02 Volvo s60 custom subwoofer build

bigsi15 · Post by **bigsi15** » 11 Apr 2015, 04:04

Hi all
I just thought I would share my recent experience of building and fitting a slightly more space friendly subwoofer enclosure into the boot of the s60 in case anyone was interested.

Firstly though I must say I'm no master carpenter not physicist but the result so far im actually surprisingly pleased with!

So basically I like my boot and so wanted to be able to still get things in so decided to try my hand at my own style build. I used (slightly too thin really for best sound) 12.5mm I think it was mdf. This was partly due to cost and also weight/sub fitting space as the shape of the box is very tight on the magnet and spider of the space sub.

Setup was twin ported box design with one internal brace between the front and the back just at the area between where the sub is mounted and the remaining flat section leading to the vents, to hold new style space sub and space bass 1 v2 amp (which fits uner the passenger seat just!).

Firstly I removed the corner part of trim to allow more depth to go into by the light clusters and designed the shape of the box to go in there then allong the side of the boot to just before the back seats. This also it turns out gives a rough cubic ft volume of about 1.75-2 from my rough maths which is about right for that sub, perhaps a little small if your feeling fussy.

Wood was cut at my local diy shope which made a HUGE difference and I would recommend, cost a few quid but edges were square and straight so went together easy. I then cut pilot holes for the screws and slowly glued and screwed it all together. Before the front was secured I added some foam to the inside and spray glued it in, cut holes for the sub and vents and power (pain in the bum if you don't have a large hole cutter or jigsaw!) and sealed the joints with silicone to avoid air loss.

Once together carpet from my local car audio store (annoyingly not quite colour matched but oh well! Something to improve on), was cut to fit and layed over each section including the bits previously covered in foam (for fuse protection etc) and spray glued into place. I added a few tacks to help secure the foam bits and try to neaten the finish. I used youtube for how to carpet the box properly and some trial and error! Just try to make sure joints are on the back not front to keep it neat.

I'm afraid I made this tutorial after making the box so didn't really take pics with this in mind but hopefully they will give someone the basic idea and help someone out!

Pitfalls...
I included a load of soft foam from hobbycraft onto the outside of the box under the carpet at the back and end to avoid any damage to the light cluster and fuses in there. Time will tell if that actually works but so far so good! Please note I don't accept any responsibility for damage occurred due to this design sorry!
Need to flatten/bend the luggage securing hoops for box to sit in properly
Hard to secure box in place to stop movement. Guess could use velcrow but I will probably put 2 small screws into the boot floor against the box to stop movement and allow easier removal.

Be very aware of the size of your sub! Because of the shape of the box the sub magnet sits close to the corner so some may not fit well. The space is huge though and fitted ok but be aware.

bigsi15 · Post by **bigsi15** » 11 Apr 2015, 04:09

Pictures including vibe space 12

bigsi15 · Post by **bigsi15** » 11 Apr 2015, 04:13

To make tidy in the car I simply cut a larger section of the remaining carpet and used velcrow strips to secure in place on various parts of the boot structure. This seemed to work well and was very cheap. I wanted to have something that made removal easy as I use my boot for bikes etc but blend it all in fairly well. Tried fiberglass but too hard and messy for me! Speaker grill was from ebay and arrived from America for free within 5 days well impressed! Not yet tested cone excursion on it but I think it will be large enough.

By no means the best method or install so I'm sure someone can build upon and improve it a lot but I'm pleased and it sounds very good so hopefully will give someone some ideas for their own project

Thanks

bigsi15 · Post by **bigsi15** » 11 Apr 2015, 04:24

Final finish could be improved but is acceptable and cheap. If the sub wasn't designed to be removed could be finished better I'm sure too