how to make a conv system sound good
Registered User
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 317
From: Hagerstown, MD
I to have this problem. And I dont care if you run 10,000 watts of power you will not hear a damn thing. Well maybe with 10,000 watts. But I asked a local shop who are very good and the only thing you can do besides putting a bass tube between the back seats since it fits real nice in there like I did, is to make port wholes that would come from the trunk into the cockpit. I am also afaid to do this being that it is metal back there. But It would give you good sounding bass espically since the trunk is so small that the ports would be overran with bass. My advice is just put a bass tube in between the back seats and enjoy that sun. I love stereos but will never get rid of the ragtop.
Registered User
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 170
From: Minneapolis Area
Originally posted by firebirdude
It's not that it's trapped in the trunk...... it's that's it's playing into open air vs. a closed cabin.
It's not that it's trapped in the trunk...... it's that's it's playing into open air vs. a closed cabin.
-Eric H
Last edited by Eric H; Feb 12, 2003 at 12:44 AM.
Registered User
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,119
Originally posted by Eric H
Not true... like I said earlier, I have my subs in my back seat. They sound great and they are playing into open air.
Not true... like I said earlier, I have my subs in my back seat. They sound great and they are playing into open air.
Smaller the space, louder it is. Why do you think the Extreme 1-2'ers all use small compact hatchbacks and not bigass SUVs?
Registered User
Joined: Sep 1998
Posts: 167
From: Indianapolis, In, USA
Chuck the back seats, they're worthless anyway.
http://mypeoplepc.com/members/kgerck..._subwoofer.jpg
http://mypeoplepc.com/members/kgerck..._subwoofer.jpg
Registered User
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 915
From: North Haven, CT
"ROCKN SS: Chuck the back seats, they're worthless anyway. "
I can't do that b/c i'm always carrying around friends and girls who sit in the back seat. I've fit 3 people back there, not comfortably but one sat on the bump in between the seats so I can't really even use the basstube idea. What i was thinking what porting the box, then installing PVC pipes (or something better if you guys know of any)in the ports and running then directing into the cabin. I could hide them in back of the plastic panels, what do you guys think of this idea?
I can't do that b/c i'm always carrying around friends and girls who sit in the back seat. I've fit 3 people back there, not comfortably but one sat on the bump in between the seats so I can't really even use the basstube idea. What i was thinking what porting the box, then installing PVC pipes (or something better if you guys know of any)in the ports and running then directing into the cabin. I could hide them in back of the plastic panels, what do you guys think of this idea?
Registered User
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 170
From: Minneapolis Area
Originally posted by firebirdude
But I bet it sounds MUCH better with the top up huh? Like I said, ever try to play your subs in your back yard? How come it doesn't rattle your bones then? Simple. Because the subs have a much larger area to fill. Even try it in your house. You'll find that there is no bone rattling, but it's louder then your backyard.
But I bet it sounds MUCH better with the top up huh? Like I said, ever try to play your subs in your back yard? How come it doesn't rattle your bones then? Simple. Because the subs have a much larger area to fill. Even try it in your house. You'll find that there is no bone rattling, but it's louder then your backyard.
-Eric H
Registered User
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 170
From: Minneapolis Area
Marky, would you even need to use PVC piping? What if you just remove the rear speakers and fill the fender area with some sound deadening material. The sound will naturally flow up the open speaker hole.
-Eric H
-Eric H
Registered User
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 40
From: Englewood, FL, USA
I was going to try placing a couple of pieces of styrofoam for a test purpose across the back deck, and then covering those with a soft cloth (so as not to damage the back window). I don't have that plastic barrier piece in there any more (the one that runs under the rear window).
That way the airflow could exit from the trunk itself .. I don't know whether it would work or not, I haven't got around to trying it. But I do know that when I had my old Z28 ragtop, and I had my MTX 12 before I blew the sucker (powered by a RF 800a2) lol .. I could hear the bass when the top was down, albeit very lowly IN the car. You could certainly hear it outside the car, though... I had the sub facing downward, though. I have a hatch box with ONE 12 .. and I placed it so that it rested on the axle-hump and fired downward into the trunk. It rendered the trunk virtually useless...but I found the best sound was achieved through that setup (with what I had, anyway).
Chris
That way the airflow could exit from the trunk itself .. I don't know whether it would work or not, I haven't got around to trying it. But I do know that when I had my old Z28 ragtop, and I had my MTX 12 before I blew the sucker (powered by a RF 800a2) lol .. I could hear the bass when the top was down, albeit very lowly IN the car. You could certainly hear it outside the car, though... I had the sub facing downward, though. I have a hatch box with ONE 12 .. and I placed it so that it rested on the axle-hump and fired downward into the trunk. It rendered the trunk virtually useless...but I found the best sound was achieved through that setup (with what I had, anyway).
Chris
Registered User
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 2,154
From: All around
I've got a friend that works in a tweeter and we looked over the car long and hard. This is what we came up with:
Placing a single 10" sub in the trunk and then running PVC pipes through the corners of where the top folds and then squaring into vents behind the seat, but when the seat is up, it wont work as well. Running to the speaker panels would be a ROYAL bitch because of the top supports and lines. Not worth it.
Build a box where the top folds down in the trunk on the edge of the shelf. It'd be triangular and very small, but would fit a pair of 8's or even 3 or 4 8's with some work... Also run the PVC tubes for ports...
We through out the idea of a basstube because it simply screams "steal me" if you ever park with the top down.
Remold the rear seats so instead of a bucket, it's more of a pair of boxes with foam on top for some comfort. The boxes are a pair of LOW volume 10's or 8's... Would be costly, and then re-carpeting them to look like seats would be really cool though.
Or the final idea, which I am working on, is redo the doors to accept Kicker RMB8 free-air speakers. They have plenty of mid-bass potential, and can pulse out plenty of power. Making sure everything is tight in the door is a must, also dynomat like crazy is a good thing. But they have a very low mounting depth, so it works GREAT for the doors. Then mount tweeters in the pillars for the front sound stage. The rears get upgraded speakers, basically used for rear fill.
The convertible I sat in (2001 Eclipse Spyder) had the RMB8's done very nicely, and the bump wasnt huge, the RMB8's got everything but the lowest frequencies, and it was impressive for no loss of trunk and the system looked totally stock. I will not give up my trunk or my rear seats either
Placing a single 10" sub in the trunk and then running PVC pipes through the corners of where the top folds and then squaring into vents behind the seat, but when the seat is up, it wont work as well. Running to the speaker panels would be a ROYAL bitch because of the top supports and lines. Not worth it.
Build a box where the top folds down in the trunk on the edge of the shelf. It'd be triangular and very small, but would fit a pair of 8's or even 3 or 4 8's with some work... Also run the PVC tubes for ports...
We through out the idea of a basstube because it simply screams "steal me" if you ever park with the top down.
Remold the rear seats so instead of a bucket, it's more of a pair of boxes with foam on top for some comfort. The boxes are a pair of LOW volume 10's or 8's... Would be costly, and then re-carpeting them to look like seats would be really cool though.
Or the final idea, which I am working on, is redo the doors to accept Kicker RMB8 free-air speakers. They have plenty of mid-bass potential, and can pulse out plenty of power. Making sure everything is tight in the door is a must, also dynomat like crazy is a good thing. But they have a very low mounting depth, so it works GREAT for the doors. Then mount tweeters in the pillars for the front sound stage. The rears get upgraded speakers, basically used for rear fill.
The convertible I sat in (2001 Eclipse Spyder) had the RMB8's done very nicely, and the bump wasnt huge, the RMB8's got everything but the lowest frequencies, and it was impressive for no loss of trunk and the system looked totally stock. I will not give up my trunk or my rear seats either
Registered User
Joined: Feb 1999
Posts: 94
From: IL
Two things for you guys to look into...
1.) Go to www.ls1.com/forums and go down to the convertible section. You'll find a post by me asking about rear speaker dimensions, or something like that. There's a guy that posted in that thread with the screen name JohnnyBWS6 or something like that. He's starting to market some home fabbed up boxes especially for verts, which use two 8" subs in the trunk, vented into the cab of the car. Just lay down the back seat to get it to work properly. He's got pics in his sig.
2.) If you're wanting a shallow mount 8" sub (for mounting in the doors, or even the rear, as I almost did), look at the DEI 8" subs. One of their models utilizes an inverted magnet, and gives a speaker depth of 2½". If you're going to do this in the rear, you'll still need some spacers to get the room you need since the stock speakers are approx. 1" deep.
BigTymer- Would you mind running a couple options through WINisd for me?
1.) Go to www.ls1.com/forums and go down to the convertible section. You'll find a post by me asking about rear speaker dimensions, or something like that. There's a guy that posted in that thread with the screen name JohnnyBWS6 or something like that. He's starting to market some home fabbed up boxes especially for verts, which use two 8" subs in the trunk, vented into the cab of the car. Just lay down the back seat to get it to work properly. He's got pics in his sig.
2.) If you're wanting a shallow mount 8" sub (for mounting in the doors, or even the rear, as I almost did), look at the DEI 8" subs. One of their models utilizes an inverted magnet, and gives a speaker depth of 2½". If you're going to do this in the rear, you'll still need some spacers to get the room you need since the stock speakers are approx. 1" deep.
BigTymer- Would you mind running a couple options through WINisd for me?
Registered User
Joined: Feb 1999
Posts: 94
From: IL
hmm... I didn't think the RMB8's were that shallow. Looks like they might be a better route to go. 
I couldn't find the detailed specs on the DEI speakers, but they come in as a sort of component set setup. Do a search on google for "DEI Audio 3084" to find some info on them. They include a passive crossover with them as well, so you don't need to worry about crossing them over.
I found a set of kicker RMB8's at etronics.com for $110, but a set of the DEI 3084's goes for around $270 usually. If you've got a built in high pass crossover on your amp (most do), you'd probably be fine with the RMB8's.
I recommended the DEI's simply because I've never heard a single bad comment about them. I'd suspect if you do some reading around on various audio boards, you'd find the same thing. I've only seen a couple negative comments about the RMB's, but I'd gamble that's due to something beside the quality of the speaker.
I couldn't find the detailed specs on the DEI speakers, but they come in as a sort of component set setup. Do a search on google for "DEI Audio 3084" to find some info on them. They include a passive crossover with them as well, so you don't need to worry about crossing them over.
I found a set of kicker RMB8's at etronics.com for $110, but a set of the DEI 3084's goes for around $270 usually. If you've got a built in high pass crossover on your amp (most do), you'd probably be fine with the RMB8's.
I recommended the DEI's simply because I've never heard a single bad comment about them. I'd suspect if you do some reading around on various audio boards, you'd find the same thing. I've only seen a couple negative comments about the RMB's, but I'd gamble that's due to something beside the quality of the speaker.
Registered User
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 2,154
From: All around
That'd was my decision. Compared to any other 2.5" or less 8" speaker with decent power, it was always the best. Not to mention it is a true free air speaker, so it will have some advantages in the door compared to one that is not. And cost is always a good thing. The only other competitor was an infinity 8" speaker with a 1.5" mounting depth, but that thing had horrible efficiency and too little excursion and nobody liked it... hence why it was discontinued
The install is slow going, mainly because halfway through prep work my car got smashed, but I'm staying with a PAC OEM and stock head unit for "steath" (I park with the top down a LOT)
The install is slow going, mainly because halfway through prep work my car got smashed, but I'm staying with a PAC OEM and stock head unit for "steath" (I park with the top down a LOT)
