I have to agree with Skip on the 'modular' approach as well. When I designed my system in my old Civic, that is how we approached it. I knew I wanted a Parametric EQ later, but I was waiting for a special model to come out, so we 'saved' room for it. When it arrived we were able to install it and the cost was minimal as all the design work and layout was already complete.

As for 8's vs. 10's. I used to compete with one 12. But it was in a sealed box essentially less then 1 cubic foot. So I had people with 10's that got 'lower' then me in response. The S2K pretty much is weak in terms of trunk space, so i think the 8's are a good choice. The 10's will effectively have a lower frequency response but the size of the sealed enclosure will hamper that. Plus two 8's will have more surface area then 1 10, so you will push more air which should yield some more sound.

You may also want to think about a ported box if you can fit it and the W7's are designed for it. With a port your installer can tune in some extra db and give you a little more 'pimp juice' :-) Sinc ethat seems to be what you want.

Im also a big fan of running one amp for your system. KISS (Keep it simple stupid). I ran one 3 channel amp (Xtant 3300) when I competed, it powered a set of MB Quart Competition 3-ways up front and a Rockford Audiophile 12. Your two eights can be wired in parallel to get the most out of a bridged rear channel and you can run a nice set of fronts off two other channels on a 4 channel amp.

It won't give you the ultimate flexability of 2 amps, but do you really need 2 amps in a 'mainly for show' car that is not competing in pro competitions? Plus, one amp may help cut costs and simplify install in that trunk.

I will say one more thing, DO NOT SKIMP ON POWER. Less power can hurt a system then more power. In a convertible you are going to need lots of power reserve to overcome the inherent noise associated with the top down driving or even the rucuss of the S2K with the top up.

good luck!
Chris

 

Some good points by Chris.

Two 8's don't automatically mean it will move more air than a single 10". I learned this recently by frequenting the Electronics Forum. You have to allow for the excursion of each sub and the actual surface of the woofer. It isn't a simple 8 + 8 > 10. With that said, it's not like you picked cheaply-made 8's! The nice thing about JL subs is that they can operate nicely within a fairly large range of volumes.

The trunkwell with the trunkliner removed has right at 2.0 cubic ft of volume. I know; I measured it. There is more space than most give the car credit for. I'm sure you've already tossed the spare. Finding space for the 1000/1 will be nifty. I can only see two places to put that monster: 1) in the trunkwell if you have the two 8's on the side as if with the Laurent setup, and 2) mounted to a board that would separate the trunk from the rest of the car(carpetted wall/spare tire bulge). You could mount it in the spare tire area if you were to remove the plastic piece that is between the soft top and the trunk. Spankee has this done. You would also have to fold down the sensor/wiring coming out of the gas tank. Not sure how good that idea is with the amp's heat and all.

I like have a Class D amp(500/1) for my subs. It runs cooler than my 300/2. I had a 300/4, but when it went bye-bye, I decided the extra $40 wasn't worth it as I didn't plan on running rears. Also, I can tell you that my Boston Acoustic Pro 6.5's sound much better with 150w available to each speaker versus the 75w I was running to them before. Chris made the same point about having adequate power. Power doesn't necessarily destroy speakers... distortion does.

JB, you'll come up with something to fit the bill and it will be your idea/vision. That's what's neat about modding. Whether anyone likes it or not, or whether they think another piece is better, ultimately you have to be happy. Take some time to plan it out, be creative.

Skip

 

I recently (~2 months ago) purchased a polk/momo MM104 in a custom sealed box:
http://www.polkaudio.com/car/product.php?name=mm10

I have a Rockford Punch 401s pushing it 430W RMS and it sounds great.
(might upgrade this in the future, but for now I'm happy)
http://www.sounddomain.com/sku/ROC401S

Annnnnnnyway, what I was getting at is that I installed all of the stuff in my car (headunit, door speakers, amp, sub) and if you wanted any help with the install to let me know.

 

Do you have a myer emco around, i talked to them and they basicly told me that if you tell them your budget and what you want to do they can help you out because they rather sell you a system then nothing at all and when your talkin around 5g i knwo they will jumpp all over it,also you said custom trunki dont know what you have in mind but they have installer that is ranked in the top 10 in the country in the bialey crossroads store?? He does a lot of fiber glass etc. i dont know how true that is but he told me hes done som serious work on ferraris to escalades to porsches, sounds good but it sounded a little like BS to me hoep this helps a lil

 

Good installers always have pics of their work. It's like a resume for them. Ask to see his pics.

 

I've heard it and well... the sound sucks!





Just kidding Sophal!

Spankee's got the best 2 speakers set up I've ever heard. He couldn't even crank it up in the mid-day for fear of pissing off Skip's entire neighborhood.

And this thing wasn't boomy loud either, it was transparently clear w/ crisp highs, deep lows and warm mids. The system was free of distortion as is all too common in poorly combined over-powered systems.

Excellent sound and what I'm looking into next!

Anyone found a good deal on Dynamats?

 

Changed some things around.. Gonna go get new price quotes from Tweeter (A friend of a friend works there), sound solutions (does a lot of lojack and entertainment installs for our dealership and says that they'll do everything @ only 2% above cost), and Myer-Emco (Just to keep everyone honest) tomorrow..