Sub & Amp Pics

[boxster7614]

For those of you want real bass here you go......This sounds excelent and hits pretty hard. Bass punches right through.



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Also pic of new rims
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[rick3000]

Unless your standing outside your car, what's the point of having subs in the truck?
I'm not trying to be rude, but it doesn't make much sense to me. Also, you should look into a custom enclosure if you keep that in the car, just so it flows a little better, and doesn't slide around when your driving.

[edevlin]

That is some serious sub action for a boxster. I have wondered how a sub mounted in the rear trunk sounds. What battery(s) are you running with the system? I also have a JL Audio sub, but it is a little 8" unit in the passenger footwell. Several other board members also use that sub, it does a suprisingly good job for its size.

I think its corner location in the footwell allows it to couple with 4 surfaces to augment its output, like placing a subwoofer in the corner of a listening room, you normally get another 6db or so output. I dont know if it would work in your application, but you may want to consider mounting your amps on the sides of the front trunk like I did (see my website link below). It may allow you to carry more stuff in the trunk without messing up the amps. Have fun,

Ed

[boxster7614]

There is Velcro on the bottom of the box so it does not sliding around, but also not permanent so if I need to remove it I still can.

Placing the subs in your trunk does not hurt the sound quality by much because bass is omni directional it punches right through. The sealed enclosure gives it a nice tight bass. While sitting in the car it is a clean tight sound (not muffled like some would think). Trust me I am very picky when it comes to sound quality. The only thing you loose here is trunk space.


I am going to fabricate a plexus glass cover to go over the amps....I actually have new amps I am going to update these ones with.

I am running the normal battery with this set up....but a do have a giant stiffening capacitor (The silver can in the pics) I am running clarion separates in the dash and doors (you can see the cross overs mounted in the front trunk) and the rear Porsche speaker kit with a pair of tweeters added.

It is an amazing sounding system!

[rick3000]

That's cool that the bass carries through!

[Kirk]

A speaker creates sound by pushing air at different frequencies. What you hear are the sound waves from that air being pushed. Now with subs in a sealed trunk with no direct passage into the cabin how on Earth could you hear the air that is being pushed?

It's thus questionable to state that the bass "punches right through" as if somehow magically the air jumps out of the trunk and into the cabin. Just because bass is omni-directional does not mean that it's omni-present too. What you're hearing is the thump of the bass hitting your trunk and you're definitely FEELING the vibrations in the car (which probably has more impact than anything).

If you're happy with it though and think it produces a good, clean, tight bass, then that's all that really matters. Enjoy.... When I worked for Harman on their OEM sound systems we also would install subs in the trunk (for factory upgraded stereos). It wasn't ideal but was usually the best we could do with the packaging options that we had. I think you've probably done the same here.

[edevlin]

"A speaker creates sound by pushing air at different frequencies. What you hear are the sound waves from that air being pushed. Now with subs in a sealed trunk with no direct passage into the cabin how on Earth could you hear the air that is being pushed?"

A while ago I stopped at 5-guys burger joint and picked up a couple of cheese burgers and a couple of bags of frys for the family. It was a 15+ minute drive home, so I put them all in the rear trunk to keep them warm. As soon as I started driving, all I could smell all the way home was burgers and frys. Based on that experience, there would seem to have to be some way for air to get from the rear trunk to the passenger compartment, I found that interesting,

Ed

[Gary in BR]

^^^^I can not wait to hear someone explain this one^^^^

[boxster7614]

I actually drilled some small holes in the wall to let more sound into the boot area. How ever I didn't really notice that much of a change in sound with the holes added. You can see in the pic I put a small black speaker grill in the carpet to let the air through. (Just left of the oil fill)


Trust me every car stereo expert out there told me this would never work and I would never hear it. I went to 3 high end car stereo stores here and they all told me the same thing. One shop said they had tried it in a viper and you couldn't hear it. I purchased this box as a trial and error...it was made for a jeep wrangler.....I only paid $80 for the box. It turned out sounding great and I am very picky when it comes to sound.....my next move was to have them custom make a box that fit an 8" sub between the seats. I saw some pics a long time ago of a guy who had done this it was in a yellow boxster if anyone has the pics. They wanted $800 to make the custom enclosure. I like my $80 setup better.

You can definitely hear the bass and feel it...and yes I know the difference. I think there are plenty enough factory air leaks from the trunk area into the boot where the convertible top retracts to make this possible.

Yes the best sound quality would be to have no restrictions but on a scale of 1-10 10 having the sub in the cabin with you, this set up would probably rate a 9

We don't have many options when it comes to sub placement in our cars. Just trying to give people a few more options

The other pro to this set up is no one knows you have a sub setup or expects it. So would be thieves just pass me by.

If anyone would like to hear it and they are in Salt Lake City let me know. It's kind of hard to convince people how good it sounds in text.

[Kirk]

Originally Posted by boxster7614

It's kind of hard to convince people how good it sounds in text.

I agree. Rating it a 9 out of 10 though gives us a pretty good idea. It doesn't make a lot of sense, but hey, if it works for you cool...

BTW, I put my sweaty gym clothes in my trunk and thankfully I never smell them! The food in the trunk deal does raise an interesting question as to how much air passage there is between the cabin and the trunk.

[Cloudsurfer]

I know many of the other members here utilize the same 8" JL 8WO install that I have in my car, and yes, it sounds very musical and offers decent output. A LOT of homework went into designing that sub, and based on my audio background, I'm at a complete loss to understand your logic on how this could work.

I have seen some 996 guys build a bandpass box into the FRONT trunk, and tune it through a port into the cabin through the right hand drive steering shaft hole in the firewall. I have heard one of these cars and it wasn't bad- punchy, but over a narrow frequency range as it to be expected of a bandpass box.

Now, with the subs in the REAR trunk of a 986, BEHIND the engine, BEHIND the SEALED firewall, how do you plan on hearing anything? Sure, you're vibrating the hell out of the metal, and yes you will feel that, and you are losing plenty of SPL to the outside environment, but since you have no channel by which to tune this into the cabin, and no, there aren't plenty of leaks in the firewall, I'm really at a loss as to how this is a good idea.

Sorry to disagree with your findings.

Patrick

[rick3000]

I agree. The back of the trunk is metal, and even if you drilled holes in it, you have about 2-3' of engine which is all metal, then the cabin firewall, that has about an 1' of padding to muffle the engine noise.
I don't doubt that your hearing something, but I don't think you're hearing the speakers. Maybe the vibration are moving some thing in the cabin and that is amplifying the sound, or something.
Also, where you driving with the top up or down? Slow or fast? When you managed to smell the burgers in your trunk, and when you hear the subs.

[edevlin]

I think the top was down when I smelled the burgers in my Boxster. Parts of this discussion are interesting and remind me of some of my colleagues at work that have said they thought something is not possible without having any direct experience with the process they are discussing.

Now, it may be that there is no bass comming out of those two big subs in the rear trunk, or it may be very tight, clean bass, we do not know, as we do not have any direct experience. Based on our understanding of the construction of our cars, we can make educated guesses on how it sounds, but until we sit in the car, those opinions are just guesses.

I have often suprised myself when I have played the "it-just-cannt-be-so" game based on my understaning on the theory involved. Only to find out that in fact, in practice it was so..... fun stuff,


Ed

[boxster7614]

Sorry to break the bad news to you guys but your trunk LEAKS!

Take a closer look at your boxsters. Does your engine cover sits flush with the top of your car? Mine has a rear storage compartment on top of it and enough room for the convertible top to retract into. Almost half of the wall in the rear trunk goes right OVER the engine into the area ABOVE the engine....this is where the sound is passed not into the engine. This set up is not going through the fire wall but over it. The fire wall seals the engine off completly but not the trunk. If that trunk was completly sealed, it would never close because of the traped air.

Trust me there are plenty enough factory air leaks to allow sound to pass into the cabin to hear the bass.

However I did drill a few holes that pass through into the top, right Above the engine. To maximize sound.


The bass is louder when the top is up then when down, but that is completly normal with a convertible.

I did consider using a bandpass box and venting it into the cabin the same place I drilled the smaller holes. However bandpass boxes are very complicated and have a narrow frequency range. They are difficult to tune and end up sounding boomy. That is why I used the sealed box because it provides a tighter bass sound, isn't a narrow range, and requires less air space. That said with the sealed box inside the trunk it almost acts like a box within a box... the trunk acts as a box itself and the small air leaks would be the ports. All the leaks/ports allow for sound to pass through into the cabin....not through the fire wall!

Quote
"I have often suprised myself when I have played the "it-just-cannt-be-so" game based on my understaning on the theory involved. Only to find out that in fact, in practice it was so..... fun stuff,"

I wonder how hard it was to convince people the world was round?

[RandallNeighbour]

What's the long-term effect of the bass speakers rattling car parts loose?

I always wonder this when home boys drive their Buick Roadmasters with 22 inch chrome wheels and the hip hop a-pumpin' around my neighborhood. <-- yeah, I know my neighborhood ain't the best, but the house is paid for and it's worth $400k, so I'm staying put!

[dcporsche99]

Wow! That's something else! I hardly use my radio (re: usually only when I hear rattling and I'm trying to mask it). I just enjoy the sound of my car.

Love your rims!

[pteam]

Guys this isnt much different than a regular car, with a trunk and subs in the trunk. The trunk is separated from the driver in the same ways as a boxster.

[porsche986spyder]

Originally Posted by boxster7614

I am running the normal battery with this set up....but a do have a giant stiffening capacitor (The silver can in the pics) I am running clarion separates in the dash and doors (you can see the cross overs mounted in the front trunk) and the rear Porsche speaker kit with a pair of tweeters added.

It is an amazing sounding system!

If I were you, I would buy a Yellow Top Optima battery. The Red Top is good too, but with all the stereo stuff you have, the Yellow Top would be best for you. Have fun.

[Back2DTM]

Your engine is gonna thank you for setting up the system for it to listen.
hahah

How much does it weight?

[CJ_Boxster]

PWN3D by stereo shop!

Its ok, you can always move them to the front truck in a different encloser