funk_drummer
CarAudio.com Newbie
- 21
This is my first swing at any kind of install. My 300 has a 'decent' stock system, just lacked some bottom end. My goal was to add quality bass in a box that is easy to remove if needed. I didn't want to shake the earth. Just wanted to know it was there when the volume was low and feel it when it was up. Didn't want to break the bank. I started out wanting a 12" sub. After a lot of research and discussion, I decided a 10 would be better. There are so many driver and amp suppliers. I looked at so many, it came down to Infinity 1000W with the K600 amp or what I ended up with, Dayton HO 10" DVC and NVX VAD10001 amp with an NVX LOC. I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. The sound is exactly what I wanted, it's clean and powerful. When it's low you still know it's there. The box is really small. Worked with a member here to model the driver based on what I like to listen to and all that. Said I needed around a .82 cu ft box tuned to 30 hz. This ended up being .86 I think the tune should be 30.5 if the tuning calculator is accurate. I wired the sub down to 2 ohm. The amp is rated 760 W at 2 ohm. Because everything is so small I thought maybe it wouldn't be enough and I'd end up building another. Nope. This little setup gets after it. I read about how to set the gain by ear so I downloaded a tone generator. Everyone said to set volume at 85% of max and turn up the gain until you hear the pitch change, then back it off. With the gain all the way down I could go get to about 60% volume before my head was shaking. Needless to say the sub has a lot more power than the stock system. I spent some time listening to music and messing with the gain and low pass filter. I'm running the gain at only about 25% with the LPF around 110hz. I have the subsonic filter set at half octave below my box tune, which is what I read is a good place to start, 22.5 hz. Bass boost on the amp is 0%.
I installed the amp on the back of the seat. I'm not 100% sure I love that, but we'll see. I put nylon spacers under the amp to provide air flow under the amp to hopefully help with cooling. I feel like the power connections to the amp are a little flimsy, but seems to be OK. I used 100% copper 4 gauge wire for the power and ground. Battery is in the trunk so this install was really easy from that stand point. The inline fuse is a 90A. I think I covered all the bases. Everything works, no sparks or fire. There is a post in the box construction forum that covers the building of the box in more detail.
Overall, this is exactly what I wanted...looks and sound. I'm not crazy about the bar speaker grill. I'm considering putting some sort of false face on the front with some spacers so I can install a true metal grill of some sort. We'll see. For what some might call a budget build, this turned out great.
I installed the amp on the back of the seat. I'm not 100% sure I love that, but we'll see. I put nylon spacers under the amp to provide air flow under the amp to hopefully help with cooling. I feel like the power connections to the amp are a little flimsy, but seems to be OK. I used 100% copper 4 gauge wire for the power and ground. Battery is in the trunk so this install was really easy from that stand point. The inline fuse is a 90A. I think I covered all the bases. Everything works, no sparks or fire. There is a post in the box construction forum that covers the building of the box in more detail.
Overall, this is exactly what I wanted...looks and sound. I'm not crazy about the bar speaker grill. I'm considering putting some sort of false face on the front with some spacers so I can install a true metal grill of some sort. We'll see. For what some might call a budget build, this turned out great.