Subwoofer

I plan to add an aftermarket stereo to my CX-5 but don't want to lose any cargo space in the back to subwoofers. While I wait for JL to make a stealthbox or http://www.audiointegrations.net/home.html to make a box for it I have been thinking about taking the spare out and putting one of these http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_16637_JL-Audio-CP108LG-W3v3.html in the well. I have roadside assistance through my insurance and as soon as I find a better box can put the spare back in. Any thoughts?

Build your own stealtbox? It's pretty easy, just a bit time consuming. I just finished mine up last weekend: http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123816594-Fiberglass-sub-enclosure

I saw that thread, looks good but I have zero fiberglass experience. I'm just debating all my options, my idea is just a temporary sub until more aftermarket stuff comes out. I'm going to go by a shop one of these days and get a quote on a custom box like you did and maybe one inside the spare. Have even looked at trying to fit something under a seat, not looking for anything crazy just something to fill out the low end like an 8" or 10"

I just emailed the guys at www.audiointegrations.net about a subwoofer box for the CX-5. If more forum members email them asking about availability they might make something for us sooner. When you get a minute shoot them an email at audiointegrations@comcast.net and ask them to make a sub box for us.

Not trying to talk you out of putting in a subwoofer, but thought I'd share my experience from my Scion Xb. I managed to fit a pair of 8" speakers in the rear quarter panels and the sound was quite good. I still thought I might want a subwoofer, so I took my Klipsch powered subwoofer from my home and hooked it up in the back of the car to get an idea of what kind of improvement I'd get. The Klipsch was a 200 watt powered subwoofer with level controls, crossover frequency controls and phase shift.

What I found was that for most music and most music sources, the subwoofer didn't add any noticeable difference to sound quality. The only time I heard a difference (and it was quite a difference) was with electronica or rap/hip-hop that had a lot of electronic bass and drums and then only if it was from a CD or other digital source. For rock and roll, heavy metal, classical, and more, the subwoofer didn't make a difference.

I'm providing this info because you can get an 8" speaker in the front doors fairly easily. If you add good vibration damping to the door, you'll have plenty of bass... except if you listen to electronica/hip hop/rap.

Not trying to talk you out of putting in a subwoofer, but thought I'd share my experience from my Scion Xb. I managed to fit a pair of 8" speakers in the rear quarter panels and the sound was quite good. I still thought I might want a subwoofer, so I took my Klipsch powered subwoofer from my home and hooked it up in the back of the car to get an idea of what kind of improvement I'd get. The Klipsch was a 200 watt powered subwoofer with level controls, crossover frequency controls and phase shift.

What I found was that for most music and most music sources, the subwoofer didn't add any noticeable difference to sound quality. The only time I heard a difference (and it was quite a difference) was with electronica or rap/hip-hop that had a lot of electronic bass and drums and then only if it was from a CD or other digital source. For rock and roll, heavy metal, classical, and more, the subwoofer didn't make a difference.

I'm providing this info because you can get an 8" speaker in the front doors of the CX-5 fairly easily. If you add good vibration damping to the door, you'll have plenty of bass... except if you listen to electronica/hip hop/rap.

I'm going to put a nice set of amped focal components in the doors so won't have room for 8" speakers there. I would rather have a sealed 10 in the back somewhere.

I heard back from audio integrations last night, they want to see how much interest there is in a box for our vehicle and if they do make a box they need a volunteer for the prototype in their area. Here is a copy of their email:

Hello Milkyxj



Thanks for considering us again! Unfortunately we do not currently have any enclosure for the CX-5 and to be honest we haven’t had much interest for previous models/years as well. We’d like to build enclosure models for as many vehicles as we can but being a small company we need to focus on the most popular makes/models and what we find the most interest in starting off.



If you were close to us we could look at least at making a custom “one off” enclosure for you or possibly using your vehicle to build the proto type from but I’m assuming that isn’t the case. Unfortunately to do any kind of work like that we would need the vehicle in our shop for a period of time depending.



Are you a member of any CX-5 forums where others might be interested in such an enclosure as well? If so we may be able to judge some interest and find a local vehicle/owner in which to use. Do you have any pics of the area you are talking about and/or the cargo space in general?



Let me know what your thoughts are and we’ll go from there.



Thanks - Todd




Audio Integrations

3142 Evergreen Way

Washougal WA 98671

360.852.8563

www.audiointegrations.net

I have two alpine type r 12s and can say from personal experience that subs DO increase the music experience vs what was said earlier. I have yet to drive somebody and not get complements on the clean bass.
If you are looking more towards the size of a 10, I would highly recommend going with an alpine type r due to the clean bass they put out.
Just my 2cents

I'm not even looking at a sub yet, still waiting for a box solution. Type R's are nice, if the box is deep enough I would probably put a JL 10W6 in it

mclark999 said:

Not trying to talk you out of putting in a subwoofer, but thought I'd share my experience from my Scion Xb. I managed to fit a pair of 8" speakers in the rear quarter panels and the sound was quite good. I still thought I might want a subwoofer, so I took my Klipsch powered subwoofer from my home and hooked it up in the back of the car to get an idea of what kind of improvement I'd get. The Klipsch was a 200 watt powered subwoofer with level controls, crossover frequency controls and phase shift.

What I found was that for most music and most music sources, the subwoofer didn't add any noticeable difference to sound quality. The only time I heard a difference (and it was quite a difference) was with electronica or rap/hip-hop that had a lot of electronic bass and drums and then only if it was from a CD or other digital source. For rock and roll, heavy metal, classical, and more, the subwoofer didn't make a difference.

I'm providing this info because you can get an 8" speaker in the front doors fairly easily. If you add good vibration damping to the door, you'll have plenty of bass... except if you listen to electronica/hip hop/rap.

Click to expand...

The acoustics of the home subwoofer can be quite different vs a car audio subwoofer. The home subwoofer is made for a large area, specifically a living room, whereas a car subwoofer is made for a compact environment. So in reality, I believe your comparing oranges to tangerines (it's a citrus, but quite different). Try hooking up a real car audio subwoofer in your car, I'm sure it'll sound waaay different.