i have 2 10" subs in my trunk and i really cant hear them, and im taking out the first aid kit and the other compartment, will just removing them be enough or should i use some kind of pipe directly ontop of the woofers into the cabbin? what do you guys sudgest? this is in a w126 ,
thanks bob

my cousin and I both have a W126, he put 2 12W6's in his. He managed to take out the bottom panel on the medical kit if i'm correct, he said he just fidgetted with it for 10 minutes or so and it came off. It sounds good.

300SDL:

I am doing a similar thing in my 400E, but I have planned from the beginning to port into the first aid kit area. After much research on this site and others, I figured that porting into the cabin somehow was the only way to go. I don't think just cutting holes in the rear deck will sound nearly as good as porting the subs energy directly into the cabin. The other choice I was considering was to mount 2 8" free air subs in the rear deck, which I have done before in a 300E, and sounded really good. I didn't want to do that much cutting, and the variety among free air subs is very limited.

I have 2 10" subs, each in their own 1 cubic foot sub-enclosure. You mentioned you have 2 10" subs - Are they in a ported, vented (Generally the only difference between port and vent is that a port is round, and a vent is rectangular.) or sealed box? It they are ported or vented, you have to check to see if the ports will line up properly under the FA Kit area. I checked this VERY carefully before cutting holes in either the back deck, OR in the sub box enclosure. "Measure twice, cut once" kept going through my mind. I found that a lot of pre-built boxes didn't have the port in the right location - usually facing the same direction as the subs. I also found that most of them took up more trunk space than I was willing to give up. My enclosure is only 9" deep.

As far as port material, I have used black PVC drain pipe in the past to good effect, and that is what I'm using this time as well. It is very stiff, cheap and easy to get at the hardware store, and easy to cut with a hack saw. It isn't very pretty, and the wall thickness is more than required. The specs on the subs I am using require a port 3" across by about 7" long for each sub, so I have cut two holes. I also used a black PVC drain cap to finish off the top of the port where is pokes into the FA kit area. It doesn't look too bad, and you don't really see it anyhow. Getting cloth to match, or trying to retain the original cloth is difficult or impossible. I am not done with my project yet, so I can't tell you how it sounds, but I have gone pretty cheap on the whole deal, building the enclosure myself, and using 2 Jensen subs with a 300 Watt Jensen amp. (Peak output, bridged into 2 ohms, downhill with a tail wind - I hate how they rate these things! This is really about a 75 watt amp in stereo into 4 ohms which is how I have to run it.) Less than $200 in electronics, plus maybe another $50 in other material. (And some of my own cheap labor!) I will probably have the most trouble with the wiring - the box has been easy.

Cutting a hole was pretty tough as the rear deck material is actually four layers. There is carpet on top, with sound deadening material underneath. Then there is a layer of what looks like rubber, and then the metal itself. It was actually easier to cut from underneath, in the trunk, with a small power jigsaw and a metal cutting blade. I removed the carpet and sound material first, although I'm not sure I needed to.

Lemme know how it goes!

__________________
Mike in Denver
'93 400E Now DEAD - Rear ended and totalled.
Replaced by '02 C32 AMG - FAST!

thanks for the input, i have a sealed box and ive managed to have it facing up so you can see the subs through the first aid kit hole. they sound pretty good now that ive removed this and toyed with my radios filters and amp settings. I dont know if its worth it to take out both med kits in the back because one seems sufficient. However the subs sound real boomy, and im wondering if this is because its the bass is to high on the amp setting or just because it is a sealed box. I was hoping to get clear hits from the sealed type, but its probably just some settings i have to change or maybe input signals. Ill get back to you when i have it sounding better. BTW the wiring wasnt that bad until i got to the firewall. i used 4 gauge wire and it needed a huge hole, so instead of drilling through the firewall i fished it through a grommit that was there. i think its the one that covers the hood relase also, this seemed like the easiest way to wire it, if u need pics, just tell me

You're probably getting a boomy sound because it's traveling right up through the med kit hole. Try facing the subs either towards your back seat or the opposite way and see what kind of sound you get. And I read on the JL website that a box built with a port is less boomy, so you might want to read this, it was pretty helpful:

http://www.jlaudio.com/tutorials/magic/index.html

Click on the links above the text "Sealed boxes" and "ported" and you decide what sound you want best

Definitely read the JL Audio "Primer". It is a very good summary of the different types of enclosures and their pros and cons.

I'm guessing that what you describe as "boomy" is probably really inacurrate bass. By this I mean that at some frequencies or notes of music or percussion you get a nice solid sound. Others seem to disappear, and still others are very loud and/or muddy. As the bass plays up and down the scale, or the drummer does a roll around different drums and changes tone, you may find that the the quality of the sound and volume change. This is probably because your sub is playing into a very small space, IE the trunk, and creating all kinds of secondary resonances. As the sub hits certain notes, you will get a doubling or a tripling of the sound waves that are being transferred into the cabin via the hole you made in the First Aid Kit space. This will sound "boomy". While it might be loud, it won't sound accurate or crisp. Conversely, there are other notes or frequencies that cancel each other out so those notes will seem to disappear.

By porting directly into the cabin from your sub enclosure, you will take half the energy the sub is making and put it directly where the listener is. The other energy is still in the trunk obviously, but it should be shaking the rest of the vehicle, and overall should sound pretty good - IF the box, speaker and port are properly matched - tricky business isn't it?! It IS important however, that you seal the rear deck, so you won't also get the weird resonances and multiplied and/or canceled frequencies you are getting now. Simply poking a 3" port up through an 8" hole will NOT solve your problem. In fact, it may exacerbate it.

Since you have a sealed box, the thing to find out is if it can be ported. If so, how big does it need to be, both in cross section and in length? Many drivers simply won't work very well in a ported enclosure, because they are designed to use the sealed air in the box as a cushion. Without the cushion, they may over extend their cone excursion range and either distort or fail. Did you buy this sub, or make it? If purchased, what is the brand name? A reputable manufacturer should be able to give you advice regarding porting. Trying to figure it out by trial and error will definitely be a ton of brain damage

Thanks for the offer regarding wiring. I may take you up on that! The battery in my car is in the trunk, and the stock amps are also in the trunk, so I am hoping I don't have to run anything from the engine bay to the trunk.

__________________
Mike in Denver
'93 400E Now DEAD - Rear ended and totalled.
Replaced by '02 C32 AMG - FAST!

also I don't know what kind of subs you have. But if you got JL's, if you check the little two page manual that comes in the box, it tells you exact dimensions on how to build a box. One set of dimensions for a ported box, and another set for a non ported box. The ported happened to be alot bigger for my 12W3.