sub installation

[derick]

anyone ever try to install a 10" sub onto the rear deck of their e34. I was looking to see if it was possible or feasible. Also any pictures would be nice.

[Tiger]

Nope... not feasible. Rear decking is structural member of the car... for the rigidity and strength. Heavy gauge steel. So no cutting of such a large hole is possible without compromising the car.

What most people did is stick it through the ski hole.

[neil_004]

I managed to stick a 10 and a 12 in an angled box that opens into the ski hole. takes up most of the narrow back of the trunk but it still allows me to get my spare out.

[Incantation]

you can do it.. but a couple issues..
1. what was said above about structural rigidity. i wouldn't worry about it too much though .. i mean you are not racing (are you?) and for day to day driving .. i very highly doubt you would notice anything. perhaps from a safety standpoint it might make a difference but how much.. who knows?
2. unless you get a "free air" sub, you will be using your trunk as an enclosure for sub.. and that's a lot of space for such a little unit. unless you are pushing some major power your sub will likely sound farty.. 10's are supposed tobe tight and clean. unless you were planning on backing the sub with a sealed box?

best option is to do the ski-hole thing. but.. i would do it a bit differently. if you have a port that runs only to the edge of the box a lot of sound will still get trapped in the trunk. run the ports outside of the box and into the cabin.. have whoever designs it for you keep this in mind so it sounds good

[pundit]

Nearly all bass speakers require some kind of box to work effectively. Just mounting a sub in your rear shelf is not the way to get decent bass. If you want tight accurate bass then a smallish (20 litres or less) sealed box fitted with a 10" sub fired through the ski-hole will work fine. Definately don't cut up your rear shelf. It will compromise the car and screw your resale for some potential buyers down the track. I walked away from buying an E34 due to a bad stereo install.

As far a sub enclosures go, porting will require a larger box (which will take up more trunk space) and is a lot more difficult to get right. Don't buy an off-the-shelf, 'one size fits all' ported box. A ported box must be designed to suit the actual speaker you want to use in order to work effectively. A sealed box is much more forgiving and less prone to problems. While a 10" sub in a small sealed box will sound pretty lame (lacking in real decent low end) in your loungeroom it's a completely different situation when you stick it in your car. Cabin gain (the effect of the enclosed airspace inside your car) will put things right by acoustically boosting the low end as the frequency falls giving you good accurate bass extension maybe down to at least 30hz if things are right.

Bigger ported boxes are often used to gain 'doof' factor which give a large peak (10db or more) in the low end. This may be fine if you listen to only hip-hop, dance and techno etc. but if you play other styles of music then you will quickly tire of the booming muddy bass that will overpower everything you play.

There's plenty of info on the net about car subs.
Search for "cabin gain" and "sealed box" and you should find plenty. :)

[Tiger]

Sealed box is much smaller and sound is way tighter... Most 10" subs need like 0.60 cu. ft. interior dimension or a little bit bigger... Manufacturer of the sub will tell you what you need. It is in the spec.

[Nick.Hay]

I designed and built a custom box to house my 2 10'' subs. Dimensions were via a computer program, to offer best possible bass, and the correct volume of air.
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/10/web/610000-610999/610024_56_full.jpg

Size of the box is pretty reasonable, and it doesn't ruin the capacity of the boot... err... trunk!! :D

[BigKriss]

Did you remove the ski pass hole Nick?


I designed and built a custom box to house my 2 10'' subs. Dimensions were via a computer program, to offer best possible bass, and the correct volume of air.
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/10/web/610000-610999/610024_56_full.jpg

Size of the box is pretty reasonable, and it doesn't ruin the capacity of the boot... err... trunk!! :D

[Nick.Hay]

Yeah, I did. Probably wasn't entirely necessary to do tho. But I had to bolt-down the parcel shelf more securely, as it vibrated like a bitch!!

OT: When I removed the panel, I mounted a black n white pic of my E34 on it, and used it as a picture frame... :D

[BigKriss]

Good stuff.


Yeah, I did. Probably wasn't entirely necessary to do tho. But I had to bolt-down the parcel shelf more securely, as it vibrated like a bitch!!