As a former installer in the mobile electronics industry, I will tell you that an amplifier mounted to an enclosure is NOT a problem provided that the amp is securely mounted to the enclosure, and the enclosure securely mounted ni the vehicle
Well, I don't want to turn this into an argument, but it's not that simple. I'm not an installer, but I repair broken amplifiers, so I will tell you that vibration absolutely can and does ruin amps. This is true not only in my own experience, but also in the experience of the man who I learned amp repair from, who runs the web site
http://www.bcae1.com. Maybe mounting the sub enclosure decreased the risk of damage. For example that the most recent amp I repaired was mounted VERY securely to the enclosure, but the enclosure was a box that sits in the trunk and isn't bolted down. The transformer windings were damaged from vibration and shorted. This also fried his DVD brain.
Car amplifers are made to handle vibration, if vibration were a problem every amp would suffer from general vibration be it from driving down the road/trail, or loud subwoofers.
Not ALL amplifiers will be damaged by these vibrations. Some have larger, stronger wire windings in the transformer with thicker insulation and can withstand this easily. Other amps, like all the Hifonics amps I have seen, will be destroyed quickly by mounting them to your subwoofer. Also if you look at home audio subwoofers, they always have the amp mounted on the subwoofer. However, if you took one apart you would see that the transformers they are are not the same wire-wound toroidals that car audio amps use. Basically the way they are built, they can handle it better.
It's also obvious that most subwoofer enclosures vibrate more than your car body does. If you whole car was vibrating like that all the time you would not be very happy with it and all kinds of things would break faster. I'm sure some enclosures vibrate more than others.
Anyways, whether the amp can handle being mounted to the sub enclosure depends completely on the build quality and the parts used in the amp. For example you will never see Rockford Fosgate Punch amps ruined because of vibration; they have very thick wire and insulation in their transformers. However, many many amps out there do not, and can be ruined. This is not to say that Punch amps are better, just that the TYPE of parts used happen to withstand vibration more than those used in the Hifonics Brutus amps, for example. For this reason it is safer to just not mount the amp on the sub enclosure unless you already know for sure it can handle it.
That being said, I like the location you found, i have been trying to find a locatin for my amplifer. I can't tell from your photos, but what does it look like for me to get an amplifer that is 29" long in there?
I think there is enough length, I just don't know how tall your amp is or how wide.
