[homie3186]

Just bought a 2014 st2 and i like the way the factory sub sounds but was curious if there are any cost effective way to make it sound just a little bit better

 

[Cowlynz]

Some people have stuffed cotton batting /polyfil material inside the box. Others have put an expansion port either around the speaker, or widened the sub box.

There are a couple old threads on each of these mods, I'll try to track them down and post...
Good luck.

 

[Cowlynz]

Here's a vid on the poly-fill mod :

 

[mitch808]

Adding polyfill or similar material would be a waste of time IMO. It will not add volume in any way shape or form. It may affect the response curve but that's about it.

Adding polyfill slows down the movement of air within the enclosure caused by the speaker cone. By slowing it down, it keeps the air cooler, thus, tricks the woofer that the enclosure is about 10% larger than it physically is. Thus affecting frequency response/curve.

The hack where someone cut in half the enclosure, added a wooden spacer, and fiberglassed it back together, along with a different woofer, that was definitely one way to improve things. But the time and expense of something like that or the lack of tools/materials/garage space... Might as well go get a custom setup from a local shop, try a DIY, or buy the JL Audio 10" perfectfit sub.

That said, there are a number of cost effective pre-made amplified subs you can look into acquiring. Often under $200. Or for just a smidgen more you can probably score a real sub, amp and LOC too.

 

[brian60]

Despite @mitch808 's comments I will attest to the fact that adding the polyfill definitely made the sub hits feel considerably more precise. It is a modification that I highly recommend doing since it improved the overall sound "experience" of the limited little subwoofer. Without the polyfill it sounded equivalent to just having a bunch of base-y 6x9 speakers or something...so it felt like there was simply decent bass from speakers, WITH the polyfill mod it makes the sub actually feels like a separate unit and is more definitive.

 

[1LoudST]

the poly fill gave me about a 3% improvement. but it still way to small of an enclosure, way under powered of an amp, and the bass roll off at higher volumes just makes it next to impossible to get acceptable results without completely replacing the entire thing.

 

[Lou64]

Just bought a 2014 st2 and i like the way the factory sub sounds but was curious if there are any cost effective way to make it sound just a little bit better

I added low pass filters and bought a Rockford fosgate 8" shallow mount and the poly batting. Part of the problem is the sub gets a full signal and all the highs come through and sound like doodieballs. I spent ~$150 and it's probably 10-20% better. I'd honestly use the money toward an LOC, amp, and decent 10" sub, which could probably be had on the used market for $4-500.

 

[skizzo81]

I have many many videos about this already.
www.youtube.com/jasongeorgievski

 

[Breaking Bad]

Kewl.

 

[1LoudST]

I'd honestly use the money toward an LOC, amp, and decent 10" sub, which could probably be had on the used market for $4-500.

heck, at $550, you could buy a brand new alpine 500w mono amp, 12" type S sub, ported box, all the wiring needed to hook it all up and have Best Buy do the install for you. good stuff used should cost half or even less.

 

[hawkeye18]

I did the poly fill mod, which cost me $0 as I just used an old pillow, and IMHO it does help a little. It doesn't make it any louder, but it does shift the resonant frequency down 10-20hz, which makes it a little more distinct than the rest of the speakers. The benefit is... minimal, but the cost is zero if you don't mind sacrificing a pillow so you still come out ahead.