The Subwoofer DIY Page v1.1 - Projects
2007 Hyundai Tucson Car Audio Upgrade - Subwoofers

last updated: 12 October 2018

Subwoofer Installation

The Hyundai Tucson's spare tire well is an ideal location for the subwoofer (if you're willing to give up the spare tire, of course). I opted to use a fiberglass and 3/4 ply box to make the best use of the space available.

The bottom of the enclosure:

The top of the enclosure, under construction:

Bracing the bottom section...

A closer look at the top section, under construction:

Testing the fit of the top section. The black box in the back is my test enclosure holding an Elemental Designs 13Kv2-D4 subwoofer:

Another test fitting, this time with the driver cutouts:


08-NOV-2008:
The picture below indicates the current status of the enclosure - carpeted and braced, and holding an Elemental Designs 13Kv-2-D4. The enclosure is about 3.2 cu.ft. and I tuned it to 22 Hz with a 3" flared vent. The combination of the woofer's measured specifications, the alignment and the Tucson's transfer function should result in a sub that has a flat response from 60Hz down to below 20 Hz.  Above 60 Hz, the response will slope gently downwards to 100 Hz (-9dB).  This is a temporary arrangement - the 13Kv.2-D4 and vent will be replaced with two 12" drivers (I still have to decide on the replacements).

08-FEB-2009: I've cleaned up the subwoofer installation a bit, though I'm still using the same Elemental Designs subwoofer. I'm hearing some noises from within the enclosure, which may be because it isn't bolted down to the spare tire well yet. I still haven't decided on what replacement subwoofers to use, though I'm leaning towards the Infinity 122.7W or perhaps the Infinity Perfect series.

03-MAY-2009: I finally purchased the Infinity 122.7Ws.  The first picture shows them installed in the original enclosure. The second picture below shows the enclosure being rebuilt with a few extra layers of fiberglass on the baffle, and the second picture shows the Infinity 122.7Ws installed in the re-carpeted enclosure.  I had to remove the previous carpeting in order to apply the fiberglass to the baffle.  I opted for black carpeting this time, for greater visual effect. I also used some flash-band at the bottom of the enclosure to reduce rattles. The results have improved the response of the subwoofer, but it's still not as great as some of my better builds.  It will do for now however.

06-FEB-2010: This is how the subwoofer system currently looks.  I'm using one Infinity 122.7W and the box is vented to just above 20 Hz.  This gives an almost sealed-like performance with a bit of better power handling at the low end of the pass-band. Efficiency is a bit low however, so I may end up changing it out for something else.

 

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