subs in parcel shelf?

[LthlThrt]

hey there all, i was wondering if i had 2 8 or 10 inch slimline subs in the parcel shelf would that be a good idea? would just standard MDF be fine to put them on? or would i need to redesign the parcel shelf?
cheers

[sweefu]

Unless you get free-to-air subs, it wil sound rubbish and free to air subs don't sound great anyway.
Like all speakers, subs need boxes. Best thing to do is get a sub for the boot, you can get moulded boxes to fit in the corner of the boot that look factory and take up next to no room.

Cheers.

[StoneX]

They're called "free air" subs, not "free to air" subs

Australia says NO to subs in parcel shelves. It's not going to sound going, going to look stupid and show potential thieves exactly what they can steal from your car. You'd be much better having a single sub in a box.

[LthlThrt]

Unless you get free-to-air subs, it wil sound rubbish and free to air subs don't sound great anyway.
Like all speakers, subs need boxes. Best thing to do is get a sub for the boot, you can get moulded boxes to fit in the corner of the boot that look factory and take up next to no room.

Cheers.

thanks for the reply, when you say in the corner do you mean behind the tail lights or behind the seats? how much would i be chasing for moulded boxes?

[LthlThrt]

They're called "free air" subs, not "free to air" subs

Australia says NO to subs in parcel shelves. It's not going to sound going, going to look stupid and show potential thieves exactly what they can steal from your car. You'd be much better having a single sub in a box.

well i was going to leave it looking standard on top, still have the 6 by 9 grills so it looked standard, but i have changed my mind now lol, just thought id ask so i didnt go and make a mistake when purchasing the equipment. thanks for the reply

[StoneX]

You can get moulded boxes on eBay, just do a search. If it's a low powered sub it'll be fine but if you're using a high powered sub I'd pain some extra resin on the inside of the box to strengthen it.

[sweefu]

They're called "free air" subs, not "free to air" subs

Ah yes, makes more sense. Thats what happens when you work till 11.30pm then get up at 6am haha

[LthlThrt]

You can get moulded boxes on eBay, just do a search. If it's a low powered sub it'll be fine but if you're using a high powered sub I'd pain some extra resin on the inside of the box to strengthen it.

i was planning on going high power subs? stupid question, but what does the resin do?

[sweefu]

The resin will re inforce the box so it doesnt stress or flex or crack. What subs were you thinking? What sort of power were you wanting to feed them?
Cheers.

[StoneX]

Yeah, as sweefu said, putting resin in the box will strengthen it. The premade fibreglass boxes aren't made very thick so for higher powered subs they can do with some reinforcement. You can use resin and fibreglass matting if you want to make it stronger properly.

[LthlThrt]

The resin will re inforce the box so it doesnt stress or flex or crack. What subs were you thinking? What sort of power were you wanting to feed them?
Cheers.

not sure, i was hoping for around the 130 - 150db mark, so they would be fairly powerful, any ideas? what sort of power do they break at?

[LthlThrt]

Yeah, as sweefu said, putting resin in the box will strengthen it. The premade fibreglass boxes aren't made very thick so for higher powered subs they can do with some reinforcement. You can use resin and fibreglass matting if you want to make it stronger properly.

were would i get matting from and how much would i be looking at?

[StoneX]

Matting and resin from a hardware store. Don't know how much.

130dB to 150dB are completely different... Like a candle compared to a spotlight. What subs and amps are you looking at?

[LthlThrt]

thats a big difference haha, so i am going to go for 150 then, i was thinking a pair of these subwoofers - TS-W2504SPL pioneer and the amp i think would be one of these monoblocs each - PRS-D1100M.

[sweefu]

For 150dB mate you are going to be looking at massive ported boxes, not small sealed boxes.. I don't even know if you could get 150dB in a tiny sealed box like the moulded ones, or if you did it would be very very exspensive. You would now be looking at custom made ported boxes.

[StoneX]

Yeah, 150dB is extremely hard in a large car like a Commodore. You'll need several thousands of dollars worth of subs and amps and lots of trial and error with ported sub box design. 140dB would be a more realistic target and would still rattle your head

[holdenboy]

Yep i'd have to agree, 150db in a sedan is near impossible.....and thats using $10k worth of gear. I did 150s in a wagon with only $500 subs, $1000 amp, $1000 worth of batteries, probably another $400 on wiring and a few more hundred on boxes / resin etc. So yep, $3000 is the absolute minimum needed to spend to get those sort of scores in a wagon, then theres the 60-70 hours of testing and box building.
Plus to cap it all off, to get the maximum SPL possible the box needs to be tuned to play one specific frequency. This means that it'll probably only sound good with 10 or so songs, everything else will sound like crap.

I totally agree with StoneX, youre much better off to aim for 140db and still have a musical system. Plus you dont need to spend heaps on stupidly-big wiring and batteries.
I built a "musical" box for my car right before i sold everything, it was tuned to 35hz and peaked at 39hz in car.......did 148db and i enjoyed that SO much more than the 150db box

[LthlThrt]

thanks for your replies everyone

For 150dB mate you are going to be looking at massive ported boxes, not small sealed boxes.. I don't even know if you could get 150dB in a tiny sealed box like the moulded ones, or if you did it would be very very exspensive. You would now be looking at custom made ported boxes.

im trying to keep to a budget so would the custom made be cheaper?

Yeah, 150dB is extremely hard in a large car like a Commodore. You'll need several thousands of dollars worth of subs and amps and lots of trial and error with ported sub box design. 140dB would be a more realistic target and would still rattle your head

that is what i am aiming for, so 140db would still be good, also less trial and error?

Yep i'd have to agree, 150db in a sedan is near impossible.....and thats using $10k worth of gear. I did 150s in a wagon with only $500 subs, $1000 amp, $1000 worth of batteries, probably another $400 on wiring and a few more hundred on boxes / resin etc. So yep, $3000 is the absolute minimum needed to spend to get those sort of scores in a wagon, then theres the 60-70 hours of testing and box building.
Plus to cap it all off, to get the maximum SPL possible the box needs to be tuned to play one specific frequency. This means that it'll probably only sound good with 10 or so songs, everything else will sound like crap.

I totally agree with StoneX, youre much better off to aim for 140db and still have a musical system. Plus you dont need to spend heaps on stupidly-big wiring and batteries.
I built a "musical" box for my car right before i sold everything, it was tuned to 35hz and peaked at 39hz in car.......did 148db and i enjoyed that SO much more than the 150db box

i dont have that much money, so 140db is the new target,so what would you recommend for 140db?

[holdenboy]

140db is still not easy, you just wont be able to through in a 1000wrms amplifier and a couple of 12s in a sealed box and get 140db. You'd still be looking at a custom made ported box (if youre not going to build it yourself, then allow a minimum of $400 for the box) and atleast $500 for a subwoofer/s. Then another $700-$1000 for a decent amp/s.

IMO, dont worry too much about aiming for a specific decibel mark for the time being. Buy the best components (sub / amp / wiring) you can then look at either building a ported box for them yourself or getting someone who knows what they are doing to build it. If its loud enough for you / your mates etc then whats a score on a screen?

[LthlThrt]

you amke a good point, ill probly build the box my self, always like to learn new things, so it will be a good learning curve, just thought id aim a bit higher then what i have now, i have 120db and am wanting it louder, but i want a complete redo in the boot, also need to design a nice and functional box. any tips for building a box?

[sweefu]

For box mate, make sure you allow room in the box for displacement of the subs and timber, lots of people don't do this and it makes a big difference. Use thickest timber you can afford too.

[HCVP]

You need to get this whole db thing out of your head. When people build car audio setup's aimed at high db levels, they are not your run of the mill setups'.
Like HoldenBoy said, to reach peak db, you must tune your sub enclosure to peak at a certain frequency. If you just want a setup that is loud and musical, then db measuring does not even come into it.
Just because something is loud, does not mean it sounds good. Again like Holdboy said, 90 percent of what you would play, would sound shite through an SPL designed setup.

I think also you should spend some time on google, or similiar, and do some research as to what a "decibel" actually is, how it's measured, and the difference between one decibel level vs another.

Also, you might want to have a brouse through some Youtube videos, and see some of the different setup's people have used, and what levels they were able to achieve.
If you don't find anything useful, or the info you were after, let me know, and i can link you to some pages/sites worth reading through.

[LthlThrt]

For box mate, make sure you allow room in the box for displacement of the subs and timber, lots of people don't do this and it makes a big difference. Use thickest timber you can afford too.

so when you say to allow room for the sub, do you mean if it requires 93 litres and i make a box to suit 93 litres and the sub goes in and it is then only able to hold say 80 litres? do you mean to calculate for the size of the sub?

[LthlThrt]

You need to get this whole db thing out of your head. When people build car audio setup's aimed at high db levels, they are not your run of the mill setups'.
Like HoldenBoy said, to reach peak db, you must tune your sub enclosure to peak at a certain frequency. If you just want a setup that is loud and musical, then db measuring does not even come into it.
Just because something is loud, does not mean it sounds good. Again like Holdboy said, 90 percent of what you would play, would sound shite through an SPL designed setup.

I think also you should spend some time on google, or similiar, and do some research as to what a "decibel" actually is, how it's measured, and the difference between one decibel level vs another.

Also, you might want to have a brouse through some Youtube videos, and see some of the different setup's people have used, and what levels they were able to achieve.
If you don't find anything useful, or the info you were after, let me know, and i can link you to some pages/sites worth reading through.

is this a good setup? it looks good YouTube - Just a Look at my stereo - my first car (manual v6 commodore {BUILT NOT BOUGHT!} i tried looking up what a decibel was but i couldnt understand what they were talking about, but what i really want is a nice loud setup, so ditching the SPL would be wise? but i can have really loud music w/ loud bass w/out distorting? im not the sharpest tool in the shed about this sort of stuff.

[HCVP]

Read this, Planning A System On A Budget
Come back with a budget, expectations, we'll help you from there

With regards to the video, that wasn't exactly what i had in mind !!
I was talking about SPL competitions, seeing some of the gear that they used, and what levels they reached.