subwoofer placement
 

I was wondering which would be better to have the subs facing the rear, the front, or one on each side facing toward each other.
I am starting on my box in the next couple of days and just wondered in your experience which will sound better. Also, if rear is the best would it be better to have fire into hatch or angle up to fire into the window?


thanks,
jeremy

Generally, the best sub placement seems to be having the speakers mounted toward the front of the hatch (like against the seatbacks), firing toward the hatch door itself. This is using the same accepted theory as a closed trunk.

But every vehicle is different, and your results may vary. If you have access to a "test box" (maybe even buy a cheap sub box, and see if you can return it or sell it once you are done), mess around with the placement until you find what sounds best to you.

As a general rule, however - placement in a hatchback is a bit less important than in a sealed trunk, due to the fact that the bass will be more audible regardless of position (because the hatch is "open" to the cabin, except for the thin cover, which doesn't really have any effect).

Facing subs toward each other is not a good idea. The colliding sound waves have a good chance of cancelling each other out, resulting in dramatic loss of SPL. Don't mount them firing at one another.

~HH

Face it down!
Its rarley done since you can't show it off but downward firing boxes rock.

i kinda like that idea
 

would it matter if it was like a bridge design or would it have to close to the "floor" for the sound that would help in facing it down? i know it could not be too high cuz i dont want it to be over the seats and they arent that high. im making the box out of fg and it would be kinda cool to have them facing down and have plexiglass to see the subs.




thanks for the help
jeremy

I am just finishing up on an amp rack and a sub enclosure. I made a sealed box, and placed it behind the right rear seat same width of the seat, with a jl 12w6 that faces the right side. this prevents anything in the trunk from damaging the speaker. Its corner loaded giving it a nice boom to it. I will be posting pics soon.

If you really know how to crunch number then you can get very close to the floor and the box becomes what is know as a boundry loaded box but the need equations are insane. Manyof JLs stelth boxes are boundry loaded. The next best thing when facing the floor or another bountry is to leave an open are atleast equal to the surface area (sd) of the sub being used.

Example is you had 2 12W3v2 subs thats 163 square inches.

So if you make a down firing box that is surronded or closed off on 3 side of the box, the open area needs to be equal to atleast 163 square inches. So if you wanted a 5" high opening then the opening would need to be about 32.6" wide.

what about front to back if it was 5" high and say 33" wide???



thanks
jeremy

Just do the match, 5*33 for each opening and then * 2 for one in front and one in bakc = 330 which is definitly enough since it only needed to be 163. 2.5" high at 33" wide on each side would be enough. remeber thats a cut out or vent area of 33 inches wide not a box 33 inches wide.

Box design
 

You guys..

There is so much more to designing and placing a box in a car. It all has to do with displacement. The amount of air the sound has to travel before hitting the sweet spot (your ears). Power, how much power will you be using. Displacement, for what type of enclosure.

To make everything simple. The longer that sound wave has to travel to get to your ears the louder it will be in theory. The longer the sound wave the deeper the bass.

You have to take into account everyting you listen to, how much $$ you want to spend. Best thing is to go to a Car Audio shop that builds a lot of custom boxes and ask them their opinion. It's their job!!!

Let me know if you need any details..

Q-LOGIC
 

Q-Logic makes an awsome slot loaded box. It fires downward and accomodates 2 10's or 2 12's. It has a place for your amps to mount on the side and plastic removable panels where you can hide your amps' wires as well. You get a custom looking amp rack and a down firing sub box. It's kind of expensive, but considering the technology and the custom looking amp rack, it may be worth the cost. Just an idea! Also, they only come in black.

Michael

its a great box, but like you said, expensive :)