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Fender Subwoofer "cheap and easy" review

Faceman

Faceman

Autocross Newbie
Location
Long Island
Car(s)
'17 GSW 4Mo
FYI, if the rear of the driver is sitting flush against the inside of the cabinet, you can overheat the voice coil, as the pole vent is being blocked.
 
J

Jozooka

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Bucks County, PA
afman916 said:
Great, thanks man. So just to ensure I'm on the right page as I haven't gone and physically measured the trunk yet:

- The box itself can only be 4" tall OD. At 4" tall, the floor sits flush and the box rests atop the spare tire.
- This leaves either 3 1/2" or 3 1/4" of mountable depth for the sub, depending on if going with 3/4" or 1/2" material.
- Any additional mounting depth necessary will have to be found by raising the sub off the box with flanges, causing the sub to protrude into the spare tire void. As long as the outside diameter of the sub is not greater than the inside diameter of the spare tire, this should work fine. However, I'd imagine care must be taken to ensure the sub has enough room to"move" (flex? whatever the audio term would be) and doesn't bump against the trunk floor.


Is that all about right? Looking to draw up some plans for a box build this weekend with my dad. Thanks guys!

*Edit - for reference, this is the sub I'm looking at

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_13692...CbF_Es6yrzSDZkDKoPnKNF1sK5Kf5FnsaAikTEALw_wcB

top-mount depth: 4-5/8"
sealed box volume: 0.65 cubic feet
Click to expand...

Everything seems right on. I'm not sure what you mean by "bump against the trunk floor" but it is totally fine for the deck cover to lay right on the sub box. Maybe if you use flimsy 1/2" materials the box could flex and cause buzzing or other noise, but good materials and/or internal bracing should eliminate that.
If you meant the base of the speaker hitting the inside of the box, like others said, allow for some space/gap there - I think I have about 1/4-3/8" gap and I used a router to remove material there.
You're using your own amp right? The stock sub is dual voice coil so it has 2 sets of wires going into it.
 
A

afman916

Ready to race!
Location
Raleigh, NC
Jozooka said:
Everything seems right on. I'm not sure what you mean by "bump against the trunk floor" but it is totally fine for the deck cover to lay right on the sub box. Maybe if you use flimsy 1/2" materials the box could flex and cause buzzing or other noise, but good materials and/or internal bracing should eliminate that.
If you meant the base of the speaker hitting the inside of the box, like others said, allow for some space/gap there - I think I have about 1/4-3/8" gap and I used a router to remove material there.
You're using your own amp right? The stock sub is dual voice coil so it has 2 sets of wires going into it.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I meant if the sub is downward firing and I have it too close to the floor.

Regarding amp, yes I'm planning on going from Fender sub wiring to LC2i to appropriate amp, which is TBD. Trying to figure out exactly which sub(s) I can fit and then settle on an amp from there.
 
Faceman

Faceman

Autocross Newbie
Location
Long Island
Car(s)
'17 GSW 4Mo
afman916 said:
Didn't even think of that, thanks! Is there a rule of thumb for space needed to prevent overheating?
Click to expand...
A low excursion driver such as this one could get away with a half inch, but generally 1"+ is recommended.
 
G

George Ab

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Pacific NW
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Nice work! This looks like a great mod.

Only downside is the lost space of having to have floor raised to higher position. Will use connector so I can throw my standard sub in if I’m going to airport with bags and need the extra space. However, considering I did not even know there were two positions for hatch floor for first year of ownership likely I can live with the reduced space.

Saw this last night and since have finished my design, ordered parts and cut out box, will screw and glue tomorrow. $192 all in.

Used the same Rockford Fosgate R2SD2 speaker. My enclosure is 22”X20”X4” using ½” plywood, which is .7 cubic feet as recommended by speaker manufacture. With ½” plywood will have a .1” of clearance between driver and cabinet without routering or raising speaker edge. After hearing the input about heating concerns, will make sure the pole vent is clear and will consider routering to get some additional space. However, if I have some clearance I am not going to be too concerned.

Progress is being made. Just waiting on the speaker. Did use router to get more distance for pole vent. Put a lot of attention on sealing the enclosure, used silicon sealant on any screw or joint. Price has creeped up had to reorder speaker as seller was a complete waste of time. Spray adhesive was $26; ran out of first can before carpet was on. If I were to do over again I would get fast tacky glue and a brush.

The pin out for the connector is: 1 white/yellow +, 2 white +, 3 brown yellow -, 4 brown -
 
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B

bradfordstl

New member
Location
Missouri
I went ahead and bought the VW plug (QTY 1 - 8E0-972-714) and VW wires (QTY 2 - 000-979-226-EA) to use the existing plug for quick/clean/easy removal, but you could certainly just cut/splice.

You need 2 sets of connectors for the box since you're running 2 pairs of wires into the speaker.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this- It's very clear what you say, but when I go to buy- it's not so clear; no descriptions and pictures of 000-979-226-EA seem to show 1 wire- but part contains 2 wires, not just 1?

Thanks to your example I'm taking a hybrid approach from both threads;
- Atrend 12SME 12-Inch Single Sealed Shallow Mount Enclosure (time crunch, may build my own later)
- Fosgate R2SD2-12
- 2x PIXNOR Terminals
- Your suggested harness
- Wires I have in the house

Coming in around the $160 mark

Thanks again for the great example!
 
G

George Ab

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Pacific NW
Just a comment on the QTY 2 - 000-979-226-EA repair wire. You need four 2.8mm male terminals that will lock into the connector 8E0-972-714 to go into the mating connector which has four female 2.8mm terminals. The 000-979-226-EA repair wire is a wire with a 2.8mm male terminal on each end so with four terminals required two repair wire are required which will be cut.

The repair wire is pretty expensive at $15 each. If you just purchase a used VW/Audi connectors off of eBay that have the wires still on (lopped off as many are sold), just remove the terminals. So for $5 you get many repair terminals. I had some connectors hanging around for the headlight and just removed the terminals. Therefore, I only needed to purchase the 8E0-972-714 connector.

To removed terminals you slide the purple retainer to allow release and then slide down a ground down tweezers or a couple of sewing needles down the two slots on either side of the pin to release the two sides keepers and pull wire out.
 
B

bradfordstl

New member
Location
Missouri
George Ab said:
two repair wire are required which will be cut.
Click to expand...

Wonderful! Makes sense now- I had just ordered 2 last night and was going to hope for the best.

The repair wire is pretty expensive at $15 each. If you just purchase a used VW/Audi connectors off of eBay that have the wires still on (lopped off as many are sold), just remove the terminals.

Indeed it is the most expensive wire I have ever seen! :) The next project I will look for used and save the cash, thanks for the advice!
 
J

Jozooka

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Bucks County, PA
Faceman

Faceman

Autocross Newbie
Location
Long Island
Car(s)
'17 GSW 4Mo
Jozooka said:
WHAT I'D DO DIFFERENTLY
1) I'd use 1/2" MDF or 1/2" plywood for the top and bottom and brace the inside (still would use 3/4" for the sides). 3/4" MDF feels like overkill for a box this small and is pretty heavy.
2) If using 1/2" materials, I would've added a 1/2" tall flange to raise the speaker up to avoid needing to router the base.
Click to expand...
1) 1/2" would be fine for the sides as they're shorter spans. It's the larger pieces, such as the top and bottom, that need either bracing(best) or thicker material(good).

2) A thicker flange with a routered gap between the pole vent and cabinet would be best.

Otherwise, nice job.
 
I

ILoveButter

Ready to race!
Location
Worshington
George Ab said:
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Nice work! This looks like a great mod.

Only downside is the lost space of having to have floor raised to higher position. Will use connector so I can throw my standard sub in if I’m going to airport with bags and need the extra space. However, considering I did not even know there were two positions for hatch floor for first year of ownership likely I can live with the reduced space.

Saw this last night and since have finished my design, ordered parts and cut out box, will screw and glue tomorrow. $155 all in.

Used the same Rockford Fosgate R2SD2 speaker. My enclosure is 22”X20”X4” using ½” plywood, which is .7 cubic feet as recommended by speaker manufacture. With ½” plywood will have a .1” of clearance between driver and cabinet without routering or raising speaker edge. After hearing the input about heating concerns, will make sure the pole vent is clear and will consider routering to get some additional space. However, if I have some clearance I am not going to be too concerned.
Click to expand...
Use mdf, and most defiantly hog it out behind the magnet. These subs the fit in that area don't bang hard enough to cause damage to the box, you could hog .25 out from behind the sub. Just brace it
 
A

afman916

Ready to race!
Location
Raleigh, NC
Are there any rules of thumb for internal bracing for a slim box like the designs in this thread? First time building a box and want to make sure I brace appropriately.
 
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