Hey everyone! Last summer I purchased a 2012 F-150 5.0 XLT Supercrew. I wanted to add my subs into the truck and after looking online and taking a bunch of measurements I knew it was not going to be easy. I had originally planned to make an entire box, subs facing down as they are now but not sitting directly on the floor of the truck.

The change came after watching a lot of videos on subs and boxes when I remembered I can actually have the subs fire into the box facedown rather than with the cone/magnet in the box. So you can see in the second image I have the subs mounted facing down into the holes of the MDF, it’s 3/4” so that is the amount of space between the floor and sub. I do not have the best amp in the world it was actually on the cheaper side and my line level converter is not great either. With that said, this sounds pretty amazing for what I have, I want to get the Audio Control LCQ-1 at some point in the future to clean up the audio and get a better amp.

It was cold when I started putting the fiberglass resin so I decided to wait to complete the finishing of the box until the spring when it’s warmer out.

Also these subs are about 20 years old, if they blow they blow lol.

Edit: the second picture is what is installed, the first pictures shows it flush with the front of the seat when folded down.



Nearly perfect fit

It’s not pretty, it’s not perfect, but it works! Also WIP

 

I’m not following here… are the subs not in an enclosed box? Is the second pic what’s in the truck?

 

That is correct. It is open as is. Sorry if I wasn’t clear enough in my explanation, I’ll edit that!

 

Usually the enclosure is to help get proper full sound, esp with low frequencies. I'd worry about that before spending $$$ on DSP to try to compensate.

 

You can purchase specific "free-air" or "infinite baffle" subs that are designed to work without an enclosure. For example, on the rear deck of a sedan where they can utilize the whole volume of the trunk as their "enclosure."

Mounting a couple of subs to a flat piece of wood sitting on the floor doesn't...work. You've just installed a really inefficient Bass Shaker, but nothing about this setup can possibly generate anything resembling a reasonable frequency response.

 

You can, but you have to totally separate the front and rear standing waves. If its open and possible to hear rear waves mixed with front, wont sound right.

 

If your happy with how it sounds currently I wouldn’t mess with buying a better amp especially as I assume by “better amp” you mean more powerful. Free air for any subwoofer requires very little power and if you research it any subwoofer can go free air there’s no magic. Once it’s not enough for you (the bass output) then I’d look at an actual enclosure with a shallow mount subwoofer (if you want an under seat box) and a appropriate amplifier. Word of advice from personal experience I’d look at amplifier efficiency as in how well it converts dc to ac and the subwoofers sensitivity as it’ll respond easier (not necessarily louder) to the power being applied to it. I went big subs, big amp, big capacitor bank, big wires ….big everything it needs gobs of power to work properly. In the future I’ll be doing like I said and building a system with efficiency as the foundation.

 

lots of misinformation.... ^^^^^^^^^^^

 

^^^^^^^^^^ Elaborate. So someone wouldn’t want an efficient amplifier, any subwoofer cannot work free air?, subwoofer sensitivity doesn’t affect how it receives power? He should buy a more powerful, more expensive amplifier to power a 20 year old subwoofer free air? Please elaborate.

 

Not all subs can work freeair, needs a much stiffer suspension.
Will they work, yes, they will play music, but not intended for a freeair application.