Amp rear speakers or buy subwoofer?
 

I just installed a Sony CDX-730 in my 1988 420sel. I've left the stock spearkers in the dash and front doors for the moment and replaced the rear speakers with 6.5" Infiniti Kappas. The look and performance of the head unit is terrific and the clarity of the sound has really improved. The only downside is that the lower end is pretty weak. I'd like to add a little more bass to the system without blowing lots of money. My options are:

1. try to find a discrete subwoofer to mount under the rear shelf (but I don't know which one). I don't want to fill up my trunk with lots of equiptment though, I want something small and inconspicuous if possible.

2. amplify the rear speakers, but they're only 6.5" speakers, I don't know how much of an improvement it would make.

3. reuse my old amps. I think they actually worked in spite of their reputation. My system actually had more bass before the swap (though the clairty and head unit performance was pretty bad). Still, they're 15 years old and I doubt they'd really compare with a contemporary amp.

Any thoughts would be appreciated, thanks!

How much bass are you trying to produce? maybe a small sub or a set of 6X9's would be good for you?

I not trying to impress the locals, just get a nice full sound. I like the idea of a small sub but I don't know much about them. Is there a particluar brand that makes good relatively small ones? I always see these giant tubes or speaker encasements and that isn't what I want at all.

Unobtrusive subwoofer on Steve Brotherton's site: http://www.continentalimports.com/cms_265.html

Jbaj007,

Wow, that's a nice looking unit. A little more than I'd planned to spend but might be worth it. I think I'm going to spend some time this weekend looking as weither it would be possible to build a custom enclosure up under the shelf. If I can find a way to port a subwoofer to the cabin without tearing up the interior too much I think that would be the way to go.

At least the trunk is big enough to sit in while I work :p

this is the only solution and still looks good and will put lots of bass if wanted or little bass if wanted......

Hey Benzonline,

I've been thinking about it and I think I'd prefer not to go with the top mounted speaker solution because I want the look of the shelf to stay as authentic as possible. What I have been thinking of instead is cutting the centers out of the doors on the two shelf cubbys and using them as frames to stretch some sort of fabric that was similar in color and feel to the carpet but more pourous. I'd have to remove the bottoms of the cubbys but I never use them so its not too much of a sacrifice.

This way the shelf would look almost identical to the original setup and but the increased pourosity would allow the doors to serve as ports for two 8" subwoofers (or possibly one 10" I don't really know yet). Because the trunk is vented to the outside to allow the lid to close easily it seems like I'll need an enclosure in order to direct the bass pressure into the cabin of the car. That being the case, below the shelf the subwoofers would be supported and enclosed by a shallow MDF box that was hung from the bottomside of the shelf and tucked as neatly as possible up and away from the body of the trunk.

This might be more sound than I really need but the more I think about it the more fun the project seems. If anyone has suggestions about enclosure design or subwoofer brands, I would appreciate your input.

Thanks!

At subwoofer frequencies (~40-100 Hz), I don't believe you need to port the cubby lids, only the bottom(s). At least I didn't (but I'm no audiophile; just as in Art, I don't know much, but I know what I like). Free air subwoofer on the bottom of the cubby area may be what you want as in this posters question
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/car-audio-multimedia/63423-need-free-air-sub.html

Thanks for the post. I found this link which addresses the same idea in much greater detail. I'll take some measurements this weekend and see what could work.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/car-audio-multimedia/20281-mounting-subwoofer-place-first-aid-box.html?highlight=free+air+subwoofer