My new subwoofer

[LimoMerc]

I removed the factory sub and took the amp off of the housing. I removed the deck lid and placed the baffle I made on the top side. I dropped in a 8 inch JL Audio free-air sub and had to bend some metal out of the way to get it to sit on the baffle flush. I then mounted the factory amp to its new location and hooked its wiring harness back up and ran the speaker wire to the new sub. It sounds awsome:rock:. With the factory head units bass turned all the way up I'm sure I would distroy the sub so it has more than enough power for this application. The bass is deeeeeeeeep and I'm more than pleased with the results. I paid $99 for this sub a few years back and so this was an inexpensive project that made a world of difference in the cool factor :pimp:of my Marauder. I have left over MDF and would be more than happy to help you do yours this way. I will try to post pics in my gallery soon.

[torinodan]

baffle? like you said, please post pics

[LimoMerc]

Its just a peice of MDF (wood) that goes between the rear deck and the subwoofer, like a head gasket. My understanding is this creates less vibrations and improves sound quality.

[Warpath]

I think it is pretty unlikely that a factory amp output would exceed any JL sub's capability. OE radios for the most part are pretty weak.

[GreekGod]

As I understand it, the amp mounted with the OEM subwoofer powers the subwoofer only. The 'head' unit powers the 2 door 5x7's and the rear deck 5x7's. A low power head unit like our OEM would probably/possibly melt the voice coil wires of any speaker hooked up to it if one tried to play it too loud and forced the unit into 'clipping'. Generally, a cheap or low power amp will destroy a quality speaker quicker than a quality high power amp will because it will 'clip' much sooner. High power can destroy speakers but seldom does-it's usually a clipping amp.I also have a 8" JL sub which I have been planning to install and run off the OEM sub-amp in the trunk. It seems you mounted the speaker to the baffle and faced it directly towards the rear window on the package tray. I'm looking forward to your photos so I can better understand exactly what you did!

[LimoMerc]

So the baffle which cannot be seen in these photos is a piece of 3/8 in. MDF board, that stands for "medium density fiber". it was cut once to fit the subwoofer and then once to fit onto the rear deck lid. I put the baffle on the top of the deck lid and drilled holes, then screwed it in place. I then placed the subwoofer on top/inside the baffle, drilled pilot holes and using shorter screws I screwed it to the baffle and not to the decklid.
The reason I set the baffle on top is because its a flat surface as you will see when you remove the factory amp, the bottom side is not. I also had to bend a portion of metal out of the way which will also become apparent to you when you drop the sub in the baffle and it wont sit down. I wanted a forward facing logo but again the metal was in my way and well its all getting covered back up anyhow.

P.S. those are Image Dynamics 5 1/4 in the back there with DynoMat all around.

[GreekGod]

"......http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/images/icons/icon1.gif Pictures are in my gallery.






<HR style="COLOR: #dddddd" SIZE=1><!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->So the baffle which cannot be seen in these photos is a piece of 3/8 in. MDF board, that stands for "medium density fiber". it was cut once to fit the subwoofer and then once to fit onto the rear deck lid. I put the baffle on the top of the deck lid and drilled holes, then screwed it in place. I then placed the subwoofer on top/inside the baffle, drilled pilot holes and using shorter screws I screwed it to the baffle and not to the decklid.



The reason I set the baffle on top is because its a flat surface as you will see when you remove the factory amp, the bottom side is not. I also had to bend a portion of metal out of the way which will also become apparent to you when you drop the sub in the baffle and it wont sit down. I wanted a forward facing logo but again the metal was in my way and well its all getting covered back up anyhow.

P.S. those are Image Dynamics 5 1/4 in the back there with DynoMat all around.
<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->__________________
"...Scott, OK-NOW I see, said the blind man, as he picked up his hammer and saw. Your 3/8" MDF 'baffle' is an adapter for the OEM sub speaker hole on the package-tray (the area below the rear window, sometimes referred to as the rear deck), not the 'deck-lid' which is what we usually call the trunk-lid. At this point, the whole package-tray is your baffle! Is the 8" JL sub-speaker any louder (more efficient) than the OEM 8", besides sounding lower ("deeeeeeeeep")?

[LimoMerc]

Yes, It seems to have boosted the volume of the system as a whole. I no longer feel I have to get a 5 channel amp to be happy with the system. It is a night and day comparison to the OEM sub. Remember, I've only used the amp to power the new sub.

[GreekGod]

I'm suprised the JL sub is much louder than the OEM sub. I found the (4) 5x7 OEM'S were louder than the fairly efficient Bostons I replaced them with. The OEM sub amp seems to receive input from the speaker-out of the head unit as I understand it from other posts. I wonder if it is a 'full-range' (most likely) or a true sub signal? They probably filter out above 300 or so Hz in the sub-amp to drive the speaker.

[STLR FN]

Not to hijack a thread but has anyone used Pioneer's 6.75" sub? It is my understanding from previous threads that we have a 6" or 6.5"(can remember) sub and not an 8" in. I seen this sub in Pioneers catalog that we got in our goody bag for MVIII.

Any info?

[rookie1]

I found the (4) 5x7 OEM'S were louder than the fairly efficient Bostons I replaced them with.
They probably filter out above 300 or so Hz in the sub-amp to drive the speaker.


Boston Acoustics is a good company and many people love their products. They sort of cheat on their efficiency specs sometimes. The standard most companies use for measuring efficiency is 1 watt@1meter. Boston and a few other companies use 1watt@1/2 meter. I'm not saying they measure them all like that but I've run into it b4.

The factory sub input is low pass filtered. I'm guessing that your 300hz or so is pretty close.