Hey all...
just wondering if anyone has tried mounting a subwoofer in a 3rd gen magna (or any other gen for that matter) as freeair?

I know that the earlier 3rd gens have a spot that you can remove in the parcel tray to mount a 10" subwoofer, but has anyone tried this yet?

The main reason is that I have to carry a lot of cr@p in the boot of the car from time to time, and the 40-50Kg of the 15" subwoofer is a bit excessive, especially since I rarely use it (too loud, a bit obnoxious).

Would also be a bit of a performance increase (less weight) and probably help improve fuel consumption...

Would be interesting to mount a 12" freeair (I have a kicker Freeair that would be about right to fit here) in the ski port - much like the design outlined here...

http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_2042/article.html

Cheers
Heath Young

if your not going to use it very often, i honestly wouldn't bother. why not get a decent set of 6x9's (or 7x10's) and run them off a decent amp. and theres always gains in upgrading the fronts to a decent 6" split aswell, with proper sound deadening of course

I was thinking ages ago about cutting out the parcel shelf, making it MDF, boxing the 6x9's into sealed boxes, having a common wall to a sub box..... rear strut brace through the sub box, twin racing buckets in the back for seats, 4x12" subs firing directly into cabin......

I sketched the idea out, and took it to an engineer and asked if he though the job could be certified with an engineers certificate. He said he would certify it to OEM strength, but not to OEM crumple, and would need to be braced more through the sub box, and done similar to a half roll cage. The mounts of the bracing to go through the sub box required 20mm MDF, and 10mm Stainless steel brackets either side, aircraft grade bolts directly through the MDF to sandwich it together.

He said unless I was building a show car, it really wasn't worth it. He did love the idea though and would have been happy if I had done it right..... It's one of those really far out jobs.

It ended up being too expensive, and then my GF told me she was pregnant.....
It went totally outta the window.

It ended up being too expensive, and then my GF told me she was pregnant.....
It went totally outta the window.

:shock: :shock:

I think its hardly worthwile getting free air subs. Just pointless. U could do what htey did on that website tho. Build a long skinny wide box. I would much like the idea of better speakers and amp rather than a sub.

I wasn't going with free air subs, I was building a box to replace the back seats.. then put in racing buckets on top.

Anyways, I was refering to the cutting of the Parcel Shelf.... Not something to be done lightly, and it definitely needs to be engineered, as it puts alot of strength into the rear of the passenger compartment.

Asylum,
I already run 6X9"s and 6" splits, off an amplifier to boot (4 X 75 Wrms) - just decided that the 15" is too heavy and too much effort (especially when trying to carry stuff)

The autospeed design, with just a wooden baffle appeals, simply because with some ingenuity, the subwoofer could be removed from the ski port with the aid of wingnuts so even it may be utilised...

I thought that there would be difficulties in the cutting of the parcel shelf. Engineering is a pain, gone through that before, not again if I can help it :(

Cheers
Heath Young

I would also stress the seriousness of cutting away at your parcel tray, cause as mentioned before this strictly IS changing the structure of your car. Infinite baffle (free air) have become fairly in todays market and you may find it expensive or hard to track one down.

i got one but it's not powered yet :cry:

Pioneer make a good free-air sub.

Jellico1 - very nicely installed, this is exactly what I am looking at doing - I have a kicker competition freeair... should remove about 50 kilos of subwoofer box :P

Cheers
Heath Young