Built and Finished my own stealthbox, with pics!

[410Fortune]

I have a single 2ohm MTX 12" sub in a 16" x 14" x 14" sealed 5/8" MDF enclosure.
I carpeted it, and left myself about 15' of speaker wire going to it.
I used a quick release (banana clip) connector ont he box, and put some home depot kitchen cabinet handles on the sides.
It is strapped down in my cargo area 99% of the time, but if I need my cargo space I can either remove it and set it in the garage, or even set it in the passenger seat.

Your install is awesome, there are all kinda of space saving alternatives and creative ways to use up waster space behind panels, kudos to you.

I am looking to do something similar in my room mates sport trac, without buying one of those under seat enclosures.

 

[dr_starcraft]

There is a very comprehensive write up by "imnotted" that is pretty much the same idea. CLICK

 

[JChrisMarion]

Here is a scanned image of my dimensions. I dont claim to be a engineer with blueprints!



If you look at the frontal view of the box (on left) you see in the upper right hand corner you have 2 options. 1)Make it into an angle to fit under the structural beam going down the side on the bottom of the glass at the corner. 2) Make it sqaured and trim out the metal beam. That corner doesnt seem to really have a point of curving downward like it does. So, thats your call there. Also, on the side view of the box (drawing on right) you see the dotted lines. That is to show you the edges and how each piece is mounted to each other. The front MUST be sunk into the box flush inorder for it to be exact.

The other is if you look at the pic of my box with no carpet, the front as another piece cutout to the identical shape of the trim panel cover. You can use whatever thickness you want if you want to make it flush with the panel, or stick out a bit. Or dont do it at all and have it behind the panel. Your choice. I was going to take pictures of each individual piece and what it looked like being put together. But I didnt think anyone would want to copy me. Who would have thought?

***EDIT***
In the drawing picture it shows the cubic foot measurements, for BOX #1 it should be .197!!! Sorry, I just noticed the decimal point was in the wrong spot!!

 

[JChrisMarion]

The MA Audio 8" (MA800XL) is in! It is unbelievable for an 8 and I could not be more happy with this purchase. I think this could be the happiest I have been buying a sub for my vehicle. This is powered by 400wRMS @ 2ohms in my box at .4CuFt . Recommended by MA Audio for optimal performance for this speaker is .83 cuft . It can be in an sealed enclosure as small as .25, but .83 they said has the best performace.

Bass Mechanic sounds awesome with it too!! I have more rattles UNDER the explorer than anywhere. Inside I cannot hear one rattle, outside I can hear the tag, something near the spare and body. No trim rattles. HAH!

 

[JChrisMarion]

I just wanted to mention to some others who may have run their remote wire ALL the way from the head unit, you dont have too. Atleast on my 97 EB. On the gray plug connector that has 9 wires is a green w/black stripped wire, it is a switched 12v wire for accessory. I found that it is the switched wire located right at the amp that switch's the antennae to go up or down.

So far I have not seen a problem with using this since it comes directly from the radio to the amp and then the amp sends the signal to the antennae. For those of you who are planning on installing an amp, using a Line Out Convertor and need a remote wire, I thought this might help you :

1997 Explorer 4-door Eddie Bauer w/JBL system, CD Changer and DSP Button

--Black Connector w/14 pins and 12 wires--
Left Rear - Gray w/LtBlue
Left Rear + Tan w/Yellow
Right Rear - Orange w/red
Right Rear + Brown w/pink

--Gray Connector--
Remote Green w/black