I am thinking of using the spare tire compartment to hold a Fibre Glass ported enclosure for a pair of 12inch subs. But before doing so I have some concerns in terms of would it sound better than a ported box and is it expensive to get a shop to do one. I know the only benefit is I will save some additional weight to the TL compare to a ported or sealed box. Need your suggestions whether I should just go for a ported box or a fibre glass enclosure.

Thanks!!!

 

how do you figure it will give extra wieght? a fiberglass enclosure is about 3x lighter than an stardard MDF box.

before you decide ported or sealed, you should first decide which subs you are talking about. some sound sh!tty in ported, and vise versa.

also i never liked the idea of up firing subs. that will make the trunk rattle like hell. Ideally, the "best" way to firin an enclosure is forward, an seal off the front of the box from the rest of the trunk, so you dont creates standing back waves and cancelation.
this is a pain, so the second and probably easier way, is to have the box firing towards the rear of the trunk and have it as close to the rear of the trunk as possible.

a have a piar of Resonant Engineering SE 12s on order right now, and im building a sealed enclosure for them modeled after this:

http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/700618/2

this setup has the subs firing directly into the cabin, as i was talking about earlier, and is sealed off from the rest of the trunk.

 

sorry, i miss read what you said. i thought you said you wanted extra weight by adding a fiberglass enclosure....my bad

 

Sorry but I ment I will save additional weight compare to a MDF box. That is one of the main reason why I am thinking of going fibre glass enclosure. I don't want a box and amp racks to weigh my TL down. But I still want to achieve the same or better SQL for a fibre glass enclosure. I agree with you firing the subs towards the seats is the best but our TL rear seats do not fold down. So that is why I am thinking of having them firing up in the air. My current system I have the subs facing the trunk and it sounds really good but major trunk vibration. And yes I am going with the new 2005 Alpine 2 12's DVC Type R subs with the Alpine 1001 mono block amp that puts out over 1000watts into 2ohm load.

So still my question is would it sound good with a fibre glass enclosure and do you all recommend something better?? I never had a fibre glass enclosure so that is why I would like to find out more before I go ahead.

By the way...nice job on your system!!!!! Well explained and docuemented!!

 

i have about 720 watts rms going into 2 12" subs. If i have the subs in the trunk firing back there is trunk flexing and rattling. As long as the subs fire in the trunk, therewill be major rattling. I think there are 3 ways to solve rattling:

1) Have the subs on the back seat (THey will sound a lot louder. People can hear you subs from a few blocks away, and no rattles). However, u sacrifice the rear seats. U will need to put the subs back in the trunk when u want more than 1 passenger.

2) Have a box firing towards the little ski hole and seal off the rest of the trunk. (I dont like this option for some reason. The ski hole may act as a bandpass and cut off certain frequencies too)

3) Get an actual bandpass box. The bandpass will need to line up with the ski hole. There will be alot less rattling in the trunk and a lot more spl in the cabin.

Here is how much fiberglass boxes cost. At tweeter, they charge about $300 a day for a fibreglass box. The type of box your talking about probably takes 2-3 days to finish, costing you about 600-900 dollars. I would not expect to find a fiberglass box for you less then $400. Fiberglass enclosures are only good because they can be made into all kinds of weird shapes. They actually dont make the SQ much better. Also, dont expect that the Alpine Subs will be producing their best SQ in the TL unless you get an aftermarket headunit or buy the JL Cleansweep (about $400) when it comes out in June.

oh yeah one more thing. Subs are bad for you ears. Before i got my subs i watched tv with the volume at 12 and now i need it at 18

 

Funny thing is I was looking into the JL Audio Clean Sweep and I was wondering if that would make a big difference for my Subs only. I was thinking it should not as my subs are running thru the low pass so doesn't require clean signal unless I am using it for my high's. The clean Sweep is too over priced I think.

 

Can't hear anything because of my old system. Now only one sub, good luck with the install

 

yeah there is less audible distortion for subs, but it will still be there at high sound levels. The cleansweep is about $400, about the price of a good aftermarket headunit.

There is also an auxiliary input in the cleansweep so you can plug in a dvd player and directly play the sound through the speakers

 

Just remember that if you use the Clean Sweep you will loose the steering wheel volume control.

 

why?

 

How about "sound deadning" the trunk. Yes more weight, but bang for buck? I have my sub facing the rear as a result of an expierienced installer suggesting significantly better SQ.? Further unless your a "basshead" that one particular R Type sub ( with 2 you may blow your head clean off) I believe is designed to go into a sealed enclosure. I would check with Alpine,especially if SQ if a priority. I am fairly sure that should you decide to go ported that the inner volume dimesnsions of the enclosure becomes critical for SQ. Recall an old "Car Audio" magazine article that had an "audiophile" TL owner using a fiberglass ported enclosure for SQ ( he used 10's though). I am currently awaiting delivery of stock for that exact same sub. The one in the trunk right now is a lower line of Rockford Fosgate as temporary bass. My ears hurt when I get out of the car. But I am hoping that ours is alot "tighter" and "cleaner". When the volume is turned up I hear "hiss" during low quantity music passages or when the music doesn't call for sub notes to be heard.


Regardless ... have a great time and enjoy.

 

Clean Sweep has it's own volume knob which allows the settings to be the same across the board; where as if you change the volume on the factory head unit, it will alter the settings and need to be retuned.