What is the best method of installing a single 12" sub enclosure in the trunk. I want to mount it in the trunk under the package tray. Is it just bolted to the sheet metal? Also, Should the speaker face forward or backward? Can you tell I am not a stereo expert...

http://s192.photobucket.com/albums/z135/abad72/?action=view&current=stereo72chevelle2008_01_01_19_37_51.flv

here is a video of my trunk if it helps,, I have 4 tens up under there,,,

I have the boxes hung from the deck with screws-- rite trough the metal,, and have ports for the speakers boxes coming throgh the top of the deck so I dont get that anoying trunk rattle

I built one for my 71 442 that was a box that slid into the opening under the rear deck. The rear panel facing you as you open the trunk had the taller side that would reach down to the trunk floor to support the box. Big, but it worked great. I mounted the sub on the top surface of the box blowing right up on the rear decks bottom surface. The positioning of your bass sub isn't that critical as your smaller speakers since the low bass frequences will travel well no matter where the speaker is. My brother owns a car stereo store and I asked him the same thing about the bass sub. He said "you could mount it on a boat trailer behind your car and you would still hear it fine". That why you can hear the boom boom car stereo's so well....your just hearing the bass that travels everywhere.

Wow, that is a serious setup in that video. Probably takes a big block just to run the alternator and haul all that speaker weight! My concern was turning my car into a giant tuning fork. I guess I will give it a go and see what happens. Thanks.

IF you face the woofers backward, they are then out of polarity (phase) with the rest of your speakers that face IN to the car interior.

So, you either have to wire them in reverse polarity or some stereos have a subwoofer Phase/Polarity change option (mine does). It makes a big difference whether the bass adds to your sound or subtracts!

Bass is omni-directional but a car is a metal box. If you go the Kicker website, they say there is no clear-cut answer to sub placement. You have to experiment. Speaker phase (polarity) has to do with how you wire the pos and neg terminals on dual voice coil subs and multiple sub arrangements. Again, go to Kicker (or any sub manufacturer and read up until it gives you a head ache) Speakers wired out of phase will cancel each other out or just overheat. It has nothing to do with which way they face. They will sound different depending on which way they face but they still have to be wired properly to work properly.

It does make a difference regarding the size of the enclosure and how close the speaker face is to something. Too close and air will bounce back and cause the sub to distort. Take a hard look at the Kicker they sell in an enclosure. That's what i wanted but they were out of stock at the time and didn't want to wait.

Mine is a 12" Kicker in a ported enclosure made for that particular speaker running from a 600w 1ch. amp. It sits right at the edge of the deck lid where the trunk hinges are and faces rearward. I haven't really fooled around with facing it to the front because it hits so hard the way it is I figured, what's the point? Lets just say that rear-view mirrors are useless when I'm rockin' !!

And yes, you should give serious consideration to a high output alternator. If you run elec fans, a/c and a big sub with the lights on at night, you'll need it or your ignition will suffer. I run a 130 with dual Optima batts and still get a solid 13.8v with everything on.

Check my previous posts and signature for pics of my install.

Scott, I like what you have done with your car. That sound system looks very professional. Did you use the Custom Autosound kick panels? How much depth is there for the front speakers?

For the record, I highly advise AGAINST facing the sub(s) straight up in a Chevelle, In a Tahoe, that's fine, not an A body. I had 2 10" Eclipse subs running off of a very healthy Rockford Punch 150HD (the old 90s ones, where RF got their rep. from back in the day) running bridged, 4 ohm, around 450watts mono. It sounded AWESOME...outside of the car. Stand in front of it and HOLY COW! It was low, tight, and mean. I'm not into test tones, I listen to rap, but if ZZ Top don't sound good I don't like it! Down on the floor it was very loud as well, but I seldom drive around with my head on the floor...at ear level, while driving, there was a large Null right above the seat, where your head is.

My next setup is a complete, old school RF system the top of the line everythign, from between 1995-1997, before RF went to Best Buy. I'll have 3 subs in the trunk, and all 3 will be facing the back. 2 will be sealed, and one 12" will be ported. Firing down, forwards, or back should all be fine, but don't face them up! The absolute best way to test this is get a box that is close to the right size for your sub, and wire it up and toss it in the trunk. Stick it in the rear corner, the front corner, upside down, shove an old shoe under it, whatever it takes, until it sounds best, that's where your sub should go, and how it should face. There's no SET parameter for installing a woofer in a car, they're all different.

One more tip while we're on the subject...leave all bass boost, EQs etc. at the "0" position, position your sub so it sounds best with all that crap off, and then use it to taste if needed. The only thing I'll ever do is set my sub amps gain to the max safe limit with the non fading sub output level (if your deck has one) to a medium setting, and leaning on it, then turning it back down to normal levels. That way, if I want to show off, I just lean on the button a little bit, and shake the mirrors out of adjustment. Then, I turn it back down, and it still sounds tight and balanced.

Feel free to ask any questions, audio is one of my favorite topics, and I've done a lot of it! More importantly, I've done it CORRECTLY. :) Good luck, Justin

OOOOHHH I see PPI Art Series and AudioControl EQ in that Chevelle Video, you CANNOT beat the old school stuff! Wait til you see my old school Rockford Setup, I hope to get it all done this winter, you guys will love it!

Bill,
Not a super high end setup but it works real good and the sound is good enough for my ear.
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o103/gfsmith/trunk2.jpg

Speaker phase (polarity) has to do with how you wire the pos and neg terminals on dual voice coil subs and multiple sub arrangements. Again, go to Kicker (or any sub manufacturer and read up until it gives you a head ache) Speakers wired out of phase will cancel each other out or just overheat. It has nothing to do with which way they face. They will sound different depending on which way they face but they still have to be wired properly to work properly. ll.


YES IT DOES..
some mount the subs with the magnet side out..grill side in..

Very nice Smittie, I love IB setups! Clean, simple, effective! And they sound damn clean too, very good for people that actually LISTEN to music! Only trick is to spend a long time sealing up everything to avoid cancellation.

Mine setup is home built behind the seats in an El Camino. The box contains two RF 10" Punch subs and also houses an MTX 421 watt mono amp and a 1.2 Farad capacitor. A similar setup could be done to custom fit in the space where you want to place your sub.

http://home.comcast.net/~dcabral99/Images/DSCF0660.JPG
http://home.comcast.net/~dcabral99/Images/DSCF0662.JPG

More pictures of my system: http://home.comcast.net/~dcabral99/stereo.htm

Dave

Bill,
Not a super high end setup but it works real good and the sound is good enough for my ear.
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o103/gfsmith/trunk2.jpg


Looks good but what kind of speakers are you running without a box? I thought you needed a box to get good bass?

LK

They are just 10" subs mounted on a carpeted board behind the seat the previous owner installed so I kept them. They have a separate Alpine amp to drive them. Then I have Alpine 4X10's on the rear window deck and Alpine round speakers on the front kick panels that all run off the other amp. I have an Alpine head unit that runs my iPod. I had a friend that owns an Al & Ed's Auto Sound install and upgrade the system. It really sounds good and has a lot of drive so I can hear music clearly at highway speeds. I am not going for the boom of a box setup.