FR-S / BRZ / GT 86 - Fiberglass Subwoofer Enclosure Prototyping by Integrity Concepts

[dunnr]

I received my awesome 8" enclosure yesterday. Insatalling audio system tonight.


Dan

[Integrity Concepts]

HOT Lava... enough said.





Sneak peek, more to come!

[OICU812]

Wow nice!!

[Integrity Concepts]

A few more hot lava pics!

[SPT Legacy]

Very nice, just what I was looking for!
How much would it be for a pair of Lightning Red?

[Integrity Concepts]

Originally Posted by SPT Legacy

Very nice, just what I was looking for!
How much would it be for a pair of Lightning Red?

PM Sent!

[OICU812]

Well in order to keep my rear suspension access I'm going to install (2) 8" IC boxes in mine. Going to be running 2 Focal P21 V2. Currently just running the OEM 400+ box which has served me well but not using rest of their system at all so kinda senseless. Pretty excited finally get my stereo stuff sorted and fine the OEM setup a new owner. Dan from Integrity was a pleasure to deal with, once my boxes arrive I'll be sure to post pics and a review.

[djdnz]

Received my RH 8" enclosure two nights ago.

I must pre-face that acquiring this enclosure has been an exercise in patience. Having put a deposit on the pre-order in August 2013, being promised a time frame of a few weeks and receiving it only in March 2014 - that's a long time to keep dangling fruit in front of a paying customer. During that time communication has been non-existent unless provoked. I understand that circumstances can lead to a delayed product however clear communication and realistic deadlines, as well as prompt communication regarding missing a deadline is something that I think that Integrity Concepts should work to improve in their future developments.

With that smudge out of the way, I must say that I am incredibly impressed with the level of quality and workmanship of this box. The quality most certainly justifies the price, and in fact exceeded my expectations. Given the quality of the box, I would say that the price is extremely fair - for me personally, I couldn't justify paying much more than I did already for an enclosure, regardless of level of quality, but there are surely people who are willing to spend more than I would. I guess my point is that I am highly impressed to receive something this well built for the price I paid.

To begin with, the shipping box was packed very well (even though I hate styrofoam peanuts), the box arrived in good shape as did the contents. The box comes with a package of very detailed instructions, some hardware for install, the trim ring I ordered and the enclosure. The box comes filled with some Polyfill at no additional cost. It is also tailored to the diameter of your particular subwoofer upon order - a nice touch. The trim ring I ordered looks to be made very well, it was wrapped with red suede material with no wrinkles or defects on the presenting face. The speaker grille is very sturdy and thick and has a high quality matte black finish. The enclosure is definitely a looker.

The enclosure itself is covered in a very convincing OEM fabric, and I did not notice any unusual wrinkles or defects in the fabric - which I can only imagine is a huge challenge given the complexity of the shape of the box. The portions that are not seen when the enclosure is installed in the car are left as a rough textured grey fiberglass, and handling the surface gives you a sense of how sturdy and well built the enclosure is. It feels very thick and could stand being knocked around by the shipping guy even if the packaging was not as good as it is, and would likely handle the daily duty of being hit by the contents of your trunk as you're taking off ramps like schumi would.

I have not weighed the enclosure, but it does have some heft. I have not yet installed the box in the car - when the weather starts to warm up, I will get the car out of storage and throw it in and give an impression of the fit in the car.

I will hopefully get some pics soon

Overall I am very happy with the Integrity Concepts enclosure, it is nice to see such a high quality offering from a small vendor even if it took as long as it did. If you are contemplating ordering this enclosure now, I wouldn't hesitate - the long part of the development has been completed and I imagine it will be much quicker to receive yours.

[XanRules]

Solid review!

IC, can you guys comment on whether or not this will fit without issue for those of us with the OEM rubber trunk liner/mat thingie?

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by XanRules

Solid review!

IC, can you guys comment on whether or not this will fit without issue for those of us with the OEM rubber trunk liner/mat thingie?

if it hasn't been done before, i'm hoping to find out this sunday when i go to install mine..

[soundman98]

i guess you can file this under "installation review" because it's at least another day before i get the amp installed,probably closer to a couple weeks..

overall, it took me about 3 hours today to prep the enclosure, with about 5 minutes installing it in the car. but much of that is self-inflicted and is NOT a result of integrities work.

the box came very well packed, and also included comprehensive install gear(10 drywall screws for the sub, and velcro for a better method to secure the box down), and installation manual.

overall, there were 3 main issues with the box that i had right away. i contacted integrity about only one of them, as the other 2 were more personal preference, and i have chosen to be extra-anal with this install to try to squeak the most performance out of all the gear.. every other car i've done has been a 'install now, fix later deal.. i'm trying to fix now and enjoy later..

1. the supplied connectors-- they have holes through them.. integrity said that once wire is attached on both sides of the connector, there is very little air movement through the connectors, less then what the fabric allows for on the sub mating surface, which brings me to issue 2. maybe this isn't a problem for most, but it's a problem for me.. i'm tired of leaky boxes..

this is a flashlight inside the enclosure, shining up through it with no wires attached..
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so to fix this issue, i installed some dayton 5-way binding posts.. and in the process, learned that all the local audio shops near me don't know what a 'binding post' is...


2. fabric applied to the sub mating surface.. this is an obvious air leak on an otherwise sealed box, and there's no way i can let it go into the car like this.. it's just asking for issues..


it was easy enough to run a razor blade around the lip and scrape off the carpet in that area.. i also sanded it down with some 100 grit paper just to knock some of the glue down as well.


i also added some gasketing foam as well.. i don't want any air leaks!


again, i'm not going to act like this is an integrity-only issue as many pre-fab boxes do this same thing.. so it's something that i won't let fly, but it seems most box companies, large and small, will..

3. polyfil insulation. again, this is industry standard stuff, so again, i don't directly fault integrity for it, but i don't like it. there's multiple resources that show that fiberglass insulation works better.. but many people have issues working with fiberglass.. however, i don't, so in it went(in above pic)..

overall, the sub fits very well. i had to sand the inside edge of the box to get the sub to sit completely flat, but i'm running a peerless xxls sub that has dimensions that are larger then standard-- this box had to be built with a custom mounting ring to accommodate the sub. it was very close, it seemed just that the slight chamfer of the sub basket is what was catching..

i believe peerless might have been too exact with their dimensions, and integrity cut out the mdf ring to those exact dimensions, so the discrepancy is in the finishing materials that ended up on top of the inside edge of the mdf ring..

otherwise, it wasn't any more difficult then any other box..





in-car fitment:

i'm a little dissapointed that the box won't fit with the trunk mat in place, but i guess that's what happens with a close-fitting fiberglass box.. i'm planning on modifying the truck mat later on..

this is the box pushed in as far as it would go with the mat in place


i even tried forcing it a little more just in case..


and the culprit



without the mat in place, it fits perfect.




and still enough room for tools..


and for those of you wondering about strut bar clearance, i hope this pic provides enough detail

[Integrity Concepts]

Originally Posted by djdnz

The trim ring I ordered looks to be made very well, it was wrapped with red suede material with no wrinkles or defects on the presenting face. The speaker grille is very sturdy and thick and has a high quality matte black finish. The enclosure is definitely a looker.

I will hopefully get some pics soon

Thanks for the detailed review. Here are a few pics from our end for everyone's reference. I would love to see some pics of it installed in your car!

Originally Posted by djdnz

The enclosure itself is covered in a very convincing OEM fabric, and I did not notice any unusual wrinkles or defects in the fabric - which I can only imagine is a huge challenge given the complexity of the shape of the box. The portions that are not seen when the enclosure is installed in the car are left as a rough textured grey fiberglass, and handling the surface gives you a sense of how sturdy and well built the enclosure is. It feels very thick and could stand being knocked around by the shipping guy even if the packaging was not as good as it is, and would likely handle the daily duty of being hit by the contents of your trunk as you're taking off ramps like schumi would.

Just a small edit for everyone so there is no confusion:

The portions that are not seen when the enclosure is installed in the car are not left as just a rough textured grey fiberglass. It is actually a smooth gelcoat surface out of the mold, but it is then prep sanded and finished with a spray on liquid sound dampening compound that dries a textured grey. This is also applied to the inside of the enclosure as well. See pic below.

[Integrity Concepts]

Here is another grill combination that was recently ordered. Matte Black grill with a textured Silver trim ring.





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[Integrity Concepts]

Originally Posted by XanRules

Solid review!

IC, can you guys comment on whether or not this will fit without issue for those of us with the OEM rubber trunk liner/mat thingie?

Early in the development stages we knew we wanted the subwoofer enclosures designed to be able to fit perfectly within the Scion FR-S, Subaru BRZ, and Toyota 86. Because all three manufactures offer slightly different optional OEM trunk liner/mat coverings, some carpet, some rubber and even at different thicknesses, we opted to design the enclosures with just the base carpeted trunk floor that is consistent across all three manufacturers.

We understand that this can pose difficulties for those individuals that would prefer to use a liner/mat be it OEM or even aftermarket, but we needed to maintain a consistent baseline shape suitable for a perfect fit in all three models.

With a liner/mat in place our enclosure would be bumped up and possibly out (with some of the trays) the thickness of whatever liner/mat is in place, and this would create gaps around the edge and or cause a misalignment of the mounting bracket and hardware. We placed a disclaimer on our order page that indicates that this enclosure was not designed for use with an additional liner/mat, but this has not stopped our customers from giving it a shot. We have had quite a few who have successfully made it work by modifying their liner/mat.

Typically what has been done is to trim the lip around the edge of the liner/mat down flat just in the area of the enclosure so that the enclosure can sit all the way back into where it was designed for. Even then the enclosure is held up the thickness of the liner/mat and this means that the mounting bracket may need to be bent slightly with your thumbs to help realign it.

I do not have confirmation of this working with all styles of add on mats/liners/trays as there are many different styles available, but I have also not had anyone reach out to specifically say they couldn't make it work. I have included pics of a few successful installs with liners/mats that have been shared elsewhere on this forum.










I hope this helps.