Adding a real subwoofer w/amp to your Mach-E

[RalfMenger]

What a beautiful presentation, how much time and work has been put in here is beyond me. How beautifully it all looks, plus I wonder how the volume and bass depth effect? All in all, some great projects here, from which you can easily draw inspiration, many described from scratch.

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[Zman1750]

Hey folks. I am one who wired my 12” JL to the 12v outlet supply and swapped to a 25a fuse to match the 12v. For the longest time I hadn’t had any issues, but lately the subwoofer is cutting in and out intermittently during songs- particularly ones with a lot of bass and when the volume is a bit higher (13-16 is high in my book). I have the level under 50% on the sub itself and 2 notches below center on the bass EQ in the car, so I’m definitely not pushing the sub very hard.

Most of the time I can unplug the sub and I won’t run into the problem for a few more days, but then it crops back up again. It’ll get worse as a drive goes until it cuts out for almost an entire song.
Obviously my first thought is the 12v outlet wiring, but I haven’t read of any others having problems and I went many months without a single issue as well.

Anyone have thoughts on this or experienced the same? Curious if I just need to RMA my sub. Thanks!

 

[Antarutin]

Thanks for the information and knowhow! Added a woofer to my MME in under a day thanks to your info.

 

[Mach1E]

Thanks for the information and knowhow! Added a woofer to my MME in under a day thanks to your info.

Looks good.
How’s it sound?
I had to google to find what you got. But seems like a $150 box and $72 amp so a nice budget setup for not a lot of coin.

https://alphasonik.com/products/alp...ded-subwoofer-air-tight-sealed-bass-enclosure

https://www.amazon.com/Watts-Mosfet-Monoblock-Amplifier-R1100M/dp/B004S4XNEO

 

[Antarutin]

Looks good.
How’s it sound?
I had to google to find what you got. But seems like a $150 box and $72 amp so a nice budget setup for not a lot of coin.

https://alphasonik.com/products/alp...ded-subwoofer-air-tight-sealed-bass-enclosure

https://www.amazon.com/Watts-Mosfet-Monoblock-Amplifier-R1100M/dp/B004S4XNEO

Budget build for sure, but it sounds good to my ears and music preference (metal mostly). I did add Killmat too...

 

[Antarutin]

Looks good.
How’s it sound?
I had to google to find what you got. But seems like a $150 box and $72 amp so a nice budget setup for not a lot of coin.

https://alphasonik.com/products/alp...ded-subwoofer-air-tight-sealed-bass-enclosure

https://www.amazon.com/Watts-Mosfet-Monoblock-Amplifier-R1100M/dp/B004S4XNEO

I used a 12" version of Alphasonic that Amazon does not sell for some reason. EBAY has plenty though for around $150.

 

[Izzle]

Just want to chime in and say how much I appreciated this post. Just got done installing a ACS112LG-TW1 in my 22 GTPE and the directions you posted helped a ton from finding a way through the firewall, removing the rear trim panels, and knowing what wires to tap into. Overall, took me about 4 hours from start to finish.

 

[markboris]

Just want to chime in and say how much I appreciated this post. Just got done installing a ACS112LG-TW1 in my 22 GTPE and the directions you posted helped a ton from finding a way through the firewall, removing the rear trim panels, and knowing what wires to tap into. Overall, took me about 4 hours from start to finish.

Thank you John for letting us know this post was helpful. I have no doubt you will enjoy our audio system much more with this JL 12" sub.

 

[MrLoganRoss]

Hi,
I am interested in proceeding with mid-bass and bass enhancement in my 23 GTPE - but with a twist: I prefer full-range transducers to subwoofers. My home listening system, home theater, and racing-sim all use “full-range transducers” instead of sub-woofers. All of my subs got sold, and it is the best full sound I have ever experienced. This is the transducer I use at home, and want to use in my Mache (one mounted under each front seat): https://clarksynthesis.com/tst329-gold-transducer/

Benefits:
- I don’t have to shake the car with insane amounts of bass - the vibrations don’t have to travel through the car before they get to me
- because they are full-range (up to 17k hz), I can perfectly tune them to match the rest of the B&O system with a dsp/amp
- mounting them to the bottom of the seat ensures I get crisp, tight bass sound, that based on my experience should mean they are both immersive and invisible to my listening experience.
-it keeps my power requirements down as they are very efficient. (The clark transducers are best powered at 125 – 150 watts at 4 ohms)
- they require virtually no space giving me the ability to place them anywhere. All I need is the ability to attach a single screw to the underside of the seat.
-I can run them in series or as separate channel


Questions:
-has anyone else gone this route?
-I assume I can use the PAC audio pro plus an amp, and power both the transducers and the B&O door speakers?
-are there recommended dsp/amp recommendations for 2 transducers and the door woofers and tweeters?

Finally, I am looking for efficiency so I can hopefully leverage the 12v already in the back?

 

[mkhuffman]

Hi,
I am interested in proceeding with mid-bass and bass enhancement in my 23 GTPE - but with a twist: I prefer full-range transducers to subwoofers. My home listening system, home theater, and racing-sim all use “full-range transducers” instead of sub-woofers. All of my subs got sold, and it is the best full sound I have ever experienced. This is the transducer I use at home, and want to use in my Mache (one mounted under each front seat): https://clarksynthesis.com/tst329-gold-transducer/

Benefits:
- I don’t have to shake the car with insane amounts of bass - the vibrations don’t have to travel through the car before they get to me
- because they are full-range (up to 17k hz), I can perfectly tune them to match the rest of the B&O system with a dsp/amp
- mounting them to the bottom of the seat ensures I get crisp, tight bass sound, that based on my experience should mean they are both immersive and invisible to my listening experience.
-it keeps my power requirements down as they are very efficient. (The clark transducers are best powered at 125 – 150 watts at 4 ohms)
- they require virtually no space giving me the ability to place them anywhere. All I need is the ability to attach a single screw to the underside of the seat.
-I can run them in series or as separate channel


Questions:
-has anyone else gone this route?
-I assume I can use the PAC audio pro plus an amp, and power both the transducers and the B&O door speakers?
-are there recommended dsp/amp recommendations for 2 transducers and the door woofers and tweeters?

Finally, I am looking for efficiency so I can hopefully leverage the 12v already in the back?

The Infinity powered sub I put under the driver seat is a little over 11"x8", so you should not have any problem fitting the transducer under there. I am interested to see how you mount it. As you know, the seat moves, and that was a challenge for me. The seat also raises and lowers, so the space under there can get very cramped. I put mine on a track so it moves with the seat.

Anyway, I am sure you will figure it out. Post project pictures!

 

[markboris]

Hi,
I am interested in proceeding with mid-bass and bass enhancement in my 23 GTPE - but with a twist: I prefer full-range transducers to subwoofers. My home listening system, home theater, and racing-sim all use “full-range transducers” instead of sub-woofers. All of my subs got sold, and it is the best full sound I have ever experienced. This is the transducer I use at home, and want to use in my Mache (one mounted under each front seat): https://clarksynthesis.com/tst329-gold-transducer/

Benefits:
- I don’t have to shake the car with insane amounts of bass - the vibrations don’t have to travel through the car before they get to me
- because they are full-range (up to 17k hz), I can perfectly tune them to match the rest of the B&O system with a dsp/amp
- mounting them to the bottom of the seat ensures I get crisp, tight bass sound, that based on my experience should mean they are both immersive and invisible to my listening experience.
-it keeps my power requirements down as they are very efficient. (The clark transducers are best powered at 125 – 150 watts at 4 ohms)
- they require virtually no space giving me the ability to place them anywhere. All I need is the ability to attach a single screw to the underside of the seat.
-I can run them in series or as separate channel


Questions:
-has anyone else gone this route?
-I assume I can use the PAC audio pro plus an amp, and power both the transducers and the B&O door speakers?
-are there recommended dsp/amp recommendations for 2 transducers and the door woofers and tweeters?

Finally, I am looking for efficiency so I can hopefully leverage the 12v already in the back?

That's a very interesting Idea Chris, to use a transducer instead of a subwoofer. I never thought of using one in a car but I do use one in my home theater setup. I have a high quantity of very tight bass that is produced from my JL Audio 12" E-Sub sitting on the concert floor. My theater chairs are on a wooden riser platform and I use one Buttkicker LFE transducer attached to the platform powered by their BKA-1000 P power amp. The transducer really does give a sense of realism when watching action movies but I tend to turn it down or off when watching musicals because it can sound a little unnatural.

 

[MrLoganRoss]

That's a very interesting Idea Chris, to use a transducer instead of a subwoofer. I never thought of using one in a car but I do use one in my home theater setup. I have a high quantity of very tight bass that is produced from my JL Audio 12" E-Sub sitting on the concert floor. My theater chairs are on a wooden riser platform and I use one Buttkicker LFE transducer attached to the platform powered by their BKA-1000 P power amp. The transducer really does give a sense of realism when watching action movies but I tend to turn it down or off when watching musicals because it can sound a little unnatural.

That is the beauty of the Clark’s. Unlike buttkickers or standard transducers, they are full range and extraordinarily tight and clean. I normally dsp then to trail off starting at 250-500hz, but I can pick anywhere up to 17k, which would effectively make the a speaker ?

as it is my kids sitting in the back, complain that the bass is too much for them. Localizing lower frequencies would solve that problem.

For the sim rig, the Clark’s are mounted right to the seat bottom in the back, and to the bottom of the pedal deck in the front. For audio/video, I have them mounted inside each chair/couch right to the frame as close to center as possible. For the couch, I have a left and right Clark, and keep the channels separate. The Mach-E is small enough I would combine L/R into each Clark, but with a programmable DSP I can experiment keeping L and Right separate.

 

[MrLoganRoss]

The Infinity powered sub I put under the driver seat is a little over 11"x8", so you should not have any problem fitting the transducer under there. I am interested to see how you mount it. As you know, the seat moves, and that was a challenge for me. The seat also raises and lowers, so the space under there can get very cramped. I put mine on a track so it moves with the seat.

Anyway, I am sure you will figure it out. Post project pictures!

Hi. The disc is about 8 inches wide and I need 3 inches of height. Think it will fit?

 

[MrLoganRoss]

A quick note, I don’t use a sub channel to feed the transducers. I use a dsp to combine the left and right channels, then set my crossover based on blending with the other speakers. Thus I need a DSP that will do that and also let me configure it via usb, BT or WiFi.

A few questions:
I assume I can use the PAC audio pro plus with a quality compact DSP/amp, and power both the transducers and the B&O door speakers?

-are there recommended or tried dsp and speaker amps for at least 8 speakers (2 transducers and the door woofers and tweeters)? I believe I will need much less power than subwoofers. How about brands?

 

[mkhuffman]

Hi. The disc is about 8 inches wide and I need 3 inches of height. Think it will fit?

I have the GT so if you have a different model you have different seats. You can probably get three inches under my seat. It might be a problem if someone wants to lower the seat all the way down.

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