Factory Sub Upgrade

[javve]

I decided to start a new thread and transfer my post that got very little views. I noticed the original one, although it had a lot of replies some years ago, wasn't in the best location.

I have an aftermarket amp all hooked up and ready to go. My car speakers are re-wired from the stereo back, all factory amps/wires are no longer in the car. I was pushing a 12" Sub in a bandpass box, with a 500 watt amp... a good one (Rockford Fosgate Prime). I sold the sub and box, wanting the sound more inside the car and not travel as far, as well as free up some trunk space. I got lucky and found a factory box for $5. I have 3/4" pressboard I can use to line the enclosure with.

I am wondering should I go with something like a JL 6w0 or Kicker 10CVT654 (can be used sealed or without a box), or go for more with an 8 such as Infinity Reference 8-Inch Ininity Reference. I definitally have the power to push a sub, and a multimeter to set my rms using a 70hz sine wave track on a cd.

Since I posted this I have decided an 8" is cheaper and will give me more low end. I can get a JBL GTO804 for $32 (which is less than the Infinity) shipped, that was in a damaged box. Looking at Amazon reviews this thing has good sound. I'm not looking for comp level. I am looking to fulfill the lower range of sound without the travel my 12" had. At the time I was all about loudness and how far it could be heard. Now I am more about quality and protecting my ears in the long term.

I have Clarion 6.5" in the front, and Rockford Fosgate power 6 x 8's in the back. I eventually want to replace the front with Rockford. I may end up ordering the JBL 8" tomorrow. I would just like some opinions on this, and if instead of lining the inside of the box, if just adding some polly fill would help.

 

[kevinspann]

I'd put in an 8" at least.

 

[vortex2450]

I decided to start a new thread and transfer my post that got very little views. I noticed the original one, although it had a lot of replies some years ago, wasn't in the best location.

I have an aftermarket amp all hooked up and ready to go. My car speakers are re-wired from the stereo back, all factory amps/wires are no longer in the car. I was pushing a 12" Sub in a bandpass box, with a 500 watt amp... a good one (Rockford Fosgate Prime). I sold the sub and box, wanting the sound more inside the car and not travel as far, as well as free up some trunk space. I got lucky and found a factory box for $5. I have 3/4" pressboard I can use to line the enclosure with.

I am wondering should I go with something like a JL 6w0 or Kicker 10CVT654 (can be used sealed or without a box), or go for more with an 8 such as Infinity Reference 8-Inch Ininity Reference. I definitally have the power to push a sub, and a multimeter to set my rms using a 70hz sine wave track on a cd.

Since I posted this I have decided an 8" is cheaper and will give me more low end. I can get a JBL GTO804 for $32 (which is less than the Infinity) shipped, that was in a damaged box. Looking at Amazon reviews this thing has good sound. I'm not looking for comp level. I am looking to fulfill the lower range of sound without the travel my 12" had. At the time I was all about loudness and how far it could be heard. Now I am more about quality and protecting my ears in the long term.

I have Clarion 6.5" in the front, and Rockford Fosgate power 6 x 8's in the back. I eventually want to replace the front with Rockford. I may end up ordering the JBL 8" tomorrow. I would just like some opinions on this, and if instead of lining the inside of the box, if just adding some polly fill would help.

Reading your post I can tell than you know what you are doing probably more so that most people.

With that said, you can fit up to a 10" in the stock box with some modification. Do not line the inside of the enclosure with anything, it is already a small enough space and reducing volume will limit your options for optimal driver selection. Use a quality damping material, I would highly suggest Acousta-stuf from parts-express. A 1lb bag is all you will need for the factory enclosure.

If you have not dealt with a program called winisd then I would suggest you go download it and play with it some. It will allow you to input the specs all of your driver choices and the enclosure size and gives you graphs and what not to help you determine the right driver.

With that said. I believe you have plenty of mid-bass down to the 100Hz range with your current full range speaker selection just fine, although; I would suggest you consider adding a dedicated amplifier to power them down the road. Go with an 8" because it would be more suited to the smaller sealed enclosure to produce quality low end given the higher qts of a smaller sub-woofer.

Browsing over the specs of the JBL you selected I would say it is not a bad choice. Your amp's rms rating should be close to the 200w rms rating of the driver so that will be a good match up. You will probably not want to turn the gain up anywhere past 1/4 in that smaller box. I approve of the driver selection BUT just be aware that any "car audio" brand subwoofer is not going to be made for high quality sound reproduction but this might not bother you unless you are a audiophile as I tend to be.

Anyways, I hope that helps. Get some quality damping material, make sure the driver is mounted and sealed well, and all will be well.

-Josh

 

[kevinspann]

Also, you can get poly-fill locally, or probably just cut open your least favorite pillow.

 

[vortex2450]

Also, you can get poly-fill locally, or probably just cut open your least favorite pillow.

Or you can be not so jewish and get the good stuff

 

[kevinspann]

So, you've got some of that high-end pillow stuffing I see.

I'm sure that over priced shit will make a big difference in a 20 year old plastic box bolted to the package tray of a Taurus, with a sub in it larger than what it was designed for.

 

[vortex2450]

So, you've got some of that high-end pillow stuffing I see.

I'm sure that over priced shit will make a big difference in a 20 year old plastic box bolted to the package tray of a Taurus, with a sub in it larger than what it was designed for.

i am sure those engineers had no idea what they were doing when they designed this stuff! Also, I'm sure the air inside of a plastic box is like 100x different than air inside of a wooden box!



-Josh

 

[javve]

Reading your post I can tell than you know what you are doing probably more so that most people.

With that said, you can fit up to a 10" in the stock box with some modification. Do not line the inside of the enclosure with anything, it is already a small enough space and reducing volume will limit your options for optimal driver selection. Use a quality damping material, I would highly suggest Acousta-stuf from parts-express. A 1lb bag is all you will need for the factory enclosure.

If you have not dealt with a program called winisd then I would suggest you go download it and play with it some. It will allow you to input the specs all of your driver choices and the enclosure size and gives you graphs and what not to help you determine the right driver.

With that said. I believe you have plenty of mid-bass down to the 100Hz range with your current full range speaker selection just fine, although; I would suggest you consider adding a dedicated amplifier to power them down the road. Go with an 8" because it would be more suited to the smaller sealed enclosure to produce quality low end given the higher qts of a smaller sub-woofer.

Browsing over the specs of the JBL you selected I would say it is not a bad choice. Your amp's rms rating should be close to the 200w rms rating of the driver so that will be a good match up. You will probably not want to turn the gain up anywhere past 1/4 in that smaller box. I approve of the driver selection BUT just be aware that any "car audio" brand subwoofer is not going to be made for high quality sound reproduction but this might not bother you unless you are a audiophile as I tend to be.

Anyways, I hope that helps. Get some quality damping material, make sure the driver is mounted and sealed well, and all will be well.

-Josh

lol I got a nice little debate going on here. With the sub I chose the space inside is just about right, so with that said, I think it will work well. I'm going to use either silicone or a good trim adhesive around the box since I did open it up. I want to make sure it is good and sealed there.

My Mom sews, so I know she has some polly-fill around, so I do not have to tear a pillow. I'd have to buy one to tear it anyway lol.

I forgot to mention in my original post, the car speakers are amped off a Rockford Fosgate Prime 300.4 which puts out about 50 watts rms. I have not gotten exact measurements yet. I would like to get a hold of a clamp gauge to borrow so I can get exact numbers. I can get reasonably close using the 4 ohm figure for each channel. I have a 1khz sine wave track that would work well for that! Can also check using the 123Hz. I do like the crisper sound the amp gives. It is a huge difference from when I was running off the HU

The RF Prime 500.1 was tested at 519 RMS based on the paper that came with the amp, so I know I'll have to make sure I dial it for the JBL (which is ordered). The nice thing is I will be nowhere near the max for the amp so it should push some nice clear sound!

 

[javve]

Program downloaded, will check it out.

 

[javve]

Ok to update anyone that may be looking at old posts and wondering, I did use the JBL GTO804. At one point I thought the speaker may have been blown. When it was working good it sounded okay but nothing super great. It did give me more of the lower mids that the other speakers lacked. Found that I needed to re-seal the cone to the surround. I fixed it, put it in a .8 cu ft ported box by specs on the spec sheet, and omg what a difference. This speaker sounds great in it. You would think it was a bigger speaker in there. This setup is going to someone else as I like a little bit louder, and have had other stuff in it since.

Just thought I would update anyone in case of a forum search.