Macho Belly

Frustrated by boomy subwoofer sound and inspired by a recent thread, I decided to line my factory Bose subwoofer with Dynamat. I have a 2003 C2 cab with sub in passenger footwell. The job was very easy - two screws to remove the sub (torx T30), unclip the wire, and 6 screws around the speaker itself (torx T20). I used strips of Dynamat cut from a 10"x10" piece from a kit intended for door speaker installs. I used one whole 10"x10" piece with one leftover in the kit.

I have to say the Bose sub and enclosure is incredibly wimpy-looking. I can't help but think the Dynamat will improve the sound substantially. I'll post commentary on the sound after I have a chance to evaluate tomorrow. For now, here are a few pics.

Sharp

i'd be really interested to hear the results!! man i didn't know that it's such a crappy unit, looks like something off the shelf at walmart audio....

NOBY

Where exacly is that, can u take a picture and point it out?

jeneric996

That's a great idea! Let us know if the sound improves.

I'm going to check out my Bose sub for my coupe.

Macho Belly

Had a chance to listen to subwoofer changes on my long morning commute. Big Difference! The boominess of the factory sub is gone. No more distortion at higher volume levels with top down. I'm actually able to turn up the bass a bit now. Well worth the hour of time and $15 in materials.

The first picture is the passenger footwell, left side of the sub below the center console. The mounting screw for the sub is hidden under the carpet. Just need to pull carpet back to get bolt out and then tuck carpet in again when done. The other sub mounting bolt is visible in the way back of the footwell.

I imagine results in a coupe will be similar but sub is in a different location so someone else will need to post on how to access it.

Sharp

my targa has the sub in the same location....can't wait to do the mod!

wdempsey

Great job MB, I plan on doing this this weekend. Hopefully it won't sound like it BLOSE anymore...

djantlive

how exactly does the mat improve the sound? i guess the enclosure isn't thick enough? where do you apply the mat? looks like interior of the enclosure?

Macho Belly

Dynamat is a heavy rubbery mat with an adhesive coating on one side. It's commonly used to line car doors and subwoofer boxes. In this case, the factory Bose sub enclosure is thin plastic with no coating and the sub itself is a small speaker. I think the sub has to work too hard to generate bass and it makes the enclosure rattle. The Dynamat eliminates the rattle. I'm not an audio expert, all I know is it didn't sound right before. I saw some posts here and talked to a guy at a local high-end audio store. He suggested I line the inside of the sub with Dynamat because it makes everything sound better. I'm happy with the results.

lic265

I have modified a number of cars with high end audio systems. Using Dynamat in the trunk of my last BMW significantly improved the tightness of the bass, removing any "muddiness" that happens with vibrations set up from other parts of the car that vibrate along with the sub
I think i will try this also - seems easy to do

Sharp

i too just finished this mod, and can hear a diff, cleans up the sub a bit, makes it seem tighter, i too have the sub in the passenger footwell as mine is a targa.
however i put 2 10"X10" sheets of dynamat into it.

DallasC4S

That's the best $20 mod ever! Thanks for the idea. Sounds much better. Now I'm wondering if I can add an amp and swap out the two 5.25" subwoofers in my enclosure to clean up the bass even more. I was planning on building a box to house two 8" woofers but now I'm thinking the stock enclosure is worth salvaging.

Open to any suggestions on 5.25" woofers. I have only found Morel's and Focals and both are around $500 EACH. I thought smaller = cheaper?

(Sorry, can't post pics yet)

Orient Express

Instead of using Dynamat, I simply lined the subwoofer enclosure with 2 pieces of 1" fiberglass insulation. I had a small roll of this stuff left over from some air conditioner duct work that I had been doing on the house. This is the same stuff that is used to stuff ported bookshelf speakers. I cut 2 pieces to size, and simply stuck them in the enclosure. The scraps were used to cover the porting tube.

The result was the same as Dynamat, the low-end boominess of the subwoofer is tamed. The advantage of fiberglass mat is that you can get a roll of it at Home Depot for $3-$4.

Dynamat or fiberglass, this is one mod that you need to do to help your Bose sound better.

Chaos

I just lined my (Best Buy did it) sub and dash speakers in the cab with dynamat. Wow great inexpensive upgrade !