# Subwoofer in the door



## fordsbyjay (May 22, 2011)

I have an 56 Ford 2dr sedan I am building and I am starting to look for audio ideas (hence the reason I joined the site). Can I put a subwoofer in the front door as well as some type of full range speaker/separate? I am thinking along the lines of my wifes 06 Mustang. There is two speakers in the door but from what I have read the bottom speaker is not just a sub. 

I am looking for nice tight clean sound in the drivers area of the car so that is why I am thinking this way. I do not want thunderous base in the trunk (although it was cool when I was 19 ) I was wondering about putting an 8" in the front bottom of each door with a 5x7 or 6.5" whatever above it. These doors are quite large, there is a huge cavity at the front below the vent window. I have cleaned the inside of the door and coated them with Por 15. Then I added Dynomat extreme with a layer of second skin overkill pro. I figured I could make an enclosure inside the door for the sub to separate the speaker areas. 

Anyways thought/input would greatly be appreciated.


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## FartinInTheTub (May 25, 2010)

fordsbyjay said:


> I have an 56 Ford 2dr sedan I am building and I am starting to look for audio ideas (hence the reason I joined the site). Can I put a subwoofer in the front door as well as some type of full range speaker/separate? I am thinking along the lines of my wifes 06 Mustang. There is two speakers in the door but from what I have read the bottom speaker is not just a sub.
> 
> I am looking for nice tight clean sound in the drivers area of the car so that is why I am thinking this way. I do not want thunderous base in the trunk (although it was cool when I was 19 ) I was wondering about putting an 8" in the front bottom of each door with a 5x7 or 6.5" whatever above it. These doors are quite large, there is a huge cavity at the front below the vent window. I have cleaned the inside of the door and coated them with Por 15. Then I added Dynomat extreme with a layer of second skin overkill pro. I figured I could make an enclosure inside the door for the sub to separate the speaker areas.
> 
> Anyways thought/input would greatly be appreciated.


Sure! You could put some nice 8" subs in the doors. It would require you to build small enclosures for them as you mentioned. I would then go with a nice 2-way component set in the upper door. Keep the tweeter and 6.5" close together for better imaging. Your idea will require some serious deadening and reinforcement to acheive some nice quality sound. You could on the other hand install a nice 2-way in the front doors and install a single 12" sub in the trunk. You could hide the 12 well in a trunk of that magnitude. Hybrid audio L6 and L1pro in the front doors comes to mind. A single IDQ, Ultimo or similar would be very nice in your application. With a car like that you don't want to skimp on product. Fantastic car by the way... always loved them. Welcome to the site! We look forward to hearing from ya!


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## schmiddr2 (Aug 10, 2009)

You'll need something solid to mount them too. Check out what this guy did ---> http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/diyma-member-build-logs/46862-my-door-build.html

EDIT: Well I guess that doesn't really help, but the point was you might consider welding some support structure for the enclosure and welding some parts of the door together to prevent the door from rattlings as bad.


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## gnesterenko (Mar 17, 2011)

Going to need to sound deaden the bejezus out of that door to subdue rattles...

Posting from work, so need this disclaimer:
"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."


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## Kryptoroxx (Jul 3, 2011)

I am a bit rusty but I remember that I was considering this kind of enclosure with my single cab truck....I ended up making a small box, stuffing it, and getting subs that worked with .75 apiece. Anyway you might want to look into infinite baffle/free air as well. Since you've deadened your doors a lot and you're looking for accurate sound this might be the deal for you. The difference as I remember and I might be wrong but the IB setup won't be as "loud" but it will be accurate. Hope this helps. It would also keep you from having to build an enclosure.


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## fordsbyjay (May 22, 2011)

schmiddr2 said:


> You'll need something solid to mount them too. Check out what this guy did --->


Actually it is very much what I was thinking. Along the lines of making the whole enclosure slip in the door (if that makes sense). A sealed box for an 8" driver is quite small. I think what I am going to do is measure the area I have to work with and see if it is enough then go from there. 

Thanks for all the responses.


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## underdog (Jul 5, 2011)

What kind of look is the car going for?
The doors will be the most difficult location for a Subwoofer.
There should be lots of room in the kick panel area's.
Some have even mounted to the floor and put the boxes under the car.
I would think harder


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## fordsbyjay (May 22, 2011)

underdog said:


> What kind of look is the car going for?
> The doors will be the most difficult location for a Subwoofer.
> There should be lots of room in the kick panel area's.
> Some have even mounted to the floor and put the boxes under the car.
> I would think harder


Some more good points and ideas. Thanks.


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## subwoofery (Nov 9, 2008)

Subs in doors is a bad idea unless you can build a solid sealed box (not using the cavity from the door...) 

Kelvin


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## underdog (Jul 5, 2011)

subwoofery said:


> Subs in doors is a bad idea unless you can build a solid sealed box (not using the cavity from the door...)
> 
> Kelvin


Even then; with all the moving parts and linkages the vibration just wreaks havoc.


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## SHAGGS (Apr 24, 2011)

I think your best bet is to build a center consol, with a single "8 or "10, firing into the floor. 6-1/2 components in the doors.


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## Geordie68 (Apr 8, 2010)

Any thoughts on how well a pair of 6.5" subs would work in this application without individual sealed enclosures fitted behind them? I don't need a ton of bass, just looking for some low end addition.

The inside front of this storage area is 3/4" plywood or some type of wood. The current coax speakers are mounted to the wood, and there is a gap between the speaker and the grill, similar to the gap when mounting a speaker to the door and the gap to the removable door panel. When the storage box is closed it is sealed to some degree, but not like a sealed box.


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## 240phil (Oct 11, 2010)

Geordie68 said:


> Any thoughts on how well a pair of 6.5" subs would work in this application without individual sealed enclosures fitted behind them? I don't need a ton of bass, just looking for some low end addition.
> 
> The inside front of this storage area is 3/4" plywood or some type of wood. The current coax speakers are mounted to the wood, and there is a gap between the speaker and the grill, similar to the gap when mounting a speaker to the door and the gap to the removable door panel. When the storage box is closed it is sealed to some degree, but not like a sealed box.


I have personally never liked two speakers sharing the same space. even if it is a lot of space. so, You could always build a wall to separate the two. But, it might not be needed if you don't hear any distortion. 

As for mounting to that lid. I would want to pull it apart and make the lid out of something nice and solid and make sure it isn't going to break or warp or for that matter, vibrate too much. 
t doesn't need to seall 100%, it just needs to not move around and vibrate. 
If I were going to do it, I would make a wall to separate the two sides. I'd put some foam trim on the top of the wall, and all around the lid so it got a nice solid seal when closed. I'd make a kind of latch that held the door down tight, and I would fab up two little ports at the very bottom and create two little ported boxes. The ports would only need to be small little things. Basically to mimic a door. A door isn't totally sealed, but the openings are small enough that there is some resistance to the air flow. 




SHAGGS said:


> I think your best bet is to build a center consol, with a single "8 or "10, firing into the floor. 6-1/2 components in the doors.


That is a pretty good idea, especially since you are really only looking to get that "this music is loud" feeling. You would just need to make sure everything is nice and tight so you don't get a lot of vibration from the console. 



subwoofery said:


> Subs in doors is a bad idea unless you can build a solid sealed box (not using the cavity from the door...)
> Kelvin





underdog said:


> Even then; with all the moving parts and linkages the vibration just wreaks havoc.


 the sub would pressurize the air differently than the component speaker would and cause all kinds of distortion so the sealed box is a must. 
And there is a point there, it would cause lots of extra rattles that you would hear since it is right next to you. Not like back in the trunk where you wouldn't hear that stuff rattle. 

What about the rear deck? 
If I remember right, you have a ton of space back there. Build an enclosure back there, get some nice grill action going to keep the sun off of it and have it fire right up to the window. 
You can't really tell where bass is coming from. It is considered an omnidirectional sound. 
Not like the highs, you can close your eyes and know exactly where the high sounds are coming from. 

Your idea about coping the mustang is ok, the difference is, I believe the lower speaker in the door is its own box that has a port that helps produce the bass. Neither one of those speakers has much power getting to it, and typically, modern cars aren't going to have the rattles, vibrations, and all that, that an older, metal car is going to have.


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## Geordie68 (Apr 8, 2010)

240phil said:


> I have personally never liked two speakers sharing the same space. even if it is a lot of space. so, You could always build a wall to separate the two. But, it might not be needed if you don't hear any distortion.
> 
> As for mounting to that lid. I would want to pull it apart and make the lid out of something nice and solid and make sure it isn't going to break or warp or for that matter, vibrate too much.
> t doesn't need to seall 100%, it just needs to not move around and vibrate.
> ...


Thank you for the input. I was talking about mounting the subs in the front of that storage area behind each seat (where the current speakers are located) rather than in the lid. I'm trying to keep it looking as stock as possible and also keep the storage space usable. There may not be a very good solution with those conditions.


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