Speaker & Sub Options

[pcar-yvr]

I love my car.
I hate my stereo.

Heard that before?? I will change the second phrase to "I love my stereo" by doing what we all do - pouring money over, under, and into the boxster.

Before I do so - got three questions that I'm hoping someone can help with.

1) For a subwoofer, I've heard of people adding them to the doors, passenger footwell, and even the rear trunk. Has anyone tried putting the sub in the front by the spare tire? I am curious if this system will produce a good effect, as I really don't want to give up on interior space.

2) For speakers, if I don't already have door speakers, do I need any special framing to put new ones in there?

3) Finally, I don't currently have a rear storage compartment. Any members put in after-market speakers or tweeters on the rear deck with a custom box? If so - I'd really appreciate a picture of how it turned out. I know a pretty good installer who is comfortably fiberglassing custom boxes, but I'd love to show him a picture first of a fellow boxster owner whose done it right.

Thanks for the help!

[Cloudsurfer]

Search for my posts on my install. I have a custom box in the footwell with an 8W0. Several other members have purchased the same box from the shop that did mine. It is excellent.

As to using the front truck for a sub, you would have to do a bandpass box and likely port it through the passenger steering shaft hole (where it would be on a RHD car). This works, but will likely be boomy and only work over a very small frequency range. Significant homework will have to go into designing it acoustically.

If you don't already have door speakers, the easiest way will be to get the assemblies fro a dismantler, and then load them with your driver of choice.

I am not a fan of rear speakers, but if you wanted to do what you described, it should easily be doable.

Hope that helps.

Patrick

[rick3000]

Door speakers can be a pain to add, you will need to replace the interior of the door and make a speaker baffle if you install anything bigger than 5.25" But they make a big difference.

The rear speakers will not be hard to do. I would recommend using PVC to make a speaker box, but I have also seen some very cool custom enclosures made out of fiberglass and wood. If you only want speakers in this box, and not storage space you could try and mount a thin sub there. That would make more sense than mounting one in the trunk.

[pcar-yvr]

Finally spoke to my installer friend and he's made 2 recommendations that I'd like to run by the board. This guy is not a NEWB - although admittedly has only worked on a couple of 986's before.

OPTION 1
Upgrade dashboard speakers
AND
Install 8" Subs in each door (He says no problem building out the enclosure and shouldn't brush up against leg when done)

OPTION 2
Upgrade dashboard speakers
AND
Pull out carpet/insulation behind seats - replace entire back area with a fibreglass cavity (about $250 of materials) and thin subs behind each seat. He claims this will create awesome sound and not sacrifice seat space / leg room.


Thoughts if this will work?
Preferences?

It's definately different than the sub in footwell option.

Thanks for your help....

[rick3000]

Both of those have problems. You're going to have a lot of trouble fitting 8" subs in the doors. There is not enough room for that diameter sub, but you may be able to fit smaller 6.5" subs in backward. That is probably the way to go.
The other problem is that you cannot just replace the carpet behind the seat. It's the firewall protecting you from the engine in the event of an accident, etc. I would not pull it and all the insulation out just to put in a sub. It could be dangerous and make a lot of extra noise.

[Cloudsurfer]

Agree with Rick here, and that the "flat piston" subs do not sound musical at all, they are mainly used for SPL. I could not be happier with my install, and would recommend you go this route as well.

Patrick