Subwoofer Positioned???

mrmike420 · Post by **mrmike420** » April 3rd, 2007, 9:49 pm

Hello,

I have a question for all the mx-ers that have subwoofers installed in the hatch. How do you guys have your subwoofers positioned?

Facing towards the front of the car?
Facing towards the back?
Facing up, towards the hatch glass?

I have my box facing towards the front of the car, but I want to acheive the best bass outcome. Does anyone know the best placement in the mx-3 hatch for a dual 12" subwoofer box?
I heard you will hear more bass the farther you are from the subs while still in the car. I also heard that if you have your box facing up towards the hatch glass against the very back wall it will create a cone-effect that will produce better bass. Any truth to this???
Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks!

Please advise...

m0rpheus666 · Post by **m0rpheus666** » April 3rd, 2007, 11:14 pm

after expierementing around with my subs (btw i also have dual 12's) i have found put them facing the back of the car all the way against the back seat produces the best bass. something about the way it is positioned allows the sound wave to resonate the best, this is my own personal opinion.

ScooterBovine · Post by **ScooterBovine** » April 4th, 2007, 10:03 am

Here is what chew* says:

B) the mx-3 sounds best with a small ported box as tight to the rear seat as possible with the ports and speakers fired rear with the cargo area completely empty including the spare tire removed.

chew* · Post by chew* » April 7th, 2007, 12:04 am

/\ couldn't have said it better myself

Xearo · Post by **Xearo** » April 22nd, 2007, 10:36 pm

i have 2 JL 12w3 in a sealed box, i have put them in every position i could and well.....against the back seat with subs faceing the rear of the car....i get like half the bass if they face the front

Cy · Post by Cy » April 22nd, 2007, 11:28 pm

The shape of the hatch and the factory trunkspace basically makes a bandpass box directing the sound to the front of the car...
If you have rear-seats still...then facing it towards them is just like your muffler....

I have a 10" Punch 150RMS which is recommended to have a 1.25-1.5cuft enclosed box in a 2.32cuft enclosed box mounted in the center of the rear seat (no trunk interior or seats @ all)...

I haven't DBdragged it yet but it will give you a headache in like 3minutes of 0-600Hz Sine Sweeps... I'm guessing from cars i've heard that it's atleast 100-120DB...

chew* · Post by chew* » April 26th, 2007, 11:46 pm

for the "BEST" positioning it is necessary to lose the rear seat. Just finished my SPL install again and 1 15" memphis mojo mounted where the rear seat was the edge of the box just in front of the rear spare tire well firing into the completely empty cargo space ( not even panels in there ) w/ 2 kicker kx 1200.1 amps. The box is ported to the rear and I tuned it to 52hz to give me some headroom to tune it higher ( shorten port length ) and im hitting 149.3db on the dash @ 52hz doors closed, door open testing was 150+ on the floor @ 56hz ( the resonant frequency of my particular mx-3 ) I need to shave the port slowly now till its tuned for 56 hz with the door closed and that should net a 1.5 to 3db gain door open or closed.

I started with the smallest enclosure reccomended which is 3.50 cubic gross internal feet for my sub, they can operate in up to 10 cubic so theres plenty of headroom for improvement.

Dark_Rider2k3 · Post by **Dark_Rider2k3** » July 20th, 2007, 12:43 pm

I can't afford to lose my rear seats, seeing as I have friends and family who ride in my car from time to time.

buuuuut here is my sub set-up:

it still sounds totally amazing.. only leaves me with my speakers to install

umcamara · Post by **umcamara** » July 22nd, 2007, 5:21 am

Best way to tell is to try the subs in all different positions, listening to the music that you most commonly listen to. Different speaker configurations and box types, not to mention speaker quality and MDF thickness introduce too many variables. Working as a car audio installer I'm always asked this question, and this is the answer I most commonly give.

chew* · Post by chew* » July 22nd, 2007, 10:24 am

umcamar1 wrote:Best way to tell is to try the subs in all different positions, listening to the music that you most commonly listen to. Different speaker configurations and box types, not to mention speaker quality and MDF thickness introduce too many variables. Working as a car audio installer I'm always asked this question, and this is the answer I most commonly give.

Being that i have already tested every possible configuration and box style and am a profesional car audio competitor. Refer to my above post on proper positioning.

midrange · Post by **midrange** » July 22nd, 2007, 10:07 pm

all depends..

Its pretty simple.. Bass will travel where it wants when it wants...

How i do it which i found works best.

Ported box.. Subs facing forward.
Sealed box.. Subs facing backwards.
bandpas box.. which ever way you want..

TIP - Never have your subs face upwards because subs DO sink in if they are. Leave them sideways the way they were designed to be used.

Reasons - When using a ported box, the sub can breath easy making it so your not hearing the sub be so punchy when it pounds, so when subs are forward, you get your bass and good sound too.

When the sub is in a sealed box, the sub can't breath as easy making the sub seem kinda tinny somewhat when hitting hard notes, so sub facing backwards eliminates that sound sop you hear good bass.

What I have learned is a sealed box that is made to spec for the sub and the subs facing backwards sounds the best.
But what you should do, is just move it around until your satisfied.

chew* · Post by chew* » July 23rd, 2007, 4:10 pm

If you are not using an expensive and accurate meter like i do for testing then you can't possibly know which way works best. The positioning I've reccomended couples the wave of the box with the wave of the car.

When you can peg 150+ DB with a single sub you can preach what the best configuration is. Otherwise results speak for themselves. My results are by far the loudest to date.

Results.
http://www.termpro.com/asp/competitorst ... 007&Page=5

http://www.termpro.com/asp/competitorst ... 007&Page=5

chew* · Post by chew* » July 23rd, 2007, 4:17 pm

midrange wrote:all depends..

Its pretty simple.. Bass will travel where it wants when it wants...

That is the most ridiculous statement i have ever heard.

Bass can be directed very easily. Some of the vans we test with walls peg 160's on the drivers side and 170's on the passenger side where we mount the meter. Not because they choose to because we set the sytem up purposely to do that.

Box placement speaker direction and port placement have everything to do with giving bass a direction and target. It takes simple mathematics and the use of corner loading.

The bottom line is the better matched the wave of the box is matched to the wave of the car the higher the output with the same amount of input.

TIP - Never have your subs face upwards because subs DO sink in if they are. Leave them sideways the way they were designed to be used.

This is the second most ridiculous statement I have heard. What kind of subs are you using? I find that particularly funny as I seem to remember helping a buddy set up a very expensive home theater system upwards of the $20K range and the subs are mounted upwards..........

Vanished · Post by **Vanished** » July 23rd, 2007, 6:11 pm

My sub is mounted upwards...alot of guys do this when they are building a box in a spare tire well like I did...I think it sounds good. I do remember that my old setup (two 10 in type E's in sealed boxes, slanted at 45 degrees) they worked best when they face towards the back of the car.