get as loud as until someone can hear or get noticed easily from outside with trunks and doors closed ... now when someone goes near the car the bass is noticeable but i want it to be noticeable from quite a distance (e.g two car distance away)😀
In that case there's no substitute for size.
I used to, in my delinquent teens, run a Cerwin vega Stroker 18D2 off an 1100wrms Directed amp. 3.5cf enclosure, tuned to 33Hz. Would set off car alarms 30yards before I reached the cars. 2-3" of travel on my steering wheel bouncing with the bass.
Sub should have been in 7-8cf, but car was too small.
For real "street bass" tune low, go large and play Dubstep.
how about go slightly lower box size and use slot port for tuning ... i heard that slot port has slightly lower port velocity then lower power compression problems ...
Btw i also have consider the use of 2 passive radiators and 1 active driver .... does if helps matters if the box size is large (of course not too large but optimal compromise) ... the most i can give is cover half the depth of the spare tire well but full use of lengthwise.... i mean the width of the car ...
Btw i also have consider the use of 2 passive radiators and 1 active driver .... does if helps matters if the box size is large (of course not too large but optimal compromise) ... the most i can give is cover half the depth of the spare tire well but full use of lengthwise.... i mean the width of the car ...
opps ... forget ... to be frank ... i need to tell i am a "TECHNO FREAK", but i do listen to rock, Rnb too ...
I had a 15" woofer in a sealed enclosure in an old VW rabbit with 450 watts RMS. I use to hate huge woofers. I usually preferred dual 10's or 12's. A friend dared me to use the particular woofer that I did, due to it's being on sale and I got an employee discount. Also, it was a very highly rated woofer at the time. 1998 Infinty, Beta series. The VW rabbit has a perfectly cylindrical spare tire well. I made a mold of it out of fiberglass, and used 3/4" MDF for baffle. I had to make it removable for autocross (yeah, I use to race it). The spare tire well had just over 1.4 cubic feet. It was perfect! If I were to do it again, I would make a modular cylindrical enclosure out of MDF and go with a 1.5" thick base and baffle. With no spare tire, I had the WHOLE TRUNK space available to store stuff. Amps went on back wall where tail lights are.
After installing it, I was amazed at the sound. It hit tight yet also deep. BUT it was not ground shakingly loud. I would say it was "audiophile" quality rather than shake the pants teenage quality. My whole system was running 1200 watts rms, but there were NO rattles in/outside of the car at all. As a matter of fact, with the windows rolled up, you couldn't hear the bass all that much outside the car. Windows down a bit you could hear it, but not shirt ruffling. I was running 8" midbasses. It was funny how people who liked sound quality loved my system, but my less knowledgeable friends didn't think it was "loud" enough 😀
I also listen to a lot of music that falls into the "electronic" category. I like deep synthesized style bass.
A friend of mine had 2 12" JL audio subs with 300 watts RMS each speaker in sealed enclosures. That hit pretty hard. But also sounded decent. This was a long time ago before the major car speaker manufacturers had the crazy high excursion woofers they do now...
Where I live it's rare to hear a system that sounds good AND is loud. I have actually seen cars with just tweeters up front, and HUGE subs in back. 😀
I think my system didn't sound loud to most people, because I had the gains set to be balanced like a home stereo. It's funny how even with the transfer function of the car, my system was still not bass heavy. Bass deep and tight, heck yeah!!!! I want to hear it AND feel it... But not boom shaka-lacka all the time...
What you need is to get the right amount of subs (minimum 2 10's in sealed enclosure) with the full amount of recommended clean RMS wattage driving the woofers. Then, you get an external BASS amp control so you can crank it up at the stop lights and stop signs to get people's attention. You can have audiophile sound quality and show off super awesome RAD bass if you want them both 😀
Heck, most of my nerdy car audio co workers in the past had multiple settings on thier digital 31 band EQ's for different playback (show off bass, SQ and daily driving).
Most of the systems I have had in the past, I ended up selling as I like to experiment with different set ups, and I always had friends wanting my systems 😀
Do you have any local friends who also play around with stereo stuff? Sometimes seeing and hearing other systems will give you ideas of how to set up stuff, and hear particular brands of products. Hands on experimentation is the best way. That's how I learned. Also from selling/installing the stuff... I had gone to a few car audio sound competitions, but never showed due to my car being a daily driver and heard (and saw) of people getting thier systems ripped off right after a show! No thanks 😛 I also don't play my systems loud near my neighborhood or before I get off the freeway. I have NEVER had a system stolen in the past. I even went to clubs in LA, and left my doors unlocked in a horrible neighborhood with TONS of expensive stereo stuff in my car. My fault, but I was happy to come back to see that I was an idiot who lucked out. Having a system that is worth 10 times more than what you paid for the car helps as well 😀
A ported enclosure will give you a bit more depth and volume with less power, but will most likely be a bit too boomy and need larger enclosures. Most car subs are designed for sealed small enclosures nowadays.
Did your woofer not come with a little spec sheet which gave you examples of different recommended enclosures? The other issue is that sealed speakers need more power, yet are more controlled and handle more power. As mentioned before, you can EQ the speakers to put out a little more depth. I actually don't remember the last time I heard a bandpass or ported speaker in any of my friend's cars who knew what they were doing. Yes, there are some nice bandpasses out there, but they are custom and hard to build most of the time. All the pre-made ones are CRAP...
One other thing... How easily can the bass flow through trunk area? Sometimes there is really thick foam padding in the seats, and rear deck cover. My BMW had REALLY thick foam seat backs with heavy metal frames, and about 4" thick (or more) foam on rear deck. not to mention thick vinyl coverings. I took out a lot of the foam on rear deck, and left the stupid "ski/arm rest" fold down thing open to let more air out. Sounded much better. My VW rabbit (1984, not the new ones) was a hatchback, so no issues there!
Also, I have never tuned a sealed enclosure. I always just used free online programs that give you a Q of around .7 or so. Going bigger lowers the Q, which is fine but will lower the power handling capabilities.
When I use to work at a local electronics retailer as an installer, we would almost lock our doors the day the traveling electronics "swapmeets" would come into town. Why? People came in with HUGE rockwood chip amps and other crap that almost always blew up right after we installed them. We told people we would not install anything that did not have a receipt and warranty from a reputable local retailer AND that we would not install unless it tested as good AND we would charge to remove the stuff if it blew up (no garauntee on anything). I opened one up one time that a customer threw on the floor (after I tested it as being dead), and it smelled like a burnt up toaster oven and had NO power supply that I could pick out very easily, nor did it have any capacitors worth looking it. This was before digital amps, too.
So... After my rambling and not really making sense... Here's what people are saying...
*Two woofers (as big as you can fit!).
*Sealed enclosures.
*Clean RMS power that matches woofer's rating.
(It's more than a dollar per RMS watt!)
a 1000 watt amp should cost a 1000 dollars 😀 and be HUGE
Sorry for long post. I'm just bored 😀
After installing it, I was amazed at the sound. It hit tight yet also deep. BUT it was not ground shakingly loud. I would say it was "audiophile" quality rather than shake the pants teenage quality. My whole system was running 1200 watts rms, but there were NO rattles in/outside of the car at all. As a matter of fact, with the windows rolled up, you couldn't hear the bass all that much outside the car. Windows down a bit you could hear it, but not shirt ruffling. I was running 8" midbasses. It was funny how people who liked sound quality loved my system, but my less knowledgeable friends didn't think it was "loud" enough 😀
I also listen to a lot of music that falls into the "electronic" category. I like deep synthesized style bass.
A friend of mine had 2 12" JL audio subs with 300 watts RMS each speaker in sealed enclosures. That hit pretty hard. But also sounded decent. This was a long time ago before the major car speaker manufacturers had the crazy high excursion woofers they do now...
Where I live it's rare to hear a system that sounds good AND is loud. I have actually seen cars with just tweeters up front, and HUGE subs in back. 😀
I think my system didn't sound loud to most people, because I had the gains set to be balanced like a home stereo. It's funny how even with the transfer function of the car, my system was still not bass heavy. Bass deep and tight, heck yeah!!!! I want to hear it AND feel it... But not boom shaka-lacka all the time...
What you need is to get the right amount of subs (minimum 2 10's in sealed enclosure) with the full amount of recommended clean RMS wattage driving the woofers. Then, you get an external BASS amp control so you can crank it up at the stop lights and stop signs to get people's attention. You can have audiophile sound quality and show off super awesome RAD bass if you want them both 😀
Heck, most of my nerdy car audio co workers in the past had multiple settings on thier digital 31 band EQ's for different playback (show off bass, SQ and daily driving).
Most of the systems I have had in the past, I ended up selling as I like to experiment with different set ups, and I always had friends wanting my systems 😀
Do you have any local friends who also play around with stereo stuff? Sometimes seeing and hearing other systems will give you ideas of how to set up stuff, and hear particular brands of products. Hands on experimentation is the best way. That's how I learned. Also from selling/installing the stuff... I had gone to a few car audio sound competitions, but never showed due to my car being a daily driver and heard (and saw) of people getting thier systems ripped off right after a show! No thanks 😛 I also don't play my systems loud near my neighborhood or before I get off the freeway. I have NEVER had a system stolen in the past. I even went to clubs in LA, and left my doors unlocked in a horrible neighborhood with TONS of expensive stereo stuff in my car. My fault, but I was happy to come back to see that I was an idiot who lucked out. Having a system that is worth 10 times more than what you paid for the car helps as well 😀
A ported enclosure will give you a bit more depth and volume with less power, but will most likely be a bit too boomy and need larger enclosures. Most car subs are designed for sealed small enclosures nowadays.
Did your woofer not come with a little spec sheet which gave you examples of different recommended enclosures? The other issue is that sealed speakers need more power, yet are more controlled and handle more power. As mentioned before, you can EQ the speakers to put out a little more depth. I actually don't remember the last time I heard a bandpass or ported speaker in any of my friend's cars who knew what they were doing. Yes, there are some nice bandpasses out there, but they are custom and hard to build most of the time. All the pre-made ones are CRAP...
One other thing... How easily can the bass flow through trunk area? Sometimes there is really thick foam padding in the seats, and rear deck cover. My BMW had REALLY thick foam seat backs with heavy metal frames, and about 4" thick (or more) foam on rear deck. not to mention thick vinyl coverings. I took out a lot of the foam on rear deck, and left the stupid "ski/arm rest" fold down thing open to let more air out. Sounded much better. My VW rabbit (1984, not the new ones) was a hatchback, so no issues there!
Also, I have never tuned a sealed enclosure. I always just used free online programs that give you a Q of around .7 or so. Going bigger lowers the Q, which is fine but will lower the power handling capabilities.
When I use to work at a local electronics retailer as an installer, we would almost lock our doors the day the traveling electronics "swapmeets" would come into town. Why? People came in with HUGE rockwood chip amps and other crap that almost always blew up right after we installed them. We told people we would not install anything that did not have a receipt and warranty from a reputable local retailer AND that we would not install unless it tested as good AND we would charge to remove the stuff if it blew up (no garauntee on anything). I opened one up one time that a customer threw on the floor (after I tested it as being dead), and it smelled like a burnt up toaster oven and had NO power supply that I could pick out very easily, nor did it have any capacitors worth looking it. This was before digital amps, too.
So... After my rambling and not really making sense... Here's what people are saying...
*Two woofers (as big as you can fit!).
*Sealed enclosures.
*Clean RMS power that matches woofer's rating.
(It's more than a dollar per RMS watt!)
a 1000 watt amp should cost a 1000 dollars 😀 and be HUGE
Sorry for long post. I'm just bored 😀
Yeah ... i do have my best friend crazy messing about with car audio too😀 ... he had 2 12" subs with 4 channel monoblock ....2 channels bridged driving 2 subs .... AND he also having same problem like me .... not loud enough.... but at least his system is louder then mine ...🙂
Slot ported enclosures won't sound any different to correctly implimented regular ported enclosures. Tuning freq is dependant on box volume and port area/length. You can have the same area with a slot or round port (or triangle, hexagon etc) and thus the same sound-all other things being equal.
If you're not listening to much music with very low bass, dubstep DnB etc, then you can sacrifice bandwidth for efficiency-however it's the really low frequencies that travel the best so if you want to be heard outside the car that is the area to concentrate on...
Ok ... now change to 55L ported box from my DIY pc subwoofer system ... After install inside the car trunk ... low bass has increased significantly and now the low bass can be heard from outside of the car quite clearly (even cause my rear plate number to rattle😀) ... But unfortunately still not loud enough 😀 ... so i think i should resort to change my car Amp? 😀
Yeah btw this box is temporary ... i borrow it from my DIY PC subwoofer system just nice it fits in the car ... once i finalize everything i will build a nice box for the woofer ... of course with pictures and photos ...😀
Yeah btw this box is temporary ... i borrow it from my DIY PC subwoofer system just nice it fits in the car ... once i finalize everything i will build a nice box for the woofer ... of course with pictures and photos ...😀
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