Hard Drive + Sub, how far is far away enough?

**crooper** · 11-05-2007, 10:28 PM

If you're really concerned about vibrations, use flash drives for your media. Or you could relocate the drive to another part of the car (ie, under the seat) in a usb enclosure, although with that much bass the vibrations are going to be everywhere no matter how well you "seal" your trunk. Personally I'd spend some cash on a relatively inexpensive 2.5" drive and try it out for a month and see how it survives. Nothing better than trial and error to solve a problem.

Like I said, I've got 400w rms to two 12" JBLs and I've never had problems with my Seagate Momentus drive, which is about 1' away (but out of the direct line of the subs).

**emperorjj1** · 11-06-2007, 02:50 AM

cool cool makes sense ill try the perpendicular thing as that is ez and probably will do the most good.

also FYI for crooper reason why im concerned is i got quite a bit more then 2 12s on 400w rms. im getting 2 15s ported and my amp puts out 3688w rms on 14.4v but that amp is goign to be connected to 2 16v batteries and a 225a alt runing 17-18v. But im also planning on fiberglassing the box to the trunk along with sealing the rear deck up as well so it should be air tight and if not realativly little bass will be able to enter the trunk

**crooper** · 11-09-2007, 02:12 AM

Okay yeah I see you've got a lot more vibration going on with 3000w rms. But what I don't understand is how you can "seal" bass in your trunk. The whole idea of bass is that it's omnidirectional, and it shakes whatever the box is attached to. Sure it vibrates some parts more than others, but it's still going to shake your car all the way up to its headlights.

I'd say if you're spending that much on your system, $100 to try out a new laptop drive to see if the bass kills it or not would be reasonable. If it does, then your best bet is probably an embedded, flash-based system.

**emperorjj1** · 11-09-2007, 03:05 AM

right right well hte idea it to keep most of the vibrations and such in front of the box. While the box itslef will do a bit of vibrating the subs are what make all the pressure. So if the air the subs make is going foward and theres no way for it to get into the truck the vibrations will be significantly reduced.

I think im going to try a laptop based system at this point.... my sister has a broken one and i really want to see what i can do to make it working and use ti as my carputer. mainly because of the soundcard im looking at but also because of price... im way to much of a noob when it comes to computer hardware so spending a **** load on the car pc can easily be done but im not sure what i need and or dont need ect. Fortunatly after reading the faqs for a few times and reading up as much as i can in the forum im learning a lil bit

**20mg** · 11-09-2007, 05:27 PM

Originally Posted by crooper

I don't think putting a hard drive ON a sub magnet is in question here though. If you don't like the idea of putting your PC near your sub boxes, then relocate it. Otherwise, the information we've given you is pretty good, and driven from experience.

If you're just tooting your horn about how well endowed your subs are, then well good for you. Sub magnet size isn't an indicator of performance or sound quality anyway.

lol i was just saying i dont think it would be safe to put a hdd that close to a big magnet. and i kno magnet size isnt what makes a speaker good. but i kno for a fact that my speakers are good. t4 soundstream are the best subs i have ever owned.

**crooper** · 11-11-2007, 02:22 AM

Just know that most laptop sound cards are really crappy, so the sound won't be that great. But I suppose you could get a usb sound adapter for it that'd be better.

**linkyone** · 11-15-2007, 09:02 PM

im running 1 1000w 15 in a custom "spare tire" box. the sub is flush with the bottom of the trunk and sealed. my computer is installed vertically off to the side in the little pocket like compartment on the side of the trunk. the sub and hdd are just over 1.5ft away and its just your every day laptop drive, installed there for over a year with no problems. i have had the bass turned up to uncomfortable levels and have had the car airborne with rough landings. just like they have said previously, as long as your hdd and case are mounted securly, you should be fine.