17cm speakers in e320 cabrio rear

[softtop]

well i have a sense of achievement today. my 1994 e320 cabrio will shortly have 17cm pioneer three way speakers in the back side pods rather than the blown 12cm ones i had before. its taking a fair bit of metal cutting and carpentry but it can be done using the original speaker frame.

the question is: i want to mount a kenwood ksc-sw1 subwoofer somewhere in the car. its 9.1cm deep and the only place i can think of is on the 'upper' side of the passenger footwell. There appears to be a softish black bulkhead there. can i anchor the unit to this or will i be drilling into an airbox or something?

does anyone have experience of attaching an integrated subwoofer such as this with glue or velcro rather than screwing it down/up;-)

kenwood product is here...
http://www.justkenwood.co.uk/speakers01/kscsw1.asp

thanks!

 

[Blobcat]

To get the best from it, it needs to be firmly attached. I would be very very wary of mounting anything in the passenger footwell, this area is designed to give in the event of an accident so as not to cause damage to the passenger. A soild sub woofer could do quite a bit of damage.
As per the specs underseat fitting as long as it is firmly bolted through the floor would seem the best option.
We have a department that specialises in vehicle installations, whilst it is all emergency service equipment the regulations and best practive do transfer to the domestic/commercial world. They have undertaken many tests including crashes to determine install locations and fixing methods. The general rule is as per my advice above, nothing in front of passenger or driver especially in passenger crumple zones and ensure that the equipment is securely bolted down.

 

[television]

Keep in mind that sub woofer base sound is non detectable as to where it is coming from, High frequency sounds only travel in a straight line, where as base and sub base sounds are dispursed around the car.
Apart from the safety point, the loudspeaker chassis does need to be bolted down and it needs a baffle to dispurse the sound. if a baffle is not used or the drive unit is not bolted down, on a given bass note the loudspeaker chassis will move, rather than the cone, and it will be sound lost. If you can fix it under the seat it would work OK but it does need some form of enclsure and/or baffle board.

Malcolm

 

[Bolide]

I'd hang it from the rear shelf and vent it through the speaker holes in the shelf or through the First Aid kit opening, assuming these are present on your car. This is well-known way of getting bass into the front of a saloon

BTW I think you'd be better off replacing the front speakers than the rears. Normally rear speakers are just used for fill

The front speaker openings will take bigger speakers but it's an awkward area to work in. You can put tweeters in the triangular pieces behind the door mirrors if you're handy

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[softtop]

cabrios very tight on space

Thanks for the most excellent replies. good point about the front footwell...i'd never have thought of the crash implications.

the subwoofer presents a special difficulty because its a convertible. i definitely don't want to drill holes in the hood lid at the back. guess i'll have to do without and use some of the money to stick in some dynamat and get the most out of the new rear speakers.

i intend to do the front speakers next but i thought it would be a good idea to reassemble all the trim in the back of the car before i start ripping out the front

thanks to all again.

 

[television]

The Rear Bass speaker is in the boot on my SL500 with the bose system with a small outlet at the top, but you have rear seats, even with the small outlet it works very well. if you could enclose the rear speakers at the rear it would improve the sound. Speakers in an air tight enclosure can handle more than double the power of a free to air system.As you are finding out, our cars are a nightmare to add anything to.

malcolm

 

[softtop]

enclosing speaker

boot won't work because the petrol tank is between the boot and the back seat.

interesting what you say about enclosure. should i look into attaching a short 17cm diameter tube to the back of the speaker frame to enclose the basket of the speaker?

 

[television]

The loudspaker cone moves forward to make a sound, it has to gat back from where it started, but you do not want to hear that sound that's why all enclosures use a felt lined box.. there are two main types of enclosure, the air type box, or bass reflex, this is where a port is fitted to the front.
The effect of an air tight box is that it stiffens up the cone, that stops it flapping as it would in free air,if the enclosure is too small it can sound worse. it is a complex subject that I have apent a large part of my working life.
If the bose system was offered as an extra on your car take a look and see how they do it, if you can find anything.

Malcolm