Subwoofer

[swindler]

I have an '06 convertible, and have been very underwhelmed by the JBL sound system. One upgrade I'd like to make is to replace the subwoofer located behind the rear seat.

The convertible has a cavity behind the rear seat and below the compartment where the top folds up. I've thought about removing the existing sub and putting in a better one. But the cavity is long and narrow, so my options for a sub are limited.

One I've looked at that I believe would fit is the 8" Bazooka with a built-in amp. I know nothing of the sound of these, although I know they've been around for quite a while. Would I expect any significant improvement with this sub versus the JBL sub?

The only other option I've come across is to build my own custom enclosure tha fills the space. I'm still not sure I could fit a 10", but I think I could. I've built subs before, but I just don't have the time these days.

Thoughts?

[theprodigy79]

Bazookas are punchy but sloppy... they're essentially for bangers who just wanna go around with their music up (but don't really care about clarity)...

I haven't seen the space for the convertable's subwoofer, but in my experience there's always a way... Assuming an 8" Bazooka tube would fit, I'd say a 10" would definitely fit in a custom box. Go for a good quality 10" and build a box (or have one built) that properly meets the specs of the sub, and fits in the long, narrow cavity for the factory sub... Keep in mind, however, that the box is just as important as the sub...

Good luck,

-James

[swindler]

Thanks for the comments. I definitely prefer tight accurate bass versus boomy sloppy bass.

I guess a third, 'easy way out' option would be to replace the 8" component sub that's in the existing enclosure. The speaker does not appear to be a high quality, and I could probably improve the sound with a better 8" speaker and adding an inline amp for more power. I know that a subwoofer must be matched to the volume, and I don't know the specifics about the enclosure, but I could measure the internal volume by pulling it out and filling it with water, right?

The existing JBL sub enclosure, made out of some type of resin plastic, fills about half the cavity. It has many angles and does a fairly good job at filling the available space (on that half of the cavity). My thought in filling the entire cavity was to have an enclosure with sufficient volume to support a 10". I think that's my preferred approach. But retooling the existing enclosure will definitely be less work.

[KansasSolara]

I think you have a good idea there. If you replace the sub in the enclosure you might get a bit better bass, but to get good puchy bass you will need to add a good amp (it's all about the juice when it comes to bass, and maybe the JBL amp is coming up short). The best subwoofer amps that I have had have been JL Audio you might wanna try the (250 or 500).

Good luck

[swindler]

As a matter of fact, I've been looking at the JL Audio 8W3 component subwoofer as a replacement speaker - if it matches my volume. I'm going to try and measure the volume of the enclosure this weekend. I'd been looking at both the Slash and e-Series JL amps too. Any comparisons between them would be helpful.

I'm also intrigued by the 8W7 as I think that would give me the most performance for volume available, but there ain't no way it would fit in the existing enclosure. So in parallel, I'm considering the idea of getting the 8W7 to fit in a custom enclosure.