Built my own sub enclosure finally

[treepete]

hey, I think some of you know I have been putting the audio system in the Yukon, and its taking forever.
I am proud to announce that I did complete the sub enclosure with matching beige "fur" I guess you could call it.
Now i just need the amp to come in the mail, and I can slap it in the bed.

Rockford Fosgate 450.2 on ebay for 56$. that was a steal.
The subs are old-ass pioneer IMPP 12's. hope they hit hard once I get it wired.

Man all the work I set out to do to the Yukon is almost done.
I gotta think of something else to do now...

 

[YukonMud]

good looking box...I am a huge audio guy and will post some pics I have of my audio system, that if you would like.

 

[treepete]

heck yeah, that would be great.

I asked JK if he would start a model-year specific audio thread and add it to the forum, He said he would look at it, and post a stickey to see if it gains enough popularity to become its own category.

 

[GMCYukalade]

I've got 2 Memphis M3's in a huge vented box - with a Memphis Power Reference 1000D Mono Amp.. I like it... I only listen to Gospel.. stuff like the Isaccs etc - but you would be surprised at how hard a bass guitar can hit

 

[treepete]

Yeha i think that 1000watts of gospel would actually convert some people. With the right bass line, 1000 watts should be able to vibrate cash right out of the wallet and into the collection plate.

I listen to many different kinds of music, namely jazz drumming type stuff (Dave Weckl, etc)
Also (oddly enough) I listen to a lot of super-polyrhythmic metal. Like Meshuggah, Textures, Obsidian etc So i need the punch-to-the-chest kinda bass. crispy and brutal.

man, dude. I cant even think of 1000 watts, what that would be like.

 

[YukonMud]

I currently have two 1000D Amps running to one 12"...I can almost blow women's clothes off :yesnod:
...once my garage clears up I want to install everything into my car to see what everything sounds like in a small vehicle.

 

[98hoe]

Thats a good lookin box . Did you split it down the middle into two sections? MDF? Are the speakers bridged?

I think a Model year specific audio thread would be cool. Except for me getting jealous at the guys out there with fat pockets having someone else installing there system. like four 1ohm amps with four 12's in a custom fiberglass box color matched to their hoe. Not like me where I frequent the local paw shops, ebay, and wally world.

 

[treepete]

Yes, thanks a lot for your kind words.

The box is MDF and it is split in the middle to make 2 seperate compartments for the speakers. I do not have the speakers bridged at this time, although I did put in a courtesy wire between the two sides, in case I want to bridge them later or upgrade to bigger bridged subs. I figured as long as I was in there, I would drill a small hole and fit the wire between the compartments. I sealed it with a little shoe goo so the sides remained seperate, air-wise.

yeah, I wish I had time/money for a super custom enclosure like you mentioned. But for me, too much low frequency muddies the sound of my music. With more money and component audio, I could prolly endure more low end. But for now, I hope it just works when I get the amp hooked up to it.

 

[98hoe]

Hook a amp up to a speaker and it will work. But to be working like they should there are things to consider. A dual 4-ohm voice coil subwoofer with its coils wired in parallel presents a 2-ohm load to your amplifier. I believe that amp your getting is 2 ohm stable. 450 watt - 100 watt x2 @ 4 ohm and 225watt @ 2 ohm. You would ge more knock out of them at 2 ohms. Just a thought.

 

[chuuch]

Box looks good man!! i dont think that 450.2 is 2ohm stable when bridged and im not sure if your subs are SVC(Single Voice Coil) or DVC(Dual Voice Coil) but here are some pics of probably your best bet for wiring options:

Courtesy of the12volt.com

ok now, if your speakers are DVC, you could wire the voice coils on each sub in series then wire the speakers in parallel to achieve a 4ohm load on a single channel (you'll get 450x1 @ 4ohm bridged) or what 98hoe said to wire the coils in parallel then you could go 2ch @ 2 ohm for 225w

Courtesy of the12volt.com

now if those subs are SVC then your only option really just to wire them separately (2ch), unless i'm wrong and that amp can handle 2ohm bridged then you can wire the speakers in parallel to get a 1 ch, 2ohm load:

Courtesy of the12volt.com

sorry for the long post, on the subject we definitely need a car audio section! i would live there..haha anyways thats just my .02

 

[96ProCompTahoe]

drop a capacitor in there and run the amp at 14.4V.

Mine are DVC, bridged, running on 14.4V.

Nice looking box, almost the same as whats in the back of my Hoe, minus the grills and i have a trim plate on top of the amp and cap. to hide all the damned wires

 

[treepete]

wow you guys thanks for all the replies. I didnt think this thread would take off.
OK anyway its wied that you brought that up becuase I was dinking around with it saturday for a few minutes.

While Im waiting for the new amp to come in the mail, I took an old-ass sony XM4020 and just hooked it up to test my amp power wire and remote wire.
Anyway I got a really interesting ( i think) result, since I know so little about stereos etc.
anyway, I have see on the websites that this little amp can do 90w x2. If this is true or not, i dunno.. but anyway.. I hooked it up to the subs and it worked while the headunit was in "tuner" mode. It would not work when the head unit was in AUX or CD or iPod mode. which i though was interesting.
but anyway.. the speakers I have now are 150w nominal power (at 4 ohms) and 450w "max music power" I cant recall the model of the speaker at this time, but they are pioneer 12 IMPP somethingor other... 302C maybe ( Ill look at home)
I was just going to try this at 2ch 4 ohms and see how it was. if I need to go to the next level of bass, then I will bridge the speakers.. Or I wil post here again and you dudes can tell me what to try next.

THanks again for all the replies.

Pete

 

[YukonMud]

Those are some interesting results...I hate trouble shooting things like that.

I installed a sub, amp, cap and internals for a friend and when I was all done the music only cam out at 1/4 volume, when turned up to max, and when it played for longer than 30 seconds everything would turn off. Lets just say that not all 2nd hand stuff is good and that after another day wasted I got everything to work.

 

[98hoe]

Second hand stuff or second hand help?? :gy: :Yo, J/K. I just said that cause you got it working the next day.

 

[YukonMud]

We did get it working the next day...the issue ended up being a dead cap; I don't think I have ever heard of a cap going bad. We also ended up getting a new bigger amp. The new one is a little bigger but is a class D rather than a B and sounds 100x better.

But on a side note, a second hand was great, he was able to hold the flashlight for me

 

[treepete]

I figured it out. I had hooked the motor antenna blue wire to the blue wire on the head unit, thinking it would be on when the radio was on. ( in order to raise the auto antenna I dont have)
So, as I finally peruse the op manual, I see that I should have hooked it up to the blue and white wire.. this is the power control/motor control wire.

looking around, I see that this has been posted here in the past. man, im dumb.

thanks for all your help on this again guys. I feel like a dork.

 

[96ProCompTahoe]

haha, atleast it was something small and simple.

if you ever put a cap in it make sure to hook it up the right way. or you'll be looking at getting a new truck when it blows up they give that cable a good snap when you hook it up to the battery.

 

[treepete]

yeah, If you ever wanna blow anything up, charge up a 1 farad cap and then short it out. boom.

Do those caps reallllly smooth the power out?. I mean without massive low freq bass hits, or dimming of the lights etc, do you really need one? Do they 'hurt" the alternator or work it harder at all?

And while your at it, after you power off your vehicle, how do they discharge to a safe point? Bleed resistor or something?
I can see myself getting seriously wounded by one of those things.
Actually, I found a video of me doing some welding on my OLD Denali, when I accidentally welded too close to the capacitor.

 

[treepete]

Bombing on a joke with the wrong video attachment. How embarassing.

heres the me-not-really-welding-too-late-to-be-funny video

 

[96ProCompTahoe]

the cap helps alot on my system. i hate when peiople put together systems and try to show off while their headlights are dimmed out.

i fired 2 altenators on my last vehicle WITH a cap on it. (the original, an extra used one we had, put a brand new bosch one on and no problems up till i sold it.) the stock one on the tahoe was on its way out and i just went ahead and replaced it. no problems since.

without it you will put a bigger strain on the battery, and depending on the battery on the alternator as well.

not sure on the discharge, mine "shuts off" when you cut the remote line. (it has the digital readout) pulled it out and left it sitting for about a year, plugged it back in when i bought that tahoe and it still had juice in it.