Yeah, I've seen the sticky posts about making your own, which sounds really cool, but I simply don't have the time for that right now. I'd just like to find out if someone makes a sub enclosure for a single 10" sub.

I'm not a huge car stereo geek (anymore), my primary interest is in making my GTA just a bit faster - but my current stereo isn't up to my standards, & then I found this sub on sale...

I'm also trying to decide on a low-cost but decent amp to drive my rather basic "4 speakers & a sub" system.

Any relevant help or suggestions would be welcome. Thanks guys.

 

I can't believe that with all of the audiophiles on this forum, that I've managed to baffle everyone with this...

 

No one is currently selling either.

Are you talking about a well box or a stealth box? A well box would be pretty straight forward to build but the stealth box would be a pita to build a once off.

A few of us have built our own glass boxes but I can say that it's a lot of work and there's a ton of time invested. If I was to sell one I would be looking for at least $600 purely because of time invested.

Your best bet is to try your local stereo shop.

 

If you're looking for a box that matches the specific volume your sub suggests/requires, then you're going to be better off going to a shop and having them take care of it for you. Which is probably gonna cost you some $. The only prefab box I have found is by q-logic, and it only comes in one size. Either that, or take some time and try out some fiberglass work yourself. It really isn't THAT hard, and it's not THAT time consuming if you do it properly. If you have a weekend to invest, you could have it done in no time - and a lot of that time would just be waiting for the epoxy to dry. Otherwise, just do a little bit everyday. Regardless, it'll cost you a LOT less to do it on your own, than it will to have a shop do it for you.

 

That depends on how much material and equipment you already own. Mat/cloth can be had very cheaply on e-bay but resin is somewhat pricey and a good respirator will run you around $40 or so. I probably have about $150 or so into my box so far with materials and I need to buy more resin again.

Time – I probably spent about 3 hours just masking the hatch off. I went way overkill with masking, but you can only trim so much time off that and do a decent job. It’s a major PITA building up the first layer in the hatch because you’re going up two vertical walls and one wall that goes up at a negative angle. This pretty much means that you can only build one row at a time or it will all peel off the wall assuming you’re using a release agent. After you can pull the shell out of the hatch work moves a lot faster, but it still takes some time to make sure that there’s no air between layers, etc. Once you actually finish the fiberglass aspect of the box you have to decide what you want to cover it with. Carpet is pretty easy but if you want to cover it in vinyl, paint it, etc you’re probably going to be spending a lot of time sanding.

I agree that it’s pretty brain dead work but it is pretty time consuming, especially if you’re building a full well box.

 

I run a very advanced car audio shop, and have done many, many of these applications myself. I still say, if you have the time, you could have everything done in a weekend, starting Friday night of course. Taping won't take THAT long, and the mold isn't THAT difficult to pop out after its dried, if you have a little patience. Of course isn't not just gonna come right out, but it's not super difficult either.

Yes, doing it yourself isn't for everyone (thank god or I'd lose a lot of my business!) but I think people get intimidated by it, when if they'd give it a quick try, they'd find it's not all that difficult... then others just don't have the natural knack to do it themselves.

If you look online, the supplies can be had for a fraction of the cost of what home depot, west marine, or boaters world (and so on) sell them for. I can get 2 gallons of resin and 1 gallon of hardner online for ~$100. It's not West System, but its just as good. A professional boat builder actually told me about the website. When I'm doing the back mold, I mix in a little cabosil. It doesn't go on as smooth, but it makes it a lot thicker to begin with. And this is the part that no one will (most likely) see, so it's not as particular. And to do the top of the box, I always use a cheaper material that is stretchy. It's easier to get wrinkles out of = less sanding. Then I put on a layer of fiberglass. Then I use a material that's a lot like bondo, when I'm going to be painting, mixed with epoxy, so I can paint it on.

Like I said... it's not for everyone - but in the end, you have something you did, and it probably will cost you 1/2 or 1/3 the cost of what a shop is going to charge you.

 

Defiantly not trying to pick a fight or anything but this was my first every glass project. I agree that I went way overboard on masking (two layers of tape + aluminum foil) and that time could have been spent more efficiently but it's all part of the learning process. If I had your level of expertise there's no doubt that I would already be done.

Building up that negative incline and the two vertical walls really was a major PITA with pam on the aluminum foil. The saturated mat would peel off the walls and fall in so I found it necessary to build row by row

I also agree about costs. I paid about $20 for all the mat but I paid an additional $50 for shipping the two (heavy) boxes. That’s still a ton cheaper than what I would have paid locally. I bought from fan8 on e-bay. I was initially planning on buying resin from US Composites but I got impatient and bought locally. So far I’ve gone through two small Bondo containers and one actual gallon. I would have ended up paying about $120 (plus ~$30 shipping) for 5 gallons of resin + hardener had I waited. Other expenses included things that I didn’t already own: a respirator (and an extra cartage set), a ton of brushes, rolls of masking tape, and a sheet of MDF to make rings and bracing out of, etc.

It's not impossible or even that hard but it will take a good deal of work, especially for the first timer.