xr7g428

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Q-Logic is a division of Rockford Corporation. We are currently working on development of a Q-Custom series subwoofer enclosure for the 2005 Mustang. Q-Logic doesn't sell woofers, and this product is not available for sale. The purpose of this post is not to sell product, but to get feedback from Mustang owners about the kind of product that they would like to see for the Mustang.

Our initial idea is to use a sealed enclosure of 1 cubic foot for a single 12" woofer.

Attached are some pictures of our first round development prototype. We plan to offer a grill, but we have to develop the basic enclosure first. This enclosure would probably retail for about $269 (does not include the woofer)

The woofer shown in the picture is a Rockford fosgate P2 12S4 Retail is $159.

What do you think?

dallasmustang

I like the concept of a custom fit subwoofer enclosure. While creating my own custom enclosure would be nice, I would rather not have to spend the time and energy doing so.

As a serious car audio enthusiast, I have a few questions:

1. What will the enclosure be made from? Specifically, how thick is the plastic? I worry about mounting a large driver in a plastic enclosure that had a lot of flex or vibrated when hitting those deep notes.

2. What would the mounting depth be? The Infinity Kappa Perfect 12.1D mounting depth is 5-7/8"; the JL Audio 12W6v2-D4 mounting depth is 7.6". These are two popular subwoofers that I would be interested in putting into a sealed enclosure. I would also like some air behind the driver so that it receives proper ventilation.

3. When you say 1 cubic foot, is that 1 cubic foot BEFORE you mount the driver? If so, that volume seems to fall under a lot of subwoofers' minimum volumes. While I understand there are space considerations, I would much prefer a larger box (say 1.25 to 1.5 cu. ft. before driver installation). I would not buy this product if it were only 1 cu. ft.

4. How is the box secured to the trunk?

5. Will there be a mirror imaged enclosure available for those of us who want 2 subs in the trunk? If so, it would be nice to include a section on ideal phase configurations in the instruction manual.

6. What type of speaker connections will be available? 5-way binding posts would be ideal.

7. How flexible is the price? In my opinion, $269.99 is getting close to custom fabrication costs at which point I could get a perfectly sized enclosure for my brand of driver. I would pay $149.99 for a 1.25 cu ft. enclosure.

For a prototype, it looks like a great product that will solve many people's need for an effective, out-of-the-way enclosure.

xr7g428

WOW! Great response!

Let me answer your questions, and THANKS!

1 The enclosure is made with a .75" MDF baffle and MDF internal structure. The plastic component is .25" thick and lined with Cascade Audio damping compound. We verify the enclosure integrity by measuring Q loss. Above 250hz, the plastic is going to induce loss, but we suggest crossover frequencies well below that. The motor board or baffle is the part that really must be rigid. Most of the plastic that you see on the front of the enclosure is purely cosmetic.

2. The mounting depth should accomodate either of these drivers. Excellent choices too! The JL is truely a monster woofer, so it's at the outer limits of what we can fit in the space available. The problem is that we have to get the woofer in between the fender, and the edgae of the floor panel that covers the spare tire.

3. The Actual enclosure volume is 1.093 cuft. The JL woofer (one of the largest 12's out there) has a displacement of .09 cuft. Most people think that woofers consume a lot more space than they really do. A typical 12 is .05cuft.

Technically, both of these woofers work pretty well in this volume. The JL will have resonace at 48.86Hz and a Qtc of .88 The Infinity will have a resonace of 47.84 and a Qtc of .77. The enclosure is also supplied with a small quantity of polyfil that you can use to make the enclosure look a little bigger to the driver.

4. The enclosure bolts to the fender brace and the trunk floor.

5. Sorry, the phase cancelation just won't support a second woofer located there. For two drivers you will need to use a more conventional style enclosure. We are looking at an amp rack for that location.

6. We use spring loaded 5 way binding posts that will accommodate up to 8 gauge wire. Copper wire is maleable. When you crush it it doesn't bounce back. With out a memory to hold the nut under tension, the vibrations of the enclosure will eventually lead to a loose connection.

7. Pricing is not set in stone, and dealers really set the street price, so I can't comment much on that.

Thank you again for a really well thought out response!

xr7g428

Any interest in an aftermarket enclosure that would hold two 10" woofers?

Faber

sure!

Sonic Brew

I would be interested in dual 12" enclosure.

sodaman

Well it looks great, and I definitely would be interested in custom fit subs, custom amp mounting boards would be nice too. Please keep us updated on the development of these products.

Enfynet

Wow, I wish I understood that part

Though I doubt I'll be purchasing any of these products, it'd be nice to see what can be made available for a reasonable price.

bpmurr

I'd be interested in single or dual 12s. Even a dual 10 setup wouldn't be bad. If Ford can come up with a dual setup that fits back there (Shaker 1000) I'm sure the aftermarket could do much better for us.

The amp rack idea for the other side of the truck sounds pretty sweet. I'd like to see more details on something like that.

Any thoughts on creating a better mounting enclosure for 8-inch subs in the door? It looks like the one that comes stock requires a lot of effort to get an aftermarket sub installed.

dallasmustang

Ditto.

mhk

I would be interested in a better subwoofer enclosure for the front doors so you could fit aftermarket subs with larger magnets.

atingle

I think this product is a very good idea. You are going the right direction. This would fill a niche in the market for quick self installs. It would be nice if you had a solution for a single 10" sub-woofer also.

I agree that $269 could be a bit high, but who knows what the street pricing would be. (I have been quoted $250 for a custom enclosure for my system.)

Regards,
Alan

xr7g428

Thanks for the responses...

To answer some questions...

Street pricing would almost certainly be less. I just wanted to throw a number out for informational purposes only as no pricing is set at this time.

I will look into the front door enclosures. I understand that they can be reshaped with a heat gun to accommodate larger magnets within reason. The existing woofers may use neo magnets that are actually much stronger and smaller than conventional magnets. We are looking at those as well.

Thanks for the input on duals. We had been concerned that having to buy two woofers would drive the total price too high. Ford used two low cost woofers, most of our customers seem to prefer one high quality woofer. But we are loking for your feedback and we will look at how difficult it would be to offer several options.

Stay tuned on the amp rack. As soon as it is ready I will post pics.

Thanks again for all of the great comments!

dallasmustang

Actually, I'd prefer TWO high quality woofers As it stands, I can barely afford one.


You haven't measured the cabin's transfer function by any chance, have you?

KenP

I would go for a single 10" as well. My current setup has a 10" JL sub in a generic Q-Logic box. The quality of the box is great and works well with my JL. The only problem is that its the "One size fits all" type of box. I would love one that fits the contour of the trunk. Keep us informed of the progress of the box.

SurfnSoCal

I know the reason why everyone ISN'T replacing the door subs, is because aftermarket ones are not plug and play (or listen). Better (and bigger!) enclosures in the door would be an awesome idea. I am sure alot of people would purchase them. Plus...NO ONE is making them. Alot of companies do (or will) make trunk enclosures.

As for the trunk...


1. I plan on putting a 10w6 or 12w6. Will you be making both 10" and 12" applications?

2. Will it come pre-covered with the trunk carpet material...so that it looks nice?

3. HOW SOON? :-)

4. Any idea on Amp Rack dimensions? With an amp for the mids/highs, the door subs, AND trunk subs being a must for a complete system....space for atleast 3 amps would be maditory.

oatmeal

I just made my own custom enclosure in that same area of the trunk. Mine is made of 3/4" MDF and is a simple square with an angled cutout for the wheel well. I called the manufacturer of my 10" sub, alphasonik, and they recomended a sealed enclosure of .5 to 1.5 cu. ft. Is the size of your box big enough for a 12" sealed?

RRRoamer

I am one of the ones that did replace the front subs. And yes, it did require fiberglass work to fit the JL Audio 8W3V2D2s in there. And it was SO worth it! I can't say one way or the other if the factory front subs have rare earth magnets or not, but I CAN say that 8W3 kicks the dog out of them. Utterly. And completely. Definitely worth the work and door cutting!

As for a rear box, I am planning on making a custom box that uses every last square inch of space in that back corner. I want to install a GOOD 12" sub (JL Audio 12W6V2 has the nod right now), but I also wan that enclosure to be as small, form fitting and generally invisible as possible. The Shaker 1000 enclosure looked like wasted a lot of potential space above it which made the enclosure take up more room in the trunk than it needed to. Make it fit tight. Provide a nice, matched carpet finish to cover the front face (I don't really want to see the driver for that matter) and not that cheap plastic looking "stuff". The key is carpet that matches the factory trunk carpet perfectly.

Good luck bringing a quality product to market. I think you will have plenty of customers.

xr7g428

To answer a few more questions....

The amp rack will be big enough to hold two amps, a 4 channel to drive the full range and a two channel to drive the subs. With the right amps you might be able to use three amps.

We do map the vehicle for transfer function. In the Mustang they found that if you put the sub on the driver side it sounds best in the passenger seat. Placement of the enclosure has a lot to do with the exact nature of the transfer function. If you are not familiar with this term, it describes how the size and shape of the interior changes the response of the subs. Any sub will sound different in a car than in a big room. The difference is the transfer function.

I will try to get more detail on the door enclosures and how to make them work better. This will take time as we try to approach this in a scientific manner, taking a lot of measurements. On first glance, Ford did a pretty good job of finding space in the door. More latter.

The JL 12W6v2 would be an excellent choice for this enclosure. We are working on a patent for out interchangable baffle system that would let you use a 10 or a 12, but the air space would also need to be right. The problem with a single 10 is that it ends up costing almost as much as a single 12. More is better.

This should be available this Fall, possibly as late as the SEMA show for intro.

Something that you may not know, we are the largest manufacturer of automotive enclosures in North America. We supply several woofer manufacturers with enclosures that they use to develop woofers. We have a data base of practically every woofer on the market and we use their Theil Small parameters (technical specifications) to determine the correct sizes of enclosures to build. For 12" woofers we will offer enclosures that range in steped sizes: 1, 1.25, 1.75cuft per woofer. Using our baffle system, you can add additional steps of 1.5 and 2.25 cuft. As it turns out, the box has to be big enough to wrap around the woofer, and it can't be too big to fit in a car. So, most woofers designed by competent engineers will need pretty much the same space. Also, woofers are not as sensitive to space requirements as some people wpould like you to believe. the transfer function of the car makes the single biggest change in sound.

If you want to know the truth, based on solid science, about how woofers and boxes work I can really help. For magic or miracles, I have to charge extra...Just kidding, their really isn't a magic box design.

05GT-O.C.D.

OK, Here's my .02.
I wish I could've found something like this (pic) professionally made. It's my opinion that one good 12 is plenty in this car, unless you're aiming for a competitive market, which wouldn't use a prefab box anyway. With this one 12 (yes, I'm powering it w/ a 1000 watt amp... originally planned on having two 12's), it's a lot of sound. The trunk rattles like crazy - and drives me nuts - the interior rattles, etc.
I don't like having the woofer mounted in the side for a couple of reasons - hard turns = hole in sub, and the sound isn't as good in my opinion.
What would be your solution to mounting the amp w/ this setup?
With what I did, I also gained a little cubby hole behind the rear seat to put small items such as a first aid kit, valuables, etc. Again, professionally made could've been a lot better.

And heck, let's face it... it looks cool!