audiophyle_247

Camera has been acting up & the phone pics look like ass. The fiberglass IS the bottom half of the box. The fiberglass layer was attached to the wooden frame that was sitting on it, and the frame is attached to the upper portion (the drawing). From the top it looks like a tiny box just barely large enough to house the 8" sub, when in reality the trunk floor is actually part of the box. I just got it together & installed last night and played with it today. The sound is pretty impressive, but it does not quite have the volume I was hoping for. Very crisp bass response, and the low down bass just doesnt quit. Only real problem I have is once the car is running the bass is hard to hear over the exhaust, and to get it at my usual listening level while driving the sub is just about at its limits. I plan to play around with the box a little (change the internal volume a bit) and see what happens, maybe if I can bump the tuning freq up a bit higher it may help with volume. I will get good pics tomorrow hopefully.

Just a quick idea, why not try it out before bolting them down & see if ya like it firing forward? Majority of the time it sounds better firing toward the rear, but give it a try anyway.

Updates?! (sneak peeks perhaps?)

Oh.....well carbon fiber gets my vote. +1

Sub is an Audiopulse Epic. The caps I have had laying around for a while now, and figured I might try to throw them in. I flip flop on that almost daily, & if I cant find a good spot to put them I will probably do without anyway. I prefer a nice clean look opposed to the cluttered look. With the box sitting in my trunk it looks like a very tiny box just sitting in the corner of the trunk, it is very deceiving.

The Alpine type S components have a pretty good sound for as cheap as they are. I install quite a few & they perform quite well running off a HU, you would probably be happy with them. I havent played with Kicker components since the Resolution series were offered, sorry.

Little update. Fiberglass is about 1/2 done. Top half is very close to being done. Woofer in the pic to give size comparison. Really hope to have this making noise by Sunday, going all week without any music & huffing FG fumes is driving me crazy.

Stephan, you need to read the thread. With the wire grounded it has absolutely no idea what position the parking brake is in, thus explaining why it does nothing for you. Put a switch or relay on that grounded wire & you will be golden.

Having the CF dust cap differentiates the Xcon from the Icon, I think if you plan to have a variety of subwoofers there should be some cosmetic difference between them. Bling is one thing, but if someone hears a bangin system you want them to know right away what is making that sound. How many times have people seen/heard an impressive system & not gotten a chance to chat with the owner? If you can easily distinguish between the 2 visually the onlooker will be able to tell right away what is making all that bass, which will also be especially helpful to SSA in the future when the subwoofer family tree gets a little more complex. If not the different cap, atleast a different logo. Just my $.02 anyway. I can only imagine how this sub sounds if its better than an Icon, damn.

Damn that truck is sessy lookin. Good job on the build, full interior with a monster sub leaves very little to be desired.

Alright, so this will be going into my 93 del Sol. The trunk floor is in the process of being fiber glassed, then I will packing peanut measure the volume and should be able to stick as close as I can to my goals. Goal is 1cuft, tuned to 28hz with port area of 8"x2.5" with the end opening flared. I used Google sketchup (just found it & it is awesome!) to mock up the box design & it has me all excited to finish this box. My goal is maximum output with as much SQ retained as I can, save as much weight as I can, and save as much trunk space as I can. Drawn exactly to scale. Port sectional. I have 2 Alpine PDX amps which will be stacked to the left of the box. The amps together will be the same height & depth as the box is. Then I will use a front trim panel & top trim panel to flush it all into the trunk & hide all of the wiring, and a false floor to hide 2 caps & 4 crossovers. Comments &/or suggestions?

WOOHOO!! Fedex brought me a present today!! I forget sometimes how small an 8" really is, and this thing is tiny. I think the motor structure really makes the woofer look smaller than it actually is. I cannot wait to get this box done to see what this little monster can really do. I am planning on .8cuft tuned to 28hz, or as close as I can get with a mostly FG box. Hope to have it finished within a week or so.

AP site claims .5~1cuft for sealed, and .8~1.5cuft for ported, which is so far larger than anyone has used or recommended thus far. Thus the need for getting feedback.

mrray13 what do you think of the sealed .17cuft box? That is almost ridiculous in size.

///M5 on here very often? Any links for his build?

I have an AP Epic 8" sub coming in the mail from Mike @ soundsplinter. I have yet to ever hear or play with these and want to know what others have had good results with. (enclosure size, tune freq, port area)

Something like this

Boredom > you lol

I would go with number 2, because if its worth doing its worth doing right. The way the braces all share the same contact points in the first pic make for slightly weaker joints & a bigger chance of not coming out truly square. The 2nd pic staggers the corners & adds more side bracing to the contacts (if that makes any sense, kinda hard to explain). But the differences are probably negligible anyway. Also a bit harder but I would consider lining the panels up in a pinwheel fashion, if that makes no sense I can draw a pic for ya.

Here is my advice, take it if you want. Quality OWNS quantity. You have a somewhat small cabin space for that truck (unlike sedans or SUVs) and hitting the low low bass will suffer greatly because of this. Cone area is one thing, but the box is responsible for about 80% of the output, so between 3 10's or 2 12's in the same size box I would lean toward the 12's as the box is a bit small for 3 10" subs. (inhibiting low bass efficiency) First instinct would be to jump into the 12's for the low bass, but the problem is your restrictions on box size will prevent you from getting a box tunable to 25~30 hz. As the box gets smaller the port needs to be longer to tune low, but as the box gets bigger the port requirements get shorter to reach the low freq, there is a relationship here. The hardest part is lets say you build a 3cuft box, as you decide to tune lower the port gets longer, which takes up more space in the box, which makes the box even smaller, which makes port tuning even harder because you will be crunching TONS of numbers. & if you forgot to add in sub displacement your port will need to grow again. So you can either make the box bigger than you want to run the 12's & hope to be able to tune the port low enough, or Go with 2 10's, keep the box the size you want and be able to tune the port as low as you want because the box gives you the room to do so. I can say, 2 SSA 10's in a 2.6cube box ported to 30~31hz with 1500w rms is retarded loud. I am an installer/fabricator & have been doin this ish for years, and even I could not sit in that car for very long at full volume before my eyes began to hurt. So this 3cuft you claim to have, is that an absolute measurement? Or did you measure it & subtract for material space taken? (ie drawing a pic & mapping out the internal dimensions of the ideal box to calculate the actual interior air space, not taking into consideration woofer displacement or port displacement)

Not being an OG here probably doesnt help, but I would be more than happy to test out one of these subs when they're ready. Plenty of experience & know how to really give a good report, and can whip out boxes in mere minutes

Vivek, I stumbled across your thread today & had to laugh a little. No wonder you were so indecisive on the port/sub locations. Worked out just fine though didnt it You took too long to share pics so I figured I better, poor guys here sittin & waiting forever. Lemme know when you are ready for the truck, I cant wait to see what you have in mind.

& when the SSA 8" comes out I will be more than happy to rock the piss out of one. That CF was a serious pita to work with, and I will probably never do it again I love rock & heavy metal, and look forward to getting an Epic 8" from Mike@SoundSplinter & experimenting with it. I see what looks like a good balance between SQ & SPL lovers on here, and look forward to learning some new shiat.

So after hearing these SSA subs, I am a believer. SSA Build After lurking around on here for a while I figured I might as well sign up, and will be seeking advice for an upcoming AP Epic 8" build for my own car. I am the head installer & custom fabricator for a shop in Albuquerque, NM and have several years of experience behind me. I have done a lot of builds, and as always look forward to tons more. Click the link above for a build I finished a while ago for another member on here, as for my own car here ya go. 93 Honda del Sol turbocharged Si

lol I am the guy who built this setup for the SSA Icons, and after reading the replies on here I can see where all of his questions were coming from. With a test speaker in the trunk, it turned out sound was better with woofer/port firing toward trunk instead of toward cabin or upward. As everyone on here is aware, things changed as the build progressed & I ended up putting the battery between the rear struts also, so box size had to shrink. I am sorry no update pics ever made it here, and I am sure all you SSA junkies were anxious to see what came of this poll. So here ya go. Raw unfinished box. Box. Final design was 2.6cuft net tuned to ~31hz. 3/4" mdf, with 1" Lexan face. Inside painted metallic silver to match vehicle, rear wall fitted with mirror, and floor panel wrapped in silver CF vinyl with "EVO VIII" raised lettering centered. Amp rack was also painted to match vehicle, & neon+strobes mounted underneath the amp (floating 3" off rack floor) First impressions after seeing the subs, seriously overbuilt looking 8"s (cone area is small compared to huge surround ) Heavy as sin & looked promising. Impressions after install & first listen? OMFG!! I have done a lot of systems (Top installer for my shop) and am very skilled in box designing & building. 1500w amp running these 10's and I was skeptical about the box size sounding good. From everything I have found is recommended volumes are always too small and I usually have better results when bumping the volume up and dropping the tune freq a little (on average anyway, & with mainstream subs). The sound coming from these subs in this box is pure sex. Bass is insanely loud, hits low enough to make you cry, and is so damn crisp it feels like a sucker punch to the gut. Also the sole reason why I have been browsing this forum Planning to build up a AudioPulse Epic 8" for my own car in the near future. (since SSA 8" is a ways off & RL-i8 is also)