Thread: Subbox Frame completed.

Well it took 3 days total to finish. But I am really happy with results! It came out way better than I had imagined! I got the carpet from WalMart (thanks Jay! "Abrasive") and I got the piano hinge (32" section) from Home Depot (thanks again Jay! "Abrasive") and 3M 90 series spray on tackie glue for the carpet onto the subbox frame (thanks again to Jay! "Abrasive")

All in all I spent maybe $50-60 bucks total. Most coming from the 2 cans of the 3M spray ($25 bucks for two of them!!!) and the 1/4 MDF Board was about $10 bucks and the carpet from Walmart ran me $9 bucks and the piano hinge ran me $12 and I went ahead and got a hacksaw to cut the hinge to fit each side panel, another $19 bucks for a better one.

I cut the board to measure, then sanded all the rough edges and corners and then cut the carpet to fit, I didnt calculate good enough the length of the carpet so I had to ghetto fab the piece on the left side, but it came out well, not hardly noticeable unless pointed out. And then sprayed on the adhesive to the MDF board and laid the carpet. And then used my Irwin SurGrip tools and some scrap 1/4 board to use as a press to help the carpet adhere to the board.

I was a little nervous after adding the carpet if it would affect the overal size of the subbox area not allowing it to fit. But when I test fitted it after the glue dried it slipped over perfectly! I was quite stocked! The hinges were pretty easy and allow for me to fold them down inwards so it makes placing into the trunk a lot easier. And then you fold out the side panels. I will attach the amps to each side once I get my new Kenwood Bass Amp. The folder side panels act as a nice brace against frame not requiring me to add any additional anchoring.

Now for the final images And a big thanks Jay for his creative ideas on tools and stuff to help with this project!







Here is how it looks in the trunk.







And there is enough of an opening to allow the bass air generated to slip
through the top portion of the frame.

What is the purpose of the piano hinges?

Looks nice. my guess is the hinges are so he can remove it easily when necessary

Yes the hinges enable to me to fold up the side panels without having to dismantle anything and they give it a good distinctive look as well. Cause if I were to have fabbed them permanently onto the frame backing, the whole frame would not fit into the truck. I had thought about doing seperate hinges on each panel, but I like the one constant look of the piano hinge. I got a 32" section of the hinge and then cut them down to equal size with a hacksaw and then lined them up how I want to have so that the side panels can flair out into the corners of the trunk giving me more immediate trunk space infront of the Subs.

Thanks for the questions and compliments

Brilliant!!
I had thought about doing nearly the same thing but I have way too many tools for work and I never did do that.

I'm sure you have thought of it but.....grills over the subs, holes in speakers suck!!

Originally Posted by WhiteGT

Looks good, I would have put the hinges on differentlly so you wouldn't see the screws though.

I know not everyone is going to agree with the way I did the hinges, I am ok with that, I wanted to be a bit different with them. I was thinking of different types of hinges all together, but I wanted to keep a safe operating budget for this project.

looks good man!! i want to customize my trunk but i dk how yet

Originally Posted by dstout

I'm sure you have thought of it but.....grills over the subs, holes in speakers suck!!

They in my saved/watch list on eBay ready to go. My only question is, if I get the Steel Bar type of guards for my speakers, will the 10" ones fit on the rim of the Sub or will sit on the subbox where I can screw them in, or do I have to get a 12" style to have the room needed to accomplish that?

I am looking at these in both black and chrome plated.

10" Speaker Bar Grills!! Great Deal! - eBay (item 250354221168 end time Jun-07-09 09:53:31 PDT)

My desired ones would be these guys, but they would look weird given how my subs are not flush with subbox

Soundstream Grill-10X Grill for 10" Soundstream Subs - eBay (item 180350619886 end time May-25-09 15:35:44 PDT)

Or These.....

METRA FISHMAN FMDG10 10" ALUMINUM SUBWOOFER DOME GRILL - eBay (item 320346617010 end time Jun-01-09 14:31:20 PDT)



Just curious

I kinda like the fishmans myself, the first set looks....well kinda blah and not very strong. The spiders are cool.
You could cut a ring from plywood to fit around the speaker if the grills need to mount to wood and not the speaker itself. Just build up the plywood untill there is enough clearance between the sub and grill. 3/4" plywood might be the right size. Then cover the plywood with the same cloth or spray paint.

I thought about that, but I didnt want the speakers or the grills look like bug eyes or anything either. I was thinking about cutting out another face to add to the front of the subbox to have the subs look flush, but then that will throw off my frame by a 1/2" easy to make up the difference.

I know the first set of grills look "weak" at best, but it might the only option unless I order say one of the 12" spiders and see if it fits over and around the sub itself. If that works, then I can get the second one. Worst comes to worse I am sure I can make a smaller/thinner ring so that it make its over the sub's rim. I'll just have to play around with it.

Thank you kindly for the input DST!

Im gonna second the fishermans. the first ones are kinda blah the spiders a bit extreme and the fishermans look pretty awesome

Originally Posted by speedemongtp

Im gonna second the fishermans. the first ones are kinda blah the spiders a bit extreme and the fishermans look pretty awesome

I would agree, I had a single 12" Fishy on my sealed 12" box and I liked it, but the idea of being a bit extreme does suit. I just have to see what happens in the next month or so. I need to get my new Kenwood Mono amp first before I look at the grills for the subs. Subs are kinda useless without an Amp

i bet it would look nice. i have a single 12 now. I used to rock 2 but wanted a bit of a downgrade but it turned out to be an upgrade. I had audiobahn special editions an now i have an infinity reference in a big ported box thats a monster. A bit extreme does suit i suppose. but i do particularly like the fishermans. Yea i know the feeling of useless subs. i had my audiobahns for prob 3 months before i finally got an amp an got them into my car.

The 12" spiders might work out good, too bad you couldn't pick them up local somewhere. I'm too impatient and it would drive me nuts waiting.
I guess you have several options and if you have enough materials on hand you could just experiment and see what you like the best.
The additional facing is a good idea with a little adjustment to your framing.

Looks good

Im glad you made this post. you have provided me with some good info for my build.

Well if you have any questions, please feel free to post here or PM with them. I will do my best to assist