help.. want to reclaim my boot space..

[Overseer]

hopefully some of you have been through this already! (or chose the right route from the get go..)


i want to reclaim the ability to flip my rear seats forwards.


right now i have a box that altho not very deep (so i dont lose space in the boot itself)  but its the full width of the car, and a foot high.. so i have lost the ability to flip my seats forward.

have budget of around umm... say 300 quid..


i'll then be flogging my 2 8" rockford fosgates and maybe my amp..

i think the amp will be good enough though..

have been thinkin about maybe a 10" custom fit thingy?  but am not sure about what to do with the amp

i dont like the idea of removing the spare..

any ideas?

[S11EPS]

If you want maximum boot space, I'd go for an enclosure that will make use of the useless space - Go for an Auto Acoustics (or, Overseer homemade special) box that will fit to the inside of your rear arch.

I would then go for a sub that works well in a reasonably small  enclosure, but something that has a fairly long travel (a twin voice coil JL would be ideal).

This will allow you to load your amp (presuming its 2 ohm stable) and get the very best out of it. Thats do-able on 300 smacks, and you still have your twin 8"s to flog.

Bargain.  

Another option is to do what we did to JV's a few weeks ago. He bought a custom drop-in jobbie from Infinity. It is without doubt the best sounding plug and play piece of kit I have ever heard, but its still a little big to be truly convenient. Thats said, this may be down to the much higher boot floor of the Rallye meant reduced install options.

Get hold of JV and ask for an audition, I think you'll be truly impressed. If you ask him really nicely, he may take it out of his car, and let you shove it around your boot, see if its a good (covenient) fit. It will be a less than 1 hour job if the wores and stuff are already terminating in the boot, and will be your cheapest option, as you'll have all your original gear to sell!

[Overseer]

yeah i already have power + rca's etc running to the boot.

i've just come from the auto acoustics site.. and am thinking thats the way to go.

i'm mostly wondering what to do with the amp. i could hide it under the parcel shelf, but if that were removed i'd have to unclip it..

or stash it elsewhere :/

i cant remember much of the audio calculation stuff, its nearly 3 years since i learned it all and made the existing boxes. of course volume is the instant check..

i'll have to check what my amps like, right now its in bridged mode running the two rockford fosgate 8's.. so it should handle a single 10 easily.


jv's a bit far from here

[Len]

Not thinking of Parcel Shelf r ya?? - sorry couldnt resist!  

Seriously i wouldnt recommend that now anyway.
I have put a pair of 6x9's and an old nondescript amp hung on an MDF shelf and thats heavy enuff. made up some hanging wires so the shelf rises with the hatch and they keep breaking so gotta get some chain link stuff.

A free box is a buuga to keep still if ya corner/brake fast.

So i would go for a built in arch one. Thats what i am gonna do next.

[Overseer]

lol no not parcel shelf


s11eps... jv has one of these? http://caraudiosecurity.com/catalog/product_info.php+products_id+1538

i cant see anything else close to custom fit?

*very* good price on that, considering its amped too..

i could prob claim most of that back selling what i have now!




most of the reason for all this is my umm g/f to be (complicated.. lol) is probably moving into an unfurnished place, and i see many trips to ikea, and places to buy fridges etc in my future lol

[S11EPS]

i'm mostly wondering what to do with the amp. i could hide it under the parcel shelf, but if that were removed i'd have to unclip it..

or stash it elsewhere :/

I wouldn't go for parcel shelf mount for the amp for several reasons:

1) As you say, you've got to keep unplugging your amp everytime you take the shelf out

2) You're more than likely going to need a stealth shelf to take the weight of it, which is ?80 out of your budget for no real reason

3) Most amps aren't designed for an upside-down installation - you'll have problems with dissipating heat through the heatsink, which in best case scenario will result in it shutting down (providing it has thermal protection).

If you are considering going for the auto acoustics box in one side of the boot, mount the amp on the other - thats where mine is mounted, its out of the way and it looks pukka  

[Overseer]

i've decided that tomorrow while working on the car i'm going to measure the boot up for a homemade custom stealth box using one of my existing 8's and somwhere to put the other (maybe the other side, but thats more of a pain)... and somewhere to put the amp

[S11EPS]

How much length do you have on the wires? would they stretch right to the back of the boot?

I have installed one right at the back of a boot before, which looked really cool (and it was well out of the way) but it does depend on the length of your wires and the footprint of your amp.

This will leave both sides of the boot free for your 8"s. That will look and sound terrific!

[Overseer]

i'm not sure.. its a std amp wiring kit.. there might be enough.. hmm...

i dont want to restrict access to the spare wheel, or leave the cones exposed...

the amp is fairly big.. 12" by 8" maybe..

[Overseer]

ok.. i've started the project..

yes there is plenty enough cable.

the amp is 9x9 but on one both sides its feet stick out adding a extra 1/2" in total.  and the other way it needs access for the connections at both ends.


i have the passenger side design pretty much sewn up... i'm using one huge 16" x 16" panel to cover that side. behind it there are two umm cojoined? lol. boxes which give the
volume needed for one speaker.

what this means is. i have a small back section that plugs into the car, and a front section that covers all the stuff behind.

the beauty of this is there are no angles edges to cut on the mdf for joins, its all right angles.. perfect


i've decided i'm probably going to mount the amp to this big panel too. it makes more sense as the power connection etc would be closer to where it comes out from under the seats.

the sub will sit up in the upper left and will be protected by a 'ring' of mdf which i'll then put chicken wire over, i will then carpet over the entire thing.

the amp will then sit as high up on the box towards the other end as possible.

because there is a lot of 'non box' space behind the 16x16 panel i can bring a lot of the cables through to the amp on the outside tidily.

however. it wont be stealthed like i had hoped.

the other side is a BlTCH... there isnt much space...

i think i may have to build this other box with either many angles (even more added up cu in of space...) or... go the fiberglass route...  which i'm not too sure of..

i'm probably gonna get the one side done.. try it out.. and then make my mind up.

i'm also gonna round off the corners of the 16x16 panel to make it look nice.. and will probably use big fat strips of velcro to attach it to the car properly...

i wont be putting box carpet on till i'm totally done with the box though. will prob use it without for a week or two to ensure no probs..