Say I was to get two Kicker 12" subs; would I be better off placing them so they faced towards the ski-port (and therefor the rest of the car) or would it be better to face them towards the rear of the boot?
I've seen them set up both ways but have never had a chance to hear the difference - if there is any, I'd be interested to know.

well technically subs arn't directional so there shouldn't be any difference if u'r using a well made box

ermmm

cant remember exactly, but one way is more for SPL and the other for SQ.....

i think facing into cabin is for SQ.....

faceing them towards the rear of the boot (call rear-loading, i think or something like that) is usually more benificial, not only for space, but also sound, cand remeber why, but something with the reverberation of sooundwaves and.... im gonna shaddup, wait for stimulate, or one of the other audio buffs, they'll sort you out with all you need to know.... and some you dont hehe

the further the soundwaves have to travel the better the base will sound.i have found this to be very true.heard this off the earthquake rep.

ive got two 12inch competitions i place them so the box is touching the rear seat facing out so u can see them wen u open the boot.... that is the best way ive found cuz :D

Firing the Subs Through the Ski port will have a better Quality but Rear facing towards the Boot will have a Superior Bass Out put..


In a Sedan, Rear loading is Recommended ( Facing the Boot)


The Theory is ..
Forward firing allows the Bass to enter into the Cabin, The Passenger Cabin is full of Air Holes and Places for the bass to escape... so while the Quality is superior Audible Volume is decreased , Cone Noise can also be heard..


Rear Firing.
The Bass Wave Radiates around the boot and causes a slight delay which arrives at the same time as the next one behind it.. Thus Increasing the audible output
Cone noise is masked by the resounding wave.. Down side is increased boot rattle...

( The rear Firing Theory has been Glued and stuck together by various theories posted all over the Net)
FHRX could probably Define it better then me

But I always Rear load..

Thats the theory I've always followed, and it seems like I've made the right choice. Thanks for the input guys, this one seems fairly diffinitive - you cant argue with science!

FHRX could probably Define it better then me

Or I could just take the answer from our FAQ (http://www.fastfoursforumscarclub.com/temp/fhrxstudios/faq.asp) page. :D:D:D

Which way should I aim my subwoofer?

The aiming of subwoofers has been quite a topic of speculation for years now in car audio. Through experimenting many people have found that their subwoofers sound much better when aimed backwards. Many people realise that there seems to be much more bass with the boot open than with the boot closed. We've heard a great deal of strange and utterly incorrect theories to explain this phenomenon.

The main reason this phenomenon occurs is all about sound waves (direct and reflected) and more importantly the cancellation of these waves. The diagrams below assist in showing the sine waves and their phase relationships between the direct sound wave entering the car and the reflected wave that hits the back of the boot and reflects forward. Since the reflection is bounced into the listening area one can treat them much the same as having two sources.

http://www.fastfoursforumscarclub.com/temp/fhrxstudios/images/aiming_1.jpg

In the above picture the vertical black line at the left of the picture is the boot rear panel (the beaver panel the tail lights are mounted on). This picture is an illustration of what happens when sound comes out of the front side of the subwoofer enclosure. Sound travels forward into the car (the red wave) and also backwards to reflect off of the back of the boot (the purple wave). Both the direct wave and reflected wave get to the listener but they are way out of phase causing enormous cancellation in the listening area. At this stage if you opened the boot the reflected wave would disappear and NOT reflect back into the car, thus resulting in no cancellation

http://www.fastfoursforumscarclub.com/temp/fhrxstudios/images/aiming_2.jpg

In the picture above picture the speaker box has been aimed at the boot instead of the rear seat and you can clearly see the direct and reflected waves are not nearly as much out of phase as in the first example. This resulting in much better bass reproduction.

http://www.fastfoursforumscarclub.com/temp/fhrxstudios/images/aiming_3.jpg

This picture above represents the subwoofer enclosure being moved to the rear of the trunk with the subwoofer aiming forward. The waves are a little closer to being in phase with each other.

http://www.fastfoursforumscarclub.com/temp/fhrxstudios/images/aiming_4.jpg

In this picture (above) we're aiming the rear mounted subwoofer enclosure at the rear so the direct and reflected wave are very close to being in perfect phase from the start and hence they reinforcing each other quite well.

Note; these pictures are simulated using a 60Hz note with the rear of the box mounted approximately 3 feet from the back of the boot. Keep in mind we're only discussing the direct and rear reflected sound in an effort to try to simplify this. The reflecting sound waves in a car are much more complex than these drawings indicate but we must start simple before getting too carried away. This explanation should be a nice foundation for those of you who wish to study this phenomenon further. One other thing we should mention is that before people comment that this cannot be true because the interior of cars being small in relation to bass wavelengths, the full wavelength does not have to completely develop to be in or out of phase with its own reflected sound. The pictures above are showing a 60Hz wavelength and the bounce distance to reflect back out of phase a complete 180 degrees is just over 4 foot. At higher frequencies the distance is less (120Hz is 2.3ft for example).

Hope that helps. :D

Hope that helps. :D

my head hurts...... :cry:

Yes the waves are more in phase but you get lag, and this lag results in less punchy bass. I've had both, and the way i see it, it depends on the music. If you listen to RNB or rock, which use alot of continous bass, then facing the subs towards the boot will get the better sound. IF you listen to alot of fast techno/dance music like i do, facing towards the cabin will get much more punchier bass, though it wont be as loud as facing it to the rear. It depends on the driver, some drivers dont mind losing the punchiness, i however love it :D.

***EDIT***
Though i did forget to mention that some high end head units now let you compensate the lag by making the bass hit sooner, or the other music play later (talking ms here though).

what about if it faces into the boot from the side? so it doesnt face the cab... or the boot, but the other side of the car? what happens then?

for loud bass, point the woofer towards the boot, with sound deadening tap covering most of the boot, reason for that boot rattle control and increase in loudness,

for not so loud bass, face it towards the cabin

tried both ways and there the results i got

I point mine towards the cabin, sounds better to me.

But I always Rear load..
lol We hear ya...

I once did the Mid load thing and Fire the Subs directly at the boot lid... the result was a boot lid that buckled and loosened the rear Spoiler.. Not doing that again

Did the Cross fire thing... Made the boot impractical

Front loaded... Lossed Bass Output and could hear cone noise... didnt like it

Rear loaded and Loved the Bass Quality and Output.

Rear loading is the way to go. Ive got a friend with a 10" facing the cabin, and its punchy but very little actually 'bass'. Ive been an another guys car with a powerful 12" and the same thing happened. My 12" is rear facing and the bass is much more powerful, even with my weak amp!

my head hurts...... :cry:

With your avatar I'm not surprised. Now that's some serious hardware. :D:D

lol We hear ya...

lol Nice one Tim.lol

With your avatar I'm not surprised. Now that's some serious hardware. :D:D

Word :cool:

Where can you get one of those from?

I bought myself a kicker l5s12 600RMS for $350NZ, and im saving for another and also the 1200.1 kicker amp. That will make ur head hurt. especialy in my small "94" excel.