I posted a bit about the box I've been working on in another thread today, but wanted to post pictures for people to see.
The background:
This is a .625 cubic foot sealed enclosure for a 10" Diamond M6mkII subwoofer. Its meant to go in my quad-cab Dodge Dakota, which seems to have what may be the least amount of space for this sort of thing of any car or truck I've ever seen. There are a couple of stealth boxes from places like MTX that'll squeeze behind a seat using a real shallow 10" sub, and some people have built boxes to fit an 8 behind there, but both cases need shallow subs and you lose the ability to fold a seat. The M6 needs 6.5" mounting depth, so that just wasn't an option.
I decided to instead tackle building my own box, something I haven't done before. I wanted something to go in front of the rear seats, between them and the front seats straddling the transmission tunnel. To get enough air space to still leave room for two passengers comfortably back there, it needed to really follow the angles and curves of the available space. I also had to get it built so it blended with the interior -- security through obscurity. If I leave the sub in plain sight, it better look like it belongs there and isn't a sub.
Step 1: a cardboard mockup
It took a bunch of diagraming and mocking up to get a final prototype made that had the proper amount of air space (or rather would when built of 3/4 MDF).
Unfortunately, I didn't get picture in process, but I snapped some pictures tonight after it'd been assembled partly, and partly painted.
I've already covered the top with 2" foam padding and black vinyl that matches the leather in my truck.
The front and back have no padding under the vinyl, as its a *very* tight fit, but the sides get 1/8" cotton batting.
View from underneath (the box is bottom-firing):
Another side view:
I've never upholstered anything before, so I was figuring it out as I went along. To do the sides, I stapled the top edge along the top cushion upside down, folded it over the staple line to make a clean seam, and stretched and stapled around the edges.
The other side done:
Now, getting impatient, I put it in the truck to see how it fit. Its *tight*.
The texture isn't exact to the leather, but is very close to the vinyl on the dash.
Side view:
How it looks with the seat up:
The front panel isn't on yet... that'll be stapled along the top, spray glued down on the face, and I'll use 3M trim adhesive to hold the side seams down since I can't staple. The rear piece will be the same. I was hoping to do that tonight and get the sub actually mounted in there, but I'm exhausted. Tomorrow night.
So thats my first box attempt and first upholstering attempt. I'm pretty **** proud of the end results. I'm sure it'll sound good. (*crosses fingers*)
The background:
This is a .625 cubic foot sealed enclosure for a 10" Diamond M6mkII subwoofer. Its meant to go in my quad-cab Dodge Dakota, which seems to have what may be the least amount of space for this sort of thing of any car or truck I've ever seen. There are a couple of stealth boxes from places like MTX that'll squeeze behind a seat using a real shallow 10" sub, and some people have built boxes to fit an 8 behind there, but both cases need shallow subs and you lose the ability to fold a seat. The M6 needs 6.5" mounting depth, so that just wasn't an option.
I decided to instead tackle building my own box, something I haven't done before. I wanted something to go in front of the rear seats, between them and the front seats straddling the transmission tunnel. To get enough air space to still leave room for two passengers comfortably back there, it needed to really follow the angles and curves of the available space. I also had to get it built so it blended with the interior -- security through obscurity. If I leave the sub in plain sight, it better look like it belongs there and isn't a sub.
Step 1: a cardboard mockup
It took a bunch of diagraming and mocking up to get a final prototype made that had the proper amount of air space (or rather would when built of 3/4 MDF).
Unfortunately, I didn't get picture in process, but I snapped some pictures tonight after it'd been assembled partly, and partly painted.
I've already covered the top with 2" foam padding and black vinyl that matches the leather in my truck.
The front and back have no padding under the vinyl, as its a *very* tight fit, but the sides get 1/8" cotton batting.
View from underneath (the box is bottom-firing):
Another side view:
I've never upholstered anything before, so I was figuring it out as I went along. To do the sides, I stapled the top edge along the top cushion upside down, folded it over the staple line to make a clean seam, and stretched and stapled around the edges.
The other side done:
Now, getting impatient, I put it in the truck to see how it fit. Its *tight*.
The texture isn't exact to the leather, but is very close to the vinyl on the dash.
Side view:
How it looks with the seat up:
The front panel isn't on yet... that'll be stapled along the top, spray glued down on the face, and I'll use 3M trim adhesive to hold the side seams down since I can't staple. The rear piece will be the same. I was hoping to do that tonight and get the sub actually mounted in there, but I'm exhausted. Tomorrow night.
So thats my first box attempt and first upholstering attempt. I'm pretty **** proud of the end results. I'm sure it'll sound good. (*crosses fingers*)
