UHF

Ok, I've seen you guys with boot builds which obviously dont move around and stuff and then theres the lads with the stealth boxes which fit snugly in the corner but I've got a huge 12" dual box which I'm about to fit (it came across with some other bits from a smaller car), and I havent a clue how to stop it moving around the boot.

In my old car it was velcro'd to the carpet but the thing is quite heavy and started to move around with the carpet still attached, now i'm guessing that the MY99 boot carper wont be attached to the car other than it just resting there. So how do I put this big lump in the vast expanse of the subaru boot without it moving all over the place, there will be amps on the backs of the seats so its key that it shouldnt beable to run forwards into them, as well as not being allowed to crush any luggage I may also be carrying.

I'm sure this is a simple problem to solve thats been solved on many occasions, I just dont know how!

BTW, is there a more sensible place for the amps, and do I really wanna start screwing them to the backs of the seats?

chiark

Re: sub box moving, lots of people put a slab of MDF under the carpet and bolt into, or screw into that...

UHF

what you mean put mdf across the whole boot floor so its tight or just a peice the size of the sub thats screwed to the car somehow?

chiark

I mean put a fairly big bit of mdf under the carpet in such a manner that it doesn't move around, and screw into that bit of MDF.

The other option is to look behind the lavish Subaru boot lining and find the support pillars, then somehow bind the box to there using webbing (esp. if you know spiderman), or whatever takes your fancy.

Daz WRX

WHAT CHIARK MEANS IS LAY A PIECE OF MDF ACROSS THE WHOLE OF THE BOOT SPACE OR AT LEAST FROM THE BACK OF THE CHAIRS TO THE BOOT ENTRANCE, THIS PIECE CANNOT SLIDE BACK OR FOURTH AND IF YOU MAKE IT WIDE ENOUGH IT WONT MOVE SIDE TO SIDE EITHER. PUT YOUR CARPET BACK IN THE BOOT AND SCREW THE BOX THROUGH THE CARPET INTO THE MDF UNDERNEATH.

AS FOR MOUNTING AMPS ON BACK OF CHAIRS, DONT DO IT, TRY TO FIT IT ON THE BACK OF THE SUB BOX, IF YOU WANT TO DISPLAY IT THEN SCREW IT TO THE MDF PANNEL UNDER THE CARPET.
SORTED.

DAZ

UHF

Problem is that if I screw amps down to that new peice of MDF then i wont beable to remove stuff if I need to transport something large, atleast if they were on the seat I could just detach the box and thats it! I'll map out the boot and draw a diagram!

chiark

UHF, I'm just about to reinstall and will let you know what I come up with.

Daz WRX

Another option of the top of my head, fix the amp to the box and use additional connectors, spade ones will do, attach a spade to piece of power cable and screw one end into the amp and the other end has the spade, connect that to a spade on the cable that runs to the battery, complete process with all cables and then all you need to do is simply disconnect all spades to remove amp. Leave pleanty of slack.
Sounded OK in theory but may be a pain in the ***.
assuming that you dont care about the spare wheel you could mount the amp upside down in the wheel hole screwed into the same piece of MDF. HMM that might just work.
Daz

Edited to add if you have more than one amp then one on the floor of the wheel hold will probably just about fit.PROBABLY!

[Edited by Daz WRX - 7/18/2002 11:53:32 AM]

chiark

For power connections on an amp, I have used XLR connectors with one connector dedicated to ground and one for power. I used a three pin for ground and 5 pin for power so you couldn't plug 'em in the wrong way around. I mounted sockets on the side of the boot (it was a fiesta). Worked well and regularly got removed from the boot when I lived in Leeds 6 as a student.

You could be dealing with quite a few amps, so check that your connectors are up to it. I think XLRs will take around 15A per pin.

David_Wallis

Nick fancy a hand with that reinstall?? oh and I can get some monster power / battery connectors that will take 2awg

David

chiark

I may well take you up on that offer . I'm trying to think of a way of maximising space whilst maximising sound too. Fun.

Plus I may change to a single fifteen rather than the 2 10s, which may well find a new life in my lounge

UHF

i'm running 2 12's, what would a single 15 be like in comparison on the same amp (800w son of boltar hifonics amp)

David_Wallis

hmm... not sure about 15's I dont quite like the sound.... Could use a blade servo dsp thing.. ??

David

audio g man

A 15 Chiark. Why?

chiark

Well, why not? Bigger surface area than 2 tens. Quite like the sound, as in the right box they can still punch.

A mate tried the blade dsp (the original version 1). In our collective experience, it was one of the worst bits of kit we'd either tried and we ended up having major hassle with both it and the uk distributor. Really disappointed with it, couldn't get a replacement, couldn't get it tested by the guy, hadn't ever been tested in the UK but the guy swore it did what it said. It didn't.

But enough people (particularly car stereo and security) raved about 'em to make us think we'd got a duff one and been monsterously unlucky.

audio g man

What's "the Blace dsp"?

chiark

Blade Servo-1 DSP is (or was) a bass processing unit that supposedly allowed you to do magical things to your bass signal. Change 15s to sound as punchy as 10s but go as deep as 15s.

It introduced digital noise and didn't do much else in our experience, but was deeply loved by the techie guy at Car Stereo and Security.

UHF

Probably a pointless expense since to do it properly you should use a big and small sub

chiark

UHF - never heard a good setup with different sized subs. My mate and I tried lots, different set ups from 10s,12s,15s,18s in various combinations, but the best was always a pair (or more) of matched drivers otherwise there were nasty peaks in the response - nastier than normal in a car

Ended up with 4 15" Rockford power 15s in two bandpass boxes (3 cu.ft. behind each speaker, 3 cu.ft centre chamber with a tuned "port" that I can't remember size of, and managed to hit 149dB at Earl's Court in Live 95 SCA soundoff channels. All with under 300W. This was in a long wheel base shogun with 2 seats rather than the normal 7... He gave up competing after that season and goes between doing nothing with car audio and going mad getting back into it.

We're thinking about buying a hearse (Daimler DS6) and being silly with it. But this will take quite a bit of time

Off topic? I think so... Sorry

UHF

I just look at it from a scientific point of view, we use tiny drivers which dont move much for high, then bigger for mids and then big ones for lows, you get three curves which overlap, the more speakers you can fit in these overlaps the better as it'll smooth out your curve. So there is a definite cause for having a midbass and a low bass setup, I used to know someone who ran a couple of 15's and a couple of 10's, that seemed to fill out the range, unfortunately the 15's didnt do much cos the filter was set too low anyway I think i'll just stick my 2 12's back in and see how it goes, but a nice 15 in the middle of them both might be nice. Dont wanna weigh the car down too much now do I!

chiark

True. And I did used to run 2 12s and 2 eights in the Fiesta. That car was sodding loud but verrrry slow

The x-overs are the interesting challenge. We tried running sub systems in parallel and that was just horrible. (ie 10s and 15s on the same signal)

UHF

agreed, you need to run duals in parralel and then another set of duals off of another amp!

David_Wallis

I had good experiences with the blade maybe I was lucky when I played around with it? using a wierd velodyne sub if I remember rightly...

anyway... I think more to the point as you know is its not your sub choice that matters its the box... I would go sealed every day... but thats me... what about isobaric? (i think) one inside the box one outside the box.. .wired out of phase... or in phase.. whatever so they work together... but four subs in this combination?

Anyway if your getting a 15 then it must be dvc! running at 2ohms with lots of power 500w rms+ (in my opinion!)

David

DJ Dunk

iTrader: (5)

On the original subject - I just put big straps around it and then round the bar that runs along at the base of the rear seats. Doesn't move an inch Thats only a 12" Infinty basstube, but it is very secure, strapped up against the back seats. Easy to remove too, comes out in about 5 seconds

UHF

i take it that you dont have any amps then? or are these screwed elsewhere? I'm gonna dive in the boot on the weekend and have a see what I can do, dont wanna mess around with mdf boards, else i'll add too much weight to the back of the car

DJ Dunk

iTrader: (5)

The amp is fixed to the back of the 60% rear seat attached to an MDF board. Still has enough ventilation even with the tube against it.

Crusty

We use a couple of 'L' brakets on the sides of 'box and use wing-nuts to allow quickish removal... would'nt put an amp on a removable sub box...