best place for a sub is.....?

[666vt]

hey all, looking to upgrade my whole sound system as its all stock in my vt.

i am slowly collecting bits as i go.. i have a sony h/unit, and i just bought a 12" pioneer sub in box.

now im just wondering where to put it?

i assume the most obvious place is the boot, facing towards the front of the car.. but im wondering if subs can be put in the rear parcel shelf?

whats the sound like for the parcel shelf if anyone knows?

or is that a stupid idea, lol?

[Ozzie]

Depends on the size of it. 12" is a bit too big for the parcel shelf as you'll have to cut chassis metal to fit = illegal.
Its a good idea though for smaller subs if your boot is air tight or if you seal the underneath.
Ive got mine facing toward the back of the car with no breather hole and its louder then facing it toward the front.
If you have it in a nice small box you will get awaw with it behind the seat in the boot, as we all know big chunky box's arent easy to move when we need space

[arrow224]

If you pop it in the parcel shelf, you can probably fit up to an 8" sub, possibly a 10". You will need to have a 'free air' subwoofer, since you will be using the boot as the enclosure. See AutoSpeed - Selecting and Installing a Free Air Sub for more details.

[danja]

Don't Calais and some other luxury specs come with stock amplified "subs" which are actually just 6x9s in the parcel shelf?

If you were going to put subs in the shelf I would have thought 6x9s would be the thing to use, just with a LPF (if you like). You can get 6x9s with decent power handling and low frequency response.

[holdenboy]

The best place for a sub is in a sealed / ported box mounted in the boot facing towards the rear (tailights). You would be wasting your time mounting a "free air" subwoofer in the parcel shelf.....decent 6x9s with a good amplifier (80wrms+) will play louder than most 8" subs mounted in the parcel shelf. With 6x9s you would also get full range sound, not just bass frequencies.

[Ozzie]

I heard from some mates yearssssssss ago that the proper way to install them was facing backward toward the tail lights... BUT I think it really comes down to the setup of the box (breather holes ect....) as previous subs ive had facing toward the front of the car sounded better like that.
The sub I have now however sounds better facing backward

[guilty]

yeh i would agree with u ozzie coz in my vp i got 2 12s facing the rear and it sounds better that way but then i got in my vn the other way around and they sound great but also depends on the brand i wouldnt **** on sony stuff due to bad experince b4 but pioneer is always good have u thort bout sum splitz for the rear in stead of the sub and what amp u running???

[666vt]

geez thanks heaps dudes, went and bought a 12" pioneer sub in box for 100, think its 1000w maybe? and paid 70 for 2 pioneer 240w 6x9's for the rear parcel shelves. cos i thinking about getting some front speakers with the tweters for better sound quality, and ill probably spend bout 200 on them. now i need and amp, what size amp do you's reckon i'd need to run all this gear, i have a sony cdx-gt250s headunit.

cheers guys

[666vt]

yeh i would agree with u ozzie coz in my vp i got 2 12s facing the rear and it sounds better that way but then i got in my vn the other way around and they sound great but also depends on the brand i wouldnt **** on sony stuff due to bad experince b4 but pioneer is always good have u thort bout sum splitz for the rear in stead of the sub and what amp u running???

cheers man, not runing any amp yet, everything is still stock, got myself a 12" pioneer sub and 2 6x9 240watt pioneer speakers today, will be looking for front speakers now, i want some good pioneer 6.5"s with the tweeters, and ill need an amp but not sure how many watts it should be to support all this gear.. any recommendations mate? cheers

[guilty]

i would say a mono bloc for ya sub however if you are only running 1 sub then i would say go for a decent 5 chanel preferably like a mb quart where 4 channels are for speakers and the 5th is like a mono bloc when you in stall it use 4 gauge or 2 gauge so at least u can upgrade ya system l8er and u dont have to redo the wiring

[holdenboy]

You want the best speakers for the front...around the $200 mark will get you a set of the Response component speakers (splits). Although if you can stretch that budget out to around $300 then you'll get alot better splits for that (Alpine, Pioneer etc). Also running them off an amp will do wonders over the head-unit's amplifier. I'd go with something like a Response 4x100wrms amplifier (yeah i know im saying Response alot, but its great value for money if you wanna buy new). You can pick them up for $300 and if you bridge the rear channels you'll be giving the sub 380wrms, and the fronts around 130wrms. (Ideal).

You could also go with a second hand 4ch. amp to run the system, anything with over 70wrms/ch. will do the job.

Also, run the 6x9s off the head-unit, you wont be needing them to play too hard, providing you go with a good set of splits and an amp to run them.

[666vt]

You want the best speakers for the front...around the $200 mark will get you a set of the Response component speakers (splits). Although if you can stretch that budget out to around $300 then you'll get alot better splits for that (Alpine, Pioneer etc). Also running them off an amp will do wonders over the head-unit's amplifier. I'd go with something like a Response 4x100wrms amplifier (yeah i know im saying Response alot, but its great value for money if you wanna buy new). You can pick them up for $300 and if you bridge the rear channels you'll be giving the sub 380wrms, and the fronts around 130wrms. (Ideal).

You could also go with a second hand 4ch. amp to run the system, anything with over 70wrms/ch. will do the job.

Also, run the 6x9s off the head-unit, you wont be needing them to play too hard, providing you go with a good set of splits and an amp to run them.

ahhh cheers for that, was thinking the same thing about the rear 6x9"s .. wont need them to perform too great as i dont care about the back cos im never in there haha

[holdenboy]

Yep thats right, unless their already fitted or youve already got them...theres no real point wasting money on them, better off buying a cheap set of 6"s at the best and putting the money youve saved on a better set of front splits or front stage amp.

Edit: just realised you only paid $70 for the 6x9s, thats not too bad


Decided on an amp yet?

[Ozzie]

Good place to buy car audio is Strathfield Car Sound.....

Their prices are okish but you can barter with them lol

my amp was $199.95 and I ended up getting it for $50

[666vt]

ok, i went half arsed about it all.. here is what i have bought over the last few weeks.

sony xplod head unit i have had for like 3 years. was about $240 i paid 170
2nd hand - 12" 1000w [i think] sub in box - $100
2nd hand - 6x9" 260w pioneer speakers - $70 for my parcel shelf, or rear doors with some cutting..
new - 6.5" 270w jvc splits - $120 for the front. was stoned when i bought them, thought they were jbl, lol is jvc any good? <--- true story =P
new - 4 Chanel 2300w powervox amp off ebay for like $30. its most likely dodgy, but if it does the job i have saved heaps of money lol.

will all this work together?
i might have a go at doing it all myself, get a mate to help me.
is there anything i should know about installing the gear, is it all straight forward stuff?
or should i pay someone to do it? how much roughly?

and my rear parcel doesnt have holes in it =S

is it illegal to cut them out?

and im thinking of running the sub off the amp, and the front speakers off the amp, i have another set of pioneer 240w 6x9"s i was thinking of putting the back, or rear doors and im just gonna run them off the h/u as they shouldnt need much power.

help huys?

cheers

[holdenboy]

OK, firstly......6x9s wont fit in the rear doors, you wont have the depth required for the magnet. They will fit in the parcel shelf, there are holes on each side but peices of metal are spot welded in, just prize them out and there are your holes. You will have to take the parcel shelf out and buy some grills for the VT...its been covered a few times here so do a search.

For the fronts, JVC arent too bad.....but if thats all you wanted to pay then fair enough.

Have you got the power / RCA / speakers cables? if not have a look on Ebay. If so then you'll have to run the power cable from the battery, through the clutch grommet in the firewall, down along the drivers side and into the boot. RCAs go from the head-unit and down the passenger side.

You can run the fronts of the front channels, and bridge the rear channels to run the sub.

Theres about 20 more things you will need to know, but i dont have 1/2 an hour spare at the moment. If you dont feel confident you'll end up paying a few hundred to get all of that installed.

[danja]

sony xplod head unit i have had for like 3 years. was about $240 i paid 170
2nd hand - 12" 1000w [i think] sub in box - $100
2nd hand - 6x9" 260w pioneer speakers - $70 for my parcel shelf, or rear doors with some cutting..
new - 6.5" 270w jvc splits - $120 for the front. was stoned when i bought them, thought they were jbl, lol is jvc any good? <--- true story =P
new - 4 Chanel 2300w powervox amp off ebay for like $30. its most likely dodgy, but if it does the job i have saved heaps of money lol.

will all this work together?

All of those wattage figures are peak (ie. meaningless) figures. You'll want to find out the RMS figures for these to find out if that setup will work. Make sure you match the RMS power handling of the speakers/subs to the RMS output of the amp - too much over/under powering can damage them.

The weakest link I suspect will be the amplifier, you pretty much get what you pay for with amps.

i might have a go at doing it all myself, get a mate to help me. is there anything i should know about installing the gear, is it all straight forward stuff?

Search Google, use your brain and it's pretty easy. Take note of the things you hear a lot like "join wires with solder, not crimping/twisting", "run power wires separate to signal cables", "use a good quality ground" etc. There's a reason you hear these a lot.

Personally, unless I was very rich and lazy I'd never pay for an install. I've seen installs on mates' cars done by Strathfield/Autobarn etc and they break lots of clips on the interior panels, crimp join wires, drill holes needlessly and just generally do a poor job (there are professional car audio people around who WILL do a good quality job, but it wont be cheap, and in reality it's all stuff you can do yourself with enough determination).

and my rear parcel doesnt have holes in it =S
is it illegal to cut them out?

As holdenboy said, you'll be able to see two 6x9-shaped metal plates, spot welded into the shelf. They're not structural so you can punch them out no worries, just don't go taking an angle grinder to the shelf

Also, I suggest buying the grills BEFORE you chop the holes in the plastic shelf (don't just cut along the groove thats there)- you need to get the hole in the right place or you'll have trouble getting the grills to stay on properly.