Hey guys!

After a bit of thread and internet searching, I have stumbled upon a woofer that may work in our cars. Bazooka makes all-in-one bass tubes with woofers and amplifiers. They also make spare woofers for the tubes just in case. Incidentally, one of their woofers has the following specs:

Bazooka WF621.5DV - $110 for 2 shipped
6.5in Diameter across woofer bracket (same as ours)
3.625 mounting depth (~.325 more than ours)
DUAL VOICE COILS (same as ours)
2ohms (same as ours)
Max RMS at 100w which can operate at much lower RMS watts (perfect!)
Built for ported structures but works well in Free Air environments.
WF621.5DV - 6 inch 2 ohm replacement woofer

After talking to their technical support manager, I went ahead and bought a pair today. I will update this thread with pictures when they arrive, modifications needed w/ pictures, and the results. I am very hopeful that this might be a viable solution to the rear woofer dilemma.

- Kolme

 

First Update:

Well the woofers arrived (Very well packaged might I add). Each woofer weighs about 5 or so lbs and have a few distinct differences from the stock woofers (namely an overall slightly larger size and a much larger magnet). I will attempt to put them in tomorrow (depends on how much modification is needed)

Below are some comparison pictures between the Stock Woofer (LEFT) and the Bazooka Woofer (RIGHT)
****The Stock woofer pictures and notes were taken/made by BigBlock427 member in this thread https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum/audio-video-electronics/43926-blown-subwoofer.html****

 

Sounds good. Keep us updated. Price is quite reasonable. How do they seem in the quality department?

 

They seem to be well made. They have plastic/fiber cones which look pretty sturdy. I wouldn't say they are JL Audio quality, but they certainly match/exceed the stock woofers. They actually build these woofers for their patented bazooka tubes (pretty intense little tubes of bass) which go as high as ~125Wrms, so they can handle aloooot more than the stock woofers. My only concern is this monster magnet and how im going to modify the brackets without a dremel or any skill to speak of

- Kolme

 

Update 2:

Well I finally fitted the woofers to the original brackets only to discover 2 large issues. The first one is that the magnet was so large that it did not fit into the metal opening in the car.. The second is that the front of the woofer creating positive waves was open to the back creating negative waves (in other words, the woofers are no longer sealed due to the heavy modification needed to fit them in the brackets). Overall this means that the brackets are pretty much useless for this project.

Therefore I am currently looking at possibly making an MDF/MAF Bracket which would have the front of the woofer facing toward the seats with the magnet facing the trunk.
I did get a chance to plug in a woofer and test it - it seems to be a perfect match audio wise.

I'll update again later with the results of whatever bracket I make, etc. It may take a while.

Kolme

 

Did you measure the DCR?

I believe the OEM Woofers are rated at 2 ohms...

a 4 ohm or 8 ohm woofer might not provide the "punch" with the OEM amplifier..

 

Hiya Brian,

The subs in my post are 2ohms per coil (DVC) as specified by the manufacturer. I did not personally test the resistance across each coil. I did hook one up to the stock amplifier however and it was very well powered. The surround and cone were moving a considerable amount consistent with the expected resistance across each coil according to the manufacturer.

HOWEVER... sigh...

After spending many hours designing/making MDF brackets so that these big boys could be mounted, I have pretty much given up. The issue with mounting these speakers are their large magnets and slightly deeper design.

1. They cannot fit in the stock brackets at all, even with cutting because they conflict with the metal of the car. Also, if one were to cut the metal of the car and the brackets to make the speakers fit, it would cause the subs to be unenclosed causing a large loss in decibels.

2. Even with brackets, the magnets interfere with the metal openings in the car which need to be modified even when attempting to mount the woofer facing the seats. Also, this method will reduce the effectiveness of the woofers in the first place (forward facing = ). Also, I found when trying this method that you would have to cut the carpet right at the corner in which it bends to extend to the door, making it a tough install. Not to mention that making the brackets is a tricky business and requires a lot of time and thought.

I'm SUPER bummed by the results of the project. My general thoughts are that someone (with more experience than I) can likely make these speakers work in that spot while making them look good and sound good as well. I am positive they are a perfect match for the oem AMP so hopefully someone else eventually figures out how to squeeze them in.

well.. now to build a box for these puppies and stick em in the 1987 Grand National!!!

Kolme

 

If their rated at 2 ohms then they'll pair up fine with the amp.

Could you flush mount them - letting them protrude say about 1/2 inch toward the seat? Use some MDF to space and seal? There is a little room to spare.

How much room would you need give the magnet a 1/8" clearance from the rear panel?

Could you cut some 5/8" MDF and mount to both sides securing the MDF to the top and bottom panels - thus making a airtight box? Might be a bit tight and you might need some RTV to seal the seams. then you could dampen the entire area with insulation.

Install and test - might possibly need a port - but it could thump...

 

Brian,

Essentially I took 2 inches of mdf (glue two 1" mdfs together) and sanded them to fit correctly and flush against the metal as well as the speakers + gave them a 5.5 in cutout hole for the speakers (you have to make the brackets into a wedge shape similar to the vent bracket shape). Then I created 3 holes in the outer rim of the bracket so that the bracket could be secured using the stock bolt and nuts. After securing the bracket it was pretty tight, and using some auto RTV on the edges would probably make seal it fairly well.

I did all of that assuming I would mount them with the cone protruding toward the seat, but after it was all done, I was still having issues with the magnet hitting the metal of the car (possibly due to my poor craftsmanship ).If you are able to get the magnet to clear all the metal, you still have to cut the carpet. When I lined it all up to see how I would have to cut the carpet, I found that about an inch of the speaker was behind a section of the carpet which was molded to curve toward the door . I'm sure there is a way to get around this issue but I didn't explore it too much (i really hate carpet cutting, especially when things don't fit!!)

Another method I tried was to make a ~ 3/4 mdf bracket and attach the speaker to it, and attach the bracket with the speakers onto the stock location with the cone facing the trunk. The magnet will be facing the seats but will protrude quite a bit (somewhere around 2 inches and will require some carpet cutting). It would not look too pretty considering the stock hole in the carpet would be obvious along with a big chunk of magnet. You have to use 3/4 and cant use a small 1/4 due to the distance the speaker's cone and surround travel (a lot!).

And you are right about the port. I'm sure they would sound great in an enclosed system, but a ported one would make these things bump!!!

Like I said before, im a novice at this fabrication stuff, so im betting someone like yourself could figure out a great way to get these woofers to work. I probably wont spend too much more time on this specific project (mostly because i'm pretty busy this month) but ill keep ideas rolling in my head. I also appreciate any input (such as the input you have given)! If you have a knack for a challenge, you might consider investing in 1 of these speakers for 55 bucks and giving it a shot.

Kolme