JJs stero build.

[MLA]

8 minutes ago, IXFE said:

Done it both ways... me thinks a new facade is a lot easier to cut out and carpet than building a custom box with complex math, angles, etc.  

There may be other reasons to go custom, but this isn't one of them, imho. 

1) enclosure specs matches the woofer T/S parameters exactly

2) enclosure fits boat

3) no ordering and waiting on matching carpet. 

3 to 1. 

[IXFE]

22 minutes ago, MLA said:

1) enclosure specs matches the woofer T/S parameters exactly

2) enclosure fits boat

3) no ordering and waiting on matching carpet. 

3 to 1. 

Like I said... done it both ways. Acknowledge (again) the advantages of custom. I simply stated ease of build was not one of them.  Your last post implied the reason to build custom was to retain the factory facade.  I stand by my statement... in and of itself, that's a lame reason to go custom.

Also, the "store bought" boxes in question fit just fine.  

Waiting for carpet?  That's funny. 

[Chrisjjbrown]

5 hours ago, MLA said:

This is why i like to build a custom enclosure, rather than a store bought, Design the enclosure to mate to the existing woofer hole. Retain the original facade with OEM matching carpet. 

Well your a professional so I see why you would do that. 

I'm a rookie and  I have a day job, have three kids, in the middle of my MBA program, and coach in the spring 6 days a week.  So spending time building a box is something I'm Not interested in when I can buy a box for 50 bucks. 

Also if you saw my picture of my old sub box the factory kick pannel isn't in any shape to be reused after my removal. 

Edited April 1, 2017 by Chrisjjbrown

[Chrisjjbrown]

2 hours ago, Pnwrider said:

How come the amps are mounted all crooked? 

Hey now .....Worry about your own stero install on your Lund 

 

But seriously I was trying to move as little as possible.   The space and angle of the amp rack the Javi had to ended up alittle crooked.  

The wetsounds is straight.  Its good enough for me.  

[IXFE]

Just now, Chrisjjbrown said:

Hey now .....Worry about your own stero install on your Lund 

 

But seriously I was trying to move as little as possible.   The space and angle of the amp rack the Javi had to ended up alittle crooked.  

The wetsounds is straight.  Its good enough for me.  

Nobody will ever notice. Seriously. How many of your passengers even know what an amp is, much less look closely at them under there?

[David]

8 hours ago, Chrisjjbrown said:

Hey now .....Worry about your own stero install on your Lund 

 

But seriously I was trying to move as little as possible.   The space and angle of the amp rack the Javi had to ended up alittle crooked.  

The wetsounds is straight.  Its good enough for me.  

I laid awake for hours last night with mind racing as I couldn't get the image of that crooked amplifier out of my head.

[hethj7]

9 hours ago, IXFE said:

Like I said... done it both ways. Acknowledge (again) the advantages of custom. I simply stated ease of build was not one of them.  Your last post implied the reason to build custom was to retain the factory facade.  I stand by my statement... in and of itself, that's a lame reason to go custom.

Also, the "store bought" boxes in question fit just fine.  

Waiting for carpet?  That's funny. 

I will be waiting on carpet for mine unless Lowe's has a match.  Partly because I forgot to ask my dealer to get me some early on and they are four hours away. 

[MLA]

JJ,

Im not criticizing your install and apologize if it came across that way. In reality, the q-bomb is the reason you wont be reusing the factory facade, not the condition of it after removal. The woofer holes wont align because the box will hit the walkway pocket.

Those that think its lame to build a custom enclosure in order to retain the original facade for a factory look, i believe are in a small minority. They are entitled to their opinion. For those following along, they should know there is a way. The OEM box can be removed, a proper box can be built and the assembly put back in and look factory. The new enclose just needs to be about 15% larger minimum, to make a difference in the woofers performance. this can be done with adding a little height and depth and then cut the new hole in the box off center to the left, in order to match the OEM facade. Yes, it takes time, but so does measuring out a new facade. Then you have to factor in the materials. HDPE is not cheap and the OEM malibu carpet certainly is not.    

[shawndoggy]

@MLA so how do you do it.... do you build the box (with no woofer cutout) then put in place, then overlay the kick panel, and trace the hole dimensions on to the box/cut with a jigsaw?  Just curious from an execution perspective.

I can see it both ways too... for a newb, or someone who gets no joy from building a box, it's quite possible to build a six sided cube (box),  line up the kickpanel a little off and then goof the hole too, where you waste the time of building the box and need to start over.  Also the pain and suffering of building a box (again for someone not so adept at doing it in the first place) may significantly outweigh the cost of materials to rebuild the kick  panel (which is what, about $60 max?).

[MLA]

Way too risky to try to plot the woofer cutout on the new box to line up. Get the uncut enclosure and facade with factory woofer hole, in place and mated, then trace the existing hole onto the baffle wall of the enclosure. Just need to plan ahead during the measuring for the new box, that there will be wood where the hole is.  

[hethj7]

Well FWIW, despite all the tips and successes I see on here, my new pre-built Atrend box wouldn't fit.  My dad and I messed with it for too long today before punting and building a new box.  I just need carpeting then I can get it all back together.  Got the box made, new kick panel made with holes for hot tubes, and sprayed the new box today.  

Edited April 2, 2017 by hethj7

[IXFE]

All I know is I spent SIGNIFICANTLY more time building this (my 2015 custom box)...

than I did this (the "custom" facade hiding the Qbomb in my 2016)...

^^^ proof that you don't need to reuse the factory piece to get a factory look  

 

Edited April 2, 2017 by IXFE

[IXFE]

I will also add this... I'm not hating on custom boxes or even pro built boxes (I've had those too).  

In my opinion, the main reason to build or pay for a custom box would be if a PORTED solution is desired. Obviously a ported enclosure is going to be significantly bigger than the enclosure being used in this thread. As a result, any off-the-shelf box is not likely to fit under the Malibu helm (or any helm for that matter). Have you ever seen a guy her fit a generic ported box under a Malibu helm?  Me either. Getting that kind of volume into that space requires complex shapes and angles.  Custom is also preferred because of the tunability inherent with a ported enclosure (i.e. the delicate balance between box dimensions and port dimensions).  For both these reasons if you want ported building custom is the only choice.  However, even then I wouldn't reuse the factory facade.  Why constrain yourself with the exact location of that hole when a new factory-like facade is so easy to cut out and cover?

But if a SEALED enclosure is the desired solution (i.e. a tighter more musical sound), I personally don't see the point to building a custom box.  My '13 VLX had a pro built custom sealed enclosure and I think it was a waste of money.  There are several off-the-shelf sealed boxes that fit under our helms and since there's no tuning to be done with a port, just match the volume specified by the manufacturer and go.

Edited April 2, 2017 by IXFE

[Chrisjjbrown]

Well I am 95% complete.   Just need to make a new kick pannel and mount it.  

Got the Rev 10s mounted up.......& Man they sure do rip.   I could hear them clear as day all the way down the street about 15 houses down.  I stopped walking because it was pointless I could still hear them.  

I really like the 420 bt.  It is easy to use and really adds another dynamic to the system..... I have no noise issues and the Bluetooth works great  

The Wife came out eventually and told me to turn it down.  My daughter liked it though.  

 

Good news,  I did not have to end up using the Bimini Relocation bracket as I had no problems deploying my Bimini.   

 

Got the sub mounted in the qbomb and to the floor.  I won't win any awards for it being pretty but it will be behind a kick pannel anyways.  I decide to fire it into the hull.  This will mean I don't have to cut a hole for the new kick pannel, and with the Rockford Sub being kinda meh, I figured it might help give it alittle more thump. 

I used pressure treated lumbar to raise the box off the floor.... I was told some off you will chastise me about that ..... I'll take your bullets.

I haven't really heard many other custom set ups but I can say that I think this setup sounds very good to my novice ear  

 

 

 

I didn't really do anything that hasn't been done on here before but hopefully this thread provides alittle help on the some of the areas I had questions about going into the install. 

Reading the build threads of @Fman @Shawdawg @IXFE Really helped me.  So thank you guys for documenting this stuff.  

Thanks to my man @Stevo for answering my 1 million questions.  

If I can knock this out, I am convinced now anyone can do this stuff and you can save yourself a bunch of cash and you get to learn something new.  

It took me about 16 hrs total. With alittle clean up work left. 

Edited April 3, 2017 by Chrisjjbrown

[hethj7]

Very cool!  And shhhh, but I just used pressure treated lumber as well.  My dad put a dado in the board to lock it on the factory black stops the kick panel was originally screed to, then I sunk another screw in to anchor it, as well as one more board on the back of the box for support.

 

What are you making your new kick panel from? My dad had 1/4" wood we made one from - I would like to get starboard but he was so much help and knocked it our for me in his wood shop Just need carpet now.

 

 

 

[Chrisjjbrown]

26 minutes ago, hethj7 said:

Very cool!  And shhhh, but I just used pressure treated lumber as well.  My dad put a dado in the board to lock it on the factory black stops the kick panel was originally screed to, then I sunk another screw in to anchor it, as well as one more board on the back of the box for support.

 

What are you making your new kick panel from? My dad had 1/4" wood we made one from - I would like to get starboard but he was so much help and knocked it our for me in his wood shop Just need carpet now.

 

 

 

That's a nice looking box.  

I'm not sure most likely some wood from Lowes.  Any other suggestions 

[hethj7]

Thanks.  My dad loves wood working and after fighting to fit the premade box, we ran to his shop and whipped that out very quickly.  No funky angles, just a square box that should be the right volume for the RF sub. 

I would like to use 1/4" thick plastic for the kick panel, but the local stores dont carry it.  It seems pricey online - not that I need that much, but you get the idea in the link below.  

https://www.amazon.com/KING-StarBoard-24-54-WHITE/dp/B002IZFRUS

 

 

 

 

[tjklein]

Try McMaster-Carr.  They're pretty decent for pricing, they have everything you'll ever need, and shipping is reasonable.  Local sources might be a bit cheaper, but can be harder to track down too.

24x48"  1/4"  sheet  is $43.76    From experience I would say shipping will be about $15-20 depending on your location.  I buy a lot of stuff from them.

https://www.mcmaster.com/#starboard-sheets/=mlwjpe

[shawndoggy]

do you have a local plastics shop?  Mine carries lots of thicknesses and textures.

you don't need 1/2" by any means.  Factory is 3/8" and they have a sub mounted to it.  1/4" will work fine.  

[shawndoggy]

https://www.amazon.com/Density-Polyethylene-Plastic-Sheet-Black/dp/B01MQ2C4CK/ref=sr_1_1?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1491189897&sr=1-1&keywords=hdpe+sheet+24+x+36

[Stevo]

5 hours ago, Chrisjjbrown said:

Well I am 95% complete.   Just need to make a new kick pannel and mount it.  

Got the Rev 10s mounted up.......& Man they sure do rip.   I could hear them clear as day all the way down the street about 15 houses down.  I stopped walking because it was pointless I could still hear them.  

I really like the 420 bt.  It is easy to use and really adds another dynamic to the system..... I have no noise issues and the Bluetooth works great  

The Wife came out eventually and told me to turn it down.  My daughter liked it though.  

 

Good news,  I did not have to end up using the Bimini Relocation bracket as I had no problems deploying my Bimini.   

 

Got the sub mounted in the qbomb and to the floor.  I won't win any awards for it being pretty but it will be behind a kick pannel anyways.  I decide to fire it into the hull.  This will mean I don't have to cut a hole for the new kick pannel, and with the Rockford Sub being kinda meh, I figured it might help give it alittle more thump. 

I used pressure treated lumbar to raise the box off the floor.... I was told some off you will chastise me about that ..... I'll take your bullets.

I haven't really heard many other custom set ups but I can say that I think this setup sounds very good to my novice ear  

 

 

 

I didn't really do anything that hasn't been done on here before but hopefully this thread provides alittle help on the some of the areas I had questions about going into the install. 

Reading the build threads of @Fman @Shawdawg @IXFE Really helped me.  So thank you guys for documenting this stuff.  

Thanks to my man @Stevo for answering my 1 million questions.  

If I can knock this out, I am convinced now anyone can do this stuff and you can save yourself a bunch of cash and you get to learn something new.  

It took me about 16 hrs total. With alittle clean up work left. 

I'm not trying to buzzkill, but until you fire up the engine, you won't know for sure if there are any noise issues.

if you do have noise,you got the #

looks good, and I bet is sounds even better, 

Edited April 3, 2017 by Stevo

[Chrisjjbrown]

7 hours ago, Stevo said:

I'm not trying to buzzkill, but until you fire up the engine, you won't know for sure if there are any noise issues.

if you do have noise,you got the #

looks good, and I bet is sounds even better, 

Come on Stevo you could have mentioned that yesterday.....

[MLA]

7 hours ago, Stevo said:

I haven't really heard many other custom set ups but I can say that I think this setup sounds very good to my novice ear

As ive said many times, the Rockford 12" is a solid woofer for its power handling class. Its just deserves a better box then the OEM and a little bit more wattage. 

Before securing the new facade, I would test the woofer. IMO, those boxes are a tad large for that woofer. You may find it to be a little on the mello side, and need to reduce the internal volume. 

 

[Chrisjjbrown]

Finally got around to building the kick panel.   

I used cardboard to make the template and check fit.  Then used an oak panel.  The sub is firing into the hull so no hole to cut.  

covered it with carpet from lowes.  Not an exact match but I think it looks good.  

and I am all done.