Sub Woofer Installation, Tried to get better Audio without carving up the car Options

[ctc911ctc]

All,

Been silent, very cold - garage is a 100 year old Yankee version, no heat.....will not hold any. So, my 17yr old son and I decided to upgrade the speakers (the old ones were absent any cone material).

Found a set of KFC-4675C (kenwood) that fit the spec, integrated mid range and tweeter. Now for the low range. We decided that carving up the car and running a large alternator and battery was not for this car, we are trying to restore it to 80-90 points. So we are using a passive crossover, the original tuner with a power amp that was installed in the 80s, still works (both units are Blauplunkt). We have about 40 watts - more than enough for the size of the car.

When we rebuilt the car we installed sound deadening material in the engine bay, passenger compartment and will put it in the trunk. Amazing how quiet the car seems in the passenger compartment now.

My son had the idea to install the Subwoofer in the engine compartment, cut through the back seat - had to explain the concept of FireWall to him, we looked at a dozen other places and settled on what I think is a very elegant solution.


Our car is a '74 2.0, Silver. So it has a center console. We are installing it there!



First, where should the speaker go????



Wow - no particle board - furniture grade ply!



Peel back the Vinyl, careful!



Counter sync for flush hidden finish



Score the vinyl, perhaps we can STRETCH it!



Heat gun and PULL, gently



Look at that circle, no wood showing, barely a wrinkle!



Add a screen



Bolt that Micro SubWoofer in place



What the Passenger will see



Perfect Fit



Passive Crossover


Will post a note as to how this sounds in a few weeks (months?)

[preach]

Pretty good spot.
My Cayman's factory sub is a bump on the left of the p-side footwell.

[MiniStevieG]

All,

Been silent, very cold - garage is a 100 year old Yankee version, no heat.....will not hold any. So, my 17yr old son and I decided to upgrade the speakers (the old ones were absent any cone material).

Found a set of KFC-4675C (kenwood) that fit the spec, integrated mid range and tweeter. Now for the low range. We decided that carving up the car and running a large alternator and battery was not for this car, we are trying to restore it to 80-90 points. So we are using a passive crossover, the original tuner with a power amp that was installed in the 80s, still works (both units are Blauplunkt). We have about 40 watts - more than enough for the size of the car.

When we rebuilt the car we installed sound deadening material in the engine bay, passenger compartment and will put it in the trunk. Amazing how quiet the car seems in the passenger compartment now.

My son had the idea to install the Subwoofer in the engine compartment, cut through the back seat - had to explain the concept of FireWall to him, we looked at a dozen other places and settled on what I think is a very elegant solution.


Our car is a '74 2.0, Silver. So it has a center console. We are installing it there!



First, where should the speaker go????



Wow - no particle board - furniture grade ply!



Peel back the Vinyl, careful!



Counter sync for flush hidden finish



Score the vinyl, perhaps we can STRETCH it!



Heat gun and PULL, gently



Look at that circle, no wood showing, bearly a wrinkle!



Add a screen



Both that Micro SubWoofer in place



What the Passenger will see



Perfect Fit



Passive Crossover


Will post a note as to how this sounds in a few weeks (months?)

I love it. Nice work man! Very impressed with your attention to detail. You taking orders?

[windforfun]

Don't forget to reverse the phase relative to the "full" frequency range loudspeakers. Your crossover may permit this. It can make a huge difference in the sound quality.

[ConeDodger]

You could have just purchased this already made from 914rubber.com. @mikey914 if the are still making them.

[ctc911ctc]

I love it. Nice work man! Very impressed with your attention to detail. You taking orders?

I will ask my boss, the 17 year old in the picture! HA!

[Mikey914]

Nice work, but to get decent sound you need to box it in. I’ll post some pics of the one we do so you can see it.
Mark

[ctc911ctc]

Nice work, but to get decent sound you need to box it in. I’ll post some pics of the one we do so you can see it.
Mark

Hey Mikey,

As to the BOX, the passenger compartment is box enough! At the frequency range we are at, we do not need projection just coupling.

Will post how it sounds, just trying to fill in the 100-1000.

I read that you made these? could not find them on your site.. Link please?

CTC911CTC

[Chi-town]

There's a guy on ebay who sells this set up too

[amfab]

Nice work, but to get decent sound you need to box it in. I’ll post some pics of the one we do so you can see it.
Mark

Hey Mikey,

As to the BOX, the passenger compartment is box enough! At the frequency range we are at, we do not need projection just coupling.

Will post how it sounds, just trying to fill in the 100-1000.

I read that you made these? could not find them on your site.. Link please?

CTC911CTC

If it is not a sealed or ported box you will be putting negative and positive pressure into the box of the passenger compartment simultaneously and the pressure waves will cancel each other out below the frequency at which the open console acts as a small baffle.

-Andrew

[Chris914n6]

Speakers need to be in an enclosure to be effective.

Notice how the stock speakers suck for anything but voices, it's because the speaker is essentially in free air. Notice how fuller door speakers sound in modern cars... they have been engineered with the door as the 'box'.
Bose speakers are actually in tuned plastic 'boxes' that are mounted in the doors.

[dr914@autoatlanta.com]

best to put the sub woofer where the passenger foam block under the bulkhead carpet rests. Works perfectly, cannot tell any difference in the interior appearance:

[Rand]

best to put the sub woofer where the passenger foam block under the bulkhead carpet rests. Works perfectly, cannot tell any difference in the interior appearance:

Doesn't matter if it's in the footwell or the center console. Both are equally stealth. What matters is the design of the enclosure as has been said here. A speaker enclosure should be air-tight behind. Either place requires fiberglass work to make the box work. If you don't have a tight box you are losing 10x the pleasure (sound) by design. Unplanned innuendo.

[914forme]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) Or ported, band passed, etc....

And then if you want to go deep, we can go into matching the speakers to the enclosure or the enclosure to the speaker and on and on and on....

I think it is a great attempt, now just seal the box and see what you get. Might be good, might be a learning experience, just do not treat it as a failure.

[Mikey914]

Not a failure, just brought up the sealing to help improve your product.

[horizontally-opposed]

best to put the sub woofer where the passenger foam block under the bulkhead carpet rests. Works perfectly, cannot tell any difference in the interior appearance:

If someone makes a box for this—which lost no legroom, I'm interested. Much more appealing than the center console, as it could end up invisible (and I don't have a center console in my car, something I suspect is true for many 914s).

Even a mild bass "box/tube" that was well designed and didn't eat up any more legroom than the foam block would be a nice improvement.

[ctc911ctc]

Nice work, but to get decent sound you need to box it in. I’ll post some pics of the one we do so you can see it.
Mark

Hey Mikey,

As to the BOX, the passenger compartment is box enough! At the frequency range we are at, we do not need projection just coupling.

Will post how it sounds, just trying to fill in the 100-1000.

I read that you made these? could not find them on your site.. Link please?

CTC911CTC

If it is not a sealed or ported box you will be putting negative and positive pressure into the box of the passenger compartment simultaneously and the pressure waves will cancel each other out below the frequency at which the open console acts as a small baffle.

-Andrew

Not too concerned, coupling will be ok, Lamda is large, blocking is present.

Thanks, will let you know how it works.
CTC911CTC

[drem914]

best to put the sub woofer where the passenger foam block under the bulkhead carpet rests. Works perfectly, cannot tell any difference in the interior appearance:

If someone makes a box for this—which lost no legroom, I'm interested. Much more appealing than the center console, as it could end up invisible (and I don't have a center console in my car, something I suspect is true for many 914s).

Even a mild bass "box/tube" that was well designed and didn't eat up any more legroom than the foam block would be a nice improvement.

The sub box you seek is available at 914Rubber.com and a vendor on ebay. Just look up Porsche 914 subwoofer. covered in black or grey perlon, fits an 8" sub.

[Jonathan Livesay]

I made this one, with a dedicated power amp for the sub and four other speakers it's probably over kill for a concert hall the size of a 914 cockpit. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[horizontally-opposed]

The sub box you seek is available at 914Rubber.com and a vendor on ebay. Just look up Porsche 914 subwoofer. covered in black or grey perlon, fits an 8" sub.

^ Many thanks!