can someone give tips on making a speaker box for an 88 vert
01-16-05, 08:18 PM
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FLEEN7
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can someone give tips on making a speaker box for an 88 vert
i want to up grade my stereo system and add a subwoofer, amp, door and dash speakers. does anyone have recommendations on a system and how to make a box fit that will not effect the top when i have it down. thnaks.
01-16-05, 08:47 PM
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Good luck getting answers, I have searched and posted, searched and posted, all I get is "try searching"
Finally went to local stereo shop and paid someone to put it all together for me.
They put a 12" sub box in the trunk with a 6 channel amp, 5 1/4 infinity speakers in the door, used a 3/4" spacer behind speaker. 4" infinity speakers with a small adapter in the dash where a 5" speaker should go and a new Kenwood head unit, bypassed all the amps and headrest controls, hooked headrest speakers straight into dash speakers so no control over headrest speakers.
I am pleased but am sure someone has done it different but thats the best I could have done on a $750 budget. The box and amp took half of my trunk but the sound is good
Finally went to local stereo shop and paid someone to put it all together for me.
They put a 12" sub box in the trunk with a 6 channel amp, 5 1/4 infinity speakers in the door, used a 3/4" spacer behind speaker. 4" infinity speakers with a small adapter in the dash where a 5" speaker should go and a new Kenwood head unit, bypassed all the amps and headrest controls, hooked headrest speakers straight into dash speakers so no control over headrest speakers.
I am pleased but am sure someone has done it different but thats the best I could have done on a $750 budget. The box and amp took half of my trunk but the sound is good
01-16-05, 10:12 PM
#4
Here is something for all verts (came from a 1997 Miata, ALL CREDIT TO "RPMQ") I just use this as a guideline for my installation:
Custom Stealth Subwoofer
For my 1997 Miata
NOTE: This article was written using a Mazda Miata car but with a few modifications and some creativity the idea can be used on just about anything.
This was by far the most fun of any of the Mods I've done to date, as it entailed building a custom box to fit on the rear deck, which houses 2 Rockord Fosgate punch 8" subs (requiring a minimum of 3 cu. ft. space each).
I tried countless ways of designing a box with the most cu. ft, hoping to port it (which just didn't happen). There is room beneath the rear deck on each side, but by the time you fit the 'walls' of your box in those spaces, you wind up with not much room at all, and a box which is not very structurally sound. I thought about creating a custom fiberglass enclosure to solve that problem, but after reading about vibration & bracing concerns associated with fiberglass enclosures, I chose to build the box to fit on top of the decklid, from 1/2" MDF. The box weighs about 25 lbs with the subs in it, and is very sturdy due to the bracing.
The top folds down (with the box in place) rather snug. I rounded the back edges and back corners of the box as much as possible (By sanding with 60 grit sandpaper), avoiding any tearing or denting of the plastic window. You cannot put the tonneau cover on with the box installed, and the top sits fairly low (but not all the way down) when down. The window folds up and over the box (Which is slanted at both front and back) and does not crease, dent or fold. The back corners put a bit more pressure on the window than I would like, but so far so good.
The box has a 'stair step' in it, allowing the cross bar/brace to tuck neatly and hold down the box. Initially I had built the box without this recess, but later I went back and cut one in because the brace was putting too much pressure on the box.
I did not add any polyfill to the interior of the box, as it did not give me the punch at low end bass I expected.
The best part: The bass is awesome. I run my system with just about half front/half rear fading, and the car booms enough to give me great bass at any volume! While I don't listen to much rap, this box could certainly handle it. But don't expect to thump your neighbors! This box is only .69 cubic ft total, so your not going to be blasting a 12" sub with 300 watts through it. I'm not sure how th ebox would hold up to a large single subwoofer, since elimination of the center brace would make the box less sturdy.
Custom rear deck Subwoofer, with the top down.
Custom rear deck Subwoofer, with the top up.
The worst part: I originally built this box as a trapezoid with no stair step in it. I went back and cut my stairstep into the finished box, as I wasn't happy with how tight the crossbar was on top of the box. While you could probably tork down on the crossbar alot, I opted to cut away the rubber surround on the crossbar to give me a little more room. I found that I could not get the crossbar seated all the way without the box cracking and popping, so I trimmed away the bottom 1/3rd or so of the rubber surround on the crossbar using a utility knife on each side, and then prying/peeling the rubber up. The bar inside is round and not flat like I had hoped, but it did give me another 1/4" or so of height to squeeze the box into. After all was said and done, I noticed that on a buddies 93 M edition he didn't have a crossbar at all... Kinda makes me wish I had just removed the thing and just left the box a trapezoid instead. Too late now though. You also can no longer make much use of the rear decklid for 'storage'. No biggie here though, as I never used it much to begin with.
Subwoofer Plans
(for my 1997 Miata Rear Deck Lid)
This was alot of work, and I'm not going to give you intricate instructions. But I will provide you with dimensions on the finished box, as well as little tidbits that I found helpful when creating this piece.
Materials:
1/2" MDF (medium density fiberboard)
Black Subwoofer box carpeting (Crutchfield)
1 1/4" Drywall screws
Wood glue or construction adhesive
3/4" furniture leg rubber cups for 'feet'
1/2" x 3" x 38 3/8" pine (Stairstep)
Scraps of pine material (Bracing)
2 - 8" (or smaller) subs requiring min. 3 cu. ft each
Dimensions - The outside box dimensions should not be longer than 39 3/8", wider than 14" and taller than 5" at the top of the stairstep (To fit under the crossbar brace). Once assembled and carpeted, it will be a tight squeeze between the seatbelt posts. Note that you will need to remove the rearmost tonneau snap bolts in both of the seat belt post covers in order to install the box. If you do not want to remove these bolts, you will need to measure between the 2 bolts and subtract 1/8" or more from the total length available. The box allows for 3.75" interior height to fit the sub into. Add the 1/2" thickness of the face, and you wind up with a top mount depth of 4 1/4". But make sure the sub won't interfere with the stairstep, or your internal bracing.
Mounting - I did NOT bolt or otherwise screw the box into the rear deck in any way. It is sandwiched between the seatbelt posts, and the cross brace pins it down into position in the 'Stairstep' located at the front of the box top. I do plan to attach the box to the car somehow in the future. If and When I find a way to do it, I will post the information here.
Cubic ft. - It is important to note that the box shown above, will give you roughly .345 cubic ft in each side, which doesn't include speaker displacement (the Rockfords I put in were .02 cu.ft. each) but does include internal bracing. Be sure to use a subwoofer which can be used in this small space. You could opt for a larger single subwoofer (Providing it will fit) and then have .69 cubic ft to work with, but you'll need to consider putting braces (pehaps like the center brace but with a large hole cut in it) on either side of the single sub. This will help eliminate any flexing in the box. Remember, it's only 1/2" mdf.
Rear Deck - The rear deck has a layer of rubber and insulation padding underneath the carpet. You can always remove these if desired, to give you a little more height to work with. But I preferred to leave the padding and rubber in to help eliminate any rattles. I also added some foam insulation strips underneath and around the bolts which hold down the aluminum deck cover to eliminate any rattles.
Use Some Pine - I would recommend using pine (or some other wood besides mdf) for your bracing, and 'stair step' piece (And possibly even the endpieces even though I didn't) as the screws will hold better and not strip out when screwing all the pieces together.
Feet - I used 3/4 high rubber furniture 'cups' designed originally for protecting flooring from furniture legs. The rubber construction helps eliminate rattles and vibration in the decklid. Placing 6 of them onto the box face (2 at each end, and 2 in the center) raise the box up off the rear decklid carpet so the woofers are not pressed into the rear decklid.
SIDE VIEW BOX PLAN
The front and rear angles of the box are different. 31 degree cuts for the front, to match the 59 degree incline of the rear 'firewall' leading up to the decklid, and 39 degree cuts for the back, to get the most angle you can while trying to keep within the .3 cubic ft limit, and allow the window to fold over it.
Putting it all together - wasn't as bad as I had originally thought. Though countersinking all the screws was a painstaking experience. I started with the top of the box (Piece C), screwing and glueing each endpiece onto it. Then I worked my way around all sides and braces, except for the bottom face (Piece D) which I temporarily screwed into place but didn't glue. I then strap clamped everything and let it sit overnight. The following day, I removed the face to silicone all the cracks and crevices, & test fitted. Once I got my speaker leads and everything in place, I then glued the bottom piece on using construction adhesive and screwed it into the bracing.
Silicon - Your friend and mine. I used ALOT of it. I goopuckeyed every seam and crack I could get to to ensure the box was airtight.
The carpet - (Black carpet from crutchfield) was applied using some spray adhesive and staples. I first attached the side pieces of carpet, and then 'wrapped' a piece of carpet from the back bottom, and over the top to the front bottom. I stapled the carpet to the box on the bottom face because, noone will ever see that side anyways. The wiring was then ran underneath the box to the passenger side of the rear deck, under the rear deck carpet and through an existing triangular opening into the trunk.
Installation - The easiest way to install it is to remove the cross bar brace, and slide the box into position (With the canvas top raised). Then lower the canvas top and put the crossbar brace back on while keeping the box 'snug' up against it when tightening the hold down bolts.
If I had to do it again - (And I probably will at some point) I would make the box 13" in width, just to give a little more clearance to the rear window. This would probably put the box at exactly 3 cu. ft per side.
If you make your own box based on this design, let me know about it. I'm sure plenty of people out there could come up with some pretty good modifications to this design.
DISCLAIMER: I created this box on April 13, 2002. The rear plexi window seems to be holding up well, and doesn't appear to be affected by the box, but only time will tell. I will update this page if any problems occur int he future. Perform this mod at your own risk! I cannot guarantee the box will fit other years, but it should fit all 90-97's without any problems. Miata's without a crossbar brace should be able to accomodate a box without a stairstep cut into it. This box design will probably not fit miata's with roll bars installed. It has also not been tested on miata's with GLASS rear windows. This box design has NOT been tested with a hardtop either. The plexi window will not go as low into the cabin with the box the same amount as without the box. This may affect the hardtop. I do have a buddy with a hardtop though (my old one actually) so I will test it soon enough and let you know the results. Double check all your measurements and test fit throughout the entire building process.
If I didn't disconnect Ill upload his pictures later. BTW ALL CREDIT TO RPMQ!
Custom Stealth Subwoofer
For my 1997 Miata
NOTE: This article was written using a Mazda Miata car but with a few modifications and some creativity the idea can be used on just about anything.
This was by far the most fun of any of the Mods I've done to date, as it entailed building a custom box to fit on the rear deck, which houses 2 Rockord Fosgate punch 8" subs (requiring a minimum of 3 cu. ft. space each).
I tried countless ways of designing a box with the most cu. ft, hoping to port it (which just didn't happen). There is room beneath the rear deck on each side, but by the time you fit the 'walls' of your box in those spaces, you wind up with not much room at all, and a box which is not very structurally sound. I thought about creating a custom fiberglass enclosure to solve that problem, but after reading about vibration & bracing concerns associated with fiberglass enclosures, I chose to build the box to fit on top of the decklid, from 1/2" MDF. The box weighs about 25 lbs with the subs in it, and is very sturdy due to the bracing.
The top folds down (with the box in place) rather snug. I rounded the back edges and back corners of the box as much as possible (By sanding with 60 grit sandpaper), avoiding any tearing or denting of the plastic window. You cannot put the tonneau cover on with the box installed, and the top sits fairly low (but not all the way down) when down. The window folds up and over the box (Which is slanted at both front and back) and does not crease, dent or fold. The back corners put a bit more pressure on the window than I would like, but so far so good.
The box has a 'stair step' in it, allowing the cross bar/brace to tuck neatly and hold down the box. Initially I had built the box without this recess, but later I went back and cut one in because the brace was putting too much pressure on the box.
I did not add any polyfill to the interior of the box, as it did not give me the punch at low end bass I expected.
The best part: The bass is awesome. I run my system with just about half front/half rear fading, and the car booms enough to give me great bass at any volume! While I don't listen to much rap, this box could certainly handle it. But don't expect to thump your neighbors! This box is only .69 cubic ft total, so your not going to be blasting a 12" sub with 300 watts through it. I'm not sure how th ebox would hold up to a large single subwoofer, since elimination of the center brace would make the box less sturdy.
Custom rear deck Subwoofer, with the top down.
Custom rear deck Subwoofer, with the top up.
The worst part: I originally built this box as a trapezoid with no stair step in it. I went back and cut my stairstep into the finished box, as I wasn't happy with how tight the crossbar was on top of the box. While you could probably tork down on the crossbar alot, I opted to cut away the rubber surround on the crossbar to give me a little more room. I found that I could not get the crossbar seated all the way without the box cracking and popping, so I trimmed away the bottom 1/3rd or so of the rubber surround on the crossbar using a utility knife on each side, and then prying/peeling the rubber up. The bar inside is round and not flat like I had hoped, but it did give me another 1/4" or so of height to squeeze the box into. After all was said and done, I noticed that on a buddies 93 M edition he didn't have a crossbar at all... Kinda makes me wish I had just removed the thing and just left the box a trapezoid instead. Too late now though. You also can no longer make much use of the rear decklid for 'storage'. No biggie here though, as I never used it much to begin with.
Subwoofer Plans
(for my 1997 Miata Rear Deck Lid)
This was alot of work, and I'm not going to give you intricate instructions. But I will provide you with dimensions on the finished box, as well as little tidbits that I found helpful when creating this piece.
Materials:
1/2" MDF (medium density fiberboard)
Black Subwoofer box carpeting (Crutchfield)
1 1/4" Drywall screws
Wood glue or construction adhesive
3/4" furniture leg rubber cups for 'feet'
1/2" x 3" x 38 3/8" pine (Stairstep)
Scraps of pine material (Bracing)
2 - 8" (or smaller) subs requiring min. 3 cu. ft each
Dimensions - The outside box dimensions should not be longer than 39 3/8", wider than 14" and taller than 5" at the top of the stairstep (To fit under the crossbar brace). Once assembled and carpeted, it will be a tight squeeze between the seatbelt posts. Note that you will need to remove the rearmost tonneau snap bolts in both of the seat belt post covers in order to install the box. If you do not want to remove these bolts, you will need to measure between the 2 bolts and subtract 1/8" or more from the total length available. The box allows for 3.75" interior height to fit the sub into. Add the 1/2" thickness of the face, and you wind up with a top mount depth of 4 1/4". But make sure the sub won't interfere with the stairstep, or your internal bracing.
Mounting - I did NOT bolt or otherwise screw the box into the rear deck in any way. It is sandwiched between the seatbelt posts, and the cross brace pins it down into position in the 'Stairstep' located at the front of the box top. I do plan to attach the box to the car somehow in the future. If and When I find a way to do it, I will post the information here.
Cubic ft. - It is important to note that the box shown above, will give you roughly .345 cubic ft in each side, which doesn't include speaker displacement (the Rockfords I put in were .02 cu.ft. each) but does include internal bracing. Be sure to use a subwoofer which can be used in this small space. You could opt for a larger single subwoofer (Providing it will fit) and then have .69 cubic ft to work with, but you'll need to consider putting braces (pehaps like the center brace but with a large hole cut in it) on either side of the single sub. This will help eliminate any flexing in the box. Remember, it's only 1/2" mdf.
Rear Deck - The rear deck has a layer of rubber and insulation padding underneath the carpet. You can always remove these if desired, to give you a little more height to work with. But I preferred to leave the padding and rubber in to help eliminate any rattles. I also added some foam insulation strips underneath and around the bolts which hold down the aluminum deck cover to eliminate any rattles.
Use Some Pine - I would recommend using pine (or some other wood besides mdf) for your bracing, and 'stair step' piece (And possibly even the endpieces even though I didn't) as the screws will hold better and not strip out when screwing all the pieces together.
Feet - I used 3/4 high rubber furniture 'cups' designed originally for protecting flooring from furniture legs. The rubber construction helps eliminate rattles and vibration in the decklid. Placing 6 of them onto the box face (2 at each end, and 2 in the center) raise the box up off the rear decklid carpet so the woofers are not pressed into the rear decklid.
SIDE VIEW BOX PLAN
The front and rear angles of the box are different. 31 degree cuts for the front, to match the 59 degree incline of the rear 'firewall' leading up to the decklid, and 39 degree cuts for the back, to get the most angle you can while trying to keep within the .3 cubic ft limit, and allow the window to fold over it.
Putting it all together - wasn't as bad as I had originally thought. Though countersinking all the screws was a painstaking experience. I started with the top of the box (Piece C), screwing and glueing each endpiece onto it. Then I worked my way around all sides and braces, except for the bottom face (Piece D) which I temporarily screwed into place but didn't glue. I then strap clamped everything and let it sit overnight. The following day, I removed the face to silicone all the cracks and crevices, & test fitted. Once I got my speaker leads and everything in place, I then glued the bottom piece on using construction adhesive and screwed it into the bracing.
Silicon - Your friend and mine. I used ALOT of it. I goopuckeyed every seam and crack I could get to to ensure the box was airtight.
The carpet - (Black carpet from crutchfield) was applied using some spray adhesive and staples. I first attached the side pieces of carpet, and then 'wrapped' a piece of carpet from the back bottom, and over the top to the front bottom. I stapled the carpet to the box on the bottom face because, noone will ever see that side anyways. The wiring was then ran underneath the box to the passenger side of the rear deck, under the rear deck carpet and through an existing triangular opening into the trunk.
Installation - The easiest way to install it is to remove the cross bar brace, and slide the box into position (With the canvas top raised). Then lower the canvas top and put the crossbar brace back on while keeping the box 'snug' up against it when tightening the hold down bolts.
If I had to do it again - (And I probably will at some point) I would make the box 13" in width, just to give a little more clearance to the rear window. This would probably put the box at exactly 3 cu. ft per side.
If you make your own box based on this design, let me know about it. I'm sure plenty of people out there could come up with some pretty good modifications to this design.
DISCLAIMER: I created this box on April 13, 2002. The rear plexi window seems to be holding up well, and doesn't appear to be affected by the box, but only time will tell. I will update this page if any problems occur int he future. Perform this mod at your own risk! I cannot guarantee the box will fit other years, but it should fit all 90-97's without any problems. Miata's without a crossbar brace should be able to accomodate a box without a stairstep cut into it. This box design will probably not fit miata's with roll bars installed. It has also not been tested on miata's with GLASS rear windows. This box design has NOT been tested with a hardtop either. The plexi window will not go as low into the cabin with the box the same amount as without the box. This may affect the hardtop. I do have a buddy with a hardtop though (my old one actually) so I will test it soon enough and let you know the results. Double check all your measurements and test fit throughout the entire building process.
If I didn't disconnect Ill upload his pictures later. BTW ALL CREDIT TO RPMQ!
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