# Mustang Install - JL Audio subs - Infinite baffle



## humandrummachine (May 17, 2010)

Hey y'all,

Figured I'd post my simple sub install because I think its unique and people might need ideas for subs in their mustang. Its two JL audio 13w1v2-8's wired in parallel to a single JX250/1 A/B mono amp. I am using the amp's hi-level input and taking signal from the rear deck speakers. Also using the JL amp gain knob up front.

The subs are installed IB with a 3/4" MDF board that I made, which was definitely the hardest part. I only have 8 gauge going to the amp and its probably putting out 100 watts. Its also upside down but whatever. It sounds surprisingly good for what it is, and its super simple. Gets pretty low too and has plenty of volume.

Anyways, if you have any questions feel free to ask. This is my daily driver and I do not baby it, usually I am driving with about 200 lbs of salt in the trunk for traction up here in the northern winters. The equipment has been holding up pretty good for the past couple years.

Later


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## humandrummachine (May 17, 2010)

Out with the new in with the old.


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## nyquistrate (Apr 17, 2011)

Looks like a little more power.


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## diy.phil (May 23, 2011)

Whoa you're gonna need a city permit for that!!


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## BP1Fanatic (Jan 10, 2010)

Yeah he is! Big upgrade!


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## humandrummachine (May 17, 2010)

Well its a 650.6 so im only going to be running 50x2 to some subs then powering up some speakers


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## BP1Fanatic (Jan 10, 2010)

It does not take alot of power to get loud. My sub amp is only 100x2. I have the gain set at the minimum level and my wife can't take the deck's volume knob past 10.


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## humandrummachine (May 17, 2010)

Absolutely. Especially with a good efficient install. I've actually ran both those amps before and they are great. Wish I would have kept them. The Centurion X hit harder than a ZED Minilith


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## humandrummachine (May 17, 2010)

Does anyone have tips to run aftermarket speaker wire into the doors of '10-14 Mustangs? There is a terminal block right before the factory rubber conduit so I cant run it directly through.


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## cdlowe30907 (Nov 21, 2018)

What do you plan on running for your front stage ?
I’m in a similar position.
I have a 2012 Mustang.
I plan on running a 3-way front stage.
Does yours have the midbass in the bottom of the front doors ?


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## humandrummachine (May 17, 2010)

The plan right now is all JBL, tweeter and 4" mid in the 6x8 location and 6.5 in the bottom of the doors. I do not have the factory midbass in the bottom I am going to reinforce the door trim panel and mount it directly to it. Might put the tweeter up on the dash pillar. Here is a link I found about drilling out the molex plug:









Speaker wire install through door. Help!!!


I have a 2011 V6 Ford Mustang with a Shaker 500 and Navigation system. I have upgraded the speakers in the doors and the rear deck with Infinity REF 8602cfx's. I plan to install a Sony xmgs 400 amp to provide more power to the door and rear deck speakers. I'll be using the high level inputs...




www.allfordmustangs.com


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## gijoe (Mar 25, 2008)

Can you get a good look at the terminal? In my VW, I found the appropriate sized pins, and ran the wires to empty spots in the terminal using. No drilling required, but you need empty spaces in the terminal, and you need to make sure that you buy the correct pins.


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## humandrummachine (May 17, 2010)

I can get to the terminal but it really is a PITA. Apparently there is enough space to drill holes for new speaker wire. Might be my only option.


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## cdlowe30907 (Nov 21, 2018)

I looked at mine this evening.
I cant get the plug out of the car frame side of the passenger door. Seems to be ok on door side. Pulled the grommet/boot, saw wires coming out of the door. Stuck my fingers in door about 3.5” and didnt feel anything except the wires. Didnt take off door panel.
I looking for a set of the factory door midbass wiring harness.


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## humandrummachine (May 17, 2010)

Don't attempt to take the molex connector out of the car/cabin side unless you have a plan. I popped it out and it was extremely hard to get back in correctly. I think you have to pull it all out like in the link above.

I'm trying to decide whether to forget the 4" and just put the 6.5" in the 6x8 location.


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## humandrummachine (May 17, 2010)

Here's what I have to work with.


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## cdlowe30907 (Nov 21, 2018)

Thanks for the heads up on that !
I’m undecided on my front stage. 
I have Stereo Intregity M25 and TM65 and Hybrid Audio Legatia L1v2, L4 and Imagine 6.5” components.
Not sure what to use for tweets and midbass. Mids are easy since I have just the one set of 4” mids.


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## Ali-323i (Oct 4, 2019)

I love IB myself!! 133db (on music), single 12, 300w... pretty impressive (and of course, sounds great, clean, and deep!)!

Keep it up!! Not sure I’ll ever go back to a box in my daily again!


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## cdlowe30907 (Nov 21, 2018)

Didnt know what you were gonna use for the 6x8 adapters.
I used a Dollar Tree cutting board.(About a1/8 or 1/4 thick
Walmart has thicker ones
I used a jigsaw with a scroll blade.
The edges were jagged and I used a Dremel tool with a sanding disk


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## humandrummachine (May 17, 2010)

I'll probably just use some 3/8" MDF laying around. The doors seem pretty watertight on these cars. Can't say the same for the trunk. I ordered some different subs, actually some neodymium woofers to save some weight and get a little more efficiency. But I'm having second thoughts because they are paper cones and many times I have found my trunk to be considerably damp after rains.

So if anyone needs some rare Eminence 3012LF-4 woofers, let me know.


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## humandrummachine (May 17, 2010)

Ali-323i said:


> I love IB myself!! 133db (on music), single 12, 300w... pretty impressive (and of course, sounds great, clean, and deep!)!
> 
> Keep it up!! Not sure I’ll ever go back to a box in my daily again!
> View attachment 272856


I totally agree. If I ever have the ability to do IB, it will be done.


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## humandrummachine (May 17, 2010)

So I installed one side of the 6.5 components as a test being powered off of the factory HU. Above 3/8 volume I was hearing a strange modulation sound, it was wavy, kind of like when you talk behind a fan. Does anyone know what would cause this? Maybe old capacitors on the components?


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## Ge0 (Jul 23, 2007)

humandrummachine said:


> So I installed one side of the 6.5 components as a test being powered off of the factory HU. Above 3/8 volume I was hearing a strange modulation sound, it was wavy, kind of like when you talk behind a fan. Does anyone know what would cause this? Maybe old capacitors on the components?
> 
> View attachment 273836


So your head unit has speaker outputs and no external amp?

Does it still sound like this with the balance all the way left and then all the way right? Does it only sound like this on the speakers you installed or does the factory side modulate too?

Wondering if this has to do with an unexpected load on the factory head units speaker outputs. Why would the factory head unit cut in and out?

Do you have a multi-meter you can measure speaker coil resistance with? What happens if you measure overall resistance with passive cross-overs attached?

Ge0


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## humandrummachine (May 17, 2010)

Correct, no factory amp.

I only installed the passenger door side and turned the fade and balance to that speaker. It was only the "new" components that were sounding modulated. Reinstalled the factory speaker and it sounds normal.

I was also thinking it could be a final impedance issue. I'll check what the multimeter says.


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## humandrummachine (May 17, 2010)

It wasn't cutting out, just "modulating" if that's the right word.


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## humandrummachine (May 17, 2010)

The components are reading a steady 3.5 - 3.7 ohm


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## cdlowe30907 (Nov 21, 2018)

How did you run your speaker wire to your speakers ?


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## humandrummachine (May 17, 2010)

I just used the factory wiring and factory head unit to test the speakers.


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## humandrummachine (May 17, 2010)

I've been getting back to working on my car's sound system lately. The original plan was to use some old school JBL 6.5" speakers but I cannot get them to sound right. With any amount of bass the 6.5 distorts. Maybe too high of Qts or a very high cut off frequency is needed.

I've moved in the direction of installing either a set of Kenwood 5.25" or 7" components. Deadening my door cards with some DD audio stuff I picked up locally. I also glued on a wood panel to stiffen up the lower door card and possibly use as a mounting surface for a bigger midbass in the future. The door card might not be stiff enough though.

I am leaning towards the 5.25" components because part of the 6x8 speaker area is covered by the dash. 

Portion to the right is covered.









5.25" woofer









6.5" woofer, marketed as a 7" for some reason. You can see that part of it will be covered.









Possible tweeter locations using 1" pvc pipe caps and magnets. The sail panel is the most simple/unobtrusive location I can find so far. It is also somewhat stealth which is a plus in my area. Downside is the sail panel is pretty crowded.

















Door card with temporary foam around the 6x8 speaker location. 










Any advice or observations are certainly welcome.


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## humandrummachine (May 17, 2010)

The wood panels were treated with polyurethane.


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## BP1Fanatic (Jan 10, 2010)

Go big or go home!


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## humandrummachine (May 17, 2010)

BP1Fanatic said:


> Go big or go home!


You think 6.5" or 5.25" with like an 8" midbass in the future? I like the sound stage where it is now, putting an 8" in lower and mounted to a somewhat flimsy mount has me concerned.


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## BP1Fanatic (Jan 10, 2010)

If you're going to add an 8" midbass in the future, then go with the 5.25".


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## humandrummachine (May 17, 2010)

That's what i'll do.


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## humandrummachine (May 17, 2010)

Installed the 7" temporarily yesterday to see how the woofer sounded. Unfortunately I'm just getting a lot of buzzing from the foam and possibly the cone hitting the door card.

It seems that the factory speaker mount isn't that sturdy either. The 5.25 is looking better and better along with some door reinforcement.


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## crxsir121 (Oct 18, 2006)

Ali-323i said:


> I love IB myself!! 133db (on music), single 12, 300w... pretty impressive (and of course, sounds great, clean, and deep!)!
> 
> Keep it up!! Not sure I’ll ever go back to a box in my daily again!
> View attachment 272856


Is that a JL Audio 12w3v2 4 ohm sub? Looking to put 2 in my buddies BMW E90...


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## Ali-323i (Oct 4, 2019)

crxsir121 said:


> Is that a JL Audio 12w3v2 4 ohm sub? Looking to put 2 in my buddies BMW E90...


Close, it's a v3 (12w3v3-4ohm). They work surprisingly well in IB (mine is an E90 too). My seats didn't fold down, and I even had to cut my own ski pass behind rear arm rest. For 2 subs, might help to have folding seats so you have more area exposed to the cabin.

e90post forums have a couple of IB threads, a handful of helpful photos there too.

Good luck!


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## crxsir121 (Oct 18, 2006)

Ali-323i said:


> Close, it's a v3 (12w3v3-4ohm). They work surprisingly well in IB (mine is an E90 too). My seats didn't fold down, and I even had to cut my own ski pass behind rear arm rest. For 2 subs, might help to have folding seats so you have more area exposed to the cabin.
> 
> e90post forums have a couple of IB threads, a handful of helpful photos there too.
> 
> Good luck!


Thanks for the info. It should be a fun build depending on how much cutting is needed!😆😆😆


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## humandrummachine (May 17, 2010)

Tested out some tweeter positions today. High in the a-pillar made the tweeter "disappear" the most. Not sure how I feel about the other positions yet.


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## BP1Fanatic (Jan 10, 2010)

You would think, the closer to the woofer, the better the tweeter would sound.


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## humandrummachine (May 17, 2010)

Yeah that's what I thought but it wasn't directly following that thinking.


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## humandrummachine (May 17, 2010)

Made some progress over the weekend. Put a bunch of CLD on the vapor barrier over the openings in the door, not very effective but it did make a difference. In the future I plan on thermoforming plastic over the openings.










After mounting the speakers, I spent WAY too much time trying to seal the front of the speaker mounts to the inside panel of the door card, trying to reduce the amount of sound pressure that is sent behind the door card. However, most of the attempts i made ended up in the foam "buzzing" against the plastic. Ended up putting CLD over the foam and the buzzing is gone.

What type of foam do you guys use to do this? I've seen a darker, thicker looking foam in a couple of build logs. I think it would have to be sturdy to have any effect.

Attempt 1 









Attempt 2









Attempt 3 - finally no buzzing - I removed and installed the door card 5+ times... ugh










Then I moved on to the tweeters and the a-pillar, the cutout hole didn't turn out as pretty as I thought it would.










Tweeter installed. I measured the distance from my ears to the center of the 5.25" woofer and placed the tweeter at an equal distance in the a-pillar.


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## humandrummachine (May 17, 2010)

Made some more "progress" ... ugh. Lots of back and forth.

Re-did the speakers with foam and better mounts because the deadener around the speakers was pushing into the surrounds. Used some basic quick connectors and heat shrink from Napa. 

Wired in an RCA cord to the speaker outputs on my head unit. This was pretty much a mistake. Thought it might provide a little more shielding but realistically its not needed. It might even be worse since my head unit is has the 6VDC offset on the speaker +/-. Not sure. My headunit puts out about 8-9 V with music and that is what I was testing in the picture.

Then I hooked up the Planet Audio/ZED 6 channel, but it doesn't seem to be accepting the signal with the 6VDC offset. Plays music but will make crackling noise. Not good, was probably not a good idea to even try this. I use hi-level harness with the JX250's. 

More work to do.


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## humandrummachine (May 17, 2010)

Getting close to pulling the trigger on 8's in the doors.


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