recently i have been playing around with my sub enclosure placement. the plan was to originally have the box built under the oem Subwoofer hole with the subwoofer sealed and fire right through the stock subwoofer hole... It sounded great.. No trunk rattle but anytime i would have the windows down while driving the bass would be almost completely gone... I moved the box to the back of the trunk, subfacing trunk, and when i drive i can hear the bass alot better even with the windows down.. Not to mention the bass is louder in general.


I dont know where to start.. I built the box to fit in the small space behind the seats and i even made a wall brace with an oval cutout to go along with it.

But now im changing my whole trunk build. Do i seal the oem subwoofer hole? Does the subwoofer hole help get bass into the cabin? Why is it when im driving with the front two windows down that i cannot hear the bass when the sub is fired through the oem hole?

Any thoughts before i start wasting more wood?

 

Seal off the OEM subwoofer opening and put the subwoofer behind the backseat facing the rear of the vehicle. You want to feel the subwoofer, not hear it so you do not need the opening to let anything into the cabin.

When you have your trunk sealed up with the subwoofer firing back it uses the trunk as a secondary box or bass chamber. At least this is what I was taught and learned from experience selling car audio back in 1999.

 

Yup. Theres a science to bass, thats why when you said you wanted to have them facing forward, I suggested to seal off the trunk... For the same reason as said above. However in addition to what Deb says, you can take it another step forward and actually design the box to the specifications of the car (size and volume of the cabin), amp and subwoofers. Prefab boxes are great for non audiophiles, but a custom box will dominate. Some like hard hitting bass, some like smooth low hitting bass, some like the bass to stay IN the car, some like it to travel miles. At least thats what I learned in the many years I owned a stereo shop

 

Thanks for the reply, i was thinking bass chamber also thats why it was louder when placed next to the trunk latch. Im just confused because i read a thread on here saying the people who took their stock subwoofer out had more bass with their aftermarket setup,

 

So if i seal the oem subwoofer hole and all the other holes in the trunk, would i be able to place the subwoofer against the backseat and still have the same sound? Even when the subwoofer was facing the trunk but against the backseat i still couldnt really hear or feel any bass. When placed at the end of the trunk it was a night and day difference. I would like to keep the sound but i dont like not having any room in the trunk. Is it the trunk wall that makes it a bass chamber? And is the bass less loud against rear seats because of the leaks like the oem hole and the rear seats?

 

You need to close up the stock subwoofer opening and try it. I am confident you will be happy with the sound. It does not need to actually be sealed either. Just the subwoofer opening closed up. A piece of plywood and some screws will be sufficient. If you have the stock sub trace it on a board and then cut it out.

Are you using a ported or sealer enclosure?

 

Its slot ported

 

The best, most efficient setup I've had was a bandpass box with the port firing through the ski-pass. No rattle on the outside and extremely loud inside.