heres a good question. i have the delima of the truck i drove before having 2 12 inch type r's and 1100 watts rms and i really miss the frequency response that only subs can give you.
so the idea is when i put in a cd player and door speakers (sorry infinity speakers are to puny for much more juice) i want badly to add a sub somewhere in the cab. but i have children and need the qaud cab to stay roomy. i've thought of trying to hide one under the seats in the front but im not seeing enough space for that. the seats in the rear set right on top of the cargo storage spaces so no way for a sub to breath under them. only other idea i've had short of putting in bucket seats in the front and putting in one of my alpines is to try to hide a 6 incher in the dash just over the drive tunnel. not great placement or heavy hitting base but still an improvement. do you all have any ideas or have a setup that fits my needs that i could copy?
the only other possible idea i have had (as i was typing this) is when i sway the 6x's in the back maybe moding the mount holes to hold two 8's (one on either side) run them from maybe and 450 wat amp and mount a tweeter above each one. all made to look stock mind you. that's the most important thing if possible. i can not sacrifice passanger space.

 

A while back I had made a custom box that replaces the rear cargo tray. I had 2 12's with low profile magnets. It fitted nice.

 

The center console slot is for a 5x7" speaker which would get you near 60 Hz. As far as shallow mount speakers, Pioneer has the 1241 and 3012 (I think) that are 3 1/4" deep. They also carry 10" shallow speakers. The thinnest, strongest material for the enclosure would be to cut up a polycarbonate sheet (1/4") and provide ribbing to stiffen. I will be making them after I finish redoing the interior in my truck, so sometime in March I will have made some tuned port enclosures for behing the seat. You, having the larger cab, I would recommend the largest underseat subs (shallow mount) and glass them into a custom enclosure or use 1/2" mdf with lots of wedges. Since they are under the seat, you do not have to be overly concerned with the finish so carpet would look fair. I am not familiar with the rear seats, but if you take a pic or two, I could probably steer you into the right direction. Remember, multiple smaller subs will generate resonances through the cab (similar to 1-2 larger subs), so it will amplify the sub 250 Hz (maybe 3-4 total).

 

i had thought about pulling the plastic tray that sits under the seats and building a box to sit in it's place and maybe hold my alpines or one of them anyway. would just let the seats set on top of the enclosure.

 

heres an idea. has anyone ever tried the thunderform box for the second gens in a first gen?at the moment my idea is this.
ill pull that tray assy out so i have the cab floor im lookin at and build a box to fit in it's place. till i messure it i don't know what kind of volume the box will have so i'll have to figure out if i want to port it and what size as well as wether to use on of my alpines or both.

i know ill be using my 1100 watt bostwick to drive it so im looking at a possible alt upgrade (the ranger always killed batts in around 2 years and had a hard time keeping juice in it). i'm pretty sure ill be cutting the back speaker holes to fit some 8's (seperate amp) and add some hidden tweets. the front's will just be a set of nice pioneer or alpine door speakers.

if anyone has tried the thunderform box though let me know how it worked out for ya.

and siggie thanks for the info by the way.

 

You welcome. Question for you.... why would you "hide" the tweets? The frequencies require direct aiming at the listener. As opposed to non-directional bass frequencies. Also, the pioneer shallow 8's are only 2 1/2" deep which would allow some interesting setups. They are only rated at 125W each though, so you would be forced to have 4 for any meaningful gain. You would not need an alt upgrade for 1100 watts, unless the alt requires rebuilding. I doubt the alt ever see's 80 amps of draw with a smaller system. I still am unsure what your "tray" looks like, but with the 8's you could use the polycarb and undermount the subs from the surface, and just drill holes to protect the speakers.

 

i know 110 amp alt i had in my ranger couldn't handle the load when i had anything else on. just the system by itself (no fans or anything else) was enough to drain it while it was running. by hiding the tweets i meen to recess them into the panels (provided there is room) at the appropriate angle. i'll have to consider the shallow 8's.

if you consider 1100 watts rms to be small (wich to me it wasn't when i got it 5 years ago) i'd hate to see your idea of big.

 

I really, am not trying to sound like a jerk, but having alot of experience in the field allows me some room to suggest "what I would do" or "wouldn't do". Comparing subs to mids and tweets is an "apples to oranges" comparison, as the mids and high at 100 watts would overpower a sub or mid sub at the same wattage (due to mass excursion). If your going to put some healthy door speakers in, then you will want all the wattage your budget will aloow. I am not sure which genre of music you will tune for, but if your rock/country, then your 8's or 10's will be fine (sealed box). If your more into hip hop or techno then the 10's would be the minimum (upper hz port). As for rap bass 12's is the smallest I recommend with a tuned port around 28hz (is it really ever enough?). Quite a conundrum, but you have a quad cab (no pic posted yet), and want to maintain the seating. Undermount tray seating would be ideal, but I am not sure how much room you have (with this option a port should be drilled in the front of the seat area) as far as depth and height. At 1100w rms your alt may see 800w with 85% efficiency. Your alt is rated to 1584w minus your electronics. If your dimming with the bass, then upgrade the big three. If it continues to dim, then look at a .5 farad cap. I know you haven't installed yet, but no reason to be prepared for things to come.

There are also free air subs, but I dont think you will be happy with them as you cannot provide a decent baffle under the seats, except for the cage mounting (a leak nightmare). Have you looked into transmission line (or t-line, nothing to do with gear selection) setups?

 

siggie30 -

All of my audio experience is in sound reinforcement, band mixing, small & large halls, etc.

I don't have much experience in car/truck audio other than knowing what sounds good (to me.)

I've heard, a sealed sub produces the tightest, punchiest bottom end but requires more power. I like tight bottom opposed to loose boom. I listen to rock, pop, classic rock, adult alternative (I hate labels) basically anything but, rap, techno and country.

Which sub/amp or combo would you suggest for my truck? Nothing gaudy or outlandish would be good.

 

Hmmmm, Since you do not require "ultimate bass" and want to get a bit of punch. I would suggest a 800w -1000w amp with around 750w-900w of sub. I have used the Kicker shallows, and the Pioneer shallows. The Pioneer lines are superior IN ALL ASPECTS. Twin Pioneer 10's (I think the TZ-SW25001 line) will put you around 600w RMS. Which will "punch" without the "boom". As far as protecting them, without seeing the rear seat area, I cannot "draw" a recommendation, as mine is a regular cab. I also, am unfamiliar with the C&D pillars in anything larger than a regular cab model. Alot of people have yet to realize the potential of polycarbonate sheeting (clear or colored). It is rigid, easily worked with wood tools, and will never sweat, rot, peel, delaminate, or anything else associated with MDF, or similar woods. If you take a pic or get someone to post one with the "rough" H, W, D I could use WinISD to determine if you need a port or not (I will also need your speaker brand/model for the TS parameters). FYI, I have built competition systems, but for smaller setups, not the "spare no expense type". I feel that simplicity, and minimization creates less maintenance. The last box setup I did was pushing a little more than 4000w, but accuracy became an issue with the user. He is still trying to shatter his windows (Why? IDK).

EDIT: After looking at the underseat space on the longer cabs, you are really going to need shallow mount. If you use a 2 channel amp for the subs, and a 4 channel for the fronts, you could mount a 5x7 in the front center dash area (The tabs are there) and run L/R for the doors, and split the 3/4 channel to push the center front.

As far as the differences between your stage sound setup vs a vehicle. The vehicle is a bit better for controlling certain frquencies, as most interiors absorb well (there are inherent anti-nodes within the chassis that cancel out certain frequencies). As always, your upper frequencies will be an issue for locating, unless you split the channels and use four directional tweeters for the front. I will look at some interior pics of other similar trucks and see if I can help.