Plexiglass Box

[PontiacGT]

I thought It would be cool to build a custom box out of wood, save for the front side which would be thick plexiglass. I've never worked with thick plexiglass though, so I don't know how it would handle or anything. Can you glue it to wood? I wouldn't assume so, but maybe some pre-drilled holes with some screws and sealant, would that do? You can drill nice little screw holes in plexiglass can't you? I thought it would be cool to see the nice chrome that's hidden with my Audiobahn subs. or maybe short 6" neons inside the box.......is there a way to wire the neons off of the amplifier power wire? just a thought.......lemme know.

[ghettograndam]

The ideas cool...
You could probably build a frame for the plexi easier than gluing. When I had neons in my trunk I ran The ground wire off of a ground(obviously!) and then the power wire off of the accessories turn on. That way its only on when you turn it on. Another idea- My brother in law had a bunch of this flexable mirror stuff... I cant remember what its made out of... but anyways its easy to cut and i think its 1/4 inch so its good to work with. Its made for wieght rooms and stuff. Yuo could cut pieces for the back(or the entire inside if youre good!) and that way when you looked in you could see the back of the sub. Just a thought.

[sc02grandam]

you can probably use the remote turn on wire for powering up your neons depending on where you hooked up the remote wire too

[PontiacGT]

Yeah I like the idea of that mirror stuff, that way a person wouldn't see the wood inside.......good call. as far as the remote turn on, I ran that from the wire I spliced in the back of my HU straight to the amp. I don't feel like running another wire all the way to the trunk just for some little neons. Why can't I just run the wire to my amp, using the posts for the power and ground wire?? Couldn't a guy just splice those into those wires, and then perhaps use a resistor on the line between the amp and the neons?

[IanGT99]

I just spliced directly into my trunk light wires so the neon is only on when the trunk is opened. Neons don't draw enough current to overload the circuit, so you'll be ok with it.

I was actually having the same idea about the plexi front to a box with mirrors inside the box. I think it'd be really awesome to see that. Where can I get 3/4" thick plexi?

[PontiacGT]

Where can I get 3/4" thick plexi?

ditto. this could be a fun collaboration Ian. I'm just planning ahead, maybe over christmas break to get started, but I intend to finish over the summer. But I know NOTHING about carpeting. how could I make it look good on the outside, that's not too hard?

[MarcRiedel]

carpeting was the hardest for me. I'm sure there are some techniques that make it a lot easier, but i thought it was hard to butt the ends of the carpet together without overlapping and stuff. I would just overlap the two ends and then cut down the middle, but it didn't look that great.

[IanGT99]

Carpeting isn't too difficult. You should practice on some scrap pieces of wood before you actually do your box, though. Just a suggestion.

[IanGT99]

Read the "Custom trunk layout" thread. You'll see all the in depth info on this, but, in short, adding that 12" to your two 10's is a bad idea. Having any sort of subs of different sizes is not a good thing. Choose between your two 10's or your one 12". To tell you the truth, you could probably make that one 12" sound louder and better than your two 10's. It sounds weird, but it's true...

By the way, why Audiobahn would ever make a car sub at 6 ohms per coil is beyond me. I'd suggest wiring in parallel to make the total sub resistance 3 ohms. So strange!

[IanGT99]

Flame Q subs are really good. Those power numbers are probably a little high, but not by much. The reason I like Audiobahn so much is because of the high SPL numbers. You don't need as strong of an amp to make them pound.

[ghettograndam]

As far as the turn on wire.... i have post on my amp so I ran the neon wire into the amp with the remote turn on.... It worked for me. I was told that the amp didnt need a certain voltage to turn on, only that the wire had power.... so a couple neons shouldnt bother it. Aother idea is to run a switch off of your power wire and have the neons switched... that way you had to turn them on when you wanted to see them.... Just an idea.
lata

[matts]

for the brief stint i had neon's in my car i had them wired directly to the aux. battery with a toggle switch on them. then i could turn them on/off as i pleased.

finding 3/4" plexi might be a task all in itself. i've never seen any that thick, but then again i've never looked for any that thick. at home depot here they've got 1/4". but try hobby stores, home improvement, might even try car audio places, they might know where you can get some.

but another, easier idea is this...i have a bandpass box sitting in my room. the plexi in it is only about 1/4" thick. and to make up the other 1/2" they used wood. in other words they took a router and made a frame for the plexi to rest against. they just cut out a 1/4" worth of material about 2" across to have something to screw to. unless you're making a pretty big front piece that won't have any bracing 1/4" should hold up to whatever you throw at it......just so long as you get the good stuff. maybe not Lexan, but i wouldn't get the cheapest you can find either.

[sound_xtreme]

if you're gonna do all that be sure to put a nice acyrlic mirror in the back of the box to show it off even more

[ghettograndam]

Are you talin about having the subs mounted to the plexi or just a window to see the subs? I'm not exactly sure what you mean by the "front side." I know Pimp my ride did a car with visoniks where they actually mounted the subs to some thick plexi... not sure whered youd get it tho.

if you're gonna do all that be sure to put a nice acyrlic mirror in the back of the box to show it off even more

was that a stab at me? If so why do you think I put ghetto in my name
lata

[IanGT99]

1/4" plexi couldn't handle the vibrations or the weight of subs. If you're talking about mounting the subs directly in the plexi, I find it difficult to believe that would work out. Now 3/4" is a different story. I dunno...I think I'm just gonna be boring and stick with MDF and some carpeting...

[PontiacGT]

well at first i had thought of mounting the subs on the plexiglass but after some thought and a trip to best buy, i noticed that the subs look nicer from the other direction.

I wanna mount them facing BACKWARDS and then will be able to see the nice chrome from the sub that you don't usually see.

actually, the box i saw at best buy was ported and it was also not one or 2 pieces of plexiglass, but one BENT peice that curved through the corner, covering the front and most of the top. very nice, but it was a 12" box and I didnt' wanna pay for it u know..... i have 10's

so how would a person make this nice looking? i mean, it would look like ass if i just had a square box with one of the sides clear, and it would look like ass if i had a square box, with 2 of the sides clear, but what about this idea......make it slanted. sorta like in this pic here.

of course, the slant is the plexiglass peice and I would have to adjust measurements according to how deep the subs actually go, but it's a basic idea.

[IanGT99]

I think that would be sweet. If you mirrored all the sides, that would look great. You'll most likely have to find some way to brace the plexi because it might cause some internal box vibration. If the plexi isn't sturdy, it will take away from the enclosure's effectiveness. That's the only problem with big pieces of plexi. With that setup, I wouldn't use anything less than 1/2" thick...

[PontiacGT]

yup, but remember I have a 2 sub setup, and there will be a divider between the 2 subs. This is the best way to do it, from what I understand. I guess if both subs are firing into the same area it sounds bad but I'm just taking other people's word for it.

[IanGT99]

^^ That is correct. When two subs are put in the same enclosure, they are basically competing for airspace. They won't hit at the same time because one is robbing the other of it's air at any given moment. Also, the sound vibrations within the box will bounce every which way and, again, cancel each other out. It just sounds all wrong. Independent chambers is the only way to ensure clean, thumping bass.

[ghettograndam]

Okay, so Ive got a pimp my ride moments for this... In a bunch of their installs they use plexi to mount the subs on and its thick... either 3/4 of an inch. Its got to possible to get it that thick.... just maybe not cheap. My other questio was of anybody saw the last PMR with the ford fairlane/toyota landcruiser. The box in his had 2 subs and no divider.... are they smarter than they look or would that just sound like crap?