I have been unhappy with the factory sub since picking up my GS430 last May. I recently decided to install a 12 inch subwoofer in its place. After looking around a bit, reading and posting I decided to go with a Elemental Designs 130v.2. Decent price, good power handling, and a relatively good amount of happy customers.



I wanted to mount the amp under the rear deck but had read about possible heat issues that can be encountered by mounting amps upside down. This lead me to choose the Kenwood KAC-X10D. This amp avoids those heat issues since it does not use conventional heat sinks. Instead it uses vents on either side of the amp with internal fans forcing hot air out regardless of the amps mounting position.



So I got started and removed the factory sub. I fabricated a panel similar to the one ED sales to install a 10 inch in the second gen GS. I used two layers of 3/4 MDF to ensure enough room was allowed for excursion. I also made a panel to mount on the drivers side of the subwoofer opening to mount the amp on. The blue power wire was not installed yet. Its all nicely tucked away and hidden now.

 

Just a short back track here. Once i got the Mark Levingston factory 10 inch subwoofer i was amazed at how puny it was. Here it is compared to the Elemental Designs 130v.2. I removed the plastic ring that surrounds the ML subs so called magnet so the true size of it can be seen.

 

Here are some pics of the factory subwoofer for comparison. More pics of my 12 inch install coming soon.

 

so thats a free air sub..nice..didnt know that the 12 fits in the spot..

 

Its not a direct bolt in. I made a adapter panel to hang the 12 in the same spot the 10 was in. I will get pictures of this up soon.

 

Any sub sitting in open can be considered a "free air" sub. The ED sub is a sub that has Theile/Small parameters of the approximate values that allow it to be an excellent performer in an IB install. Labels like "IB sub" and "free air sub" are used way too much by the marketing departments. Also, all of ED subs say that they are appropriate for IB installs but the O series is much better suited for IB than the K series. ED also sells the Haxo LXU series which has T/S parameters that are even better suited for IB than the O series.

I'm not commenting on the ML sub since I don't have any idea about its T/S parameters. I would have no problem determining the parameters if someone was willing to pay shipping both ways on the sub. It takes me less than 5 minutes using Woofer Tester 3 from Parts Express.

-Robert

 

[QUOTE=Robert_J;3473351]This sounds like a fun experiment. PM me your shipping address and I wil see what I can do.

 

What is your 'adapter'? Did you use an 'O' ring? Did you cut the deck at all?

 

I did not cut the deck. The adapter consisted of one O ring and one D shaped board that i made. They are bonded together and mounted with the D side up against the rear deck and the Subwoofer hanging from the O. I am hoping to get some pictures either later today or tomorrow to post up. Here is a quick MS Paint picture i made so you can visualize the adapter.

 

The D board hole is 12" as well correct? What about the overlap of the rear deck over the face of the sub? Did you sound deaden or strengthen that at all or is it bare metal?

My sub (same as yours) and o ring are sitting in the living room waiting for installation

 

Here are some cell phone pics of the subwoofer mounted and my adapter to get you by until i can get in the trunk with my real digital camera. The wires are still being temporarily held in place till i can get in there and clean it up. Better pics to come soon.

 

Yes the D board was routed to match the 12 inch opening in the O ring I got from ED. almost the entire rear deck top and bottom we covered in a combination of Dynamat Extreme and eDead. I also wrapped some eDead around the edges of the factory 10 inch opening to avoid any possible noise from the air rushing past the sharp metal edge.

 

Thanks, I'll be tackling mine this weekend.

 

great job. i cant wait to see some more pictures.

 

Did the install yesterday. BFS is my new acronym (Big Freakin Sub).... Wow is all I can say. I will post up some pics later on.