GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

For the past week I have been working on a custom fiberglass enclosure to fit in the factory subwoofer location. I have read several posts about a factory 8" subwoofer, which I did not find behind the panel. Maybe I misread, and that is the Bazooka tube. In reality, The factory sub on my 06' is a 6.5" 2ohm DVC handling 50 watts. I have also read posts from several people wanting more bass, w/o sacrificing the cargo space. My original plan was to fit a low profile 10" sub behind the factory speaker grille. I've come to the conclusion that even with the Pioneer Shallow 10" (2 7/8" mounting depth) there is just not enough room. So, not wanting to scrap the idea completely, I decided to move the sub farther towards the rear. The sub fits closer to the trap door in the factory panel. I am going to try out a port that will line up with the factory speaker grille and see how it sounds. The sub has arrived, and the box is nearing completion, so I will finish the story in the next couple days. I would like to know if there are fellow Genvibers that would be interested in a box like this. I'm not sure if it has been done before, since I came up with nothing in my searches. Clearly the factory amp will not push enough wattage to power a 10" sub. I hooked it up and it will produce about the same amount of bass as the factory sub. The box will house the Pioneer sub http://www.crutchfield.com/App...p=111 and it looks as though it may have room for a slightly deeper sub as well. I will upload my pictures and hopefully thoughts on the sound later today. Let me know your thoughts, and if there is any interest in me producing more of these.

I'm interested to find out how much fuller your bass sounds, but that will probably be after you install another amp to run the sub alone...

I would like to know your fomulations for making a ported box FIT behind that panel... You would be further ahead going sealed, that is unless you have done your homework... Ported and port tuning is an art...

I did go with a sealed box. I do not know enough about porting to design the perfect port. I just experiment, and have come up with some nice sounding boxes. I tried a simple port on this box, and it did not sound as nice as I would like so I sealed it back up. The setup does sound good as a sealed enclosure. I ran a speaker wire to my brother's truck to his JL Audio amp and it hit pretty hard. It doesn't seem to be as deep as standard 10, but it does sound good. I will get some pics uploaded tomorrow. I had to do a fuel line repair, cat-back exhaust, and an intake before I came home tonight so I don't feel like spending any more time on the computer. I'll keep you updated.

How close are you to Pioneers posted volume requirements?

The box can be from .35 to .75 cubic feet. I think my box is roughly .5 EDIT: I measured the box now that it is somewhat finished and its just a hair over .4 cubic feet.

Have you taken into account the woofers volume?? That is a consideration that will make your box even smaller... The closer to .35 you get, the tighter it will be with less, low end output, the closer to the .75 you get, the deeper it will go, along with being more sloppy... So I would say your output is about right for what you described above..

Well I finally have it pretty much complete. The sub really hits pretty hard, considering how compact it is. Definitely makes the car rattle. And the best part is that it all fits behind the factory M&T panel. The sound quality is not noticeably reduced with the panel in place either. If I produce a few of these I will definitely flush mount the speaker (only reason I didn't on this box is because I haven't gone out and picked up the router bit I need. All in all I am impressed with it. It is a lot of sound in a compact package. It would definitely make people ask where the bass is coming from. No loss of cargo space, and no chance of theft. The box does mount to the factory locations with the factory bolts. I will throw up a couple pics so you can get an idea of what it looks like. I don't want any bashing for how it looks because this box was just a prototype to test the fit and sound. It wasn't made to look pretty. Anyways let me know what you think. I hope I can find a couple people interested in these. Click the picture.

Truckin1999, that's so cool! Very well done. When I was laying down dynamat in the cargo area of my Vibe, I was shocked by how much space was in the back. My first thought was... "With a little fiberglass work I could put two 10"s or maybe even two 12" back here!". Thanks for working it out... I think I have my next project

Oh wow, that is pretty amazing man. I say you make a tutorial for people on how to do it. I would pay you to come to my house to do that. Haha, but probably not enough for you to travel all the way to PA

This thread is missing something.....visual.....Something I can see.....Oh ya this thread needs Pics!!!!!

The process is pretty easy to explain, it is however very difficult to accomplish. It took me over a week to build the prototype box in my pictures. Trying to get fiberglass to dry while gravity is working against you can be extremely frustrating. My intentions with this project were to build a functional box to fit in that space, and have the ability to make a mold of it and copy it. For those of you looking for more bass, I will be selling these boxes. They will probably be around $200 for it to be worth my time to make them. After the cost of the materials, that leaves me with very little profit considering the time it takes to manufacture these boxes. I do projects like these to test my creativity, and to offer something unique to a very small market. I do feel, however, that $200 is VERY reasonable for a completely custom enclosure. The box as stated above was built around the Pioneer shallow 10" Subwoofer. I do believe that virtually any shallow 10" sub will fit. I have over an inch of space between the Pioneer sub and any part of the box. While the Pioneer is a very shallow sub with a mounting depth of less than 3 inches, that depth is consistent around the entire perimeter of the speaker. With the more traditional subwoofers that have a tapered spider and magnet there should be plenty of clearance around them. If anyone is interested in one of these boxes, please feel free to email me (CrushedBlueSteel@aol.com) for more information. If you give me the measurements of different subwoofers, I will be able to tell you if they will fit the enclosure. I also have some room for modifications to fit different styles of subs, as well as different internal volumes. I still have room to make the box up to a full cubic foot, and maybe even more. There is also a possibility that I may be able to squeeze a shallow 12" sub in there if you want to go a little more extreme. All in all, I am happy with the turnout of this project, and am looking forward to making these available to fellow Vibers.

ZionZR2 click on the small thumbnail of my Vibe in my previous post. It is a link to my album that contains the pictures of the box. I can fabricate anything, but I can't seem to figure out how to use HTML and link pics.

Does the sub sound muffled? Or distorted in any way?

Not any more than the factory subwoofer. Obviously you will not get the crispness of a sub in a sealed box just sitting the the cargo area, but it doesn't seem to be distorted at all. You can take the little door off, and a large portion of the sub is exposed. I don't have an amp in my car to run it, so I cannot listen to full range music with the subwoofer. I can only hook it up to the amp in my brother's truck and test the bass output. By the way, I have a Kenwood Excelon Class D amp that burned one of the capacitors off the main board inside. Does anyone know where I could take it to have it repaired? Any maybe how much amp repairs typically run? (Thanks for help with the pics Krunk!)

Very nice work. I've got to find out the dimensions of my sub now!

Looking at the pictures on the Crutchfield website, it looks like I could make it fit. I have the depth no problem my only concern would be the diameter of the magnet. The best part of making the boxes with fiberglass is that I can modify the box to fit so many different applications. Each box I make will likely be tweeked to house a specific subwoofer. Thats not to say you can't change subs down the road though. I just have to figure out how I can get access to the different subs for test fitting purposes. I bought the Pioneer from Crutchfield with the intention of testing the enclosure and returning the speaker for a refund.

You'll have to figure out how much to charge for the box/shipping... I'd be interested...

Quote »By the way, I have a Kenwood Excelon Class D amp that burned one of the capacitors off the main board inside. Does anyone know where I could take it to have it repaired? Any maybe how much amp repairs typically run?You could try giving http://www.Lifetimeservice.com a call.... I used to work there long ago, they do good work fast...

I would like to get $230 Shipped for them. I think that is a fair price. If you are seriously interested, email me at CrushedBlueSteel@aol.com and I will start working on another box for you. I should have it done and shipped in 2 weeks tops. Hopefully a week, but I don't want to push it. If you do buy a box from me, and you don't like it I will let you return it, though I won't pay shipping. Hope to hear from you Kamikaze and maybe some others.

Very tempting. How does that mount to the car itself?

Quote, originally posted by Truckin1999 »I would like to get $230 Shipped for them. I think that is a fair price. If you are seriously interested, email me at CrushedBlueSteel@aol.com and I will start working on another box for you. I should have it done and shipped in 2 weeks tops. Hopefully a week, but I don't want to push it. If you do buy a box from me, and you don't like it I will let you return it, though I won't pay shipping. Hope to hear from you Kamikaze and maybe some others. Where abouts is Northville on the mitten, man?? I'm in Mi myself and might consider coming out and having a look-see in person... I'm always up for meeting other "installer" types... In fact you should have a look at my Subaru install i'm kinda working on right now, over at DIYMA http://www.diymobileaudio.com/...24011

The factory sub mounts using 5 bolts, my box uses 4 of those 5 mounts. You just unbolt the factory sub, and bolt my box right in its place. Sublimewind - Northville is West of Detroit and North of Ann Arbor. It borders Livonia, Novi, Plymouth. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail sometime and we can meet up. I like Subies.

Right on, the new Subie won't be seeing light of day till spring... I was just down in Livonia at a car audio meet through DIYMA... I may be coming down that way soon to get some snow tires... who knows.. It's a 2.5hr drive for me, i'm right in the middle of the palm...

Well I guess I'm only going to make two of these boxes now. It just takes too long to make them. Maybe if I charged more for them, but the interest doesn't seem to be great enough. I will be finishing the two boxes I've already started, and selling them for $230 shipped (US only). The first two people to email me (crushedbluesteel@aol.com) will get them. I will have them both finished in the next two weeks and ready for shipment. As it is right now, they will be made specifically for the Pioneer Shallow 10, but will likely fit other low profile speakers. Anyone who is interested please email me as soon as possible. I will update this thread when I can.

Hey I used to go to Novi High School wayy back in the 80s.... Northville is such a cute town Go Blue!