Well, it's been a long time in the making. Because of my budget and time, this thing has been coming along in a piecemeal fashion over the last 9 weeks -- and it's finally done! (well, not quite...but it's up and running and I couldn't wait to share.)

Firstly, the obligatory list o' stuff:
MB Quart RWE-204 8" dvc subs
MB Quart PAB2100 amp (200x2 @ 2 ohms)
Knukonceptz 4ga amp wiring kit
Stinger SLOCII hi-lo converter

This was my fourth car stereo install but my first box build, so I was quite excited (and a bit nervous) about that. Love doing this stuff. It's fun. A great big "THANK YOU" goes out to the Fit ICE pioneers that paved the road. A lot of that info came in handy.

Anyway. The first pic is the power cable that goes to the battery. I cut a small notch out of the positive terminal cover so that it would still close with that big 4 gauge wire sticking out of it.



I used quick ties and followed the loom down to the grommet in the firewall -- the same grommet where everyone else busts through for their power cable. You can't quite see it here because it's eclipsed by that metal tubing, but it's the same ol' story as before.



Next I ran the cable down the passenger side of the Fit, nice and tight underneath the sill panels. One guy here mentioned how it was a difficult task to get beneath that last panel before finally reaching the hatch because it's bolted down with the seatbelt -- well, I was lazy too and decided to bypass it, but rather than leave all that wire exposed I simply cut a small slit in the carpet near the floor, fed the wire up and over that hump beneath the back seat, and out it came where the carpet piece naturally ends. I ran the RCAs down the opposite side of the car.



For the ground wire, I unscrewed one of the cargo tie-down hooks and scraped away the paint for a good connection. Not the most clear of pics, but hopefully you get the idea. I accidentally replaced it backwards, but it's okay.



Here's the amp fully installed. I cut two small windows out of the floor panel under the ends of the amp so that the wiring could just drop below the floor, making it super clean. The only wires you ultimately see are the power and ground cables, which I think look kind of cool looping in like they do. I decided to go with banana plugs for the subs so that I could quickly disconnect the sub box and re-arrange if I need to haul the long stuff.



A few beauty shots of the subs. MB Quart used to be quite hi-end; originally manufactured in Germany but then bought out by Rockford and then Maxxsonics, who owns it now. As far as I know, all of their products are still designed in Germany but sourced elsewhere (read: China and US).



These subs are remarkably inexpensive...I think I got them for $60 each shipped. They sure are sexy...that plain black cone and inverted surround really stroke my inner aesthetic.



On to the box. I wanted something that would fit nicely against the back seat, the angle of which I roughly measured to be 70 degrees. The subs like small sealed boxes, so I decided to go with .5ft^3 in separate chambers and designed from there. I'll tell you one thing though -- I had to revisit my geometry lessons to work out the funny math involved...talk about an adventure with numbers. There are some scary fractions and such that you just don't want to see when working with wood.



Chain smoking helps.

It's always a good idea to caulk the inside of the box to ensure an airtight seal. You just never know what little nooks the air can get through.



Here it is pre-caulking after I'd glued it together, held fast by brad nails while it was drying. They say that plain old wood glue is the absolute best -- that it's so strong, you'll break the MDF before you break the joint. I'm also going to throw some polyfil in each chamber just for good measure. I have the feeling that the box is too small for it to make any difference (even if polyfil makes a difference in any application; you'll get arguments from both sides on that one).



And here it is all in the car! You can see that the amp is lined up right with short side of the rear seat; that way I can remove the sub box and lay down the longer side when I need to carry cargo. Amps are hardy, too, so I wouldn't be concerned about laying down that side's seat and putting stuff on it.

Wanting the box to be removable begets issues related to how I should secure it to the car. For now I'm just going to put some large velcro swatches on the bottom so that it doesn't creep around while I'm driving. This doesn't help the larger problem -- that if some crazy shit went down, this thing could go airborne and really hurt someone (or worse).



Don't worry -- I'm not going to leave it there in unfinished MDF. Typical sub boxes are covered in carpet, which is alright, but I want something different. It's tough to find carpet that matches the interior anyway. So my next project will be covering the box in walnut veneer, home theater cabinet style. Who knows how that will turn out. I've never done it! But I've already got the veneer and contact cement...





So there's my story. It's not the most impressive of systems, but I had a good time putting it all together. The subs sound GREAT...so clean and clear, and the Fit cabin is pleasantly rattle-free. Because of the small enclosure and relatively low power, the deep lows aren't as impressive and if someone offered me louder sound, I'd take it. When I play hip-hop it's kick ass loud, but I don't really listen to that much. Mostly indie rock, which is not notorious for the bass tracks.

It's not really audible from outside the car, which is a good thing as neighbors appreciate courteous bumpers and theives' interest is not piqued. It's really about the "right amount" of bass -- but who wants that, right?

Next steps, of course, are to veneer the enclosure and then upgrade the stock HU and front comps. I'll do that around Jan/Feb time (?) when the money is available for such a venture.

Thanks for looking guys -- hopefully this is helpful to others, just like those who have already posted!!

 

nice man...does ur car vibrate liek crazy now? lol

 

nice set up. looks like its going to sound nice.

 

the subs actually prefer LARGER sealed enclosures......and don't sound that good in the factory recommended enclosures. but, it's a damn good looking sub, and i'm thinking about picking up 2 8's myself, from woofersetc.com

 

oh...and, um, yeah...you prob should hook up both voice coils, lols

 

both voice coils are hooked up.

the cover plate doesn't allow you to see the inner workings of the terminals; there are two metal bars that you screw on to connect the positives and negatives together.

do you have some experience with these subs? where did you hear/learn that these subs perform better in larger enclosures -- and what do you mean by "larger"? .75 cf? 1 cf?

 

i've been doing car audio for MANY years...
but, given, there is LITTLE online knowledge you'll hear of these maxxsonic subs...but, if you want optimal output that's still clean and not boomy..you'll be needing .80+ BUTTTTTTTTT, that's a very subjective thing to say. So, don't let me get out to you on the wrong foot. It's all about what YOU like and how you hear it.

if/when i got with some 8's myself...i'll be running two of them on 750w RMS @ 2ohm and in right at .75ft^3. with your lower power level...i still think a larger box will benifit you more.


but, this is all MY thoughts

 

you're right, there is little info or experience with these subs which why I was surprised that you said you had heard them. there is a degree of subjectivity in enclosure volume too, as you mentioned. I tried some more funny math with some of the t/s specs, but that stuff is a bit too complicated for me at this point.

I'm going to stick with the .5 cf for now and if I have some extra time, I'm thinking about building a quick and dirty ~1.6 cf box to satisfy my curiosity. I think they sound fine in .5 -- no boominess, just tight and smooth response. the other night I stuffed each chamber with polyfil, but I don't really notice much of a difference.

btw, you say you're going to throw 750w at each of your 8s? if you're talking about these MB Quart subs, the specs peg the RMS power handling at 150 watts...

MB Quart RWE-204 - MB Quart 8" 300 Watt DVC Subwoofer

are you concerned at all about blowing the subs? I was worried about sending 200w to each of them, but I'm keeping the gains down a bit to compensate.

 

as long as you throw CLEAN power at them...there'd be no prob doubling RMS...i'll have 750w CLEAN power at 14volts, but after IR i'm sure it'll only be 500 or so. So, no biggie. I'll prob set my gain a little lower to around 500 RMS though...to be safe. I've got an L5 12 right now...and it was going to get all the power, but I've been looking to try some 8's for a while

 

well we're not talking about Soundsplinter or DD subs here. if we were I'd agree you could push extra power by the factor you're describing. I'd not be comfortable sending 500w to each of the MBQs, but if you're cool with it then rock forth.

what amp do you have, btw?

 

i'll be doing 500 total rms...to two 8's

amp is cheap, but does a VERY good job for what it is, MTX 801D. Benches at like 740w @ 14volts

this is going to be an uber cheap setup:
cdt cl61a front stage, in fiberglass kicks
mtx 502 for the front stage
alpine 7977 head unit (for now)
mtx 801d for sub(s)
currently i have an 07 L5 in a 2ft^3 1" mdf sealed box that's going to get replaced with something more sql (which i'm leaning towards the cdt's)

i jsut wanted a system for under $500, total

 

gotcha. misunderstood your intended setup. you should push that 500w to the cdt carbon fiber subs - those look pretty sexy too. why are you replacing the l5? just something different?

 

l5's sound like crap compared to most other subs i've heard....it was free, that's the only reason i have it. imma hook it up when the box comes, and see....but i'm still shopping around.

 

It's perfectly okay to run an amp that makes way more power than your speakers/subs can handle. It's actually a good thing. The problem is when you actually use all the power.

I Always run at least double the power my speakers can handle. I like having alot of headroom. Keeps the gain to a minimal keeps the power clean. Amps an power don't blow speakers. Running too little power and sending a severely clipped signal can kill speakers easier than too much power.

99% of instances with blown speakers all have the same problem. That problem is usually between the seat and the steering wheel.

 

why do people go through the firewall on the pass side than going directly behind the battery...theres a gromet there too

 

very true, but because of all the various factors involved it's hard to be accurate with the final power output. the halfway point on the gain does not mean that you cut the RMS output on the amp in half (as I imagine you know).

the reason I was bit incredulous is that I assumed (incorrectly) that GSRswapandslow was going to send all his 750w to his subs. people deep in the game will often say that they'll throw 2000w to a sub rated for 1000w -- and they're talking about throwing ALL the power a the sub, which in many cases is safe to do. however, most if not all of these subs are SPL monsters that are purposefully built to withstand extra power, but usually for competition burps and not daily driving.

a friendly rebuttal, injundon, but the statement that running too little power will damage your speakers is incorrect. it's a pervasive myth and I really don't know how it keeps getting propagated...

here's a thread from a few months ago that explains everything. start at post #7:

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-...omponents.html

also, a severely clipped signal will kills subs like you said. but a clipped signal is, essentially, too much power and therefore too much power will kill your speakers.

as you probably know (but I'm guessing that many people here do not), a properly shaped signal from the amp to the sub is a sine wave with a nicely defined parabolic crest. the tip of that crest is carrying the most power, but is very short-lived before the wave turns downward. the byproduct of power is heat, which the sub can safely dissipate when the power hits in the correct fashion.

a clipped signal, on the other hand, is a "square wave" characterized not by a smooth curve but a flat top. I think of it as the amp attempting to send a signal where the crest of the sine wave would be way, way above the output the amp is designed for. the wave hits this natural "ceiling" and, instead of still sloping up and up to its crest, is forced in a flat direction. the problem with this whole thing is that the flat crest carries more average power over a longer period of time, and the sub cannot deal with the sustained heat. too much power = too much heat = voice coil damage.

 

the one on the passenger side is sooooo much easier to reach and push through. or am I missing something very obvious?

 

wow over 500+rms bet that hits hard in the little fit

 

Sadly Mb quart has just been going downhill ever since rockford bought them out.

Im gonna have to disagree on the underpowering not hurting subs because being I work with this stuff for a living I see it happen so much with retards cheaping out on equipment

Like for example a 300watt rms amp blows 2 rockford p2s.

 

Yeah the rear view mirror becomes pointless