I was curious if anyone has ever heard of a infinite baffle style "box" being installed to a new edge convertible. when i made my box i just did a semi complex box to meet the sealed air level requirement of my subs and didn't think much more about it but with a infinite baffle i could possible regain use of my trunk while at the same time gaining more power with the speakers i have with larger air space and getting the power directed into the cabin instead of the trunk. any suggestions? ideas? ever heard of it being done?

 

The whole point of infinite baffle is to not have an enclosure per-say. With an infinite baffle setup, you must choose subwoofers designed for such an application and you really need to take care to separate the front wave from the rear wave of the subwoofer.

The main pro to an infinite baffle setup is the low end extension you will receive. I've been in some Infinite Baffle vehicles that had significant flat output down to 15 Hz or so. Of course the other pro is that you will not have the weight of a subwoofer enclosure in the trunk and you will regain your trunk.

The cons are:
1. Installation - some cars are a PITA to seal off the front from the rear of the subwoofer. Think rear deck holes, miscellaneous holes in the trunk for wiring, etc.

2. Lower output keeping all things equal. Generally, it takes a LOT of cone area in an infinite baffle setup to provide a decent amount of sub bass output. A pair of Fi IB 12s is the minimum I would consider mounted infinite baffle in a mustang, possibly 3 if I could swing it. I'd say AE or Fi IB 15s, but 15s in a mustang from 1994 on up will complicate the install to no ends and be counterproductive with your regaining trunk space.

 

i know the IB style is not a box or enclosure that's why i had "box", since it technically turns the trunk into the box. currently i have a set of Kicker CVR12's and a infinity 1600A amp on them in a sealed enclosure. would those be able to work with it or would i cause more complications trying to use them(dual 2 ohm coils)? I've seen a few video of people using the CVR12's in a IB setup and they seemed to hit good and sound decent. main thing i want to know is can i pull off a IB with the CVR's and the infinity amp. if i can i was thinking using a 1" MDF to partition it then using self tapping metal screws to mount brackets that bolt into the body and wood screws to lock the partition into place (mounting on both sides) using silicon to seal up the partition then covering all seams with aluminum tape. then finding all holes in truck and sealing them with custom metal panels or something.

Edit: got specs for my subs:
http://www.kicker.com/sites/default/...2005CompVR.pdf page 4 CVR12

 

Generally you want a subwoofer with a high Qts number, .6 to .7, and a low FS number, 20 to 30 Hz for IB use.

The Circa 2005 CVR 12 shows a Qts of .527 and a Fs of 26.1 Hz which in theory could work. The only downside is that those subwoofers only have 12.6 mm of Xmax and could easily bottom out if driven with too much power.

 

that right there was what i was afraid of, since the other two specs are close i guess i will go for it and see what happens, worse case being the sub bottoms out and i have to replace it, if that happens i can just install my old box and go on as it was before. the amplifier i have now is not actually up to the RMS of the sub. so hopefully that will help prevent from bottoming out. currently I'm losing a lot of my power outside the car because the subs are aimed to the back and using a lot of energy to rattle the deck lid and all that. i got work all weekend but since monday is a holiday im off from classes, if i can get a sheet of MDF ill post some pics of what im doing and how it's going and for sure post back my results. wish me luck! lol

 

no better way to make a pair of 12s sound like an 8....

It is not as easy as it sounds to do it correctly and seal the two off completely and imo just easier to build a box and put it in.

 

well i already got a well built box and it sounds good, i've many many compliments from it. I'm just curious to see what it will sound like. doesn't seem like anyone has tried it in a mustang before, so i figured why not. worst case is it sounds like garbage and i wasted $30 on some MDF and scraps. i'll just reinstall my box and be done with it. can't find out something unless you try it.

 

here's a little update. I've decided to use 5 larger panels to block off the bulk of the area and have identified all the other holes that will need filling, I'm going to use smaller removable panels to seal it so in case of maintenance i can access anything I need. I'm using silicon and aluminum tape to seal up all the seams and using metal brackets with sheet metal screws to mount to the trunk pan. Keep in mind I'm not going to make this pretty YET because I don't want to focus on anesthetics and turn out that is sounds like poo. After I get it installed and make it bump, if it sounds good I'm going to remove some pieces and smooth them out then make it look nice. Here's a pic of the pieces in mock up before I mounted anything.

 

ok it's all done now and it sounds WAY better than it did with the box. Nice clean bass.. i got the 2 sections completely sealed off from each other, it still looks rough now though. next project is to clean and carpet it all. tomorrow in the day light i'll get some pics.


ok heres the pics and YES I KNOW it looks really rough, i got it together and running to see how it sounds, next step is to find some of that carpeting that goes in trucks and get it all cleaned up and looking nice.