Johng316

HI all,

I'm going to upgrade the stereo system in my EVO. It will be a SOUND QUALITY install (not SPL), but I was wondering about what to do about subwoofer.

I'm considering installing a custom 1 cu ft sealed box in the trunk right up against the rear seat (box would be roughly shaped to melt into the rear seat with carpet to match; you won't really even know it's there). I would have a single 10 inch driver pointed at the rear seat, venting into the cabin through the armrest hole.

When you take off the carpet on the back of the seat, it seems there is only a thin layer of seat cloth between trunk and cabin. Anyone know whether this seat material is accoustically transparent like speaker grill material?

Does this plan seem like it might work, or an I wishing in one hand and spitting in the other?

Has anyone here installed a sub yet? If so, how did you install?

My goal is decent SQ bass losing as little trunk as possible.

Thanks,

John G

Leadfoot

John-

I do not yet have my EVO, so I am not going to be of much help, but wanted to ask you some questions.

First, have you thought about doing an open-air/infinite baffle set-up with the sub in the rear deck, along with the 6 3/4 driviers, or perhaps just mounted through the rear seat where the armrest is? I dont know how big either of those areas actually is, so I dont know if there is room for a 10. I too am planning an SQ system, but I know very little about car audio, as this is my first "system". I am planning on usiing Focal 165K up front, with a Nakamichi CD400 or CD500 headunit. As for the rear, I may use Focal's again, or I may leave the stock junk there, as it is really just fill. As for the Sub itself, I am not sure what to use, as I would really like to use an IB set-up, but I am not having a lot of luck finding free air subs anywhere. Liek I said I am new to this, so I am still learning where to search.

Another possability I was considering, was making a very small box that would actually sit in the space where the armrest folds into. How big would that box be? Any idea? I dont want a bunch of bottom-end, I just want some bass fill.

Keep us posted on what you do!

Michael

perversity

I ripped the interior out the first week and replaced the crappy stock system with a mostly alpine one. Made custom speaker mounts for the front from 1/2" MDF - you can get 61/2"s in there if you want to. Also, if you remove the stock tweeters then the stock mounts are fine for the alpine tweeters (you just need a coulple of bolts to hold them in place)

The rear shelf speakers will take an Alpjne 61/2" speaker, but you will need a thin mount (I used 3/8" board and made an MFD mount for under the shelf) and you will need spacers for the speaker covers to get them off of the tweeters.

As far as the sub goes - sin of sins - I put in 2 10" subs in a small box. I made a mounting bracket and bolted it to the rear strut tower brace.

The bass seems to penetrate the car from the trunk okay - even with the amp rack against the rear cross brace.

Note that there is a large empty space behind the cover on the left hand side of the trunk that you can use if you want to.

Also - handy tip - when you remove the interior panels - take the plasitc clips out of the bodywork and put them back into the panel before trying to replace them - it's easier!

trigeek37

perversity - thanks much for the photos - and do you have any more. I am doing a pretty small install, but more pics would be appreciated. Also, did you measure the max depth in the doors? How deep are the 6.5" you installed?

thanks

gtr

iTrader: (6)

https://www.evolutionm.net/registry/...hicleid=995&s=

You can check out how my speakers are mounted. Much easier than brakets. Just place in stock location and use metal tab that came with your speakers cut in half.

I have a infinit basslink sub. I ran my RcA wires on passenger trim under small area of carpet to the reciever. THe power wire was ran through the front fender to the battery. Much easier this way. I just follow the wires already running thru the gormet and retape it.

good luck.

TurboZ

try facing the sub to the rear of the car. i have had the most luck with that set up. i am running the same thing in the amxima and it sounds great. don't forget to put a resistor on the back speakers so the sub and the back speakers will not cancel out your lows(this can be controlled from some decks such as the kenwood exelon series). hope this helps

Obsoleteasian

iTrader: (5)

Ya. I am thinking of finishing off my system, because of have new highs and mids, but no lows. I really don't care about loudness, as that usaully goes but i do want to have a clean system to enjoy my music/movies. Currently i have infinity kappas all around, any recommendations for an amp or sub or two. i don't want the extra weight to much, but i just want to hear peoples ideas.

evospeed

Hey guys, I don't have my EVO yet either, but I have a few questions to add to the mix:

I really want to try and install Focal Utopia 165W's in the front, I am curious as to what all this would involve. Do I just need to make a spacer out of MDF? How thick would it need to be?
The speaker mounting depth is: 78mm or 3.071inches

here is a link to those speakers:
http://www.focal-jmlab.fr/gb/car/utopia/165w.htm

Just a comment, I have focal 136K's installed in my Rodeo right now, they are AMAZING, and I don't even have them on a seperate amp. I plan on putting the Utopias on a JL amp as well as my sub, I am expecting a noticeable difference over using my CD players crappy amp.

another question:
Is it a good idea to run new speaker wire from you amp to speakers, I assume it would be, but it seems like it would be difficult to do....maybe I will just bite the bullet and pay for this install...

oh and another comment:
I wouldnt recommend the open air/infinite baffle setup, the whole idea of that seems like crap to me, I don't see how it could ever sound respectable, go for the sealed box.

evospeed

Cool pics Perversity, any chance we can see some more??

perversity

Hey Evospeed - most of the pics you want to see i.e. the custom madee mdf speaker mounts etc. I didn't get to take because the batteries on my camera died and I was too lazy to replace them.

I would encourage you to do the install yourself - and that goes for everyone. As long as you have the time and patience then it's fairly straight forward.

As far as installing wires goes - if you are putting in an amp then typically it will be in the trunk and you will have to run an RCA from the stereo to the amp and then wires from the amp to the new speakers. Just remove all of the plastic kick panels from the sides of the car and zip-tie the cables in.

Some of the panels in the front of the car are attached differently on the passenger side than the drivers side, so don't assume that becuase one came out a certain way that it will be the same for the identical panel on the other side of the car.

Evospeed - if you want any advise etc then PM me as, having ripped the inside out and put it back again with no screws missing I feel qualified to offer advice - that goes for anyone else as well.

Good luck!

mrdecibel

iTrader: (1)

Liandrin11

Most DEFINITELY face the sub(s) to the rear. Facing it forward will give you FAR less bass volume. Usually you would only face forward for show purposes where you can fold the rear seat down to reveal the subs. Back in my Prelude, I did an $8,000 install and initially faced my 2 12" square Kicker Solobarics forward, thinking I had enough power to more than make up for this type of placement (since I think it looks better) and I was immediately dissappointed with the performance. I later switched them to rear-facing and the increase was nearly double. Ugh, I'm torn, however, in whether to do much of a system in my Evo or not since I'm becoming more and more **** about adding huge amounts of weight. If anything, I'm definitely going for a MUCH smaller system this time around.

Liandrin11

As far as amps go, I have had the best luck (and experience) with Xtant amps though this is all subjective opinion. They are the cleanest sounding to me (I've tried alot, BTW) and they can handle .5ohm loads and remain stable and clean. Many amp manufactures can't even handle 2ohm loads (cleanly) even though they claim they can. Definitely don't go off of manufacturer's spec sheats; listen for yourself using different speaker loads at high volume levels. I currently have square Kicker Solobarics and I've been very impressed with them, though to be honest, I'm starting to prefer Eclipse's titanium subs, though they're a might-bit expensive, to say the least. My friend's got them in his car and they sound PERFECT!

VanillaEps

Holy ****! That looks like a time bomb. Nice install!!!!!

silverEVO8

iTrader: (12)

This is an old SW I had leftover from my old Mercedes Benz. It's a Pyle, bazooka type with the amp built in. It's not the best by any stretch of the imagination, but i did get it installed. It's not finished yet. I was going to rivet the straps to the cross members so it could be easily removed/reinstalled, but I have not done it yet, also the rear panel is not cut to make a way for the straps.... I'm not sure if I'll keep it or not... I'm very tempted to get something like a JL audio woofer with enclosure and a decent amp. It would be an easy installation since I've got some good wires already in place
It looks a little bit ghetto, but not too bad. Oh yeah, it does add some punch to some of my music (not all my music is heavy on the bass)