Really small subwoofer install
04-22-2012, 12:22 AM
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Year: 1998
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Really small subwoofer install
I wanted to share with everyone a subwoofer install that I did on my 98. I know there have been a number of threads and write-ups related to this, but I haven't seen this particular combination. I didn't like the bulk of most of the homemade sub enclosures I'd seen. even the ones designed to utilize the rear cubby seemed large and tended to protrude into the rear cargo area. I wanted something that did not require me to give up ANY rear floor space, and to look as "It came from the factory that way" as possible.
Enter the new Kicker 6.5 CompVT subwoofer. This is the smallest woofer I could find that was under $100 and also made by a very reputable company. Yeah, I know. It's a 6 1/2" sub. For you young un's that listen to rap/hip hop it may not be enough. But I'm 40 years old, and my tastes run toward alternative an classic rock.
This sub is designed to work in VERY small enclosures, while still going down fairly low when needed. It produces very tight bass, which I prefer, and is plenty loud. Look for it here:
Anyway, I started with a paper template that followed the dimensions of the bottom (side) of the rear cubby. I then built a rectangular box with one side that curved to match the cubby. The box was made from 1/2" MDF, with the curved side "cap" being made from 1/8" Masonite for easy bending to fit the curve. Everything was glued, screwed, and caulked. After the main box was finished. I cut a larger piece of the 1/8" Masonite board to overlay the top of the main box. Because the walls of the cubby are tapered, I made the overlay larger to fit the dimensions of the cubby at the point the overlay would project. I then covered it with gray carpet I got from O'Reilly. After dealing with the wiring ( I had a pigtail exit through one side of the box for easy hookup later), I loosened the cubby panel so that I could get access behind it. Once I positioned the finished box in the cubby in the proper orientation, I used about 8 3/4 screws driven straight through the cubby into the rear wall of the sub box to hold it in place. Then, I reinstalled the cubby panel. You can see a photo on my Flickr page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40427356@N05/6954967116/
Note: The overlay piece is cut so that it does not touch the cubby at any point. There is about an 1/8" gap. i did this to keep it from rattling against the plastic. Also, I purchased a metal grill on Amazon for about $6 to protect the sub.
Overall, I think it looks really nice and close to "factory", sounds pretty darn good, and is out of the way. I have a Dual 200 watt amp mounted under the front passenger seat pushing the sub, and a Dual XDMAR6720 head unit pushing 6.5 inch Polk DB651's in the front doors and Polk DB 521's in the rear roof. The whole system sounds really awesome! Very clear and full. Everything except the wood and carpet (door/rear speakers, amp, wiring kit, sub grill, and head unit) was sourced on Amazon, with a total system cost of less than $400! I had installed all the Polk speakers about three weeks prior to the sub, and while they sounded good, they lacked any real low end. Adding this 6 1/2" sub made a HUGE difference in the overall sound. Night and day...
Enter the new Kicker 6.5 CompVT subwoofer. This is the smallest woofer I could find that was under $100 and also made by a very reputable company. Yeah, I know. It's a 6 1/2" sub. For you young un's that listen to rap/hip hop it may not be enough. But I'm 40 years old, and my tastes run toward alternative an classic rock.
This sub is designed to work in VERY small enclosures, while still going down fairly low when needed. It produces very tight bass, which I prefer, and is plenty loud. Look for it here:
Anyway, I started with a paper template that followed the dimensions of the bottom (side) of the rear cubby. I then built a rectangular box with one side that curved to match the cubby. The box was made from 1/2" MDF, with the curved side "cap" being made from 1/8" Masonite for easy bending to fit the curve. Everything was glued, screwed, and caulked. After the main box was finished. I cut a larger piece of the 1/8" Masonite board to overlay the top of the main box. Because the walls of the cubby are tapered, I made the overlay larger to fit the dimensions of the cubby at the point the overlay would project. I then covered it with gray carpet I got from O'Reilly. After dealing with the wiring ( I had a pigtail exit through one side of the box for easy hookup later), I loosened the cubby panel so that I could get access behind it. Once I positioned the finished box in the cubby in the proper orientation, I used about 8 3/4 screws driven straight through the cubby into the rear wall of the sub box to hold it in place. Then, I reinstalled the cubby panel. You can see a photo on my Flickr page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40427356@N05/6954967116/Note: The overlay piece is cut so that it does not touch the cubby at any point. There is about an 1/8" gap. i did this to keep it from rattling against the plastic. Also, I purchased a metal grill on Amazon for about $6 to protect the sub.
Overall, I think it looks really nice and close to "factory", sounds pretty darn good, and is out of the way. I have a Dual 200 watt amp mounted under the front passenger seat pushing the sub, and a Dual XDMAR6720 head unit pushing 6.5 inch Polk DB651's in the front doors and Polk DB 521's in the rear roof. The whole system sounds really awesome! Very clear and full. Everything except the wood and carpet (door/rear speakers, amp, wiring kit, sub grill, and head unit) was sourced on Amazon, with a total system cost of less than $400! I had installed all the Polk speakers about three weeks prior to the sub, and while they sounded good, they lacked any real low end. Adding this 6 1/2" sub made a HUGE difference in the overall sound. Night and day...
Last edited by macgyver35; 04-22-2012 at 12:47 AM.
04-23-2012, 09:35 PM
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Thanks guys! I know it's not the most elaborate project, but I am pretty happy with the way it turned out. I especially like the fact that no part of it, even the speaker grill does not project out past the panel surface. It doesn't snag the corners of boxes, toolboxes, and suitcases when I load them in the back.
04-23-2012, 11:26 PM
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That looks really clean! When you were building the enclosure, did it look like it might have enough room for 2? I was thinking maybe one in the bottom right corner and one in the top left. Might be something I look at when I get rid of this giant a## box!
04-24-2012, 12:15 AM
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No, I don't think there'd be room for two. While the box looks larger from what you see in the pic, the functional box behind that overlay panel is smaller because the sides of the cubby taper in as you get deeper into it. You lose about 1 1/4" - 1 1/2" on each side due to the taper and the thickness of the side walls of the box.
One thing I forgot to mention in my original post was that I had to use a router to thin out the back wall of the box so the woofer would fit. If you made your box a bit deeper you wouldn't have to, but then overlay panel would stick out further, which I didn't want.
Really, just one is enough for me. Are people going to hear you coming from a hundred yards away? Maybe. At two blocks away? No. But inside the Cherokee it sounds really good with plenty of kick on everything from Foo Fighters, to Led Zeppelin to Blake Shelton. Just to test the low end kick I borrowed an Eminem song and it had plenty of thump at reasonable volume levels. If you could find a shallow mount 8" you might be able to make it work, but I don't know that you'd necessarily improve the low frequency response or volume over the Kicker 6.5 as each brand and model of speaker is different. Some 8's sounds as good as 10's, and sometimes a 6 is better than an 8. Just depends on many factors. I know a bit about good, balanced sound as I have audiophile-grade components at home made by Athena Technologies.
If you are downgrading from a pair of tens in a washing machine sized box, you likely wont be happy as your ears have grown accustomed to mega bass. Again, this is not for the Rap/Hip Hop/ ****-off-the-neighbors crowd. But it will work very well for most folks that just want a good full sounding music experience.
One thing I forgot to mention in my original post was that I had to use a router to thin out the back wall of the box so the woofer would fit. If you made your box a bit deeper you wouldn't have to, but then overlay panel would stick out further, which I didn't want.
Really, just one is enough for me. Are people going to hear you coming from a hundred yards away? Maybe. At two blocks away? No. But inside the Cherokee it sounds really good with plenty of kick on everything from Foo Fighters, to Led Zeppelin to Blake Shelton. Just to test the low end kick I borrowed an Eminem song and it had plenty of thump at reasonable volume levels. If you could find a shallow mount 8" you might be able to make it work, but I don't know that you'd necessarily improve the low frequency response or volume over the Kicker 6.5 as each brand and model of speaker is different. Some 8's sounds as good as 10's, and sometimes a 6 is better than an 8. Just depends on many factors. I know a bit about good, balanced sound as I have audiophile-grade components at home made by Athena Technologies.
If you are downgrading from a pair of tens in a washing machine sized box, you likely wont be happy as your ears have grown accustomed to mega bass. Again, this is not for the Rap/Hip Hop/ ****-off-the-neighbors crowd. But it will work very well for most folks that just want a good full sounding music experience.
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04-24-2012, 10:12 AM
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Originally Posted by macgyver35
No, I don't think there'd be room for two. While the box looks larger from what you see in the pic, the functional box behind that overlay panel is smaller because the sides of the cubby taper in as you get deeper into it. You lose about 1 1/4" - 1 1/2" on each side due to the taper and the thickness of the side walls of the box.
One thing I forgot to mention in my original post was that I had to use a router to thin out the back wall of the box so the woofer would fit. If you made your box a bit deeper you wouldn't have to, but then overlay panel would stick out further, which I didn't want.
Really, just one is enough for me. Are people going to hear you coming from a hundred yards away? Maybe. At two blocks away? No. But inside the Cherokee it sounds really good with plenty of kick on everything from Foo Fighters, to Led Zeppelin to Blake Shelton. Just to test the low end kick I borrowed an Eminem song and it had plenty of thump at reasonable volume levels. If you could find a shallow mount 8" you might be able to make it work, but I don't know that you'd necessarily improve the low frequency response or volume over the Kicker 6.5 as each brand and model of speaker is different. Some 8's sounds as good as 10's, and sometimes a 6 is better than an 8. Just depends on many factors. I know a bit about good, balanced sound as I have audiophile-grade components at home made by Athena Technologies.
If you are downgrading from a pair of tens in a washing machine sized box, you likely wont be happy as your ears have grown accustomed to mega bass. Again, this is not for the Rap/Hip Hop/ ****-off-the-neighbors crowd. But it will work very well for most folks that just want a good full sounding music experience.
One thing I forgot to mention in my original post was that I had to use a router to thin out the back wall of the box so the woofer would fit. If you made your box a bit deeper you wouldn't have to, but then overlay panel would stick out further, which I didn't want.
Really, just one is enough for me. Are people going to hear you coming from a hundred yards away? Maybe. At two blocks away? No. But inside the Cherokee it sounds really good with plenty of kick on everything from Foo Fighters, to Led Zeppelin to Blake Shelton. Just to test the low end kick I borrowed an Eminem song and it had plenty of thump at reasonable volume levels. If you could find a shallow mount 8" you might be able to make it work, but I don't know that you'd necessarily improve the low frequency response or volume over the Kicker 6.5 as each brand and model of speaker is different. Some 8's sounds as good as 10's, and sometimes a 6 is better than an 8. Just depends on many factors. I know a bit about good, balanced sound as I have audiophile-grade components at home made by Athena Technologies.
If you are downgrading from a pair of tens in a washing machine sized box, you likely wont be happy as your ears have grown accustomed to mega bass. Again, this is not for the Rap/Hip Hop/ ****-off-the-neighbors crowd. But it will work very well for most folks that just want a good full sounding music experience.
I may look into an 8 that would fit with minor mods, but I would love to hear how your setup sounds first.
04-26-2012, 06:28 PM
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Well, I don't ever get out to Longview, so I'm not sure how you'd ever hear it. Now, you can probably hear some of these DFW idiots that have 6 12's and 5000 watts of amplifier all the way in Longview!
Sadly, I always know when my neighbor's boyfriend is coming to pay her a visit as I can hear his truck the second he turns onto our street...
I have an '02 TJ (about to go up for sale) with a similar setup to the Cherokee, with Polk DB651's in the soundbar and Polk DB401's in the dash.
By the way, I use the Polk DB series because they sound great, are reasonably priced, and they are Marine Certified. You just never know when a Jeep might get into some water! LOL!
The main differences being the head unit and the fact that the TJ has a Polk Momo 8 in a small box behind the rear seat. The 8, with it's larger cone size and bigger box, reaches lower by about 1/2 an octave, but is not really louder. I'd guess it will get down to about 38Hz before substantially falling off. The Kicker in the Cherokee is probably going to about 45-47Hz. I wouldn't call it fully broken in yet, and I expect it to open up a bit and mellow with some more hours on it. The basslines in The Rolling Stone's "She So Cold" and The Police's "When the World is Running Down" sound really good; very full, tight, and clean right now.
As another aside, if any of you have, or know someone who has, a TJ with a blown factory console subwoofer, the Kicker 6.5 is a great replacement requiring only slight modification to fit in the factory speaker pod inside the console. I'm not sure what the ohm rating is on the factory sub, but you may need an aftermarket amp to run it. I pretty sure the factory TJ amp is only rated at about 50 watts.
Sadly, I always know when my neighbor's boyfriend is coming to pay her a visit as I can hear his truck the second he turns onto our street...
I have an '02 TJ (about to go up for sale) with a similar setup to the Cherokee, with Polk DB651's in the soundbar and Polk DB401's in the dash.
By the way, I use the Polk DB series because they sound great, are reasonably priced, and they are Marine Certified. You just never know when a Jeep might get into some water! LOL!
The main differences being the head unit and the fact that the TJ has a Polk Momo 8 in a small box behind the rear seat. The 8, with it's larger cone size and bigger box, reaches lower by about 1/2 an octave, but is not really louder. I'd guess it will get down to about 38Hz before substantially falling off. The Kicker in the Cherokee is probably going to about 45-47Hz. I wouldn't call it fully broken in yet, and I expect it to open up a bit and mellow with some more hours on it. The basslines in The Rolling Stone's "She So Cold" and The Police's "When the World is Running Down" sound really good; very full, tight, and clean right now.
As another aside, if any of you have, or know someone who has, a TJ with a blown factory console subwoofer, the Kicker 6.5 is a great replacement requiring only slight modification to fit in the factory speaker pod inside the console. I'm not sure what the ohm rating is on the factory sub, but you may need an aftermarket amp to run it. I pretty sure the factory TJ amp is only rated at about 50 watts.
04-26-2012, 06:31 PM
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And hey, I can't find a specific place in the forums for these kinds of questions, and I didn't find answers in the FAQ...
What is your "garage", and why is everyone's empty?
Why can't I insert images into my posts? I've tried the "Insert Picture" button with pics on my computer, in my forum albums, and from my Flickr account, and nothing works. I'm sure I'm doing something stupid, just not sure what.
What is your "garage", and why is everyone's empty?
Why can't I insert images into my posts? I've tried the "Insert Picture" button with pics on my computer, in my forum albums, and from my Flickr account, and nothing works. I'm sure I'm doing something stupid, just not sure what.
04-26-2012, 08:07 PM
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Looks Great, the sound of a sub just adds to quality of music and makes it so much more enjoyable, although i have the really loud sound system (i am 17) usually i wont have it up all the way, because it just wrecks the sound quality, but anyway, nicely done.
05-01-2012, 11:21 PM
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Nice job, I like your install. You've inspired me to do the same. I've been thinking about adding some rear speakers since I have an SE which only has two front door speakers. I ordered the Kicker 6.5" from eBay. Got any pics of building the box?
05-04-2012, 10:41 PM
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I don't remember taking any pics during the building of the box, but I'll go through and see if I can find anything.
Worst case, I need to pull that panel back off to run some other wiring in the next few days. I'll take some pics then and post them.
Worst case, I need to pull that panel back off to run some other wiring in the next few days. I'll take some pics then and post them.
05-05-2012, 11:55 AM
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Very nice work. I want to do the same along with adding some rear speakers to my SE as well. Im sure I can get a small amp to power the sub and possible the rear speakers, if I get some decent ones. I already replaced the front two door speakers to 6 1/2s, they are nothing special, just some kenwoods I had laying around and put them to good use, but I Want to add 6 1/2 or possibly 6x9's to the rear somewhere, and then the 6 1/2 sub. Should be a good set up for some good sound inside the jeep!