Dual 10's as Fender Replacement
In the midst of all this Coronavirus craziness, I just finished a pretty awesome dual-sub project for my Fender replacement, so I’ll contribute what I did. First, I want to thank everyone who contributed before me, especially @Jrarjrar the OP who started this thread. I read through pretty much the entire post, perhaps twice, and was very motivated to do this. I’m somewhat of an audiophile with my home system, and am somewhat disappointed with the audio system that comes standard with the Golf R. So when I came across this sub upgrade, I was all over it. From my home system, I know how much a good/great sub can contribute to the overall system. In fact, I have dual subs at home since I have a very large room and having that second sub made all the difference. Sorry for the digression. Anyways…
I found an excellent driver from Dayton Audio, known for high quality drivers. I don’t think anyone else in this forum has used these. I wasn’t worried about price at the same time didn’t want to go crazy. With the extreme depth limitation required I only had one option, the Dayton LS10-44, 10 in. low-profile. The specs are excellent especially the physical (< 3.5” deep); however, it’s 4 ohm DVC when the Fender sub is 2 ohm DVC. Shoot, this had to be a direct replacement and not get complicated.
I looked at many other drivers but kept coming back to this one. Then it dawned on me, what if I bought two and wired each as a 2 ohm. I could then connect each sub to the existing amp so that I have one sub on each channel. The amp is dual channel, so it would effectively see a 2 ohm load on each channel, which is how it’s specified. Wow, that would be really cool! Dual high-quality 10’s—more than enough low frequency sound, I could likely blow open the hatch. (I say in jest since I do value my hearing. I appreciate excellent sound which doesn’t have to blow my ears out to be great).
That’s the background, now the results. Wow-this was so worth it! Once I readjusted my audio settings this setup rocks. What a difference!
Pics are below (hopefully I inserted the links correctly) If you live in Orange County, CA, the only place I found that will do precision cuts is Orange Coast Lumber in Santa Ana. Support them! They were awesome and only charged $10 for the cuts!
Dimensions: 31 x 22 x 3.5, using ½ in (actually it’s 12mm thickness, which was even better for my application. My finished box ended up at 3-7/16” (see pic).
Cabinet material: I used ½ in (12mm) Baltic Birch which is lighter and stronger than MDF, not to mention looks great. I knew space was super tight. Most used ¾” but my goal was 3.5” or less for thickness. I had to go thin wherever possible since the inner lid HAD to close all the way!
Volume: Specs call out .45 cu ft for a sealed box or .90 for two, so I designed as two independent volumes (see pic) giving each sub its own space. Per my calculations total vol is .89 cu ft, so each is darn close to .45 cu ft.
Weight: 36.5 lbs (I’m fine with this; after all there are 2 subs, a good-sized cabinet, hardware. I think most projects I read about were in the 20-25 lb range anyway.
Parts list & Cost: $263
-Baltic Birch, 60 x 60, $26 + $10 (cuts): $36
-Dayton Audio, LS10-44 Sub, Parts Express: $94.63 each x 2 = $189.26
-Screws & misc hardware: $18.40
-12 Gauge wire: $19 (30 ft roll)
-R Decal: $0
TOTAL: $262.66
R decal: A friend knew someone who does decals for boats and such. He found a vector file off the web and had the guy do this for me as a favor. So, I got this for free and it really polished things off. Even though no one sees it unless I open the lid, I think all us R geeks will think it’s pretty cool.
PICS:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zgzp8iznuonnbcs/IMG_4625.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/oq0n90vn6tgugvh/IMG_4640a.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bk4dvkurt5p94sc/IMG_4641.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/el3izpt67p6obqw/IMG_4642.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/b9xn7q0nodqggtt/IMG_4647a.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4cnri1xrj4zfviz/IMG_4648.jpg?dl=0