Sub Firing Directions

[TTG]

Does the firing direction of a subwoofer make any difference? I had been thinking about having my subwoofer downward firing in its box, since in home audio downward firing subs are usually better. Or have it fire towards the front of the truck, as opposed tot he back like most subs are oriented. Does anyone know if it makes a difference? I had always been told that bass was omnidirectional, but there's gotta be a reason most subs get mounted facing back.

 

[DeathsArrow]

The reason home audio subs that are are downward fired sound better is that you get more travel out of the driver in that position. Bass is fairly omnidirectional but the reason to fire towards the back is because of the long wavelenth of lower frequencies. Also it I think it's easier to mount a sub facing towards the rear.

 

[Burns]

dont know if this will help but.......

:fire:

im now in the same firing configuration but with the port pointing at the rear hatch.

 

[Jefe]

Yes it makes a difference. Due to the long wavelength, depending on placement you may get cancelation or amplification at certain frequencies (and much more if you want to get technical ) I believe the consensus here is to play with placement within your vehicle (both firing direction, and location) for what sounds best to YOU. For instance firing toward you will result in more punch, but the sound will not have evolved enough to provide a rounded sound.

 

[davesexplorer]

lol try delving into spl too... you'll find some wacky things occuring sometimes with respect to loudest level and sub firing direction... I do subs up port back, but have gotten similar to louder results with subs firing to side, port back. Sub and port back is also good I've found - but I haven't made a box for spl in that way yet - that's next I think.

Whatever sounds good to you is best of course!

 

[Creager]

Yes it makes a difference. Due to the long wavelength, depending on placement you may get cancelation or amplification at certain frequencies (and much more if you want to get technical ) I believe the consensus here is to play with placement within your vehicle (both firing direction, and location) for what sounds best to YOU. For instance firing toward you will result in more punch, but the sound will not have evolved enough to provide a rounded sound.

I believe the average wavelength is 23 feet.

Keep that in mind, if your hear only the first 11 of the wavelength your not hearing as much as you would in a car directly infront of yours.

 

[Gimp]

This article researches aiming a subwoofer, but it's in a trunk. Still, it might be helpful.
http://www.installer.com/tech/aiming.html

 

[expo5.0]

no matter where you are your not going to "hear" the entire wavelength at one time

 

[TTG]

That article says the best thing to do is put it as far back as possible facing the back. Hm. Think I'm just gonna turn it around before I bolt it down(if I bolt it down) to see how I like it. Mainly I was just thinking about cutting the hole in the box for it to e downward firing, but I ended up not doing that.

 

[ewf]

TTG,

This was discussed over a year ago:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92565&page=1&pp=20

Bass does NOT need space to develop. Experiment with placement until you find a sweetspot.

 

[Wagonized]

TTG,

. Experiment with placement until you find a sweetspot.

thats all you need right there.

ive always found best results facing back, but this is my first SUV so facing up might work well too.

Not that it matters to me im setting up a wall in my X with the port going all the way across at the top so the driver and passengers heads are basically leaned back in the port with the subs themselves directly behind the seats for some more punch.

 

[TTG]

I ende dup setting them up facing the back right behind the front seats. Passengers #2 and 3 are just SOL, those seats aren't going back up.

Actually, I may leave enough wire slack to move it back if I want to.I can just see myself getting called mean things because my back steats are folded down and the ub is mounted on top of them.

 

[Wagonized]

I ende dup setting them up facing the back right behind the front seats. Passengers #2 and 3 are just SOL, those seats aren't going back up.

Actually, I may leave enough wire slack to move it back if I want to.I can just see myself getting called mean things because my back steats are folded down and the ub is mounted on top of them.

thats the same thing i had to end up doing with my temporary setup cause the box was too wide to fit in between the wheel wells and i was too lazy to make another one