hey kam - i do have a custom made subwoofer box. and all the problems i mentioned are fixed/being fixed.

eclipse aluminium subs need much larger boxes than type R's so basically the loaner sub was a misfit so it sounded horrible.

i've since spent a bit more money and finally finished off the system and its sounding great and is sufficiently loud.

similar setup to euro2005's... I have:

Focal 165kf splits
Focal 690HC 6x9's
Eclipse CD8051 head unit
Eclipse PA5422 amp (since upgraded from EA3422)
Alpine MRD-501 (on loan or a keeper depending on whether MRD-500 can be fixed)
Eclipse SW8812.4 Subwoofer (the "old school"/original eclipse alluminium)