Hardest hitting subwoofer enclosure I’ve ever made (w/ design image and cut list)

[margareedaville]

Did you use 13ply Russian Baltic birch or 6ply birch?

Six ply Russian.

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[margareedaville]

How does it fit with the seats down? Is it a good flat surface?

The fit is perfect but it would’ve been a level application if the enclosure was only 4 1/2 inches tall. So the enclosure is 1 inch higher than the seats folded down. I’m not mad at the trade-off based on how well it sounds.

 

[margareedaville]

Looks great! I was informed that even though the 13.5 is bigger in diameter it has less xmax and doesn't sound as good. What part of Texas are you in? I would love to hear it!

How about making a custom molded ABS box that fits in this storage bin area. So you can keep the floor looking stock.

Trust me, I try, but there’s no way to make it fit even if I took the custom mold out. There’s simply just not enough room and air space required.

 

[Bruno]

Trust me, I try, but there’s no way to make it fit even if I took the custom mold out. There’s simply just not enough room and air space required.

yea - I meant make a box , out of vacuum formed ABS - that replaces the existing box and is designed specifically for holding a sub with vents firing upward - and sits under the rear cover, flush.
Sounds like a good starting place is identifying a sub-speaker that has rough dimension that fit in that volume.
then design the box around that

 

[thenewjs]

Six ply Russian.

Hmmmm! 6 ply russian? Where did you find 6 ply russian?

 

[margareedaville]

Hmmmm! 6 ply russian? Where did you find 6 ply russian?

At my local wood supply. =). They were pretty proud of it, and it's good stuff.

 

[margareedaville]

yea - I meant make a box , out of vacuum formed ABS - that replaces the existing box and is designed specifically for holding a sub with vents firing upward - and sits under the rear cover, flush.
Sounds like a good starting place is identifying a sub-speaker that has rough dimension that fit in that volume.
then design the box around that

I couldn't agree more, but there's only room for maybe a couple of 8" subs. Maybe...

 

[Hossfire]

Very nicely done! You also have a level load floor for long items and car camping.

 

[Hossfire]

At my local wood supply. =). They were pretty proud of it, and it's good stuff.

Baltic Birch is pretty commonly available, it shouldn't be too difficult to find.

 

[margareedaville]

Very nicely done! You also have a level load floor for long items and car camping.

Thank you! Yes, it was one of my criteria to make it as level as possible to the folded seats. =)

 

[Hossfire]

this is what the JL rep sent me.

I wonder how many cubic feet they squeezed into that enclosure?

 

[Bruno]

I couldn't agree more, but there's only room for maybe a couple of 8" subs. Maybe...

Whhats wrong with a couple 8" subs driven properly?

 

[mpeugeot]

Howdy everyone, thought I would share my month-long project. The minute I drove my ‘22 Wildtrak 2-Door home I noticed how poor the sound was. Being that music is part of my life and how important good sound is to me, I resolved to upgrade the base stereo.

I started with replacing all six factory speakers with top-of-the-line Kicker components. Then I purchased a T harness and loop back system from LLJ customs. The T harness plugs into the head unit, goes out to an Audiocontrol D-5.1300 amplifier then routes back to the T harness, and on to the speakers. I took the seat out, removed the inch of carpet and nestled the amplifier in that spot, using vibration dampening bolts. I ran four gauge wire from the battery and hooked everything up. Then I ran 10 gauge speaker wire to the back.

First of all, the sound of the new speakers without the amplifier isn’t bad I have to admit. However, once I looped it through the amplifier and back to the speakers, I knew I had done the right thing. The sound is much more clear and precise. I would say easily 100 times better. I can crank the volume up to 25 without distortion. Crystal clear. It also solves any question about whether the rear speakers are getting enough power. I can’t tell you how much better it sounds.

Now for the fun part, the subwoofer enclosure. I spent a couple of weeks designing this enclosure using Tinkercad, and I decided to go with half inch birch plywood instead of three-quarter inch MDF. I knew the MDF was best, but I wanted to see what kind of performance the half inch birch would give me and at the same time yield an enclosure half the weight.

Why did I design this particular enclosure? I didn’t want a typical box taking up much vertical space, nor did I want something someone could look into the window and see a subwoofer to steal. Therefore, I decided to go with the down firing design. The challenge was to keep the enclosure around the same height as the seats when folded down and at the same time, find a shallow mount sub that would accommodate this while ensuring there is enough clearance for the sub and the airflow coming out the bottom.

After a couple of weeks of design, I settled on what you see. I put it together, using wood glue, screws, liquid nails, and special gaskets to seal up a 12 inch sub. I decided to go with JL Audio’s TW3 12 inch, wired it down to 2 ohm. I followed their recommendations of .8 ft.³ of volume, by giving it .9 then subtracted the volume of the braces and sub itself. Science. I found self-adhesive color-matching carpet for the enclosure, wrapped it up and was astonished at how well it fit. Of course I measured a million times and is a reason why it fit like a glove. The open slots on each side are simply for storage and have nothing to do with the sound.

The results? Crystal clear bass. Turn it up to level 5 and you have a perfect balance and blend of sound filling the cabin, but turn it up to 15 or more, you feel the air pressure moving you. My neighbor two streets could hear it!! Country songs kick extremely hard and tight while hip-hop literally feels like air is being sucked out of your lungs. I’ve never had such amazing acoustical success, but I guess in a two door bronco, one can expect such things. I honestly didn’t expect anything near the power and the feel, it’s really amazing.

Thanks for your time!

Here's the design, and cut list.

PDF File: https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/attachments/bronco-box-12-jl-audio-12tw3-d4-pdf.453622/

Costs:

Amp - $1200
Harness - $150
Speakers - $350
Sub - $425
Enclosure & Carpet - $100
Misc Wiring & Tools - $100

Awesome and thanks for sharing all of this!

 

[skipole70]

Howdy everyone, thought I would share my month-long project. The minute I drove my ‘22 Wildtrak 2-Door home I noticed how poor the sound was. Being that music is part of my life and how important good sound is to me, I resolved to upgrade the base stereo.

I started with replacing all six factory speakers with top-of-the-line Kicker components. Then I purchased a T harness and loop back system from LLJ customs. The T harness plugs into the head unit, goes out to an Audiocontrol D-5.1300 amplifier then routes back to the T harness, and on to the speakers. I took the seat out, removed the inch of carpet and nestled the amplifier in that spot, using vibration dampening bolts. I ran four gauge wire from the battery and hooked everything up. Then I ran 10 gauge speaker wire to the back.

First of all, the sound of the new speakers without the amplifier isn’t bad I have to admit. However, once I looped it through the amplifier and back to the speakers, I knew I had done the right thing. The sound is much more clear and precise. I would say easily 100 times better. I can crank the volume up to 25 without distortion. Crystal clear. It also solves any question about whether the rear speakers are getting enough power. I can’t tell you how much better it sounds.

Now for the fun part, the subwoofer enclosure. I spent a couple of weeks designing this enclosure using Tinkercad, and I decided to go with half inch birch plywood instead of three-quarter inch MDF. I knew the MDF was best, but I wanted to see what kind of performance the half inch birch would give me and at the same time yield an enclosure half the weight.

Why did I design this particular enclosure? I didn’t want a typical box taking up much vertical space, nor did I want something someone could look into the window and see a subwoofer to steal. Therefore, I decided to go with the down firing design. The challenge was to keep the enclosure around the same height as the seats when folded down and at the same time, find a shallow mount sub that would accommodate this while ensuring there is enough clearance for the sub and the airflow coming out the bottom.

After a couple of weeks of design, I settled on what you see. I put it together, using wood glue, screws, liquid nails, and special gaskets to seal up a 12 inch sub. I decided to go with JL Audio’s TW3 12 inch, wired it down to 2 ohm. I followed their recommendations of .8 ft.³ of volume, by giving it .9 then subtracted the volume of the braces and sub itself. Science. I found self-adhesive color-matching carpet for the enclosure, wrapped it up and was astonished at how well it fit. Of course I measured a million times and is a reason why it fit like a glove. The open slots on each side are simply for storage and have nothing to do with the sound.

The results? Crystal clear bass. Turn it up to level 5 and you have a perfect balance and blend of sound filling the cabin, but turn it up to 15 or more, you feel the air pressure moving you. My neighbor two streets could hear it!! Country songs kick extremely hard and tight while hip-hop literally feels like air is being sucked out of your lungs. I’ve never had such amazing acoustical success, but I guess in a two door bronco, one can expect such things. I honestly didn’t expect anything near the power and the feel, it’s really amazing.

Thanks for your time!

Here's the design, and cut list.

PDF File: https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/attachments/bronco-box-12-jl-audio-12tw3-d4-pdf.453622/

Costs:

Amp - $1200
Harness - $150
Speakers - $350
Sub - $425
Enclosure & Carpet - $100
Misc Wiring & Tools - $100

Good move going w the birch. Back in the day, that’s all Id use when I did competition systems. Amazing sound and very sturdy

 

[VoltageDrop]

I couldn't agree more, but there's only room for maybe a couple of 8" subs. Maybe...

That depends on your level of motivation. If you swap to a smaller in-line muffler upstream, you suddenly have tons of room under the cargo area Great build, OP!

Any specs on that JL Stealthbox? I like OP's design but the 2-door hurts for space and Ford wasted plenty of it behind the trim panels so I do like the idea of tucking one in there.

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