mounting amps to box?

[turnstylez18 10+ year member]

i have no trunk space at all..so im thinking about mounting my amps to my box...i cant mount my amps to the back wall cuz there's no way to mount it without using wood..(i have no tools and wood to work with)...

if i mount the amps to the box will the vibration be bad for the amp? im going to mount the x600.1 on the back of the box...and maybe my comp amp on the side of the box...ne suggestions if this is okay? thanks

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[MikeyB 5,000+ posts]

Shouldn't be a problem man, just keep it on tight.

 

[BassAce 10+ year member]

If you do mount the amp on the box, I'd recommend you to put rubber washers between the amp and the box to be safe. Every time I mounted an amp to a box, I had put 1" rubber washers to allow sufficient air flow and dampening of any bass from the walls of the enclosure. 1" may be overkill though.

 

[turnstylez18 10+ year member]

so should i do it? u sure nothing will go wrong

 

[oxsign 5,000+ posts]

Thats how I've always mounted my amp. I've never had any problem. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif

 

[dak0ta_g33k 10+ year member]

doooooh iiiit... d0 17..

 

[BassAce 10+ year member]

Check this out:

http://www.bcae1.com/

scroll the right side bar to number 23 amplifiers and click that, about halfway down that amplifier page you should see some tips about mounting your amp on your box.

If your too lazy to check it out, at least look at this.

Amplifier mounting:

DO NOT mount an amplifier on your subwoofer box. I know that there has been a great deal of discussion over mounting an amplifier to an enclosure and many people do it all of the time with no problems but those people probably build good enclosures from 3/4" (or thicker) MDF with extensive bracing. Most people (especially young impatient people) are too lazy to do that and build unbraced enclosures from 5/8 MDF. These enclosures will flex considerably more than a proper enclosure and will likely cause amplifier failure if the amp is mounted to the enclosure.

REASON:

When the woofer(s) moves in or out, the box flexes and therefore causes the sides of the box to vibrate. This vibration is transferred to the amplifier mounted to the box. All of the electrical components in the amplifier have mass. Inertia (an object in motion tends to stay in motion, an object at rest tends to stay at rest) tells them to stay at rest, the box vibration is trying to make them move. The energy from the box's vibration is transferred to the components through the electrical leads which are soldered into the circuit board. All of this will cause the components to break loose and therefore cause the amplifier to fail prematurely. Basically, the amplifier will commit *******! I'm not telling you this because someone told me it was bad. I've been repairing amplifiers since ~1985. Virtually every amplifier that's come into my shop with parts rattling around inside them have been mounted on the speaker box. It causes the legs of the semiconductors to break (which causes amplifier failure). It causes the capacitors to break off of the board (which can cause catastrophic amplifier failure). It causes solder joints to break on the semiconductors mounted to the heat sink. It causes transformer windings to grind into one another (which causes lots of smoke to pour out of your amplifier). People who repeatedly tell others to mount their amps on the speaker box because they've never had a problem remind me of people who drink and drive and say there's nothing wrong with it because they've never crashed their vehicle. Eventually, in both cases, problems will arise.

NOTE:

Mounting the amplifier on the enclosure also allows someone to steal BOTH your amps and speakers at the same time with no extra effort. It's bad enough to have one or the other stolen but losing amps and speakers (and anything else mounted to your speaker box) is really gonna ****.

 

[OldOneEye 10+ year member]

Not sure I want to make it easier for a crook to take the amp and box in one fell swoop.

If you did, I would want to bolt it down.

Juan

 

[turnstylez18 10+ year member]

thanks...that was a good point in taking the amp and sub togetther...

i just want more room though

 

[twoloudforyou 10+ year member]

mount them to the back of the seat.

 

[turnstylez18 10+ year member]

i cant...theres no way to mount it there unless i do custom woodmaking

 

[BassAce 10+ year member]

If you made some amp racks, it would make it look very nice. Especially with the looks of that Phoenix Gold Xenon. I'd say do the woodworking, so you can appreciate your hard work and at the same time gain experience.

 

[turnstylez18 10+ year member]

i have no idea how to do that stuff...i dont even know how to make an amp rack..and also i dont have ne tools to work with...

i would love to learn that stuff though

 

[BassAce 10+ year member]

well here's a start:

http://www.termpro.com/articles/amprack.html

Try www.cardomain.com and search people's rides, you will run upon some installs and eventually come with an idea.

I'd say the basic tools would be a circular saw and a jig saw. Circular saw may run for $30+, I got my jig saw for ~$30 at sears. You could also get those rotozips and maybe do both of what a jig and circular saw could do. I would think those rotozips may be easier to work with.

 

[AndonD454 10+ year member]

if your box is very well designed and made, there should be little to no flexing, therefore little to no vibration, therefore, no amp damage.

BUT even if your box vibrates around a little bit i wouldnt worry abotu it man just do it. ive done it before a lot and ive never had a problem.

however an amp rack sorta setup would be cool if you ahev the time patience and extra cash