2014 SHO amp/sub install

[Capri83RS]

So, I read through a lot of the audio threads, and SHOBoats was probably the most inspiring, for me.

I'm doing something essentially similar, with a stealth box in the spare tire well, but utilizing a single 12" subwoofer.

The parts being used:
SPL 12" 2600-watt max subwoofer
Planet Audio 3000-watt monoblock Class D amplifier
Audio Control LC2-i line converter

This is my first attempt at any kind of custom enclosure, and I'll probably have to make a second one before this is all done, but I got enough materials to make it happen!!  What I'm envisioning is a top firing sealed box with a raised floor frame, to keep the packages in the rear off the woofer and give the trunk a level flat floor surface.

Started with this:

Worked into this:

I drilled the spot welds out of this bracket and popped it out.  No more spare tire or jack/tools bolt down capability.

I had some issues with this box, namely the fact that while I calculated my airspace volume correctly, I didn't have the right figure for my speaker. D'OH!!  This first enclosure ended up being too tall, so I made a second one, with the right airspace volume specs, so I was able to keep the same width, add 1.5" in length, and lose 3" in height.

Pictures of Enclosure 2.0 are in a post below.  I'll follow up with more, as I get there.

 

[Scott4957]

In for updates. I like this setup but getting it to sound good in the car and not just bounce around the trunk is what I am curious about. I have the MKS so the pass through is just a small hole. Maybe removing the rear sub so it open can can pass through the hole, keeping the covering on so it looks stock inside the car? Good luck and keep us up to date with plenty of pictures.

 

[Capri83RS]

As I expected, the first enclosure, while workable, was too tall :/

Also, I brain farted on my airspace, I only need 1.25 cubic feet, so I was able to drop the height significantly, and still maintain the other dimensions, to get the floor height I'm looking for.  My cuts are a lot better on Enclosure 2.0 (as I've been calling it), so it looks significantly better.

 

[Capri83RS]

Finished the enclosure, happy with the final result.  Not mounted in the trunk, just sitting in there, for the moment.  Throwing in the towel for the night, it's 11pm.

 

[jbeez]

after doing dual 12's I've come to the conclusion a single 12 would have probably been perfect

https://goo.gl/photos/e6yTfkg1vqQiPt3k8

this box must weigh 300lbs lol

 

[Capri83RS]

after doing dual 12's I've come to the conclusion a single 12 would have probably been perfect

https://goo.gl/photos/e6yTfkg1vqQiPt3k8

this box must weigh 300lbs lol

WOW that's a huge box.  You even have handles on it, to assist with moving LOL.

I finished up the amp rack, and it's in the car.  I need to trim about 1/2" off of it, for it to lay flat, and then I need to build the subfloor that will go on top of it and cover everything up.  Tired of being bent over the saw horses, drilling, cutting, and crawling around in the trunk.

I currently have a working sound system with a 3000-watt monoblock amp and a 12" subwoofer running at 1-ohm.  Now I have to tune it.

Actually, now I have to clean the garage out, so when my wife gets back into town tomorrow, she has somewhere to park her car!!

I'll put up some more pictures later.

 

[Dxlnt1]

after doing dual 12's I've come to the conclusion a single 12 would have probably been perfect

https://goo.gl/photos/e6yTfkg1vqQiPt3k8

this box must weigh 300lbs lol

For that reason, I experimented with my dual 12's. Folded back seat down to test sound quality. Then I ended up making a permanent fix. Sound quality much much better with air being able to move.

 

[Scott4957]

after doing dual 12's I've come to the conclusion a single 12 would have probably been perfect

https://goo.gl/photos/e6yTfkg1vqQiPt3k8

this box must weigh 300lbs lol

Good lord that is huge! You ate up a 20sqft trunk!

 

[jbeez]

This is my entire sho album, i've redone things on my car so there are some earlier pics of wiring and amps, then I replaced amps, rewired things, etc.

https://goo.gl/photos/S4S7S5q5wMY9rQat9

I cleaned up all the underhood wiring, moved some fuses to under the sub box because new amp was longer for highs, i STILL don't have my highs tied in and im still running factory highs.  I need to solder a connector for the speaker wire to interface with the factory speaker wires, im using 8pin PC power supply extensions cables that I cut in half and use for connectors.  lets me switch back to stock easily.

I've strained my lumbar more than once moving that box and I do lift weights in a gym, i have over 400lb squats and 450lbs deadlift but that is just such an awkward movement to get the box in and out of the trunk it can irritate the hell out of my discs. Its a beast!

 

[SHOdded]

Great informational photos in that album, jbeez!

 

[jbeez]

Great informational photos in that album, jbeez!

too bad my phone picture taking skills leave alot to be desired, bad lighting, blurry focus, no organization lol.

If you have any questions about the things I did and why I did them just ask, I hope it helps anyone embarking on some audio installs, I made a few mistakes and ended up going back, the biggest thing I had to redo were my ground connections, I got almost OCD about it because they can cause alot of issues if they're bad, more than not doing a ground upgrade at all maybe. Always upgrade your ground though if you're upgrading the +12v

 

[Scott4957]

If you have any questions about the things I did and why I did them just ask, I hope it helps anyone embarking on some audio installs, I made a few mistakes and ended up going back, the biggest thing I had to redo were my ground connections, I got almost OCD about it because they can cause alot of issues if they're bad, more than not doing a ground upgrade at all maybe. Always upgrade your ground though if you're upgrading the +12v

I'm curious about your pass through and any sound deadening. It looks like you took the speakers out of the rear deck from the pictures, where you just putting in upgrades or did you leave some or all out for the subs? Also, did you use any dynomat or something similar on the trunk?

That looks like one beast of a system, are those additional batteries or some type of capacitor in the spare wheel well? I can't imagine how hard that must hit, its been many years since I built a system even remotely close to that but it sure was fun. I appreciate the work you did to make a nice form fitting cover to make it all look like one flat piece. I did the same with a Acura RSX-S hatch install but it was dished rather than flat, with the amps facing out and the subs facing in. Please post a picture of the finished product with that cover installed. 

Thanks,
Scott

 

[Capri83RS]

after doing dual 12's I've come to the conclusion a single 12 would have probably been perfect

https://goo.gl/photos/e6yTfkg1vqQiPt3k8

this box must weigh 300lbs lol

For that reason, I experimented with my dual 12's. Folded back seat down to test sound quality. Then I ended up making a permanent fix. Sound quality much much better with air being able to move.

I think I'm going to have to do something similar with mine, as I'm not getting much through the rear seats or rear deck.

I'm going to redo the amp rack at a later date, so it sit's flush to the floor (.5" too long front-to-back right now), and so it covers the complete front of the floor area.  I'll have to dynamat it at the same time, as I have a lot of trunk rattle now :/

 

[Capri83RS]

This is my entire sho album, i've redone things on my car so there are some earlier pics of wiring and amps, then I replaced amps, rewired things, etc.

https://goo.gl/photos/S4S7S5q5wMY9rQat9

I cleaned up all the underhood wiring, moved some fuses to under the sub box because new amp was longer for highs, i STILL don't have my highs tied in and im still running factory highs.  I need to solder a connector for the speaker wire to interface with the factory speaker wires, im using 8pin PC power supply extensions cables that I cut in half and use for connectors.  lets me switch back to stock easily.

I've strained my lumbar more than once moving that box and I do lift weights in a gym, i have over 400lb squats and 450lbs deadlift but that is just such an awkward movement to get the box in and out of the trunk it can irritate the hell out of my discs. Its a beast!

Woooo that's a way more in-depth install than I undertook LOL

 

[Capri83RS]

This sounds 100% better than stock, but 10x better with one of the seats folded down.  I think I'm going to do something like Dxint1 and open it up a little bit in the middle.  I also have a lot of trunk rattle, so I need to invest in some dynamat.  I think I'm going to redo the amp rack to cover everything in front of the subwoofer, and the current one is ~1/2" too long front-to-back.

Otherwise, I'm happy with the result.  Obviously, I still need to build the floor that goes on top, but more material is required, and it doesn't affect the sound.

Amp rack in progress

Installed, mostly wired.  The ground ended up coming back towards the rear of the chassis.  Power was routed up the drivers side through the firewall near the brake booster.

 

[jbeez]

If you have any questions about the things I did and why I did them just ask, I hope it helps anyone embarking on some audio installs, I made a few mistakes and ended up going back, the biggest thing I had to redo were my ground connections, I got almost OCD about it because they can cause alot of issues if they're bad, more than not doing a ground upgrade at all maybe. Always upgrade your ground though if you're upgrading the +12v

I'm curious about your pass through and any sound deadening. It looks like you took the speakers out of the rear deck from the pictures, where you just putting in upgrades or did you leave some or all out for the subs? Also, did you use any dynomat or something similar on the trunk?

That looks like one beast of a system, are those additional batteries or some type of capacitor in the spare wheel well? I can't imagine how hard that must hit, its been many years since I built a system even remotely close to that but it sure was fun. I appreciate the work you did to make a nice form fitting cover to make it all look like one flat piece. I did the same with a Acura RSX-S hatch install but it was dished rather than flat, with the amps facing out and the subs facing in. Please post a picture of the finished product with that cover installed. 

Thanks,
Scott

Those are 4 kinetik hc800 batteries, I choose them because of their size to fit under the sub, I would go with any xspower brand though if i did it again. They are supposed to add up to watts, so each theoretically supports 800watts of sound system by their numbers. My sub amp is rated for 3500wRMS. All the wire you see there is oversized car audio style 0awg, but 0awg crimp lugs wont fit I had to get all 2/0 awg lugs.

Those speakers on the rear deck were all removed. I wont be replacing them, they are for the air to make it through. The stock subs are very useless IMO and I'll never listen to anything in surround this is for stereo audio, so rear surround came out. I may reinstall rear surround just to use for another scanner channel not sure though.  Also I have a digital scanner and i installed a small/cheap 200w boss amp just to run the scanner audio, that is tapped into the center channel speaker up front. Since I didn't have any fine volume controls for it I bought a cheap rca level bass knob style device and mounted that back there too, set the vol to a comfortable level and left it at that. the boss amp has the gain all the way down, but its cheap so that didn't do much for attenuating the volume for me.  I did have it running through my helix dsp but I didn't like running two seperate audio streams through it so I bypassed it and thats where the vol knob came in.

I really really need sound deadening. I have a bunch in the house I haven't had a chance to install any yet, my typical battery of excuses goes as follows:
no time b/c work
weather is shitty(no garage)(pics of garage are at my friends house 2+hrs away where we did all the woodwork on his very nice equipment)
i just dont feel like working on it sometimes when nothing else is in the way.

The sound deadening I have is a bunch of leftover raamatt from my last car, and some new stuff I purchased from KNU. I think the KNU brand deadening(and wiring too since I'm using almost all KNU wire) is a fantastic value. You get alot for your money and its a very good product.

I used alot of relays to isolate things, even the battery isolator relay has a relay infront of that to trigger it to kick over because I was concerned with startup surge and the backfeed voltage on the collapse from that huge can to connect the rear batts to the front. I like to isolate circuits if I can at least minimally. I didn't opt for a battery isolator just a relay.

 

[jbeez]

This sounds 100% better than stock, but 10x better with one of the seats folded down.  I think I'm going to do something like Dxint1 and open it up a little bit in the middle.  I also have a lot of trunk rattle, so I need to invest in some dynamat.  I think I'm going to redo the amp rack to cover everything in front of the subwoofer, and the current one is ~1/2" too long front-to-back.

Otherwise, I'm happy with the result.  Obviously, I still need to build the floor that goes on top, but more material is required, and it doesn't affect the sound.

Amp rack in progress

Installed, mostly wired.  The ground ended up coming back towards the rear of the chassis.  Power was routed up the drivers side through the firewall near the brake booster.

I like it, let me know how that lc2i is, I had to go nuts on my lowend EQ to restore bass, my curve is maxed out at some points. And I did a very crudge job of it, im sure an automated processor would work better than what I did.  Still thinking of putting an lc2i infront of my helix just to level that out.

 

[jbeez]

after doing dual 12's I've come to the conclusion a single 12 would have probably been perfect

https://goo.gl/photos/e6yTfkg1vqQiPt3k8

this box must weigh 300lbs lol

For that reason, I experimented with my dual 12's. Folded back seat down to test sound quality. Then I ended up making a permanent fix. Sound quality much much better with air being able to move.

I like that fold down port you made.  The removal of the rear deck subs seemed to work great for me.  Right now the biggest difference I notice is when I have my car windows up or down. It seems considerably louder when the windows are down, even just 1 window down halfway, that sound pressure is trapped pretty tight in the cabin and as soon as I open it I get alot more response.  one of the pics in my album you can see the 3rd brake light, if you look closely the light shook loose. its just press fit in, i just pushed up to fix it, but i was getting a pretty wicked rattle and I didn't know why LOL

 

[glock-coma]

This is my entire sho album, i've redone things on my car so there are some earlier pics of wiring and amps, then I replaced amps, rewired things, etc.

https://goo.gl/photos/S4S7S5q5wMY9rQat9

I cleaned up all the underhood wiring, moved some fuses to under the sub box because new amp was longer for highs, i STILL don't have my highs tied in and im still running factory highs.  I need to solder a connector for the speaker wire to interface with the factory speaker wires, im using 8pin PC power supply extensions cables that I cut in half and use for connectors.  lets me switch back to stock easily.

I've strained my lumbar more than once moving that box and I do lift weights in a gym, i have over 400lb squats and 450lbs deadlift but that is just such an awkward movement to get the box in and out of the trunk it can irritate the hell out of my discs. Its a beast!

nice setup. How do you like that
Helix DSP?
I might go mini DSP in the future.

 

[Scott4957]

Those are 4 kinetik hc800 batteries, I choose them because of their size to fit under the sub, I would go with any xspower brand though if i did it again. They are supposed to add up to watts, so each theoretically supports 800watts of sound system by their numbers. My sub amp is rated for 3500wRMS. All the wire you see there is oversized car audio style 0awg, but 0awg crimp lugs wont fit I had to get all 2/0 awg lugs.

Those speakers on the rear deck were all removed. I wont be replacing them, they are for the air to make it through. The stock subs are very useless IMO and I'll never listen to anything in surround this is for stereo audio, so rear surround came out. I may reinstall rear surround just to use for another scanner channel not sure though.  Also I have a digital scanner and i installed a small/cheap 200w boss amp just to run the scanner audio, that is tapped into the center channel speaker up front. Since I didn't have any fine volume controls for it I bought a cheap rca level bass knob style device and mounted that back there too, set the vol to a comfortable level and left it at that. the boss amp has the gain all the way down, but its cheap so that didn't do much for attenuating the volume for me.  I did have it running through my helix dsp but I didn't like running two seperate audio streams through it so I bypassed it and thats where the vol knob came in.

I really really need sound deadening. I have a bunch in the house I haven't had a chance to install any yet, my typical battery of excuses goes as follows:
no time b/c work
weather is shitty(no garage)(pics of garage are at my friends house 2+hrs away where we did all the woodwork on his very nice equipment)
i just dont feel like working on it sometimes when nothing else is in the way.

The sound deadening I have is a bunch of leftover raamatt from my last car, and some new stuff I purchased from KNU. I think the KNU brand deadening(and wiring too since I'm using almost all KNU wire) is a fantastic value. You get alot for your money and its a very good product.

I used alot of relays to isolate things, even the battery isolator relay has a relay infront of that to trigger it to kick over because I was concerned with startup surge and the backfeed voltage on the collapse from that huge can to connect the rear batts to the front. I like to isolate circuits if I can at least minimally. I didn't opt for a battery isolator just a relay.

Thanks for sharing! I am also a scanner geek, I have a BCD996T but have not put it in the MKS yet. I'm also into amateur radio, still have not put any of that gear in either, don't really plan to. In my Mazda speed I removed the center console cup holders and built a custom single din insert that I installed the 996t in. I then installed speakers behind the plastic cover right above where the seat belt attaches to the door, putting the speaker right by my ear. I like the idea of using the center speaker in the SHO/MKS. Not sure where I could get a nice clean install of the 996T in the MKS. Right now I like to use the scanner radio app on my phone tied into the car via Bluetooth. I then setup my scanner at home via a broadcastify account and then i can listen from anywhere. Only issue is that I can't control the radio. There are some nice remote apps for my laptop and work PC, but I haven't found anything that works well for Android.