Hey all!
Yeah, I haven't been around in a LONG time. I just got a new sound system for my Wagon: 6.5 in 3-way Sony XPlods for the front doors, 5.25 in Kenwoods in the back, a new Kenwood reciever, and a Clarion Subwoofer. I have the speakers in and I will put the radio in tomorrow morning. But I have no idea where to put the subwoofer. It's a 100-watt woofer, so it is by no means quiet, but it will not blow ur pants off either. It won't fit under the front seat. It's a fairly small unit, but I can't find any place for it but in the back! Can I simply just screw it into the floor panel near the back seats? Is there anything under the panel I could harm? And, would it sound good back there? BTW, if anyone is interested to know, the speakers I got sound really good even on the stock radio, which brings me to my next question: what can I do to reduce vibrations in the panels? Will Dynamat be good enough? Or is there something more I can do?

Hmmm. I think I've pestered people with enough questions by now!

Answering questions individually:
1. Subwoofer: The lock box in the floor of the trunk is a good "out-of-the-way" place to hide a sub where it won't get damaged or be visible to the rest of the outside world. Have no fear of putting it back there, the acoustical cavity of the wagon trunk will help with the low end (which is good since the lock box is shallow enough that you're not going to get much low end resonance from it). Hopefully one of your friends has an "Audio-Toolbox" or some other RTA (real time analyzer) that you can test your spectrum response before you mount the speaker permenantly. During my last venue instalation, we moved the subs around for 2 hours before finalizing their position.

2. Vibrations in doors and sheet metal:
Secure all your fittings, snug down the screws and don't hesitate to dab them with RTV to keep them from working loose. (avoid using heavy grade locktite unless you never want to remove them again) There are alternatives to Dynamat that are cheaper and more cost effective. Check the archives, somebody found a really good house insulation (plastic) that was working well for them. Find a lightweight plastic foam board that is somewhat pliable for the spots where you have to reduce vibrations in the door panels (between the interior panel and the door frame).

-coffee shop is closing down. Gotta run.

God bless,
Fitz Fitzgerald.
--
'87 Blue 240 Wagon, 251k miles.

Good info! But, I cannot put it in the lock box in the floor, me thinks. There is merely a very thin barrier that forms the floor of the lock box and separates whatever you store in there from the spare wheel! Unless you mean that I could just screw it into the metal underneath that barrier. Hmmm, seeing as the car is my dad's (though I'm the only one that drives it) he wouldn't be very happy doing that...

Gotta put the radio in! More info or ideas welcome!

So why not remake the cover panel with 5/8 plywood and hinge it on the front end with a solid lockdown on the other end to make the enclosure out of the spare tire well? Might sit up a little higher than stock however its a few cubic feet of space, more than what you are dealing with now with the seperate box. You could mount the amps in the rear quarter areas behind the plastic on custom cut plywood panels, these would hold everything together and not rattle plus being close to the outside heat wont be a big issue even with large amps.

Your cable runs will be easier on the passenger side of the dashboard as there are several rubber plugs you can route through, a single run of #6 stranded will easily carry 100 amps from the battery (1200 watts) but be DAMN sure you fuse it at the battery with an ATO style fuse, seen a few cars burn up recently due to poor wiring and those worthless "steet wires" melting as they are only rated for a max temp of 60C, type THHN is good for 90C and wont melt in the engine bay.

988

I'm slightly confused...

You mean take the spare out? I would not do that. My sub is a powered sub. It's all one unit. It's not very big. Very similar to this one: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-uIohrwOS218/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=51000&I=020SRV303 However, I believe mine is a 10", and I know it is 100W, not 65W. I'm thinking I could just put it in the back. If I lock it down, it won't get in the way...

I'm slightly confused...

I think I understand the misunderstanding now. I believe all of us assumed that you had a subwoofer "speaker" that you were trying to mount somewhere. -and not a speaker with enclosure and amp (all rolled into one package). Badge988 posted some excellent advise if you're trying to mount a speaker and amps seperately, rather than a "powered subwoofer" unit.

God bless,
Fitz Fitzgerald.
--
'87 Blue 240 Wagon, 251k miles.

When I had my 12" Kicker installed, they screwed the sub amp to the back of the amp box, then just placed it in the back, not screwed down... i haven't had any issues with it moving, and this way i can move it or remove it easily if i need to for space...