Anybody on here have a shallow mount sub in the storage compartment under the rear floor? The stock Pioneer "sub" leaves much to be desired, and I'm not about to stick a different sub into the stock plastic box and just call that ok. I'm really missing my 10 inch Kicker L5 in a ported truck box that was in my previous cars. After having it in the HHR and some measuring, the only way to keep it hidden and not lose cargo space is to ditch the spare tire and stash it away down there, and I'm not sure I really want to do that.

 

the original box is good, it just needs to be properly sealed which "pioneer" didnt do a good job of. First of all its a 2 piece box which is just dumb and in between the 2 pieces is a very small flimsy piece of foam. What i did was swap out the stock 8" and put in a shallow 10" JL. When i resealed it, i used this extra strength epoxy that dries rock hard and its used for like exterior purposes can even for brick/masonry etc. Now its 100" sealed and sounds amazing!!
the only slight thing that we cannot control is the thin sheet metal that the car is made out of. I dyno-matted the exterior wall and the box but if you crank it, it rattles EVERYTHING expecially the rear door (behind the plastic where the wiper motor is etc) but if you dont blast the music like crazy then it sounds really good! Also it could be because i used a 10" instead of the 8".
A lot of people bash the stock box but its actually a decent piece if sealed properly like i did :)

 

No 10 inch JL (unless its a W7) is going to put out nearly the volume of a the L5 in a ported box. If I was you I would use an external box setup and then take it out when you need to haul stuff around.

 

this is the one i put in
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_13610TW...ml#details-tab

pretty much same specs as the L5..yes your going to get a bit more oomph out of the big box but i dont really feel like taking it out evertime i need back space.
Its a perfect option for someone who wants to keep the factory location

 

I think I'm just going to ditch the spare tire and build a box/ amp rack below the floor. I already have the sub, and I had a chance there other day to listen to a few shallow mounts including the JL. They just seem to really lack the same "punch" that my L5 does.

 

I don't think I've ever heard any shallow mount sub with the punch of any decent full size sub. I've tried a few but none of them kick like my L7. So I feel your pain

 

if you own a square kicker sub its hard to replace that sound with half the enclosure size

 

It is hard to beat a conventional sub woofer . Building the right cabinet for the sub will be the single best option at this point . I am quite pleased with the results of my labor . An easy sealed box for my build made the magic happen .
Go for the amp rack/sub cabinet build . Your L5 will perform really well in the HHR .
Greg

 

There is a company out there that makes a really good shallow mount subwoofer (from a happy customer). It is sold direct by the mfg, so none of the vendors here carry it. The previous model sold out during the pre-sale order and they are taking pre-sale orders on a new version that has some minor updates.

It is a 12" that fits in a .5 box so it won't fit in the stock box. However you can get a flush floor in back with a couple of them and space for amps.