I need some help deciding which direction to point my subs. I plan on custom building a box for 2 10' subs. I've heard good things about pointing them to the rear, but I usually have a trunk full of junk (golf clubs...) How about facing them up? Thanks for any advice.

 

If its a sealed box, it sounds better pointing up. I went through this before, in my first setup, when I first got my Max. I tried both ways, and it seemed to sound better facing up. If your subs require a sealed design, get some installers to give you some parameters in making a port design for them. I did this, and my subs POUND! The box is still sealed, however, but its the port that makes them pound.

 

you have it ported and sealed at the same time?

 

The subs face each other in their own respective enclosure where the air pushes through the port. It's almost like two seperate boxes facing each other, but all in one box!

 

bandpass?

 

I have 2 10's in a bandpass. deep low bass rumble but not punchy enough.

 

that's what i'm thinking. mixxmax, did you build the box yourself???

 

No, I don't like bandpasses, and I don't think any base should be in trunk. The woofers should be in a rear deck, with the box underneath.

Everuthing sealed. For tight bass your sub voice coils better be inside of your car!
From my experiense on many cars!
Mike

 

Yes, I built the box myself. Luckily, I have the convenience of working in a woodshop. My whole box was machined cut and routed on CNC operating equipment. The box is also "windowed" with plexiglass veiwing the chrome baskets of my subs. The inside veiw of the box is also lined with "mirror" plexiglass to give it a more custom look, along with neon lighting.

 

I tested my single 10" MTX Blue Thunder just today and found that pointing toward the rear of the car sounded best (while up against seat back). I tried facing the seat and facing upwards and found the bass was much less consistent.

Hope this info helps!

 

Use the search or scroll down and read what I wrote in 50 other threads.

 

Max'n out, I didn't have time to scrol down, but wanna hear your suggestion, so go ahead:

 

There have go to be at least a half dozen threads on this page alone of people asking which way to face the sub(toward trunk lid, or in cabin), ive discused the generel rules many times. It's not hard to find, just take a look.

 

Car Stereo Review (way back when it was a real magazine that you could actually learn things from) did an exhaustive battery of tests on speaker box placement in trunks. If I remember correctly, they decided that most every conceivable position sounded darn near identical. The ideal place to mount a box would be with the woofer venting directly into the passenger compartment through the package shelf under the rear window. Other than that, I think you should concentrate on functionality and maximizing your trunk space when making your box. Also, the proper selction of woofers and enclosure design (sealed, bandpass, ported, etc.) will have a much greater impact on sound quality than the way the box is facing when completed.

A ported box will generally need to be larger than a sealed box. The port acts as an amplifier on certain frequency(s) depending on the port diameter and length. (It's kind of like the way blowing accross an open bottle will produce a "whistling" sound.) There will be less output at extremely low frequencies due to the amplification of whatever freq it's tuned at. Also, the port limits the power that can be put to the woofer (but can also be made up for b/c of the amplification effect).

A sealed box will give you a flatter, more natural, freq curve. It will also generally give lower bass extension and since the airspace behind the woofer is sealed, this will allow you to feed more power to it.

In my opinion, a ported box will impress your friends more b/c most people don't care a lot about bass freqs below 40 or 50 Hz (which is where most rap music gets its bass from). Those freqs below 40 Hz are more important to an audiophile who can tell the difference by just listening to their favorite music. I think it all depends on the musical taste and how critical someone's ears are to different kinds of stereo system tuning. I will forever have sealed boxes because I'm a purist when it comes to music reproduction. Ported boxes are just as good, but by adding a port you are actually, in essence, adding an EQ to your box. What was the original topic????

I hope I didn't confuse anyone.

Tony

 

tony made a good point. the quality of the system sound mostly depends on installation. so do a good job on your box and don't worry too much on where to face it, cause that will make very little difference in the trunk of the maxima.

oh, and it is possible to have a very good sound quality ported box.

 

Well, I've only had a bandpass enclosure with a pair of 10" Kicker C-10s and they've always been pointed toward the rear of the trunk. I listen to rap, R&B, soul etc... and I love deep, heavy bass in my music. I've heard that pointing the subs/ports toward the rear gives you an increase in db, so that's what I'm looking for in what I listen to.

There you have it - you just have to decide if that's what you wanted...

peace2u