That looks like a great idea. I don't know that much about size, but from what I heard larger speakers produce lower bass. So you might be better off with 1 or 2 10" or 12" instead of 3 8". I tried using that area without building an enclosure-just lining the walls with Dynamat and packing the area with fiberglass but I did not get good results. If you build a box there, it should work great and not take away from any storage space. If you had the factory sub, you will get a good laugh when you see the tiny factory amplifier that is tucked away behind the panel.

 

i have just purchased a 2011 HHR and i have been doing stereos for several years now. i have to say that i am quite disappointed with the level of craftmanship on these setups, like i said i am new to this forum but with such an interesting platform that this vehicle is on i would have expected better quality of work to preserve space and functionality of the vehicle. it is also apparent that not many people are focused on sound quality but more SPL for some reason. I like where this box with the 3 8's is going so i hope the quality of work follows through.

just my 2 cents.
Cory

 

Cory,

I would have to say I agree with you. I am also new to this site and I own a 2010 HHr 2LT. I have been considering a stealth box in the stock location but the quality of what I have seen so far has left something to be desired.

The whole reason I bought my HHR was functionality. While the thought had crossed my mind to put my two JLW1V2's in I would have absolutely no cargo space.

 

I plan on putting in a 13w7 with no impact on cargo space. Granted, I do have a panel.

 

I installed 8" Rockford P2s under the front seats of my panel. Custom made some mdf and fiberglass boxes, fit perfect and sound good too. Gotta take some pics of that. Also about to wall off the panel for 4 18" subs, I'll keep y'all posted

 

Azmodius, you plannin on removing the " tool box" and flush mounting that 13w7?

 

very nice. id like to see this install.

 

After I cut what I could, which was less area then I had hoped for, I started to look at the posibility of various 10's to use a single ten. I used WinISD to model the 8's vs a single Morel Ultimo SC 2ohm and found that a 1 cft ported box for the Morel would net the same PEAK SPL but would do so before 50hz as opposed to the 8's (all three mind you) that would not hit that same peak until 80hz and up. Well I do not listen to my subs above 70ish so the 10 seems to be a better fit. Not too mention but I will not have to cut up my lower panel for viewing purposes.

So the box has been built for the Morel 10 as a 1cft ported box but I am using one of my 8's inside it for now. I have not done the finish work on the box yet as I have been playing around with pushpull using the 2 8's I already had and also making sure there is nothing to rework. The only problem I found with this was that I have a bit of port noise with the volumn up high so I took off one of the 8's and put it in a test box that I built to make sure the 8's could play ported. Polk does not recommend ported for the MM 8's. But I have found that they work quite well but the box is as big as it would be for 10-15's (1.0-1.98cft)

I will take some pics this weekend and post them up. I also need to cut up my storage bins and mount my amp inside it.

 

Ive been considering putting a single 8 in the stock location, and the polk MM840 was at the top of my list. How do you think a single 8 would do in the HHR with 250w, probably sealed box? I realize it wont be like my 2x 12", but I think its time for a change.

 

The Polk will hit lower then many other 8's but it is still an 8 and if you are like me and seeing you currently have 2 12's I would say you might be disappointed in any 8" single sub especially in a seal box. I first put one in a the temp box which at that time was a large sealed box while the sub was breaking in. I used sealed at that time since I did not know how it would sound in a ported box and Polk does not recommend a ported box for the 8" MM versions. It sounded very nice and went pretty low but once the sub was broken in I ported that box and the bass output increased quite a bit and went even lower as to be expected.

Again they are great 8's but they are still 8's. I also have a 10" MM in our ION and it is running in a .66cft sealed box off of 200watts of old school Soundstream reference power and that sub by itself can do very well compared to both the 8's running in ported boxes and getting 225w each. If you can build the box to fit the 10" version I think you will be very happy.

FWIW the 8's can play in a .35cft seald box and I was able to get .87 cft out of the factory boxes location. I have an additional .13cft behind the inside metal panel that the front .87 bolts up too. So you should be able to build a box for this location that will allow the use of 2 8's. But if you want to be able to see them then some cutting will have to be done. But then again I do not think you are shy about cutting your car up just like me LOL.


I also do have to say that my 2 in their ported boxes play as loud as my single RE Audio SE15 did in a 1.75cft sealed box that was getting fed 650+ watts. And they are extremely clean sounding and very very well built.