Question about sub enclosures
 

I see a lot of sub enclosures in people's trunks. I guess people wouldn't do it if it didn't sound good...then again, a lot of people seem to like the idea of making everybody else hear the thump. From a pure sound quality perspective, does it really work that well? It seems like you would get a lot of thumping and rattling, but nothing really tight. Plus, for those of you who mount them on the floor facing up...what if you put stuff in your trunk? I don't know...this is part of why I am so enamoured of radiogod's encosures which have the driver's more or less in the passenger compartment via the pass-through door (someone else did a similar thing with a pair of JL Audio drivers). Still, maybe I'm being unfair to the trunk-mounted installations, and should consider them. Any thoughts?

jds

I don't see why say 1 10" woofer isn't plenty of bass for an RX-8 either, but many people put in 2 12" woofers with 400+ Watts a piece.

Whenever my enclosure is done it will be one 8W3 with about 180 Watts behind it. I should keep most of my trunk room as well.

-Mr. Wigggles

The key here is the "whenever"... :p

I have 2 10" DVC subs with a 1000 watt amp..

I listen to Country music.

Re: Question about sub enclosures
 

From a purely sound quality perspective, the same subs will normally sound better if they are in the same airspace as the listener (such as being inside the passenger compartment), then on the other side of a wall or in a trunk that is separated from the listener. The sharpness of the impact from subs is muted slightly by the seats or rear package shelf, certain frequencies transmit better than others through the different materials, and it simply takes more power to basically "force" the sound through those materials.

But there is limited space in the vehicle itself, so if you want to install a certain amount of subs to get a certain level of output (whether to compete in a 1,000 watt+ class, or to try to impress others), you don't have many choices. It is another matter of compromise in car audio. So, you will see some competition cars with subs in the trunk, where they have tweaked every part of that install to get the best sound, and do other things to make up for some of the drawbacks of installing subs in a trunk.

If you take your example of the recently posted picture of a pair of subs between the rear seats, it is a very nice install, and should sound very solid and very smooth (with little storage loss, I might add). But they are only 6W0s, and if mirror-shaking-wake-up-the-neighbors-bass is what you want, the 6W0s just aren't going to match up with a pair of 10s or 12s in the trunk with much more power. There are ways to get a 10 or some 8s in the passenger compartment, but that will take more effort and money.

And lastly, with real world considerations, installing a basic box with nice covering in the trunk of a car is a LOT cheaper and easier, then putting something together inside the passenger compartment of an RX8. So, for alot of people, the sound quality isn't compromised enough that they notice it (or they listen to certain types of music where its' not as much of an issue), a trunk install is perfectly fine.

---jps

my take is this:

where is the perfect place for a sub? in the middle of the dash :) that way, you get true bass upfront, whcih is the ultimate goal of a good sub system in a car. of course, for most people, this option is not possible or way too expensive or time consuming...

so natually, the ting that determines sub location is ease of isntall...whcih 99 percent of the time, is in the trunk. now, when putting subs int he trunk, a few things will affect the sound, the first being how well the trunk is vented to the cabin inside. if its sealed too well, then you may have a loss of SPL and of course, that wind in hair sensation that we like so much. the second issue is you dont want to cross them too high so that your subs sound blalently coming from the rear...you want the sub to blend togehter with the rest of the music. whcih i have found, means to cross the subs somewhere int eh neighbohood of 50-80hz. thsi is because sub bass at that freq. is omnidirectional, and your front spekares, with its strong midbass presence, anchors the bass notes and makes it seem like your bass is up front.

but back to your question, like sputnik said, if you desire that hair rasiing, voice modulating bass all the way down to 10-20hz, then a 10 or 12 or such is really theonly way to get it, and in most cars, espeically the rx8, the trunk is the only way to get it. however, if you dont need large amounts of really low bass, then what I did with the 6w0s maybe your ticket. one thing about 6w0s, despite the fact tha thtey are only 6.5" in diamater, a pair of these, i na sealed box facing in side the cabin, and about 200 watts, will match the volume of a lowered powered 10" sub installed in the trunk...all the way down to about 30hz, where the output of the tw0 starts to really drop off, while a 10 and 12 will keep on going...

rotarygod (who seems to be quiet recently... i.e. busy? ), comments?

Xero? mdw33333? How about you guys?

Lots of good comments guys, thanks. The thing I'm thinking about (its not a particularly near future thing either, as I'm not sure how I'd come by an enclosure like this short of getting one from rotarygod whenever he has any available) is a single Kicker Solobaric S8L7 or L7 mounted in the pass through like the box he is working on or the one 16psibrick has. I like to have plenty of bass available, but its for me to listen to, in my car....I don't want my ears to bleed, or people three blocks away to say "What the hell was that?" (although I tend to get that look from people who hear my music anyway regardless of power levels :-D

jds

auctally, a solidbaric s8l7 was the second runner up when i designed the system...the problem with using that sub is, from my experince, the s8l7 sounds better torwards the larger of its recommended sealed enclosures sizes, whcih is .6-.75 cub feet...and there is NO way you can get anywhere near that size of an enclosure to fit...:) there are other good 8" subs that would fit in a .2-.3 cubfeet selaed and work well, but in my opinion, two 6w0s will get louder and sound just as good :)

b

I dunno. A vented 8" vs two 6" in a sealed box... I think it'll depend on your type of music. Country, rock and probably pop too... the 6" will do. If you start talking rap, hip-hop, reggae and pop then you are going to probably want the extra freq.

Check Image Dynamics for an 8" that'll fit in your defined enclosure space.
ID8V.2 D2
Diameter 8"
Power RMS/Peak 175/300W
Voice Coil Dual 2 Ohms or Dual 4 Ohms
Xmax 11mm
Sealed enclosure size 0.3 cu.ft
Vented enclosure size 0.6 cu.ft

Put 8's in the floor in front of the pedals. They'll fit! Visually, you'll never know they are there.

i love anyhting ID, having used almost every line of their products in terms of subs and spekares :) but I would deifnetly say, properly installed, two 6w0s will be louder than an id8, i personally think id8 is more suited as a midbass :)

yeah, the floor set up is great if you got he skills :) but in comps, the judges seem to be biased agianst it cuase the vibration draws their attention down towrads the floor and loweres the whole perceived stage heigh :(

b

Anyone have an opinon on choice of speakers? How any single 8" or 10" measures up against the two JL 6"?