you an excuse to upgrade!

Icemark

Ah man! this lame subject has been covered so many times, I am not even going there.

Please search before posting!

GTU_FAN

So sorry, yes I should have searched first. But for some reason I thought I was the first person to try this

Pinfield357

i thinnk i may be the first to just throw an infiniti basslink into one of the compartments easy sounds alright nothing great cheaper than most ppls installs cant even see that its there

Crionics

it doesn't matter. You weren't asking a question, just posting something you did. Some of the guys on here really need to lighten up. Just b/c you don't have 6000 posts doesn't mean you can't do something different and cool.

ajsuper7

it has been done but its been a long time since ive seen a tasteful, good looking job. if it were me i dont know that i would cut into the covers id rather have something hidden or underneath the covers to keep it looking stock if that is possible while still making good sound. get some pictures and post them.

are_one

Good job, I thought about doing it but I was just too lazy. Also I have a lot of crap stored in my bins so I don't want to give them up.

BigIslandSevens

iTrader: (4)

I just met a guy today out here that has both sides done. He Glassed in the bottoms for the enclosure and had what looked like 10's at a quick glance. ( Maybe 8's) He was not complete with making them "pretty" but the covers closed and locked and looked like nothing was there.

I did not however hear them yet. But i like the idea.

ROTILLA

I'e never even thaught about this until now. Thanks for the idea.

Leslie

sliderfc3s

hey, where's the pics?

Russ

im gunna put a 10 on each side of the hatch behind the strut towers and the amp in one the bins. that way i get to save some of my storage and i dont lose much hatch space

slomo85

iTrader: (8)

so did the other 100 people that posted about doing this...later

Zach McAfee

totallimmortal

I hope you have grills on those speakers and don't just go around runnin em with carpet sittin on em

BTW for people doing this install usually the area there is too small for a sub box so the best bet is to go with a sub that is designed for use in free air the kind you could mount in the rear deck of a car, i think jbl might make one, might not be the greatest speaker but it'll sound better than a sub made for a box in free air of too small a box

86GXL

Heres my settup...

rotarygod

iTrader: (1)

I was a custom installer for almost a decade and this is about the most backwards piece of advice I have ever heard. It is totally false. There are so many small box speakers out there now that you could get enough air for 2-15's if you used the right ones. There is tons of space in there. The problem is that many people aren't very good at making boxes fit awkward shaped areas. There are also people that say bass can't sound good right behind you either. This is also false.

"free-air" is a very misleading term. These types of woofers are not meant to be mounted "free-air". They are meant to be mounted in very large enclosures such as those that would take up the same amount of airspace as something as large as a trunk. This is why they work so well in trunks. The thiele/small parameters dictate which sub is best in what type of box. With a speaker qts that is very high, a large box is needed. This is all technical and you need to have done it for a while to completely understand it. The RX-7 does not have a trunk. A free-air speaker has no business being in one. Just because you can't get a sealed box around it does not mean taht it qualifies for a free-air sub. In reality these subs perform best when the trunk of a car is completely sealed off from the cabin of the car. Making one sound really good is much more difficult than just mounting it on a baffle or under the rear deck.

Since a free-air speaker is made for a very large box, how will using it in a box that is too small for a regular box speaker going to work good? It isn't.

Your sub will sound much better if you can get a full sealed enclosure behind it. Just placing it on a board that is screwed down is really leaving alot to be desired performance wise.

totallimmortal

OK well please don't go calling my info false, many subs are made for small boxes this is true but the area there is very small last time i measured and the subs i looked called for larger. don't act like i don't know what i'm doing i'm in the uper 130 db range with 600 watts in my rx7 so i know what i'm doing, i've worked in stereo installation too. Many of these subs for small boxes require alot of power, at least the most of them that i've seen, and the free-air in a small not totally sealed area with the recommended wattage is not bad at all. Making a box for that are is easy anyway just lay some fiberglass. But please don't call my info false i know alot about the subject and was just trying to help out

NZConvertible

Post count means nothing (although it seems to bother you), and there's nothing different or cool about putting speakers in a poor location.

Zach McAfee

Well, I ended up cutting out the carpet because it rattled, so you can see the speakers now. No grills. There are boxes underneath that are 0.3 cu. ft., which is right in the middle of Rockford fosgates recommended volume for these speakers. Not much room for more, though.

And they sound awesome. I was surprised.

Icemark

See that is the problem... it never ever sounds good in that location...

You can make it sound okay... with nice sealed fiberglassed enclosures, but it will never ever sound good.

I say this as a FC owner since 87 that saw the first of this type of set up in 86, and spent over 17 years installing or working for car electronics companies, and several years as a IASCA judge, as well as personally tried every type of enclosure and hundreds of speakers (including even transmission line and assorted band pass setups) in that area. Because of the car's internal acoustics, and structure. It is just a poor choice on either the FC or FD (but a great spot on the SA/FB). Top it off by half the people out there mount the speakers onto a board that screws into a flimsy piece of fiber re-enforced plastic that is only designed to hold storage bins and carpet up.... so you have stuff like this: (sorry zach) ... Gee do you think there is any loss of freq because its mounted to plywood, and then to a peice of plastic that moves if you stand on it??? Those same woofers could hit 40Hz in a proper enclosure, but I doubt they hit even 50 Hz set up there.

It will never ever ever ever ever sound good... it can sound okay... if you like okay sound then, by all means be my guest to use that area.

And everyone that thinks I am wrong, remember there is a difference between loud and good sound, as well as crisp clear hard hitting bass and boomy loud bass.

Zer0 Cylinder

we need the repost police from the lounge to roam into this section.

SwooshMan

AMEN ICEMARK!!!!

Zach McAfee

It's ok. Sounds good to me.
Much better than when I tried them in the shock towers!