While it's nearly impossible to catch the neon lighting on film, the finished amplifier rack housing looks absolutely rockin' in our Zinc Yellow project car. The colors of the vinyl play perfectly off the two-toned leather Classic Soft Trim seats.
For the subwoofer enclosures, Warren takes a simple, square-box design and dresses it up a bit. Using 3/4-inch birch, he builds two enclosures to the dimensions required in the Kicker literature for the Solobaric 12-inch L7 subs.
By building the enclosures separately, we are guaranteed the proper sound for the subs. Now Warren just needs to figure out how to tie everything together. He assembles the enclosures side by side, with a small section between them for the power distribution box and wire management. The holes with the black paint are where the power cables and ground cables will be routed through.
Warren uses the same thickness of foam and the same yellow and black vinyl to cover the sub enclosures. Here the foam is in place and the trim adhesive is setting up before the vinyl is pulled in place.
Kicker's Solobaric L7 subs are big sellers and have achieved high acclaim among car-audio fanatics. Crutchfield dropped two 12-inch L7s in our shopping cart for us to use. These awesome subs feature a cast-aluminum frame for rigidity, dual voice coils for wiring options, a titanium-deposit-impregnated speaker cone for strength, and a santoprene rubber surround that offers long throws and controls cone excursion (the movement of the cone in and out). These bad boys can handle 750 watts peak and will move the earth with our serious amp powering them.
Before dropping the L7s into place, fill the sub enclosures with poly fill. The poly fill acts as a damper to prevent air movement on the back side of the speaker cone, making the sub act as if it were installed in a larger enclosure.
With the wiring completed and the L7s installed with Kicker's optional grilles, the box is lowered into the trunk of the 3g. The system is now ready for tuning and setup of all the various functions found on the head unit, the crossovers, and the amplifiers. The power distribution box in the middle allows for quick access and inspection of the system fuses for the amplifiers and other components.