cmasten

For my install they removed the factory sub (a must) and then sampled the interior, from there with the volume facts etc they fabricated a fiberglass enclosure and then tuned that to match the trunk and interior with all doors and windows sealed. I run one 10" JL with a Focal One amp and the bottom end is stunning with the Focal Mid bass' up front. The LS is sealed very well, so they will need to play with it a bit, but you want to work towards a tight bass, but it takes some effort to dial it in and get it right.

Silver460

The stock sub was removed. We tried turning the subs in several directions but it simply didn't sound right. Then we tried the ported 10" and the aha moment came. We'll find out how this sound tomorrow when they'll be done building the new box.

Shibumi1

u misunderstood my meaning.. its easier t build a single reflex bandpass enclosure(sealed on on side ported on the other) an run the port directly into the passenger compartment thru the oem sub opening in the rear deck.. you'll get amazing bass response. but u must have an installer capable of building it properly... (hard to find now a days) you can also freeair vent an sealed vent into the cabin...

http://www.the12volt.com/caraudio/boxes4.asp

Silver460

We thought about the sealed 4th-order but the cubic requirement was too large. We are building a vented enclosure with the port pointing up to where the factory sub was. Hopefully this will work out.

cmasten

you dont need to take up a lot of space, with the right driver, the right enclosure and plenty of clean power you will get really good results. They need to have the right equipment to measure and you need to have the right DSP etc to dial it in.

cmasten

Some glass expertise, some acoustic knowledge and the right gear and you will be amazed.

Shibumi1

i for see standing wave issues with this set up..

try the same concept u have now but using a sealed enclosure(should be less airspace than u have now) w the woofer on the other side of the box design and inside a slot loaded vent(not tuned) make the vent 3 to 4" wider than the woofer diameter and 3 times the xmax (excursion of the woofer)in depth.. run it from the floor to the opening for the oem sub. w/a 3/4 mdf plate covering the remaining open area seal that opening (silicon works well) the best u can.. this allows the sub to 1st load off the slot then off the rear window of the vehicle eliminating any audible distortion. venting 100% of the subs output into the passenger compartment..

i've done similar set ups in literally hundreds of cars.. its reliable..easy to design, plus it POUNDS!!

Silver460

Back with an update. The above box was built. Amazing bass at around 25-40 hertz, the other frequencies are decent only... I'm still waiting on the LCQ to dial it in, hopefully i can flatten out and extend the range a bit. Other wise i'll have to build another box with a higher frequency range.

Cmasten, does your trunk shake with the sealed box? When we had those 2 8's sealed in a recommended optimal enclosure (0.7 cu ft), my trunk shook way too much, even at low listening level and the gains 1/4 up. from inside the car, you could hardly feel the bass. Now with the ported box, no more trunk shake and I can feel very decent bass inside the car. Maybe we can grab some coffee and compare the 2 boxes.

Shibumi, thanks for the input, however I'm a bit confused. From what you're describing, it sounds like a 4th order band pass with an untuned slot? Basically a sealed box that's firing at a plate, and seal on both sides so the only way out is up?

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like that with the subs on the vertical side of the box instead of the slopped side?

cmasten

no shake, its self contained and secured into a cubby in the back like a glove. Its design is to just take the cut off below the Mid bass drivers in the front doors (60-80hz) to the bottom (25-30hz). Its more of a sonic cannon, that is felt than heard, which is what I was after.

The LS is so air tight that it was possible in this vehicle, I usually would only try this in a recording studio where I can control the acoustics from the ground up or a home environment. There is enough dynamic range in this vehicle, (even at freeway speeds) to get a really good sounding system without a lot of volume.

Shibumi1

exactly right.. because there's no real volume to the slot.(which is why its not a bandpass encl) when the woofer moves all the energy from the cone comes directly out the vent opening.

cmasten

by they way... i would have to dig out my acoustic engineering books, but 20 hrz takes many more feet to even form than there is volume in a car.. so the reality of getting the lows is a complex set of waves, not singular like you would experience in an area with more volume (ie concert or home) realistically your only able to hear a clean low frequency of about 50hz or so.. just guessing here. The critical component to low frequency (if your looking for accuracy, not boom) is tuning the drivers to the volume in the vehicle and having plenty of power on demand. For example the Focal amp has about 300 watts rms but is rated a over a 1000+ with almost no distortion for just a millisecond. Its when an amp clips and sends out a square wave that you kill cones and get distortion, my set up was really for enhancing the bottom end in the environment that I chose, which in reality is a noise generating moving environment.

That said its amazing how good it can sound on a 12 volt system that is rolling along at 70mph...

Shibumi1

well said an correct on all counts.. an technically speaking we cant hear 20hz as much as you would feel it... also how many artists actually record tracks w/such low frequencies anyway?

cmasten

The digital gear of today will grab 5hz up to about 35k... well beyond our hearing both ways. For some folks they still prefer the sound of analog so low frequency kicks and bass etc are still in the 20-20k range. Sampling rates and other factors play a bigger role here in todays studios.

A lot of car (and home audiophiles) spend time trying to amplify frequencies that you just wont benefit from in such a small environment is really what I was trying to say. If you have a DSP and you can play with the xross over, cut-off and slopes I think more people will find that they can dial in some good bass, without wasting all the amps on non-audible areas. They also need to consider a good quality system that includes the bass driver, the quality amp and then some way to acoustically couple that to the interior if quality bottom end is the objective. For me this was both mechanically, and electronically.

The LS is a worthy vehicle to put a sound system in, especially for bass because it is so acoustically tight. Lexus capitalized on that as they used really inexpensive components, but came away with one of (if not the) best sounding factory systems today. That is also why I wanted to get a Non-ML and experiment with just a simple set up, just 3 ways in the front, matched 2 ways in the back and then the stand alone 10". It took a lot of time to dial it in, I actually didnt like the version that the Al and Eds guys did, so brought in my own test gear and tuned it to my taste, now I have it just right and it adds a whole new level of enjoyment in a car that is just a blast to drive.

twotone

Where do u guys put the PS nav override and the vaistech ipod system?

cmasten

i put mine on the passenger side of the console, there is a slot on that side that the VAIS fits in perfectly and allows you to still make adjustments to the dip switches if needed. Its almost in line with the shifter and under the carpet