# Shallow Mount Free Air Sub's?



## SC400GUY (Nov 22, 2013)

Looking for shallow mount free air subwoofer options in general, but I'm also looking for my best option to fit this car's stock sub location(Lexus SC 400). Max Mount Depth approximately 4.88". 10" Subwoofer. 

Amp is rated at 500 watts RMS x 1 at 2 or 4 ohms, so looking for something good to pair it with. 

Originally I was looking at the SD-2 10D4 - Sundown Audio 10", but the mount depth is 4.94", and cutting it real close. I could probably make it work, but would like some other opinions. The Sundown sub also isn't free air, just shallow mount. The Alpine SWR-T10 also looks quite nice, however I'm not sure how these subs would work in a free air environment. 

Weight is an issue, and creating a box for a subwoofer just isn't an option. I am trying to get high quality sound out of this subwoofer, and I would like to crank it up as well without distortion. 

Opinions highly appreciated.


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## hurrication (Dec 19, 2011)

For what it's worth, you can carefully dent in the top of the gas tank and get a hair over 5" of clearance for a sub using the stock baffle. I did that to my '92 SC400 in the fall of 2008 to fit a 10" Alumapro Alusonic and drove the car for 4 years without any problems from it. 

Pretty much any sub can be used infinite baffle, you just have to watch out how much power you send to it. 500 watts is a lot for a single 10, 150-200 should be just fine.


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## PottersField (Mar 18, 2011)

There's a guy on here running Earthquake SWS subs in the rear deck of his Cobalt, apparently they're pretty freakin awesome. Might be worth checking out.


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## SC400GUY (Nov 22, 2013)

PottersField said:


> There's a guy on here running Earthquake SWS subs in the rear deck of his Cobalt, apparently they're pretty freakin awesome. Might be worth checking out.


Wow the mount depth is only 2 11/16"....that's crazy. I can go up to 4.88 I believe. But wow I think that's the slimmest I've seen. Only 200 RMS though...looking for a little more boom then that.


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## jdsoldger (Feb 14, 2012)

SC400GUY said:


> Wow the mount depth is only 2 11/16"....that's crazy. I can go up to 4.88 I believe. But wow I think that's the slimmest I've seen. Only 200 RMS though...looking for a little more boom then that.


The boom will be in the sensitivity rating. The difference between 500w and 200w is just a hair over 3dB if the sensitivity ratings are the same, which is not much at all.


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## turbo5upra (Oct 3, 2008)

Mw190


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## turbo5upra (Oct 3, 2008)

SC400GUY said:


> Wow the mount depth is only 2 11/16"....that's crazy. I can go up to 4.88 I believe. But wow I think that's the slimmest I've seen. Only 200 RMS though...looking for a little more boom then that.


If output is the name of the game you can fit 3 10's in the rear deck


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## thomasluke (Jun 10, 2011)

SC400GUY said:


> Wow the mount depth is only 2 11/16"....that's crazy. I can go up to 4.88 I believe. But wow I think that's the slimmest I've seen. Only 200 RMS though...looking for a little more boom then that.


power consumption does not equal loudness. Xmax or xmech does. If it takes 100 watts or a 1,000 watts to move a sub an inch it's the same.
If you're going IB look at the xmax, the more xmax the more boom.


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## SC400GUY (Nov 22, 2013)

turbo5upra said:


> If output is the name of the game you can fit 3 10's in the rear deck


Lol I can't, I need my trunk space! Trying to keep this car looking 100% stock inside, but sound super clean. Only exterior mods are minimal as well. Just a really clean look and sound is what I'm going for. Of course I'd like to be able to turn it up and sound crystal clear as well.

To be honest I haven't messed with car audio in a long time, nearly 8 years. My last set up had a Kicker L5 which was plenty. I don't even recall what RMS it had, I know I had a crap amp powering it.

Perhaps I'm going too crazy on my audio build for this car, but I want it to last forever, I have every intention of having this car for a very long time god willing. I'm going to go to some audio shops tomorrow to get a feel on wattage again as 500 Watts RMS might be overkill for me, but the 5 channel Amp(Alpine PDX-V9) I plan on getting has 500RMS dedicated to the sub so I figured I'd use it to it's advantage.


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## turbo5upra (Oct 3, 2008)

You can fit 3 10's ib in the rear deck and still look stock


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## SC400GUY (Nov 22, 2013)

turbo5upra said:


> You can fit 3 10's ib in the rear deck and still look stock


That would cost a considerable amount of money and time, my total budget is around $1200 not including head unit.

I need 6.5" componenets, another set of 6.5" shallows for the door, a 10" shallow mount sub, and my amp, preferably 5 channel alpine pdx-v9 just because weight is an issue, and an amp kit. I dont' want to make my car too much heavier. It's already about 3600lbs.


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## turbo5upra (Oct 3, 2008)

SC400GUY said:


> That would cost a considerable amount of money and time, my total budget is around $1200 not including head unit.
> 
> I need 6.5" componenets, another set of 6.5" shallows for the door, a 10" shallow mount sub, and my amp, preferably 5 channel alpine pdx-v9 just because weight is an issue, and an amp kit. I dont' want to make my car too much heavier. It's already about 3600lbs.


Shouldn't need shallow speakers in the door- if you plan on removing the enclosure there will be plenty of depth... Shallow and ib with output usually don't go hand in hand. Take a look at the 10" jl shallow sub and an enclosure. Should get decent output but I suspect it will fall on its face below 30.


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## BuickGN (May 29, 2009)

You're still focusing on watts. As it was said, focus on xmax. Power means nothing. Cone area * excursion determines output. I would go with the one that requires only 100w to reach xmax vs one that requires 1,000w to reach the same excursion. Output will be the same as long as excursion and cone area are the same.


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## ssmith100 (Jun 28, 2007)

If I were to do things different again and wanted to do a sub in the rear deck to keep things factory looking then the JL 10TW3 would be my choice. Building a sealed enclosue over the gas tank would be a breeze for this sub and it would sound pretty damn good. Of course three MW 190's along the back deck would sound pretty damn good too.

Shane


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## Woosey (Feb 2, 2011)

The Peerless XLS-P835028 is a nice flat sub... Xmax of 9mm


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## turbo5upra (Oct 3, 2008)

With some massaging of the rear deck trim you could do: Peerless 830452 10" XLS Subwoofer | 264-1108 ported- I think you would have great results for the slight bit more effort.


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## PottersField (Mar 18, 2011)

thomasluke said:


> power consumption does not equal loudness. Xmax or xmech does. If it takes 100 watts or a 1,000 watts to move a sub an inch it's the same.
> If you're going IB look at the xmax, the more xmax the more boom.


True that. This is one of the reasons I'm giving serious thought to the Earthquakes myself. Listed Xmax is 28mm, you're getting about an inch of one-way excursion. They're rated for 200w RMS but I'd bet they would need much less than that in an IB environment to work well.


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## jdsoldger (Feb 14, 2012)

Since I don't feel like typeing out a whole thing on power vs. Efficency on my phone, I will link to an article on Eliot Sound Products. His website has an amazing collection of articles for anyone wanting to learn more about speakers and amplifiers.

Power Handling Vs. Efficiency


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## thebigjimsho (Jan 11, 2009)

I have an ID10 D4 V3 sitting around, unused. I'm looking for the same in my Town Car and IB or an unbelievably shallow enclosure under the rear deck are the only options. I was hoping to get suggestions in my thread but got nothing. 

I'd love to just use the ID but if someone said, no and that X sub costs $1-200(less is fine, too) and will greatly outperform it, I'd listen to suggestions...


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## turbo5upra (Oct 3, 2008)

thebigjimsho said:


> I have an ID10 D4 V3 sitting around, unused. I'm looking for the same in my Town Car and IB or an unbelievably shallow enclosure under the rear deck are the only options. I was hoping to get suggestions in my thread but got nothing.
> 
> I'd love to just use the ID but if someone said, no and that X sub costs $1-200(less is fine, too) and will greatly outperform it, I'd listen to suggestions...


Try it- you don't like it.. It cost you nothing.


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## thebigjimsho (Jan 11, 2009)

turbo5upra said:


> Try it- you don't like it.. It cost you nothing.


That's the plan. Just have to do a little cutting to the current opening...


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## Regus (Feb 1, 2011)

OP, if you don't mind a budget option take a look at this:

Pyle - PLPW10D - 10'' 1000 Watt Dual Voice Coil 4 Ohm Subwoofer

Just bear in mind that although the sub is rated at 500W RMS, in a free air/IB installation you could bottom it out more easily than when sealed.


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## qwertydude (Dec 22, 2008)

PottersField said:


> True that. This is one of the reasons I'm giving serious thought to the Earthquakes myself. Listed Xmax is 28mm, you're getting about an inch of one-way excursion. They're rated for 200w RMS but I'd bet they would need much less than that in an IB environment to work well.


It's always been Earthquakes bad habit of listing Xmax ratings as either peak to peak or even worse Xmech ratings. More than likely it's a peak to peak meaning the real one way linear is only 14mm and even that would be hard to verify since the real specs can't even be looked up on the main site.

But looking at videos of the subwoofer on youtube it most definitely doesn't have 28mm of one way excursion. I know because I have an RE SXX 12 that has "only" 22mm of real one way excursion and it moves a whole lot more than the Earthquakes do.


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## PottersField (Mar 18, 2011)

qwertydude said:


> It's always been Earthquakes bad habit of listing Xmax ratings as either peak to peak or even worse Xmech ratings. More than likely it's a peak to peak meaning the real one way linear is only 14mm and even that would be hard to verify since the real specs can't even be looked up on the main site.
> 
> But looking at videos of the subwoofer on youtube it most definitely doesn't have 28mm of one way excursion. I know because I have an RE SXX 12 that has "only" 22mm of real one way excursion and it moves a whole lot more than the Earthquakes do.


It's entirely possible their measurements are listed peak to peak, I've wondered myself if that was an accurate statement and their own measurements aside I have yet to find any test results to verify their specs. I must say though, even if their linear movement is 14mm, that's still pretty decent for a shallow design.


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## SHAGGS (Apr 24, 2011)

Regus said:


> OP, if you don't mind a budget option take a look at this:
> 
> Pyle - PLPW10D - 10'' 1000 Watt Dual Voice Coil 4 Ohm Subwoofer


Did anyone notice the picture of the hatchback? 
Sure looks like a W7, with the Pyle photo-shopped into the center of the cone. 
Too funny.


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## BuickGN (May 29, 2009)

Lol! That is undoubtedly a W7. I always wondered if they actually take pictures of subs in boxes they sell or if they have templates of each sub and box and they photoshop. I guess that answers that. Unless this Pyle has the W7 option.


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## PottersField (Mar 18, 2011)

BuickGN said:


> Lol! That is undoubtedly a W7. I always wondered if they actually take pictures of subs in boxes they sell or if they have templates of each sub and box and they photoshop. I guess that answers that. Unless this Pyle has the W7 option.


That's the P7 right there, probably the most sought-after sub on the market. The dual surround is quite innovative.


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## JoeHemi57 (Mar 28, 2006)

Check out the Audiomobile GTS also, 4.5" depth and higher qts(.598) and xmax figures. The Audiomobile is 400w rms but 250 should be plenty in IB. 

I'm looking for a similar setup although i don't have a depth concern, just a 10" sub for free air use in the stock location. I'm also looking at Arc Audio and Alpine Type S both which have about 15mm xmax.

edit: just found another sub, http://www.jlaudio.com/10w0v3-4-car-audio-w0v3-subwoofer-drivers-92165
FS is 32hz
Qts is .604
Xmax is 11.4 mm each way
these specs seem about right for IB use and the depth is 4.9", i just wouldn't put more than about 175-200w to it Free Air, might want to use a subsonic filter also to keep from bottoming out.


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## Woosey (Feb 2, 2011)

SHAGGS said:


> Did anyone notice the picture of the hatchback?
> Sure looks like a W7, with the Pyle photo-shopped into the center of the cone.
> Too funny.


lol


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