Thread: Does size matter on a SUB?

Originally Posted by Danbert

Mine is in the back of a ford explorer under the pull over cover. I cant do a custom install on this vehicle as it is a company car that will be replaced with in a year.

OMG, that sucks..... but you know, when I first started my CarPC, I promised that I would never ever mod the truck. Then I just said you know what, f$%k it, I'm going to most likely keep this truck till it dies or I die, so I'm going to do what I want. Thank god I didnt lease, lol.

Ok I had to go look at your post to see what you are putting this in.
I am not sure you are going to be able to effectively mount a 12 in one of the side panels. I would go with a 12 out of personal preference though I have had good luck with 10" in the past. At one time a built a folded horn with 2 10s in it. I lost all my trunk space but it sounded real nice. Very flat response.
Well my plans for a carputer is for my 83 Jeep Wagoneer.
I am going to cut out the floor in the back and weld in a box between the frame rails to hold some of the gear. There is also room behind the panels in the back for stuff too.

Originally Posted by Danbert

Ok I had to go look at your post to see what you are putting this in.
I am not sure you are going to be able to effectively mount a 12 in one of the side panels. I would go with a 12 out of personal preference though I have had good luck with 10" in the past. At one time a built a folded horn with 2 10s in it. I lost all my trunk space but it sounded real nice. Very flat response.
Well my plans for a carputer is for my 83 Jeep Wagoneer.
I am going to cut out the floor in the back and weld in a box between the frame rails to hold some of the gear. There is also room behind the panels in the back for stuff too.

My bad, its not going to be built into the panel, but a box is going to be made to look like its behind a panel. I am going with a 12.

Excellent, I look forward to seeing the pics when you get it done. The rest of the build looks good though. I am thinking of updating the interior of the wag to something more modern so that when I put the screen in the dash it wont look so out of place.
Surprisingly there arent many build ups done on these things to get some ideas from. I did once see an article where a magazine put a wag body on a Durango running gear and frame and then transplanted the durango interior into it. I wish I could find that write up again.

Why not fiberglass a box into your 'tool storage area'? Is your goal to get loud with the sub?

Because you don't have a "trunk car" you don't have to worry so much about output as you are directly pressurizing the cabin. That is worth ~2.1dB alone (I'll double check this tonight). The larger cone area is better for higher SPL but you shouldn't be afraid of using a 10" sub... especially if space is a concern.

Edit: Back seat up vs down gave a dB delta of 2.1dB (51.8/53.9) at listening position on the 32Hz band with the windows up in my G35. Test was run on a CEL-450 real time analyzer.

Originally Posted by chuyler1

Choosing a subwoofer size is...
60% how much space you are willing to sacrifice. If you have an entire trunk to dedicate to your subs then by all means install a pair of 18" super subwoofers.
30% what type of music you listen to and how loud you like to turn it up. You can't expect an 8" sub to pound out 30-40Hz hiphop bass lines at full volume but they will work fine for rock and jazz.
10% what kind of SQ you expect to get. Again, if you want a flat response down to 20Hz it simply isn't going to happen with an 8" or 10" sub unless you have alot of them. You need multiple 12"s or 15"s and a top notch install to do that. However, you can sacrifice a little low end and still get great SQ with an 8" or 10".

So use that as a guide in choosing the subwoofer that's right for you. If you value your trunk space you know what to do. If you just gotta have heart stopping bass you also know what to do.

How many cubic feet is your box going to be?