2 Subs Best Location

[light200]

I want to add 2 Subwoofers (Free Air) (10") to my 2009 22Ve. Where would be the best locations to place them? I was thinking 1 under the drivers helm and the other under the rear middle seat? Not sure if i should just put both under the drivers helm or if there is even room to do that? Also not sure if cutting out a hole in the read seat would affect the structural integrity of that seat support?

Any advice or reccomendations?

[jrj701]

2 10's will fit under the helm. Here are some pictures of mine. I actually built an enclosure. It was time consuming considering that i had to mock it up with card board and then partially assemble it within the compartment to get the volume i wanted. If you plan to go free air, it should be pretty easy.

[kko]

Holy cow did the have bags of screws Buy get one free! That box looks like it could survie a atomic blast! Fits real nice. Good Job!

[majestic]

2 10's will fit under the helm. Here are some pictures of mine. I actually built an enclosure. It was time consuming considering that i had to mock it up with card board and then partially assemble it within the compartment to get the volume i wanted. If you plan to go free air, it should be pretty easy.

Wow...that's good work! How many watts do you have going to those? I measured out for mine last night that will be one 12 (Exile Xi12D) powered by a Exile 1500.1 it should pound pretty good.

[chpthril]

Here are a couple of pics of the 2nd XS-10FA we added to Pigdog's 22Ve last summer. It was a fairly easy upgrade, just had to relocate the 6.5 and cut the hole. Then move the subs ground wire on the Syn6 to bridge mode.

[jrj701]

Wow...that's good work! How many watts do you have going to those? I measured out for mine last night that will be one 12 (Exile Xi12D) powered by a Exile 1500.1 it should pound pretty good.

Holy cow did the have bags of screws Buy get one free! That box looks like it could survie a atomic blast! Fits real nice. Good Job!

You're not kidding on the screws. Once mocked up, I pre-drilled and assembled everything to make sure I had a tight fit. I then disassembled it since it wouldn't fit thru the compartment door. Once in pieces, I began the painful reassembly. By painful I mean trying to contort your body into some unnatural positions. Since I had cut the holes for the subs in the helm wall, I was able to poke my head in there and seal all the seams with a sealer to make sure it was air tight. At the suggestion of Chpthril and Phil from Kicker, I stayed away from MDF and used a good quality birch plywood and painted the interior and exterior with truck bed paint to help against water infiltration. I sure don't want to go thru building another one any time soon, unless of course it's for a new RZ2. Although it's tough to see in the pics, I also held it off the floor about an inch to avoid laying on wet carpet. As far as power, I am running the Kicker 700.5 which delivers 450 RMS to the subs which are 4 ohm wired in parallel so the amp is seeing a 2 ohm load. One other thing I did was move the mid base speaker to the side wall and put a baffle behind it.

[light200]

Chp,
so how was the performance of the 2 10" free air subs? I ask because after reading some of your other posts and reccomendations I have now considered trying to do the 12" sub and build an enclosure (but this option sounds like an installation nightmare compared to the 2 FA subs)????

[light200]

Another question would be how are you guys cutting those perfect circles into that thick driver footwell fiberglass board? I am going to have occasion to cut those holes there, as well as adding the 2 6.5" holes in the fiberglass for in boat speakers, and the 3" hole in the rear platform for the remote.....what tool should i be using for all these?

[majestic]

Chp,
so how was the performance of the 2 10" free air subs? I ask because after reading some of your other posts and reccomendations I have now considered trying to do the 12" sub and build an enclosure (but this option sounds like an installation nightmare compared to the 2 FA subs)????

Not sure how big of a hurry you are to get this done but I am working with Exile audio on my system right now. I am currently mocking up the box for under the helm and they will cut it out of a composite material on a CNC machine. It might be worth following the process it should be pretty bad a$$ but won't be cheap.

[jrj701]

Another question would be how are you guys cutting those perfect circles into that thick driver footwell fiberglass board? I am going to have occasion to cut those holes there, as well as adding the 2 6.5" holes in the fiberglass for in boat speakers, and the 3" hole in the rear platform for the remote.....what tool should i be using for all these?

I used a Ryobi brand roto-zip type of tool with It's circle template for the subs. As for the 6.5", I used a hole saw. I would do the same for your remote. Just make sure you run the hole saw in reverse slowly until you get thru the gelcoat, then go in the forward direction. This will keep the gel from chipping. Also chances are you won't find the larger hole saw at your local hardware store, although the one for the remote should not be a problem. I got the larger one online.

[chpthril]

Chp,
so how was the performance of the 2 10" free air subs? I ask because after reading some of your other posts and reccomendations I have now considered trying to do the 12" sub and build an enclosure (but this option sounds like an installation nightmare compared to the 2 FA subs)????

The added 10" was a definite improvement over a single because we doubled the surface area. That's now 2 subs getting 300W each. For someone running a single would not be disappointed. But, I think a 12 in a sealed enclosure with the same 600W rms, might just edge out 2 infinite-baffle 10's.

A 12" in a sealed enclosure is not impossible, just a bit more complex and involved than doing an infinite-baffle.

[Timmy!]

There's actually quite a bit of usable air space there for a vented or sealed enclosure and a sub with an enclosure sounds 10x better than one without. My boat came with the factory Kicker 10" cvr and it sounded ok but once I put it in a box, now it hits pretty hard for a 10" with 400 watts. Personally I would do one 12" in a box over 2 free air 10's.

[ds@earmark]

light200,
Every boat is different and to a degree you have to take what the individual boat gives you. Unlike a cruiser with an expansive cockpit, a towboat has a confined cockpit. There's no real advantage to separating subwoofers, however, there can be disadvantages. So if possible, I would mount two identical subwoofers side-by-side in the same location and oriented them in the same direction. Just as different distances between the subwoofers and listener will create phasing conflicts, differences in surrounding boundaries and orientation can do the same. Pertaining to subwoofers, keeping everything symmetrical really helps in most cases. Another advantage to a side-by-side mounting is that the two subwoofers tend to compound load and sum bettter. Just like walls and floors reinforce the bass, two collected subwoofers get a little of the same benefit.

David
www.earmarkmarine.com