Stereo Integrity mk IV, killer compact sub for flipped or compact spare tire install, GB interested?

[RAAMaudio]

Taylormade brought this great subwoofer to my attention and I have talked to the manf about a GB here.

Stealthy, takes up zero cargo space, amazing sound quality and high output sub with a moderate weight of 12.2 lbs.

Just 3.2" mounting depth and only 5 ft cubic ft needed, this is the best compact sub I have found.

If you make the enclosure from baltic birch plywood it would be very light, made from BB and fiberglass super light and even more compact.

Group Buy?

I can put together a 10 unit Group Buy if you are interested with no profit for me, just to get the best price I can for you so let me know right away.

I am getting one whether or not we have a GB, I have owned dozens of subs, many of the very best, this is the real deal in a compact sub with a very small box requirement.

More info here, note, error saying it is 18lbs, scroll down to see it confirmed to weigh 12.2lbs.

http://stereointegrity.com/product/bm-mk-iv-12-subwoofer/

Let me know, we can get the ball rolling on this asap if enough true interest.

Thanks
Rick

 

[MKVIIST]

Rick, help us create the perfect spare tire enclosure for this sub.

 

[airjor13]

Oh this is nice interested, GP price range?

 

[RAAMaudio]

Gathering more info on this, looks like the sub discounts will not be that much due to far lower than traditional markups which are 100% from manf to retail, or more, these are costly to build and thus the list price is a very good deal already, I am still waiting to get the price but wanted to at least post this for now.

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Looking more into the enclosure ideas.

1) full or mostly fiberglass drop in setup with stock spare tire flipped.

For me to take the time and develop a design that fits the spare tire flipped I would have to have some really serious interest in it and a local car come to my place to work on as I have no spare tire and my tire well is modded a bit to I cannot use my car to do this for others, just for my own use. If I spent the time to make a prototype, have a mold made, etc I would need at least 50 units ordered to make it viable, the cost per unit, sub not included, around $250-300 with very little profit for me, I would not be doing it for the money.
This would take at least 2 months if not longer to get completed and start shipping due to manf schedules.

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2) Better idea, best for me and likely the only approach I can now take on this after working out some changes with my wife on our soon to be move.

Everyone that wants to do this would get a compact spare and have plenty of room to just make a baltic birch enclosure and have more storage space left over as well as little weight gain over the stock spare tire. The cost would be minimal, all gain with little pain.....

I would do the design if somebody in Utah wants to come to my place for a day and help on it and just bring out the wood as I used up all I had on my last build, they get a free enclosure out of the deal and the best price I can get on the sub. I can also sell them an amp or amps as needed at a nice package price as I am still a dealer for some great ones.

Then I would draw up the plans and make them available and if anybody wanted to make them or a knock down kit that would be great.
I would do this without profit just to help others out.

This is now best for me as my much longer than planned visit to AZ has impacted what I need to do when I return to UT to get my car finished and my house ready to sell and go RVing(which we are reconsidering our plans for that, we might buy a new place, build an RV pad and shop and then rent the house out and hit the road)

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So, this is what I can do.

Find somebody in Utah that wants to do this, it will be a very moderate cost way to add a killer sub, add little weight, keep your storage space, easy to take out for the track if wanted, and a pretty easy install and I will help make it happen.

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I really want to do all I can for all of you, myself as well of course, I just had to sit down and work out exactly what my changing conditions left as viable options.

Most sincerely,
Rick

 

[TaylorFade]

Make no mistake... that sub is worth every penny. It is fully legit. The performance Nick is able to stuff into such a shallow sub is mind blowing.

14mm of Xmax is very good for a traditional sub. For a shallow mount... it's bananas. Almost 50% more than the highly touted JL 13TW5, requires less airspace AND is ~ $150 cheaper.

I don't know if we can squeeze out half a cube from an inverted spare, but I'll check it out tomorrow. At the very least we can design a "flat" box that will fit nicely under the cargo cover in the upper position- as it has ~ 6" of clearance between the floor and bottom of the cover.

Quick and dirty math... a birch box would only weigh in at around 5lbs or so. Plus the sub... that's ~ 18bs all told.

I'm going to have to keep my spare for my SQ class anyway so I'll work something up for those keeping the factory spare.

 

[RAAMaudio]

Most excellent, please do so and soon

If you want to make the sub, enclosures, etc available to others that would be dang fine by me as I have a ton of stuff to do and running short on time for it all as well as cannot fit one to my car properly so would need somebodies car to do this.

To fit into the stock spare flipped over there may be enough room but as you would know it would likely have to be fiberglass at least on sides but perhaps BB on the top and bottom would make it a relatively easy build.

From just BB it would be pretty tough to make it fit just inside the wheel so sitting up higher would be the way to go but still not taking up much space and then put the amp in front of it, have the rest of the space for other things....still a great way to go.

Thanks
Rick

 

[RAAMaudio]

Perhaps the rules will allow you to run the FSVT spare?

Reracer.
"I weighed the stock spare tire and wheel at 36.4lbs. I have a SVT Focus spare, and it is a 16X4 aluminum rim, and a 125/85/16 tire. The tire is a little tall, but I think a 135/70/16 will be perfect, and the tire weighs in at 8lbs. Total weight should be under 20lbs. This could be a solution for people like me who don't want to rely on a can of fix-a-flat."



http://www.fiestastforum.com/forum/threads/3233-Lightweight-Spare-Tire

 

[Hijinx]

Interesting.

 

[GoMax]

I'm really interested in this Sub, and any resulting recommendations for a sealed enclosure.

 

[RAAMaudio]

Just make it .5 cubic ft, not a square, 1/2" or so of space behind the sub. A very small and from BB plywood would be very light, about as simple as it can get, all good things

 

[GoMax]

I was playing around with dimensions yesterday.
The internal depth of that sub is 62.23mm when mounted on 3/4 material.
Give the recommended 10.2mm (0.4") space under the sub, you get an internal depth of 72.4mm.
Build a box 21x17x4.5 (21.19 x 17.07 x 4.32 in inches to be exact) - Should give you the 0.5 cubic foot volume, and the right spacing from the back of the sub. (I think).

Seems like a fairly manageable size, one that could easily fit under the false floor, and easily removed.
Would that qualify as "not a square"?

 

[RAAMaudio]

Absolutely not a sq, not even close

For those wanting to keep a stock spare tire they could flip it and probably build a deeper enclosure that is a sq but offset the sub to one side just a bit, not much needed and fit under the false floor.

Or get a compact spare and save close to the weight of the sub and enclosure, a low cost mod well worth doing, might have to flip it, might not.

I have heard that sometime in the future, which can mean a very long time or never in the car audio world, there will be a higher output version that needs a bit more depth and cutout so making the enclosure a bit deeper and big enough to cut the hole bigger later might be a good idea. BUT, this sub is still going to do damn well up firing the way it will couple with the interior and get loud and integrate with the sound stage properly(might take some tweaking of crossover slope and or TA, freq, etc)

Hatches are great for getting lots of good bass from a single sub or two done right, my Scion TC with a single sealed 15 SQL sub on 1kw did 138.4db on music without distortion and it was not built with intentions of going that high.

 

[GoMax]

What Amp would you recommend to drive that Sub?
It would be nice to know some decent brands to start looking at.....

Thanks!

 

[RAAMaudio]

There are many great amps made, lowest weight and size is D class.

I am going to run a 5 channel Arc Audio XD1 with 500(600+ is what it really puts out) for the sub.

150x4 for the mids and tweeters, 150 being way more than the tweeters need but a properly setup gain stage will take care of that.

I am switching to all D class amps, I have only ran AB and H class for very many years, never liked any D class until lately they have improved a great deal. I could run the Arc KS Mini H class, amazing sound and power and small but I want to try the D class in my three systems.

If just getting a sub amp I would get at least 400 watts, the sub is rated at 450 I believe.

If I did not have strict weight allowances I would put the 1100 watt mono amp on it in a heartbeat, more power, used right, always better and I have never blown a sub. My truck and trailer both have Arc Black Line 12's with the 1100.1 XDI amps

 

[GoMax]

Just wondering, why the XDi 1100.1 (600 @ 2 ohms) vs XDi650 (350 @ 2 ohms)?
for this sub, given the 0.5 cubic foot volume, they recommend 200w to 350w.

I'm wondering what the benefit of the 600w would be in actual use?
I would think the "used right" part is why, but I don't have the experience to know what that means!

Thanks.

 

[RAAMaudio]

Many factors but one primary one is more power can mean a more dynamic response but I would only do that on a higher end sound quality install and very high resolution source material. On a more basic system playing lower resolution source material that most listen to the added power might not be very noticeable.

 

[GoMax]

Cool, thanks!

 

[GoMax]

Put this together based on the recomendations on Stereo Integrity's Site, trying to minimize the total height of the enclosure to allow the Sub to fit under the false floor without removing the spare. Nick says 1" headroom from the sub to the false floor will be tight, but will work with the sub at full extension.
This design only leaves 0.8".

Perhaps use 1/2" material on the bottom, and pick up a little extra headroom?
Any opinions between Example #1 & #2?

 

[RAAMaudio]

I read this the other day and forgot to comment, oops!
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If you build it from Baltic Birch which I highly recommend you can use the 1/2"(some is in mm, 10 or 12, I have to measure what I have as forgotten at the moment)

You could add some dowels at the corners between the top and bottom sections to stiffen it up.

I have layered them material, thicker on top, thinner on the bottom, braces, etc.....

Also you could build the top and sides out of BB and glass the bottom to fit the tire, it will make it very stiff and lower in weight.

I built a 2.2 cube BB and glass enclosure in a hammered to bell shape tire well, 2.2 cubes, only weighted 20lbs empty, using the above methods I bet it would be under 5 lbs.

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If you use 3/4" you can cut a relief in the bottom near the motor to allow the clearance and air flow, the rest would be full depth and as stiff as ever needed.