which way to point the sub?

[Simonh]

olly commented on my blog so i thought i would start a thread about it to find the truth...basically my sub points to the side because i got told it was better that way. i have tried all different positions but im not sure which one i feel is best but i understand that with it pointing back the sound bounces back off the bootlid back in to the front area of the car...so anyone have any thoughts?

does position really have an effect ?
if so which position will give me the most from my sub?

thanks
si

 

[Tom Messy]

I started off with mine pointing back, but the boot vibrations annoyed me. Now, it's pointing into the rear seat, so passengers shake lol. I'm not sure what will give the best sound though.

 

[ollyc98]

Ifn you point it sidewways you need to set the amp up so it's 90 deg out of phase

 

[Simonh]

and how would that be done?

 

[ollyc98]

I don't think the flitraps have the switch, however they may have a switch saying '0-180' if you point it to the back of the car switch it to 180 You will be supriised at the sweet bass lol

 

[Simonh]

is now facing the back....new problem...how do i hold it down? dont reli want to be drilling into the spare wheel tbh

 

[joesouthgate]

velcro does the job.

 

[Simonh]

wtf velcro?...how does that work?

 

[ollyc98]

You get industrial velcro on the bottom of the sub and it holds to the carpet. Alternatively pump a few screws through the boot floor lol.
I rarely stick subs down ,they dont move that much

 

[Simonh]

any cheap way that does not require me alot of effort to track down the material?

 

[ollyc98]

Get under the car, work out where the sub is and screw through the boot floor into the sub, 4 screws should do it, don't screw into the internal amp and don't screw through any wires etc.

 

[Simonh]

difficult....spare wheel..

 

[ollyc98]

Put your sub to the left of the spare wheel as far as possible. Alternatively screw a strap down in your boot and wrap it around your sub, you can then remove it to access the spare wheel

 

[Simonh]

hmmm yeh i suppose cheers for the advice olly...ill play around a bit see what i can come up with

 

[nexussteve]

Stick with velcro and save ya floor!!!

 

[Simonh]

where would i get it from? and would i just need one layer and it works as anti slip carpet??

 

[ollyc98]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WAH-WAH-PEDALS-HOOK-LOOP-FIXING-VELCRO-TAPE-50MM-X-1M_W0QQitemZ250296442791QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item250296442791&_trkparms=39%3A1|66%3A2|65%3A2|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Stick the rough side to your subwoofer and it'll hold the carpet no problem

 

[Simonh]

just bought it cheers lol =]

 

[Demarest]

face sub to seat = tight, punchy bass
face sub to boot area = long deep bass

anyone agree or disagree from experience??

 

[ollyc98]

What I found was
Facing sideways = not much bass
Facing seat = tight bass but kinda noisy
Towards bootlid = higher quality bass, better for long bass notes, best sound as long as your numberplate doesn't rattle

 

[joesouthgate]

yer verlcro works well, i've only got a small amount on but its enough just to stop it falling over.

 

[curtis]

Pointing it upwards works quite well, in other words lay it on its back, i can understand it'll quite hard with the fli subs as they are more tube shapes, but others can ly on their back and they dont move at all!

 

[Retepetsir]

Ifn you point it sidewways you need to set the amp up so it's 90 deg out of phase

Jeeeeeeeez. Wrong, completely wrong. The direction of the box has nothing to do with the phase of the speakers/subs. Leave the phase untouched!

simonh, its usually best to point your sub towards the bootlid (i.e. backwards) as the sub loading onto the boot (audio waves loading onto boot) helps to increase depth of bass and actually makes it louder .

Upwards is another option but doesn't usually provide as deeper bass as pointing the box backwards. My custom dual ported box is pointing up but only because my boot is full of the box and I needed space for the 6" aeroport! My bootlid still rattles a bit too much

Please don't use velcro if possible! It's not 'that' strong. Yes the sub box might not move around in normal use, but what do you think would happen in a crash? You'd get 20kg+ of wood/metal heading straight for your head....they can easily get through the seats too. Ideally you want to bolt it down to the boot floor (better than screws), but if not, industrial velcro is better than nothing.

 

[davor-ri]

for small city cars.... like micra, pug 206 etc. is recomended to direct the woofer backwards to the rear doors, or upwards like repetsir said.... important is that the woofer and the port (if is bass reflex or a bandpass box) have a minimum of 10cm space from rear doors or from the shelf.... otherwise woofer willl not perform corectly....i have tested the positions...and for db drag i had same score when woofer was looking backward & upward.... but i prefer upward because i have removed the shelf & back door are not resonating any more which improved the sound quality altough sometimes it looks good when your car is falling appart chiks love to wAtch when the car is bending
BTW reversing the phase on speaker or woofer is doing ONLY if you deside to install your woofer in the box backward....when the cone of the sub is looking in the box & the magnet is outside of the box....cone of the woofer MUST ALWAYS "work" upwards....out of the box...and thats why & when you must reverse the phase....and it can be done just by reversing the + and - wires...put the red one (+) on the - pole of the sub and - (black) wire put on the + pole of the sub...you can try this with some 10/13/16cm speaker....use the 1,5V AA baterry and put the + pole of speaker on the top of baterry (+) and the - of the speaker on the bottom of the AA batery....cone will go upward...then reverse the poles...cone will go down..inside the speaker.....in this way you can find out which is the + and - poles on the speaker..if they have same color of the wires...

 

[ollyc98]

f
BTW reversing the phase on speaker or woofer is doing ONLY if you deside to install your woofer in the box backward....when the cone of the sub is looking in the box & the magnet is outside of the box....cone of the woofer MUST ALWAYS "work" upwards....out of the box...

Oh ok now I understand phase lol, I knew it was sommat to do with the direction of the driver, I just thought it was in relation to the other speakers

 

[ClnlPanic]

Since subwoofer frequencies are non-directional, does it really matter as much as everyone is making out?

 

[Retepetsir]

You can gain a few dB and make the sub 'drop' better with the correct positioning.