ALPSTA

iTrader: (3)

Initially I was going to get a custom made DamonB style subwoofer box which means the subwoofer would be facing the trunk however today another audioshop I visited said they can also do a mold of the rear seat backrest/board/panel or whatever it's called (so that my original one will not be damaged) and install the sub facing the inside of the car. The guy said although it won't be day and night difference I'd get better quality bass if it was facing the inside. What do you guys think? Anyone tried both set-ups?

usma_2006

iTrader: (3)

I went from having this:


To building this, which I think is what your installer is saying he can do:




And finally refinishing to:



Personally, I like the two facing forward better than the three facing up. Granted, I've never had subs installed facing the rear in the RX7. In all my other cars, I've always had them facing the rear, but the cabin of the RX7 is so small compared to just about every other car, I've never had an issue with sound quality with them facing forward.

juicyjosh

iTrader: (29)

There will be less up-and-down vibration with the subs facing into the cabin, which also concentrates more of the sound pressure into the cabin. A while back, I had two 10's in the trunk facing upward, and there was so much shaking that I was getting rattles from the front of the car, not to mention the license plate and a dozen other things. Since there's less than 9" from the trunk floor to the bottom of the strut bar, there isn't much room to work with, so you're going to have to be creative with this one.

muibubbles

iTrader: (36)

umm wtf? is that a topless fd?!??!?!

usma_2006

iTrader: (3)

Nope, just a porsche with an FD body kit...

My bad, I'm just a big Bill Engvall Fan... Yes, it's a targa FD.

armytim2002

you didnt say "heres your sign"

usma_2006

iTrader: (3)

hahaha... I was going to put a as the "sign" but I wanted to make sure my jesting wasn't taken the wrong way... it's so hard to joke over the internet!

Rx_Sam

how did you do that for the targa roof ??? got build pic's of it ??

usma_2006

iTrader: (3)

It was done in Cali by the owner before the previous owner... no build pics, although I will be putting up a thread in a few months detailing how I'm fixing the shop's sloppy finish work.

Apologies to Alpsta... didn't mean to thread-jack! I hope a couple of us at least helped answer your original question.

ALPSTA

iTrader: (3)

No need to apologise Usma, targa top on a FD is like big *****, it'll attract attention wherever you go even if you don't want it to

I am still not sure which way to install the sub though. Has anyone tried a single sub facing the inside and then facing the trunk? Which one gives deeper bass? Which one gives clearer bass? Any difference in rattles? I'm assuming facing the sub to the inside of the car will cause less rattles due to being away from the trunk tray.

usma_2006

iTrader: (3)

I do know from experience with other vehicles, especially hatchbacks, you'll tend to get deeper and "boomier" bass with it facing the rear, as the sound waves bounce off and resonate the rear windshield. This tends to multiply the sound, but can also cause phase shifts if you're utilizing a bandpass or ported enclosure depending on the distance between the subwoofer and rear windshield and the ports/glass on the enclosure. Front facing will give you clearer bass as you are subjecting the sound waves to less reflection before they reach your ears and you'll have fewer rattles as juicyjosh mentioned before.

As a baseline, I have two 10" audiobahns w/ DVC powered by an amp pushing 600 watts RMS. The bass boost is at 0 on the amp, my gain adjuster is only about 1/3 of the way up, and my bass level option on my Pioneer F90BT is at -3. I have a remote bass boost that I use to control the base levels and I typically keep it turned about 25% with all those settings. Sometimes I'll turn it up to 50-75% if a song with some really great bass comes on, but I'm typically underpowering my subs because they already produce so much sound for such a small space that I have no need to turn them up any higher. The result is crystal clear bass at the current sound levels and the ability to still really crank it up if I'm cruising with the top off or I want to impress some high school girls ...

just kidding about the high school girls.

You can fit two tens in a setup similar to mine if you extend them out like I did, or if you wanted to go for more of a linear box, you could fit two high quality 8's under the rear strut bar and still have some crystal clear bass that would probably still be plenty loud given the size of the interior.

As a bonus, front firing subs let you keep a lot of your rear storage (as you can see through my box on my second picture) and you don't have to worry about loose items muffling your subs or damaging them if you opted to go grill-less if you had rear facing subs.

ALPSTA

iTrader: (3)

Ok I'm convinced. Btw I could've gone with two 8" subs but instead I opted for a single 10".

Here is my set-up:
Head unit: JVC KD-SX998R
Front speakers: Alpine Type-R (spr-17s) 6.5" components
Rear speakers: n/a
Subwoofer: Alpine Type-R 10" (swr-1042d)
Amps: Alpine MRP-F600 (comps) + Alpine MRP-M500 (mono, sub)

I think I'll go with the front facing sub because of the advantages you and juicyjosh mentioed like risk of damage, more trunk space, better display etc. I don't want a boomier bass, rattling rear tray or number plate etc. Plus this way the amps will be visible when I open the trunk.

Another thing I'm trying to decide atm is whether to run the components active or passive. I don't have a processor or whatever it's called but the installer told me he can run a pair of comps with a 4 channel amp (active setup) and I can have better sound quality.

usma_2006

iTrader: (3)

If you already have that MRP-F600, I'd definitely run that to your comps... might as well. That'll push 100 watts RMS vs. the 19 RMS per channel that your JVC is pushing.

If you're only planning on running front speakers only, it might be worth it to you to pay a little extra to have the amp run the comps instead of your head unit. This'll allow you to turn up the volume to compensate for the lack of rear speakers without the distortion that may occur trying to do the same with the head unit alone.

SinSFDream

iTrader: (9)

I would agree that rear facing subs will have a deeper/boomier sound that ones facing forward. But I also think in such a small space you may also hear some slap from the subs if forward. I can see how the setup posted of them facing up would not have the best output. I had one setup with two tens facing up and they werent anywhere near what I got when facing toward the rear. You will definately get a tighter sound if facing forward. Looks like a great setup above, probably more than what you are going for though.

I personally would go with two 8's if you are not looking for boomy bass. A single 10 will get you deeper tones, but less output. Depending on your sub you can almost get two 8's in the same size box as a single 10. Thats just what I go for though.

ALPSTA

iTrader: (3)

Hmmm I wouldnt like to hear slaps from the sub. I never thought about it but yeah the sub cone material makes noise.

I went with a single 10" instead of two 8" because then I'd need another amp or a bigger amp and also the trunk space is limited and I thought two 8s may need a bigger sub box.

Usma: I have everything except mrp-m500 and the sub, dealer didnt have any in stock so I ordered them, expecting a call soon. And the reason I went with front comps only is almost everyone I talked with told me I didnt need rear fill in such small car and running comps or 6x9s at the rear would make the sq worse.

Rx_Sam

mine is facing like this with the porting also
best way to guide the bass

usma_2006

iTrader: (3)

That looks like a nice setup too! Are you still building? Have any finished pictures? Where are you mounting your amp?

dohckiller808

if you want lows without forcing the sub id go sub back. gives the lower frequency wave to develop.

ALPSTA

iTrader: (3)

So from what I've read so far, sub facing rear:
Pros:
- Boomier and deeper bass
- Less likely to hear distortion etc.
Cons:
- More chance of rattles (tray, number plate etc.)
- Takes more room
- Not visible (this can be a pro also)

Sub facing inside:
Pros:
- Clearer and less boomier bass
- Takes less room
- Both amps and sub can be visible
Cons:
- Bass not as deep
- May attract thiefs
- Possible woofer cone material slap noise

LikeThunda

iTrader: (1)

i had a better experience when it was facing the trunk.... just my opinion,,, sounded alot better...

MSilk

iTrader: (1)

Really placement can matter, but it really all comes down to the size and style of your box, the subwoofer you use and the amp. The amp is really really important. I have ran a 1984 Supra with two 12" Kenwood Excelons in an extremely small box (just over 1.2cuft) made 144Db. Those subs were facing backwards powered by Kenwoods Excelon sub amp (can't remember that was too long ago)

I also ran a competition car (1989 Honda Civic 4dr) that car had a slew of different subs in it, had a single 12, dual 12's, one 13.5 and ended up with 2 8" woofers, all of those subs were JL W7's. With my in shop RTA we found that there was no real gain or loss from direction (all tuning staying the same). Then again that civic had a trunk. Either combo of subs were all powered from a JL 500/1 V1. Believe it or not the loudest combo of woofers was the 2 8" W7's in custom slot ported boxes, 146.8Db.

SO now that I have completely forgot what i was getting to, oh Amp is very important, enclosure is also very important.
I would NOT place the subs firing up as that has the potential for many things to go horribly wrong.
All in all build or buy yourself a box and play with it, do not worry about the slapping sound from the woofers, that just means the tuning is not correct and is easily fixed (as long as its not a port issue with your box) buy a good amp (Alpine makes some good stuff, I am biased to JL but thats me) and the most important is have fun with the project and enjoy the tunes!

If you need any help feel free to PM me


Mike

LikeThunda

iTrader: (1)

yeah.well i just had a bazooka bass tube Lol..soo with mine u could tell the Difference..but if you have like a Huge set up im sure it doesnt really matter..

ALPSTA

iTrader: (3)

Head unit: JVC KD-SX998R
Front speakers: Alpine Type-R (spr-17s) 6.5" components
Rear speakers: n/a
Subwoofer: Alpine Type-R 10" (swr-1042d)
Amps: Alpine MRP-F600 (comps) + Alpine MRP-M500 (mono, sub)

I got all the stuff except the mono amp and the sub, still waiting for delivery and I still couldn't decide which way to face the sub. Both have advantages and disadvantages. If it's not going to sound much worse, I think I prefer a sub facing the inside due to the reasons I listed in post #19. One advantage of sub facing the trunk would be the box would be much easier to take out if I needed.

mike_merryguy

iTrader: (8)

usually you will get better sound in a hatchback facing the glass b/c it will bounce off the glass (the bass) and come at you, the more things the bass hits b4 it hits you the more air it has displaced and should sound better, it just depends on what you like, i knew a girl that liked her subs facing outward like to left and right of the car... strange but it sounded good, its a user preference type thing...

dohckiller808

just slap it in a test box and flip it any old direction till you like it. if you dont see different numbers in direction you face it in, your nutts.