A client from Phoenix brought his 2006 Dodge Viper GTS to Handcrafted Car Audio for some subwoofer enclosure ideas. The client had already installed an amplifier in the vehicle, but knew that adding a sub was the next step in producing great sound. We looked over the car with the client and discussed what space he had available and how much he was willing to donate to the subwoofer enclosure. After a few suggestions, we agreed on a solution and scheduled an appointment to start construction.
Custom Fiberglass Enclosure
The trunk of the Viper GTS has a round area for the teensy-tiny spare tire. The space for the tire encroaches on the wall at the back of the trunk. We came up with a plan to fill in some of that space with a single 10-inch Alpine subwoofer. And the spare tire? It got booted!
We started construction by taping off the interior and exterior of the car where we were going to work. An extra layer of painters tape against the carpet allows us to fiberglass the curved vertical section easily. We built up several layers of glass and resin to make the enclosure rock solid.
We made the face and top of the enclosure from 3/4-inch MDF panels. We trimmed the panels to fit the contours of the trunk floor and the curved edge of our enclosure. We rounded over the edges where they would meet the carpet and where the two panels met each other. A cutout on the face of the enclosure and a secondary mounting ring allow the Alpine SWR-T10 shallow-mount subwoofer to sit flush with the front panel. Before wrapping the enclosure in black vinyl, we added a raised Viper GTS logo to the top. We used a pair of ¼-20 bolts to secure the enclosure to the vehicle floor.
Front Stage Upgrade
The client chose an Alpine PDX-V9 amplifier for the system. We wired the subwoofer to the dedicated 500 watt mono channel. The client has Alpine SPR-60C components in the front of the vehicle, so we rewired the amp to power them actively. Channels 1 and 2 power the tweeters, and channels 3 and 4 power the midrange speakers. This wiring method gives us full control over crossovers and level matching. With the amp wired this way, it would take very little work to install a DSP processor to make the system truly jaw-dropping.
If you are interested in having some custom work done to your vehicle, or just need a new radio or speakers, drop into Handcrafted Car Audio in Chandler, Arizona. You can also contact us here for more information about any of our products or services.
This is really awesome!
Thank you very much Robert!