todays progress

[herb]

having had a sub, cap and amp just sat in the garage since i took it out of my gsi nearly 2 years i thought i may aswell install it in the leon
so i took a trip to b&q to get the mdf and to halfords to get a switch (wanted an oem switch but no way i was paying £32)
i had thought about doing a install like pgarner but that soon got ruled out cause the pram is just the exact length to fit in width wise
then i considered building a box but cause i have to use my car for work i couldnt be arsed having to remove it everytime i have to load the boot
so i opted for a false floor using the wheel well as an enclosure
so i cut the mdf to size and then measured where everything will be placed routered the inner diameter of the sub then routered some venting

then i mounted everything luckily everything fitted within the wheel well so i didnt have to raise the floor like i originally thought i would

so i placed it in the boot and that was the easy part over

so then came the mammoth task of wiring it all in (usually a 30 minuet job)
but not that easy in my case the first problem was trying to find a place to go through the bulkhead with the live so did a little searching on the net and found the best place is a spare grommet behind the pollen filter
not good for me as i had previously siliconed everything around the pollen filter to prevent leaks (common leon fault)
so after alot of hassle removing the pollen filter housing i found the grommet and feed the wire through luckily didnt have to remove the glovebox cause the wire was reachable from the side then i hid the wiring in the engine bay (so it cant be seen) and feed it through to the boot
luckily seat had left an unused bolt near the seat belt clip so that was the perfect earth for me (a little tricky to access)
the phono leads where a pain in the arse it took me ages to feed them through the dash
then came the biggest hassle of the day the remote wire i feed it through the dash with little trouble then feed it to the boot to discover it was to short to reach the amp so i had to add an length of wire via terminal block but the biggest hassle was adding the switch i had to cut a hole in the ashtray for it and ended up breaking the insert

so i had to cut the actual ashtray but my dremmel wouldnt get in the space so i had to drill a 10mm hole then cut along with a hacksaw blade then i realized i had no spade tags so i had to solder the wires on to the switch (cause i couldnt be arsed going back to halfords)
then had to drill the ashtray so i could feed the wires out of the back
then i had to feed a wire through the dash to pull the wires from the switch back up trough the dash (another hassle)
then the spade tag decided to break of the switch so had to pull the wiring back out to resolder
but i pulled the wires back through again connected it all up and i now have a switch to turn the amp on/off at my disposal

and now ive got this far the extra bass sounds good even though the false floor isnt properly mounted/sealed i will do this at a later date when i know everything is working 100%
but anyway a pic of my nearly completed boot install

[pgarner]

well done mate.
i did look at this as well but the last false floor i built was a pain to lift out everytime i needed to get full use of the boot.
youve got a lot further than i as ran out of cutting discs for the dremmal. looks like i might have to get my finger out and go to B&Q the morrow to get more done (also need to go to audi to price a few parts)
How did the phono wire cause such a problem ? i ran them from the HU around the carpet then down the passengers side. going through the centre console us a pain if its the same as the bora the carpets very tight against the floor

[HDi fun]

What about swapping the switch for a 30amp relay and using the elec aerial feed from the head unit to switch the sub's dedicated amp?

That way you don't have to worry about having a non-standard dashboard component. Or even drive it (the relay) from the ignition key switched +12VDC line so it's only powered up with the key on.

[herb]

Originally Posted by pgarner

well done mate.
i did look at this as well but the last false floor i built was a pain to lift out everytime i needed to get full use of the boot.
youve got a lot further than i as ran out of cutting discs for the dremmal. looks like i might have to get my finger out and go to B&Q the morrow to get more done (also need to go to audi to price a few parts)
How did the phono wire cause such a problem ? i ran them from the HU around the carpet then down the passengers side. going through the centre console us a pain if its the same as the bora the carpets very tight against the floor

the false floor is a semi permanent fixture it can be removed if i really need to but will stay cause i can still get everything in the boot i need to (but i need to get some holts tyre weld asap)

yep i can empathize with the dremel cutting discs ive gone through so many my self

the only reason the phono lead was such a hassle was cause i had real trouble feeding it through the actual dash (not much space at all)
once through the dash i had no problems getting it to the boot

Originally Posted by HDi fun

What about swapping the switch for a 30amp relay and using the elec aerial feed from the head unit to switch the sub's dedicated amp?

That way you don't have to worry about having a non-standard dashboard component. Or even drive it (the relay) from the ignition key switched +12VDC line so it's only powered up with the key on.

the hu i have has a dedicated amp remote wire so the amp wont turn on without the ignition being switched on
i added a switch so i can have the bass on at my discretion

[HDi fun]

What kind of low end delivery are you after? Is it the thud thud type or the accurately pitched and articulate type?

Cars are difficult environments within which to achieve perfect listening conditions. Well controlled and musical low end is very hard indeed to achieve.

[herb]

Originally Posted by HDi fun

What kind of low end delivery are you after? Is it the thud thud type or the accurately pitched and articulate type?

Cars are difficult environments within which to achieve perfect listening conditions. Well controlled and musical low end is very hard indeed to achieve.

in the end i did actually raise the floor by 18mm completely sealed it with silicone sub aswell and i had to router the inner diameter a little more cause it was touching the mdf a little

i was after a little more low end bass nothing to punchy
basically the amp has a built in x over and its set to low pass and 70 Hz with the gain turned up to half way
the stereo has a specified amp channel wich you can adjust the Db and that is set at -5 Db the low is set at 0 Db the mid is set at +5 Db and the high is set at +2 Db
and with these settings i get good clear lyrics with just a nice bit of bass which is lucky really cause i didnt do any calculations at all concerning air volume