<sigh> It's ~.5" too tall. I could cut down the sides a bit and fit the box a little differently, but I'm not sure yet if it's worth doing. For the few minutes that I listened to check all the connections, the sub did move air - a welcome relief.

I'm going to leave the sub in the box behind the seat for now and get a gauge on its sound. If it works out, then I'll do another enclosure, but this time not only make it a little less tall [duh], but also shape it to extend behind the underseat area. If the driver doesn't work out, an extended enclosure would have enough volume for a TB or a Dayton shallow 8".

I also decided that I really don't like the 9887, though more so than a 880/800PRS, so I reinstalled the 102 and ordered a changer adapter. BA Pro60s are in the doors. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

it almost makes sense to fiberglass an enclosure under the seat to maximize air volume (can go around curves) and make it work that way...

 

Sucks about the enclosure, but you'll make it work. Keep us updated.

What's up with the alpine 9887? Why don't you like it?

-Jalal

 

I may have spoken too harshly out of frustration. I don't hate it; I just don't like it. I don't care for its tuning interphase. It frustrates the crap out me. OTOH, the 880/800 has killer tuning features, but its ergonomics are poor at least for on-the-move navigation. I've been told that using its remote simplifies things, but somehow I don't see myself doing that as I'm hangin'-10 in the Evo.

OTOH, the 9887 is designed well, ergonomically. One doesn't have to even look at it to change tracks and/or radio stations. It's intuitive by feel. Really, there's good and bad there. I like the 102. For a simple system, it's a very nice, reasonably priced deck.

I drove around for a short time to check things out, and the BAs aren't that promising. At least not yet. I'm going to work on the tuning a bunch over the weekend and we'll see how it goes. As of right now, the stock speakers did better when the car was moving.

 

I agree
the alpine 9887 frustrated the hell out of me.

 

I'm reinstalling the stock speakers. More comments in post #3.

 

...added some quick impressions of the woofer.

 

got your old amp installed in my evo. nakamichi cd-500, stock speakers and the amp is running all 4 speakers bridged to 2 ohm. needs some tuning but its actually quite good! thanks for the amp and advice!

 

The install looks good; I like how you terminated the speaker cables. I hope you enjoy the Zapco as much as I did. If I didn't need a 4ch, I would have never taken it out of the car. It's exactly what is meant by a good amplifier.

Maybe we should start a favorite amps thread?

 

I just saw and read through this project and nice work with the in-cabin/sub upfront philosophy! Although the box as it is right now is a bit off with the external dimensions, I hope that you don't totally ditch the idea of your intended sub location.

Best of luck with this project!

 

I plan to have another box built over the winter. This time I'll have my wife measure.

 

After tuning the system with the 9887 and playing around with the 102, I ordered an Alpine 105 this morning. The 105 has a direct Ai-net connection to the changer; otherwise, I'd keep the 102. The 9887 (broken transport, otherwise mint), the 102, and the BA pro60s are for sale if anyone is interested. I also have a couple of Zapco amps I'd be willing to let go.

Tuning the BAs each way to sundown didn't really help the sound on the move. At least not enough. Yea, I could have made a few concessions and made them work, but why, when a better alternative already exists. I figured that I could either put a lot more time into this, constantly trying to tweak the rig to get rid of whatever annoyance, or I could just go with something that works every time and doesn't annoy me at all. Ultimately, this is about driving and enjoying music at the same time, not the other way around, so I'll be reinstalling the stock speakers up front.

 

The stock speakers are back in and the sound improved markedly. The BA Pros aren't bad speakers by any measure. Once they're cranked, something that cannot be avoided in order to overcome the noise made by the car, the sound becomes hard and brittle with a good hint of underlying distortion. Compared to that, the stock speakers comes across as vivid and dynamic, smooth with no hint of audible anomalies until they're max'd. This has been the story with every aftermarket speaker I tied in this application. The sound improves when the car is standing still, but when the car is moving it's hard to beat stock. I'm still keeping hope alive for a truly sensitive, upgraded speaker system. Until then, I'll be running the stokers powered by the best I can find within the constraints of the project..

Next step is a new box for the sub, one that actually fits under the seat.

 

Added some recent impressions of the sub.

I've received a few PMs from folks interested in building something similar. I can definitely recommend the driver, but don't count on the posted dimensions for the enclosure. I can't be sure of anything until I can see how it fits in the car.

 

Updated first post with final enclosure specs:

3" H, 8.5" W, 16" D. The box requires a ring on top, allowing for ~3/8" between the magnet and the floor of the enclosure. The fit is so tight that carpeting the entire box may be a problem. I left the bottom of the enclosure simply painted black.

Sound-wise, this is worth doing if you're looking for a very simple, light (~6lbs), musically satisfying system. The woofer fills out the bottom giving music much more weight and presence, and that's really all we can hope for with a sub as small as this. I'm not unhappy.

Looks-wise, the sub is invisible. The seat and its black carpeting hide it pretty much entirely. I'll try to snap some pics later.