OK, this is not a regular situation I find myself in. A bit of background on the setup: I bought on eBay custom-fitted fiberglass sealed subwoofer boxes (12") for my 02 Camry. They are very well made, dual MDF rings for a flush mount appearence, good 5/6 layers with a few pieces of wood for re-enforcement along the flatter sides. 1.5 cubic feet each. Overall very nice and cost me a fraction of what making them from scratch would have.
Now my two issues that I possibly want to modify:
1
The guy who made them was a signal purity enthusiast, and instead of having speaker wire posts on the side somewhere, he actually ran 14 Gauge wire right through the fiberglass itself when manufacturing the boxes, so that they are seamlessly sealed into the actual box. A pro of this is that it allows for a direct connection from amplifier to subwoofer with no breaks/interconnects. This I like.
What I don't like is that he used 14 gauge (instead of 12 or even 10). I also don't like the amount of wire outside the box I have to play with - my amplifier rack is going ot be further away then his was, so the wire doesn't reach. I COULD use splices and just connect more wire to it to get the length I need, but that would defeat the 'direct connection' benefit and I would still have the 14 AWG there. My subwoofer will be using quite a bit more power then his (1000W RMS vs his 500W) and I wanted to use thicker wiring ( I like to overkill everything!).
So my first question is, what would be the best way for me to either remove the current wire and replace with a larger one or possibly just leave the current wire and add another lower gauge one? I've read up on a few techniques when drilling fiberglass, but my concern is also being able to reseal whatever hole I create. Obviously the other concern is that I don't want to crack the thing! Any ideas would be appreciated. Will get a picture up tonight as well for clarity.
2
There is no way to bolt the boxes to the frame. Now to be fair, they are very very snug fitting into the side pocket. But regardless, there is the safety concern of these becoming 50 lb missiles in case i'm ever in an accident. So I was going to look at adhereing a metal bracket to the back of these (uncarpeted fiberglass - only front/visible portion is carpeted) so that I can at least put one hinge-bolt in. Any guidlines for adhering anything, but metals specifically, to fiberglass would be appreciated.
The alternative safety resolution would be to make maybe 2 'key-stone' "retainers". What I mean by this is, instead of modifying the box itself, I would get a few metal brackets, cover them in foam/carpet, and mount them in such a way that they serve as restraining 'clips' for the sub boxes. I would place these at the 'high leverage' points around the edge - meaning that most of the restraining mechanism would be the actual snug fit into the countoured side pocket, where the clips would basically prevent the sub from ever sliding out of this side pocket - hence 'key-stone'. Pros of this solution is again, faster, cheaper, easier. Cons are, well appearence really
Thanks!
Posting from work, so need this disclaimer:
"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."
Now my two issues that I possibly want to modify:
1
The guy who made them was a signal purity enthusiast, and instead of having speaker wire posts on the side somewhere, he actually ran 14 Gauge wire right through the fiberglass itself when manufacturing the boxes, so that they are seamlessly sealed into the actual box. A pro of this is that it allows for a direct connection from amplifier to subwoofer with no breaks/interconnects. This I like.
What I don't like is that he used 14 gauge (instead of 12 or even 10). I also don't like the amount of wire outside the box I have to play with - my amplifier rack is going ot be further away then his was, so the wire doesn't reach. I COULD use splices and just connect more wire to it to get the length I need, but that would defeat the 'direct connection' benefit and I would still have the 14 AWG there. My subwoofer will be using quite a bit more power then his (1000W RMS vs his 500W) and I wanted to use thicker wiring ( I like to overkill everything!).
So my first question is, what would be the best way for me to either remove the current wire and replace with a larger one or possibly just leave the current wire and add another lower gauge one? I've read up on a few techniques when drilling fiberglass, but my concern is also being able to reseal whatever hole I create. Obviously the other concern is that I don't want to crack the thing! Any ideas would be appreciated. Will get a picture up tonight as well for clarity.
2
There is no way to bolt the boxes to the frame. Now to be fair, they are very very snug fitting into the side pocket. But regardless, there is the safety concern of these becoming 50 lb missiles in case i'm ever in an accident. So I was going to look at adhereing a metal bracket to the back of these (uncarpeted fiberglass - only front/visible portion is carpeted) so that I can at least put one hinge-bolt in. Any guidlines for adhering anything, but metals specifically, to fiberglass would be appreciated.
The alternative safety resolution would be to make maybe 2 'key-stone' "retainers". What I mean by this is, instead of modifying the box itself, I would get a few metal brackets, cover them in foam/carpet, and mount them in such a way that they serve as restraining 'clips' for the sub boxes. I would place these at the 'high leverage' points around the edge - meaning that most of the restraining mechanism would be the actual snug fit into the countoured side pocket, where the clips would basically prevent the sub from ever sliding out of this side pocket - hence 'key-stone'. Pros of this solution is again, faster, cheaper, easier. Cons are, well appearence really
Thanks!
Posting from work, so need this disclaimer:
"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."
