What do people have for subs in a club cab? I like the "sleeper" style with the boxes that replace the storage bins under the seats. Like the MTX thunderform. Does anyone have one of these?

Im not looking to have bass that will blow my windows out I just want a decent sound and have it factory looking. I also looked at a Foxbox from fox acoustics but I dont like the way it looks.

This one
http://www.foxacoustics.com/PhotoDet...ode=DXC-210-94

 

Kinda cant say as I have one of those systems that might potentially blow out the windows.. :X

If all your looking for is some more bass you can fit some 8" back there in the q- pannel.. with a little modification.. and located a small amp somewhere..

 

I wanna do the same! Figured i would get a sub that is shallow, i know kicker has a few 10 inches models thatbare shallow! And i would put an amp under the passenger seat! I would hav to look at the seat and see if it will fit or maybe fab up a sunken in amp somewhere!

 

Easy you can modify he tool box thats under the longer seat.. you would however need to put a fan there that would turn on/off.. and have a vent though to keep it from overheating.. but could be done.. some small 8's would work good there.. you might need to line the side in though.. it wont be like a wooden box but it would give you 'better' bass than the smaller speakers can produce.. it really depends on what your looking for..

Remove the smaller seat and puta nice sealed or ported box tehre and still eaves the longer seat back there..

Options are endless

 

I use a single Alpine 10" SWE 1043. I built a regular sealed enclosure for it, it is not one of the ones that replaces the tool tray but it does sound good:





I got the sub on clearance sale at Best Buy, I only paid $31.00 for it. I had a JL 10W0 before so the box is only .75 cubic feet, and the Alpine calls for a 1.0 cubic foot enclosure for "optimum performance". I used the same box and stuffed it about half full with Polyfill to trick the box into acting like it is bigger than it really is. If you can find a 1043 somewhere, it is one of the best sounding 10" subs I have ever heard. It pounds pretty hard and has great low end for a 10. With the 1043 I usually set my deck's sub level control at 0 or -1 and still have plenty of good bass from it. Crutchfield sells the 1043 for $64.99. The sub has a lot of good reviews on the Crutchfield site too.

My box is not a hidden one that replaces the tool tray, but it is another option to look at I guess. JL might still make the Stealthbox for a Dakota. It replaces the cushion in the center front seat and has a single 8 or 10 firing down at the the floor. I don't care for those too much because they are very expensive, are a real pain in the *** to install and they take a lot of power to sound good. But they are hidden out of sight and with the right amp they do have good bass. The MTX Thunderform is good too. It replaces the tool tray but is very expensive as well. I built my box myself with less than $50.00 in materials, I built it about 5 years ago and it is still holding up very well and sounds great too. I removed the back seat bottom behind my driver's seat because no one can sit there anyway, I am too tall for that.

There are a lot of options out there. This is just my 2 cents on it.

Jimmy

 

Silver, I love that setup! You wouldnt have some diagrams or build specs on that would you? That is not what I was thinking of but that looks sharp.

Edit, do you have any more pics with the piece off around your amp, or does it just drop in there? I love the clean look.

 

I had a 10in competition sub mounted on my tool box where the single seat is. I just unbolted the seat so the sub had a solid surface to sit it on. I dont like shallow mount subs not enough deep bass.

 

Thanks. It really is a very simple installation. Here is a shot of it without the flush panel on the amp:



All I did was remove the four bolts that hold the bottom of the left rear seat in place, then I cut out a piece of 1/4" Medium Density Fiberboard (mdf) to fit that open area of the tool tray on that side of the truck. It's about 2 feet wide I guess, give or take a few inches. There is a center divider piece between that side of the tool tray and the passenger's side of the tool tray. There is a lip inside the tray that the mdf sits on. I cut the mdf so it is about 1/4" smaller than the inside measurements of the tool tray compartment, then just used a file and rounded off the corners of the mdf piece. Then I cut holes in the mdf to bring the wires up through for the amp. I covered the mdf piece in carpet that matches my interior and cut a small X in the carpet on each corner area of the mdf piece. I set the mdf into the tool tray, it sits perfectly on the inside lip, then just peeled the carpet back a bit where I had cut X's in it, and ran a 1 1/4" fine thread drywall screw down through the mdf into the plastic lip to hold it in place. The carpet I used makes up for the 1/4" difference in the measurements of the piece of mdf, so with the carpet glued in place, everything looks flush along the inside edges of the tool tray compartment.

I built my box out of 1/2" mdf. Its outside dimensions are 10 1/4" high, 12" deep and 14" wide. It has .76 cubic feet of interior air space without the Polyfill. If you wanted to build the exact same box, here are the measurements for the separate pieces:

Top and Bottom: 11" x 10 1/4"
Front and Back: 14" x 10 1/4"
Sides: 11" x 13"

I drilled 3/32" pilot holes and used Elmer's Wood Glue and 1 1/4" coarse thread drywall screws to screw the mdf box pieces together. I glued and screwed the top and bottom pieces to the sides first, then put on the front piece. Then I cut the hole for the woofer in the front of the box. Then I caulked all of the inside edges without the back of the box in place, it is a lot easier that way. Then I glued and screwed the back side of the box on, and caulked the back inside edges by reaching in through the woofer hole with my caulk gun the best I could maneuver it around through the woofer hole. The places I could not reach with the caulk gun I just globbed some caulk on my finger and smeared it into the inside edges that way. It is also easier to seal the back inside edges with a hand-held tube of caulk inside the box through the woofer hole. After I carpeted the box I drilled a 1/4" hole for the speaker wire for the sub, ran it into the box and caulked around that hole too. I did not carpet the back or the bottom of the box, there is no need for it because those sides are not visible with the box installed in the truck.

Then I set the box in place and tucked the speaker wire back out of sight and ran it over to the amp location. Then I just shot four 1 1/2" coarse thread drywall screws through the bottom of the box into the piece of mdf that I cut to fit in the tool tray. I used a right angle drill to get one screw closer to the back side of the box. The screws hold the box in place so it does not move around while I am driving or become a deadly missile if I were to get in a bad wreck. Then I just connected the speaker wires to the sub and screwed it in place and mounted my amp over on the other side of the mdf piece in the tool tray.

The JL sub I had before fit perfectly in the 10 1/4" height measurement of the box. My new Alpine sub is just a shade bigger but it still fits OK. I covered the box, tool tray mdf piece and the flush panel for my amp all with carpet that is pretty close to the same dark gray color as my factory carpet. On that flush panel in the picture, the carpet is a bit darker looking because the box has been in the truck for 6 years and its carpet has faded a little. The carpet on the amp flush panel had been in my closet for 6 years until about 6 weeks ago. It is a bit darker right now but the sun will fade it out after a while.

Before I had the Kicker amp I had a JL 300/4 amp, it had a flush panel too. Back when I first did my system I used my JL amp and it blew a channel about 6 months after I had it. I had to send it away to Arizona for repairs, which were all covered under warranty but it was gone a long time. I got tired of waiting for it to come back so I bought the Kicker KX 350.4 amp you see in the pics here. When I finally reinstalled my JL amp, I put my Kicker amp in the closet too, and said I would use it again if my JL amp ever had any more problems. The JL amp was in the truck for 5 years and did fine until it took a dump again about 6 weeks ago. So I installed my old Kicker amp.

The amp flush panel top piece is made of 1/4" mdf, and the sides are 1/2" mdf cut to 1 1/2" wide by whatever the lengths were to fit under the flush panel and support it. I just glued and stapled it all together. I just measured the amp and the distance it is mounted from the tool tray edge and the left side of the box and cut a square in the 1/4" mdf top piece to fit around the amp. The square hole is actually about 1/4" larger than the amp itself, to allow space for the carpet. If you want to do a similar installation you will probably have to buy the carpet at a good independent car audio shop. Walmart used to sell replacement automotive carpet by the roll but I have not seen it there in a long time now. A good car stereo store can check your truck's carpet color and if they don't have it in stock they should be able to order it in for you, probably between $15.00 to $20.00 per yard. I used about a yard and a half on my system. Just remember that the carpet will add 1/4" to the measurements of any panel or piece you cover with it. Also use a good quality spray glue. Home Depot sells one for about $7.50 per can. Spray both the mdf and the carpet and let them both set for about 3 minutes to get very tacky, then put it together.

The sub box and amp panels were not very hard to build. The sub sounds great and my whole system is good and loud but also very clean. I use Kicker KS 60 front and rear speakers, a pair of Alpine tweeters up on my sail panels and a Kenwood KDC-X395 deck. It all sounds pretty good for what it is. Thanks again for the compliments. Let me know if you need any more info.

Jimmy

 

Silver that is perfect. I am going to build this exactly, Ill take pictures too. Thanks for the recommendation and the inspiration.

 

I have the thunderform setup...haven't updated anything else really to drive it to a really performance level, but then again, I dont want to be thumping all that much...just deeper bass...