f-150 Subwoofer Install
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=40014
Printed Date: July 12, 2025 at 4:11 AM
Topic: f-150 Subwoofer Install
Posted By: pudamobile
Subject: f-150 Subwoofer Install
Date Posted: September 29, 2004 at 7:09 PM
Hello everyone. I'm new to the forum but not to car audio. I'm going to be building a custom enclosure for a 1997+ Ford F-150 Supercab. (I haven't found one yet but am looking for one newer than '97 and a supercab.) Anyway I hope to be using 3 subwoofer drivers (1 12w3d4 and 2 8w3d6) and was first off, wondering if this is possible to fit a 12w3 under the back seat of a f-150 and also what kind of amp would you recomend for me to use? I'm leaning toward the Rockford 501s and using one channel to push the 12w3 and the other to run the 8w3s in series. how would this work? what would be the best way to wire the 2 8w3d6s so they have a good ohm load to my amp? Thanks everyone!
Replies:
Posted By: forbidden
Date Posted: September 29, 2004 at 7:30 PM
This is sounding like a recipe for disaster. This will no doubt lead to crossover issues, output level issues and cancellation issues. Time to go back to square one. This vehicle is limited in space under that rear seat. What has worked the best is simple, a dual 8" sub box on the passenger side and a single 8" on the driver side. (Q-logic makes these cabinets) or a custom box on the passenger side for a single 10" or 12" and the amp on the drivers side. Sub output is all about the box, not about the number of speakers in boxes of the wrong size. Without raising the seat, you are limited highly for mounting depth. Have a closer look at the seat and you will see what I mean. One sub in the proper box is going to outperform 2 in an improper box. ------------- Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.
Posted By: heavilymedicate
Date Posted: September 29, 2004 at 8:26 PM
A 12 and 2-8's? Just sounds silly to me. Go with the single twelve and power it to its RMS power rating. A well-designed enclosure mated with a high quality 12 (i would consider the 12w3 a high quality sub) and you will have enough bass to shake the cab of your truck. A poor box combined with crappy subs will equal crappy sound. Trying to squeeze more subs into a space too small will not give you anything but allot of subs that sound like crap.
Posted By: Rushman
Date Posted: September 29, 2004 at 8:27 PM
I have a 99 F-150 super cab myself. Currently I have removed the back seat so I have tons to show right now but the first system was under the back seat and space is VERY limited. You would be best to maybe just go with the pair of 8s in the q-logic box and a strong , clean amp. I dont believe your going to get a 12 under there with out raising the seat at least 4 inches off the floor. Sometimes Less is More. Give the 8s the air space under there and let them breath. You might be suprised how loud they might get on a good amp and x-over.
Posted By: pudamobile
Date Posted: September 29, 2004 at 9:37 PM
The way I had figured is that I could put the recommended air volume behind each sub (.375 for the 8s and 1.25 for the 12) if I used at least a 2 inch lift on the seat. As for the sub output being mostly the box, well I can personally vouch for that one after experimenting with a $15 dollar Lightning Audio 10". In a sealed enclosure with the factory specs behind it it sounded like donkey crap, but after some fiddling with a new box and inverting the subwoofer, I got that $15 dollar sub to sound pretty darn clean. (That was only after a few hours of thought into porting, and it took me way too long to reverse the polarity on that bugger, but now I'd say it's the nicest sounding sub I've heard for under $70 anywhere.) As for my logic behind 2 8w3s and a 12w3...well, after loving the sound of the 8s in my buddy's pickup (1995 Ford Ranger single Cab) and loving the sound of the 12w3 in my Beretta, I figured I'd see what I could do to get the best of both worlds, after some calculation I came up with that I could most likely squeeze those subs under the back seat. The Rockford 501s will put out the 250 RMS at 4 ohm that JL recommends for the 12w3, also It's a 2 channel amp and I figured that there was some possibility that I could make all this work, maybe I'll still give it a try. Thanks for all the help guys.
Posted By: Rushman
Date Posted: September 29, 2004 at 9:42 PM
good luck with it and let us know how it comes out. Reverse polarity in a pain in the butt aint it?
Posted By: pudamobile
Date Posted: September 29, 2004 at 9:47 PM
I'm gunna experiment, you guys are probably right about not sounding great but I'd like to give it a try, if it sounds really spectacular I'll let you guys know. Yes I agree, I hate reverse polarity. One more question for those who are more enlightened with wiring subs...what would be the best way to wire those 8w3d6s? The 12w3d4 will be fairly easy to wire, but I'm not sure how to do the 2 8s with the dual 6 ohms on them. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks all!
Posted By: Rushman
Date Posted: September 29, 2004 at 9:52 PM
wiring all that to a 2 channel amp might be difficult with out blowing some fuses. I would suggest like a combo amp , I mean like a 3-4 channel amp designed to run a sub and a pair of sreakers. You could run the pair of subs thru a cross over to keep the bass. the 8s are DVCs ?
Posted By: pudamobile
Date Posted: September 29, 2004 at 10:05 PM
yup, the 8s have dual 6 ohm voice coils. I was also thinking about that and was maybe leaning toward a JL amp, but they're pretty costy and thought if I could get away with a rockford I'd do it.
Posted By: pudamobile
Date Posted: September 29, 2004 at 10:08 PM
I've figured how to run them to produce a 6 ohm load, but I'm not sure if I can do something like that with that Rockford Amp..
Posted By: Rushman
Date Posted: September 29, 2004 at 10:12 PM
yes JL amps are quite costly but worth it. A good Rockford amp will do but Id still recomend a 3 or 4 channel one to make the install easier and maybe better sounding. Maybe even an amp with all channel cross over built in.
Posted By: pudamobile
Date Posted: September 30, 2004 at 7:02 AM
one of my buddies had a 250/1 JL amp and holy crap did that thing work wonders, but it was also probably the most expensive 250 watt RMS Monoblock I've ever seen...
|