adding a subwoofer to the area-51m

[i.bakar]

i have the m18x and the alienware 18 , the sound quality for those laptops always made me disappointed in the sound of the area-51m so i started experimenting with the idea of adding a subwoofer to it . so here is what i got so far 

 

i started by find the location of the sound card and check the availability of adding the subwoofer directly to the sound card socket . since the socket ( as shown in the pictures has 10 wires connector , 8 of them goes to the 4 speakers ( 2 on each side ) but the last 2 are empty ..

 

i connected the subwoofer 2 wires to the last 2 empty spaces in the socket but it didnt work , i'm not sure why . anyways i decided to split the last 2 wires for one of the speakers and connect the subwoofer to it and see what happens ... it worked and the subwoofer came alive ... 

 

it was time to find the physical location for the subwoofer , the challenges are the followings:

1- need space that physically fits

2- to be very close to the sound card to eliminate a longer wire which could add more resistance to the system for no reason 

3- have is stand on a flexible rubber or something to eliminate the vibrations 

4- add some sort of a tape to the top of the subwoofer box to reduce noise as much as possible 

 

i used the subwoofer from the alienware 18 since the m18x subwoofer is a bit deeper then the one in the alienware 18 and i started to cut the box in order for it to fit the location. 

 

unfortunately the only place that has enough clearance for the subwoofer is the place which the hard drive sets . so if u like to do that u should know that the secondary hard drive should be removed .. the good part is that the subwoofer works well .. not as great as it is in the m18x due to the reduce in the subwoofer box size ( which shows in the pictures ... )

- i thought about opening the ssd secondary hard drive and see the size of the inside chip to see if i can fit it in the remaining place next to subwoofer so i dont have to sacrifice the third SSD that i have ... 

 

i had to do some measurements and cuts in order for it to fits but it fits ..which took a couple of hours 

 

i added a 3M double side tape to the bottom of the subwoofer to fix it in place and reduce vibrations 

i added a 3M double tape to the top of the subwoofer box ( removing only one side to stich to the subwoofer box and keep the top tape cover to not stick to the laptop bottom cover. 

 

the subwoofer pox is not completely sealed yet from the sides which i dont know if it can effect the sound quality or no ... but there is no need to seal the bottom of the box since its sealed by the laptop palm and the mouse pad . 

 

the result is overall good , there is a deep sound to any song and some bass to it ( not as strong as the m18x ) which could be due to the box size being smaller or the subwoofer being too close to the laptop bottom cover ( i think that could be solved by create an opening in a shape of a louvers at the laptop bottom cover to release the sound ( like the attached reference picture) but i dont want to damage my cover. 

 

here is my experience and i'm open to any suggestions.. 

 

hope that helps

 

 

[ssj92]

Nice I should buy 2 subwoofers from ebay for my area-51m and m18

 

Does the m18x subwoofer not fit in the 2.5" bay?

[i.bakar]

4 hours ago, ssj92 said:

Nice I should buy 2 subwoofers from ebay for my area-51m and m18

 

Does the m18x subwoofer not fit in the 2.5" bay?

 

it fits physically but very tightly  

 

when i installed the m18x subwoofer in the 2.5 bay and added the double face in the bottom , the subwoofer was almost touching the laptop back cover ,, it sounded good when the cover is off, but as soon as i installed the back cover the subwoofer started to rattle a bit which i thing is because it was so close to the back cover that the sound started to vibrate the back cover  

 

i think the only way u can get away with installing the m18x sub is by creating an opening in the back laptop cover for the sound to escape.