Bass at last! (with a few pics and much gloating)
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From: San Diego
Bass at last! (with a few pics and much gloating)
I guess I like more bass than most people. I've tried a lot of different bass arrangements in the S2000:
Aura Bass Shaker Pros, bolted to seats (felt funny w/o a sub)
JL 8W1's in sealed box (box left over from the 944 - subs were tired and not loud enough for the convertible)
JL 8W6's in the same box (louder, but too peaky)
10W0 in .5ft^3 box (pretty loud, not hard-hitting enough)
Recently, I tried an Eclipse 88100 aluminum woofer in the same .5ft^3 box I was using for the 10W0: here's a pic of how the two subs compare:
Granted, the 10W0 is JL's wimpiest 10 incher, but it's pretty normal for a 10. Look how much smaller the magnet is, and note the stamped steel frame compared to the Eclipse's alloy piece. The 88100 was enough to peg my Radio Shack db meter, here's its response curve. The meter pegs at 124db, so I'd guess I was hitting ~126 at 50-55hz. Here it is going into its box:
As decent as this was, it was only an interim solution until my real sub got here. An installer named Bing in New York decided to make a negative mold of the S2000's trunk well when he did an enclosure for a customer, so he can remake fiberglass/MDF enclosures without needing a car. His box finally got here a few days ago, and along with it, the new sub, the 88120Ti. Here's it is sitting beside the same Eclipse sub that's pictured above, with the box (still in its bubble wrap) behind them:
The thing's a f%ckin monster
Here it is, in its new home:
Still need to clean up the wiring a bit, get some sort of protective cover. Adjust headlight aim too.
Hit 124db@25hz, and may have the oomph to get 130+db @ ~50hz. Gotta get a new db meter first. At 15hz this thing shakes parts on the car I didn't even know existed.
I'm coming up on my 1 year S2000 ownership anniversary, and am finally happy with the system. I knew if I could feel the artillery they fire at Camp Pendleton while standing in Carlsbad (20+ miles away), there had to be a way to get some bass in this thing. More firepower.
An mpeg of the speaker in action
Another, before I adjusted the trunk latch
If anyone's interested in the rest of the system, it's here. For those that remember the "pondering power" thread, I haven't forgotten about it, and hope to do my tests next weekend.
Cheers!
-Jason
Aura Bass Shaker Pros, bolted to seats (felt funny w/o a sub)
JL 8W1's in sealed box (box left over from the 944 - subs were tired and not loud enough for the convertible)
JL 8W6's in the same box (louder, but too peaky)
10W0 in .5ft^3 box (pretty loud, not hard-hitting enough)
Recently, I tried an Eclipse 88100 aluminum woofer in the same .5ft^3 box I was using for the 10W0: here's a pic of how the two subs compare:
Granted, the 10W0 is JL's wimpiest 10 incher, but it's pretty normal for a 10. Look how much smaller the magnet is, and note the stamped steel frame compared to the Eclipse's alloy piece. The 88100 was enough to peg my Radio Shack db meter, here's its response curve. The meter pegs at 124db, so I'd guess I was hitting ~126 at 50-55hz. Here it is going into its box:
As decent as this was, it was only an interim solution until my real sub got here. An installer named Bing in New York decided to make a negative mold of the S2000's trunk well when he did an enclosure for a customer, so he can remake fiberglass/MDF enclosures without needing a car. His box finally got here a few days ago, and along with it, the new sub, the 88120Ti. Here's it is sitting beside the same Eclipse sub that's pictured above, with the box (still in its bubble wrap) behind them:
The thing's a f%ckin monster
Here it is, in its new home:
Still need to clean up the wiring a bit, get some sort of protective cover. Adjust headlight aim too.
Hit 124db@25hz, and may have the oomph to get 130+db @ ~50hz. Gotta get a new db meter first. At 15hz this thing shakes parts on the car I didn't even know existed.
I'm coming up on my 1 year S2000 ownership anniversary, and am finally happy with the system. I knew if I could feel the artillery they fire at Camp Pendleton while standing in Carlsbad (20+ miles away), there had to be a way to get some bass in this thing. More firepower.
An mpeg of the speaker in action
Another, before I adjusted the trunk latch
If anyone's interested in the rest of the system, it's here. For those that remember the "pondering power" thread, I haven't forgotten about it, and hope to do my tests next weekend.
Cheers!
-Jason
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From: Pittsburgh
Nice pics Jason...
it does look like the box slopes backward a little bit, as brought out by someone else...here is a simple solution: take some carpet, and glue then to teh bottom of the subwoofer box towards teh back, spacing the entire structure upward until its even all around....
125 db in a convertable is pretty impressive for a subwoofer that is not broken in...I would really wait a bit for the spider to loosen up, perhaps play at normal volumes for about a week or two, and then give it another shot at going 130...
about the speaker binding posts. I would recommed not using them as it takes away from the stealthiness of the box, I would simply put a whole through the front side of teh box, passs the wires through, silicone it from the inside, the run the wires underneath carpet and up to the amp...
also, I would recommend a bag of fiberfill....
good luck.
b
it does look like the box slopes backward a little bit, as brought out by someone else...here is a simple solution: take some carpet, and glue then to teh bottom of the subwoofer box towards teh back, spacing the entire structure upward until its even all around....
125 db in a convertable is pretty impressive for a subwoofer that is not broken in...I would really wait a bit for the spider to loosen up, perhaps play at normal volumes for about a week or two, and then give it another shot at going 130...
about the speaker binding posts. I would recommed not using them as it takes away from the stealthiness of the box, I would simply put a whole through the front side of teh box, passs the wires through, silicone it from the inside, the run the wires underneath carpet and up to the amp...
also, I would recommend a bag of fiberfill....
good luck.
b
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From: San Diego
Hi Wes,
I ended up entirely removing the top's "well" and the vertical plastic piece behind it. The plastic pieces on the side buzz a bit now, but I don't want to take much more of the interior out so I'll try to fix that with some neoprene. I had already carpeted the entire spare tire/gas tank area so it doesn't look too bad with the top up.
Besides that I had to adjust the trunk latch to make it close tighter - takes a real slam to close it now. There's a "flapper" valve/ventilation thing inside the rear bumper (look in the hole up above and to the left of the license plate) that was making a popcorn-popping sound at high db/low freq. - some polyfill stuffed in there fixed that. I have some experience fighting bass-induced buzzes/rattles in cars so this is just the beginning.
Bing, thanks for the suggestion on how to run the wires - I haven't tried doing that before. Do you have recommendations on sub attachment hardware? Right now I'm using the biggest screws I could find, but I think some sort of nut/stud/bolt solution would be better, but don't know how to go about it with only way into the box.
Since I took that picture, I got the front the box to sit a bit lower in the well, so it's nice and even now.
Thanks for the compliments everyone! A couple people have pm'd me asking about the enclosure - Bing (Bing0) built it out of fiberglass and MDF, it's a top-quality piece, and I recommend him.
-Jason
I ended up entirely removing the top's "well" and the vertical plastic piece behind it. The plastic pieces on the side buzz a bit now, but I don't want to take much more of the interior out so I'll try to fix that with some neoprene. I had already carpeted the entire spare tire/gas tank area so it doesn't look too bad with the top up.
Besides that I had to adjust the trunk latch to make it close tighter - takes a real slam to close it now. There's a "flapper" valve/ventilation thing inside the rear bumper (look in the hole up above and to the left of the license plate) that was making a popcorn-popping sound at high db/low freq. - some polyfill stuffed in there fixed that. I have some experience fighting bass-induced buzzes/rattles in cars so this is just the beginning.
Bing, thanks for the suggestion on how to run the wires - I haven't tried doing that before. Do you have recommendations on sub attachment hardware? Right now I'm using the biggest screws I could find, but I think some sort of nut/stud/bolt solution would be better, but don't know how to go about it with only way into the box.
Since I took that picture, I got the front the box to sit a bit lower in the well, so it's nice and even now.
Thanks for the compliments everyone! A couple people have pm'd me asking about the enclosure - Bing (Bing0) built it out of fiberglass and MDF, it's a top-quality piece, and I recommend him.
-Jason
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From: Houston
Originally posted by jzr
Hi Wes,
I ended up entirely removing the top's "well" and the vertical plastic piece behind it.
Hi Wes,
I ended up entirely removing the top's "well" and the vertical plastic piece behind it.
Besides that I had to adjust the trunk latch to make it close tighter...
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