2018 Wrangler JL- Upgrading from JL Audio 8" microsub

[JeeperVol]

line the whole bottom with industrial strength velcro strips.  Like 15% coverage and that baby aint going anywhere even if your car flips (my bud wrecked and flipped my old car with a 140lb subwoofer setup and the box didnt move at all with the flip but you can easily remove the box yourself with pulling from the sides or corners.  

if you can do that much space then yes a 12 is fine use all that space though dont go any smaller.  Just because the 12 says you can go as low as .49 doesnt mean its the optimal for the sub, you can get deeper bass response the bigger you go. From my graphs it actually shows .833 cubes to be the most accurate response with a QTC of .707 the numbers you posted is .97 cubes subtract the space the sub takes up will be right around .85 net cubes which is close to perfect.

My neighbor has a jig saw I can use...I'm going to build a sealed box.  Is 3/4" mdf good and do I need bracing?  What glue, screws,  caulk and electrical terminals do you recommend to work with the 12" Dayton HO DVC sub?  Thanks

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

My neighbor has a jig saw I can use...I'm going to build a sealed box.  Is 3/4" mdf good and do I need bracing?  What glue, screws,  caulk and electrical terminals do you recommend to work with the 12" Dayton HO DVC sub?  Thanks

3/4 is good, you dont need bracing titebond 2, drywall screws like 1.25  inches.  any construction adhesive or caulk is fine. Just drill a tight hole enough for speaker wire to fit through tightly and wire it directly to the amp then caulk the hole.  If you need to remove it, you can just unhook from the amp terminals.  As for securing the sub, you can just get metal L brackets, paint it to the color of your sub box and then screw it down to the car and sub box so you dont have to take out the sub. You'll only need 1 or two. 

Btw here's the cut sheets.

 

[THATpurpleKUSH 5,000+ posts]

For a more professional look:

https://www.parts-express.com/cat/terminal-plates-cups/321

As someone who did the drill a tiny hole, ran speaker wire through and caulked it back up, its worth the extra dollar or 2 for a terminal cup. 

 

[JeeperVol]

For a more professional look:

https://www.parts-express.com/cat/terminal-plates-cups/321

As someone who did the drill a tiny hole, ran speaker wire through and caulked it back up, its worth the extra dollar or 2 for a terminal cup. 

Agreed...the amp will be located under the front passenger seat with wiring ran under plastic trim pieces to the rear cargo area.  It would be annoying to have to unpop the trim andpull that wire and unplug at the amp to remove the sub.  

 

[JeeperVol]

3/4 is good, you dont need bracing titebond 2, drywall screws like 1.25  inches.  any construction adhesive or caulk is fine. Just drill a tight hole enough for speaker wire to fit through tightly and wire it directly to the amp then caulk the hole.  If you need to remove it, you can just unhook from the amp terminals.  As for securing the sub, you can just get metal L brackets, paint it to the color of your sub box and then screw it down to the car and sub box so you dont have to take out the sub. You'll only need 1 or two. 

Btw here's the cut sheets.

View attachment 5685

I measured again and am going with the 10" Dayton HO DVC and found this smaller ported box.  Would it sound good?

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_777BB1075V/Sound-Ordnance-Bass-Bunker.html

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

I measured again and am going with the 10" Dayton HO DVC and found this smaller ported box.  Would it sound good?

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_777BB1075V/Sound-Ordnance-Bass-Bunker.html

stay the fk away from sound ordinance ported boxes. pure garbage. You'll get even less deep low end response than you do now. The only thing you even want to buy premade is sealed boxes NEVER ported, its always done wrong with space saving in mind with the worst sound quality possible and only loud in the 45hz range.  

 

[JeeperVol]

Gotcha...I'm trying to find a premade 10" sealed angled back with black carpet with electrical on back.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

https://www.amazon.com/Single-Subwoofer-Sealed-Automotive-Enclosure/dp/B002CEIMDY/ref=sr_1_10_sspa?keywords=atrend+12+sealed&qid=1560274564&s=gateway&sr=8-10-spons&psc=1

 

[JeeperVol]

https://www.amazon.com/Single-Subwoofer-Sealed-Automotive-Enclosure/dp/B002CEIMDY/ref=sr_1_10_sspa?keywords=atrend+12+sealed&qid=1560274564&s=gateway&sr=8-10-spons&psc=1

Reviews say this box doesnt fit the 10" Dayton HO sub and requires making the hole bigger.  Is that easy to do?

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Reviews say this box doesnt fit the 10" Dayton HO sub and requires making the hole bigger.  Is that easy to do?

its a pain in the ass to do without proper tools. 

 

[JeeperVol]

its a pain in the ass to do without proper tools. 

Ok...I'm gonna attempt to build a box.  I was thinking of building it out of 3/4" baltic birch plywood from home depot to save some weight bc if I go with 3/4" MDF, its going to be heavy.  Will that work?

Secondly, I want to beef up the wiring, distribution block, fuses, ground wires.  I currently have 8AWG power wire going to a distribution block in the front passenger seat firewall area powering:

-Alpine PDR F50 under the front driver seat(85 watt RMS 4 channel; recommended 4 AWG power and ground)

-JL Fix 86 under the steering column

-JL Audio XD600 1v/2 or jl HD750/2 sub amp(under the front passenger seat) powering a dayton 315 dvc ho 10" or 12" sealed sub in the rear trunk area (looking for a used one now and recommended 4 AWG power and ground)

These are class d amps...Should I go with a 4 or 2 AWG power wire from the amp to distribution and 4 AWG from distribution to amps and then 12AWG copper wire from amp to sub?  What fuses?  I dont want to have to beef up the alternator or battery.  Thanks for your help!

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Ok...I'm gonna attempt to build a box.  I was thinking of building it out of 3/4" baltic birch plywood from home depot to save some weight bc if I go with 3/4" MDF, its going to be heavy.  Will that work?

Secondly, I want to beef up the wiring, distribution block, fuses, ground wires.  I currently have 8AWG power wire going to a distribution block in the front passenger seat firewall area powering:

-Alpine PDR F50 under the front driver seat(85 watt RMS 4 channel; recommended 4 AWG power and ground)

-JL Fix 86 under the steering column

-JL Audio XD600 1v/2 or jl HD750/2 sub amp(under the front passenger seat) powering a dayton 315 dvc ho 10" or 12" sealed sub in the rear trunk area (looking for a used one now and recommended 4 AWG power and ground)

These are class d amps...Should I go with a 4 or 2 AWG power wire from the amp to distribution and 4 AWG from distribution to amps and then 12AWG copper wire from amp to sub?  What fuses?  I dont want to have to beef up the alternator or battery.  Thanks for your help!

the birch from home depot is not really birch its just normal china plywood with a layer of birch veneer on it so you paying 20 dollars extra a sheet for some veneer. see if you can find some 11 layered sanded pine. if not 7 layer works fine as well which is the same price as MDF but way better. There's a few scientific tests that shows cheap china ply being stronger and actually more dampened and less resonance than MDF.  I honestly see no reason to ever use MDF imo.

You can run a 0 gauge power and ground to a distribution block and some short 4 gauge runs to both amps. 

That JL jx 1000.1 amp would have been perfect for your setup even with your stock electrical but if you can get the XD for dirt cheap less than 130 then go for it, definitely dont buy new pricing.  Also when you buy used, smell the amp for any burnt electronic smell, look for damages at the terminals etc.. If possible, hook it up and test drive it out.

 

[JeeperVol]

the birch from home depot is not really birch its just normal china plywood with a layer of birch veneer on it so you paying 20 dollars extra a sheet for some veneer. see if you can find some 11 layered sanded pine. if not 7 layer works fine as well which is the same price as MDF but way better. There's a few scientific tests that shows cheap china ply being stronger and actually more dampened and less resonance than MDF.  I honestly see no reason to ever use MDF imo.

You can run a 0 gauge power and ground to a distribution block and some short 4 gauge runs to both amps. 

That JL jx 1000.1 amp would have been perfect for your setup even with your stock electrical but if you can get the XD for dirt cheap less than 130 then go for it, definitely dont buy new pricing.  Also when you buy used, smell the amp for any burnt electronic smell, look for damages at the terminals etc.. If possible, hook it up and test drive it out.

Thanks...the jx1000 is 4" tall and won't fit under the seat...that's why I'm looking at other amps.  I in my searches on craigslist and ebay, I dont see anything near your used prices that you referenced for a $130 xd600 and previously $150 for a 10" w6v3.   You must be in the mob to get those prices bc I dont see how its realistic.  If I could buy quality used equipment for those prices, I would quit my day job and become a full time reseller.  

I'm going to look for some 11 layer sanded pine plywood.  Thanks for the tip.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Thanks...the jx1000 is 4" tall and won't fit under the seat...that's why I'm looking at other amps.  I in my searches on craigslist and ebay, I dont see anything near your used prices that you referenced for a $130 xd600 and previously $150 for a 10" w6v3.   You must be in the mob to get those prices bc I dont see how its realistic.  If I could buy quality used equipment for those prices, I would quit my day job and become a full time reseller.  

I'm going to look for some 11 layer sanded pine plywood.  Thanks for the tip.

its in craigslist, the usual crackhead prices lol. we got a few in socal, i'd have to drive to the scarier neighborhoods but its all worked out real well most of the times.   

The taramps is definitely an option if size is a factor. Not sure why you are so hesitant about that amp. You can do the md 1800.1 instead if the 3000.1 number scares you that much.. This is the md.1800.1 on an amplifier dyno testing for true RMS wattage at different levels of THD.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Again this is full tilt testing, you dont need full tilt power, you literally can just set it for 600-800 rms from adjusting it with the gain knob on the amp. It wont affect your vehicle electrical system at all you ARE NOT going to draw whatever current you think the amp is going to draw, real power world numbers on music are WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY less then you can ever dream of. Purely due to physics, there's a thing called impedance rise, even when wiring to 2 ohms, you wont be getting 2 ohm power out of the amp, your actual power numbers are around 4 ohms numbers because of how a coil of a subwoofer moving through the magnet works, your impedance is always way higher. This is why you need a lot of headroom power, you arent overpowering anything you are actually just getting proper RMS power for your subwoofer.  Most normal people like you cant grasp this concept because you guys have never clamp tested your amps for actual real world RMS wattage when you compete in audio competitions where you are in restricted power classes where you cant go over a certain amount of RMS wattage. 

These guys were using 2000-2500 rms amps and their real world power is as you see here. Its not the amps are bad, its because of impedance rise, its actual physics limiting your power. This is why some people buy stout korean board amps and wire down to half ohm or 0.25 ohms to get more power out of the amp and the amp runs just fine and dandy while putting out huge power.