Advice for sub setup in 500SEL
 

Hi all,
I have an '84 500SEL that I am slowly upgrading the sound system in. It's a 4 speaker setup (4x6 all around), and I have already replaced the rear deck speakers with Infinity 4652CFs and the head unit is a Kenwood KDC-216s. I'm also looking to put in a sub or two. I'd been considering using 2 Kenwood W3003s and a JBL 300.1 amp. However after reading another thread in this forum about cutting out the bottom plastic of the first aid drawer I got to thinking. If I did this would I be able to get away with using only 1 sub or even smaller subs? I'm not looking to blast everyone out of the car, just some decent bass. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.


Mike Hudson :D

sub advice
 

I have just ordered a 10" single bandpass system that I hope to be installing in the next week or so. I am also putting 6.5" components into the lids of the two boxes in the rear deck (first aid and tool kit). This allows the stock opening to be clear and I think I just have to pull the carpet-like material out form the bottom of the stock openings (grey) and this will give me two ports from the trunk without doing any cutting (except in the lid tops). I was thinking that the bandpass would push the sound out better and that it would move through the speaker openings easier and more clearly than a regular box. I tested this theory with a passive sub form my home bose system (acoustimass 10) which utilizes to 5.25" woofers in a bandpass enclosure and you could definitely tell that the bass was there. I did this with speaker in the stock opening and it sounded kind of muddy but I am sure this is caused by the sound going through the thick carpet-like material. I will take pictures of the sub install and the compent set install and post them here to help others out who want to put subs in a 126.

In my opinion I would choose two 10" subs if you arent trying to win any spl contests and just have a nice sounding setup. I am particular to soundstream amps, and subs, but if you just got two cheap JL audio subs off of ebay you would be fine. They sound great for all kinds of music, and you can put them in lots of different enclosures. The simplest would be a small sealed box, this would also have the best sound quality. Plus you wont have a big bandpass, or ported box taking up your entire trunk.

finished
 

I am finally finished with my install of my 6.5" components and my 10" single bandpass in the trunk. I will post pictures tomorrow (hopefully) of my entire car audio setup (except head unit which is on its way, Blaupunkt Tokyo) and then everything will be complete. One of my component speakers was too deep to fit in the bins so I just lifted up the rear deck and removed the two bins then inserted shims in each corner of the holes so the lids would rest on them on not just the latch. This allows more of the bass from the sub to pass through and it sounds great. Also my single bandpass box is smaller than a double 10" box so there aren't any size issues at all. It is about the size of a large case of wine (in between regular case and the 12 pack Styrofoam shipping boxes) or about 20" on each side (its a cube) and I just screwed my amp to the top of the box. The whole thing fits under the back deck in the trunk. If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me at brockley@pacbell.net. Also, if you e-mail me or post your e-mail, I can send the images directly to you and not have to upload them right away (you'll get them faster).
brockley

please send pics i am also thinking of doing this to my 300sdl
xpunter83@hotmail.com

pics
 

300sdl, I tried sending you the pics but they were over 1mb and were sent back because you did not have enough space for them but I have just posted them in another post in this forum for all to see. To see pics just check my custom system post in this forum.
Thanks.

I keep recommending these subs to people because they take super small sealed boxes, play really low, and have excellent sound quality. They are the Image Dynamics IDQ v.2. We did a single 10" in my brother's Maxima. The box volume was 0.65 cu. ft.. He powers it with a mere 150W Sony amp and it sounds pretty good. If he were to go to 300W, it would perform even better. The 12" requires only 0.85 cu. ft. to function properly. I would recommend going with the larger driver to get deeper sounding bass from it.

The problem you are going to run into with your 4x6 + bandpass sub system is the HUGE hole in the mid bass frequencies.

To get the sound to the cabin of the car, totally remove the bins in the rear deck, cut the lids off the deck and create a custom grille cover to hide the hideous holes.

about getting the bass into the car, i have heard people tell to remove the first aid kit.. but then my whole panel jumps, vibrates so hacked it up. heres a link to give u some ideas

http://members.sounddomain.com/ned2683

the new stuff are on the last page

Hey all,
I've been meaning to respond to this thread. What I ended up doing was putting a 12" Alpine sub in a ported box in the trunk. It's running off of a Kenwood KAC-729S. I must say I was pleasantly surprised, it hurts a lot harder than I would have thought. On some songs even makes the front seats vibrate, this is without any porting into the car, first aid kits still intact, and Infinity reference 4x6s in the rear. However, I would like a bit more mid bass punch up front, I was thinking about a set of Infinity 4x6 plates, but I was also toying with the idea of putting a set of components in kickpanels in the map holders on the doors. Anyone have any experience with this? How would I go about doing this?
Thanks for all the replys

i have did this (putting speakers in the door) it will not look flush though, since the magnet will hit the window. so u will have to make some kinda ring to extend it about half an inch or so...but it sound nice..