Car Sub Sizes

BenjiSayers

BenjiSayers

BenjiSayers

Soldato
Joined
13 Dec 2006
Posts
3,247
Hi,

Come pay day I will be wanting to get a Sub and Amp for my car, I have looked around and have an idea what I would like to get but I need to choose what size. Ideally I dont want to use up all of my boot space so i'm looking at either 10" or 12", My dilema (sp) is what would be the main differences between the two sizes? e.g. would it just be louder? or would i get a slightly better quality from the smaller one?

I dont know a great deal about all of this so any help is really appreciated.

Cheers!
 
I have a 12" setup in my boot, I listen to all kinda of music from real old stuff to rock to dance etc, a whole range. Now I find that it copes well with all types of music, of course with the amp you can alter settings as you wish, I just have the gain in the middle of its range and I find that adds a nice bass line to any music and makes the music sound fantastic! Not over-powering and loud. In fairness I dont think you will notice much of a difference between a 10 and a 12.
 
A general 12" sub will be well suited to rock music, they tend to be less punchy and cope with progressive bass, rolling basslines etc, whereas a 10" is geared more towards punchy music such as electro/dance. although to be quite honest, you're not likely to notice much difference.
 
Cool, cheers for the input Guys! I'm inclined to get the 10" purely as I want to save as much space as possible. I didnt think there would be much difference but wanted to make sure before making a choice.
 
To be fair mate in terms of boot space the 10 will take up the same floor space as the 12 once you have a box for it, just it will be that bit taller, I paid an extra £5 for the upgrade from a 10 to a 12 and I still have 2/3 of my boot space free in a little corsa. I must get round to actually making it tidy and moving the amp somewhere that isnt just on the boot floor in the middle of nowhere.

I suppose I can hijack the thread now you are sorted.. :P

I just wondered when positioning a sub which is the best way to have it facing? At the moment mine is on the left hand side of the boot facing towards the back seats, the box doesnt have any holes in it, would it be better to turn it 90 degrees and face the actual speaker into the bootspace?
 
Sub positioning isn't really that important - They should be omni-directional, so it doesn't matter where you point it.

I've got mine in the left hand side panel of the boot pointing towards the middle of the boot and it sounds fine. I used to have it right in the middle of the boot facing the back, again, sounded fine. Some people butt them right up to the back seats, but I don't think that's a wise move as the seats just absorb the "push" soundwaves and stifle the bass.
 
I have about 4 inches of space between the sub and the rear seats, will this be affecting the performance and disturbing the sound?
 
MrSix said:
Sub positioning isn't really that important - They should be omni-directional, so it doesn't matter where you point it.

I've got mine in the left hand side panel of the boot pointing towards the middle of the boot and it sounds fine. I used to have it right in the middle of the boot facing the back, again, sounded fine. Some people butt them right up to the back seats, but I don't think that's a wise move as the seats just absorb the "push" soundwaves and stifle the bass.
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wrong the position of the sub is very important the best place to have a sub is as close to the back seats as possible with the cone facing the boot lid :)
 
yes that is very very wrong. sub positioning is critical. and i agree, where you can, best place is against the seat firing at the boot lid. this setup works amazingly well in hatch backs. Although there's always more than one way to skin a cat. bass being 'omni-directional' is totally wrong. 30hz is entirely direction, you dont start getting into proper omni-directional territory until you get below 20hz and there's very little useful information in that region. its the reason i stuck my home sub right between my two main front speakers. if i corner load the sub i can hear the bass come from one side of the room. drives me insain:)

10-12" is about the perfect size for a sub in any average environment. the can be nice and tight in a sealed enclosure or drop to silly low levels in a well tuned ported box.

benjisayers what car have you got? if its a smaller car (corsa, clio ect) then i'd go for a 10" in a ported box. that will give you more than enough bass unless you're out to impress people with your 'wicked bass innit' lol
 
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james.miller said:
unless you're out to impress people with your 'wicked bass innit' lol
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lol I want a sub to add to music it's self, not after impressing anyone as when people are in my car music is nearly always turned right down anyway and im not the type of person to go 'crusing'. I also drive about 60miles a day for work so music is important for keeping me stress-free after a crappy day to work and on a bleak monday morning :D

My Car is a ford focus so it has a pretty good boot, plus nothing is ever put in the boot besides a tyre pump and maybe a football.

I intended to place my sub in against the rear seats, cone facing towards the boot lid and in the centre if that makes sense.
 
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BenjiSayers said:
I listen to mainly rock music, such as Muse and Lostprophets and Taking Back Sunday. :) But I have a bit of most things on at some time or another.
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Personnally i would go for the 10". With rock music you want the kick to be punchy and the bass to be tight when theres a Bass guitar concerned.

I have 2x10" Orions in my car and i was told by my Sound Engineering lecturer at college who has a degree in acoustics that 10" is the way to go. While he said car enviroment is awful for sound i asked what is better out of 10 and 12 he said 10"

Also being a Sound Engineer i can safely say 10" is better for your type of music.

Josh
 
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I have a decent 12" sub in a custom made sealed box (both which I am currently selling - hint hint ;)) and I would argue that correct sub box dimensions are the most critical thing in getting the right sound from a subwoofer.

A friend has an almost identical sub to me and he made his own box without much thought to it's air capacity or dimensions and as a result mine sounds far superior - Even he admits that!
 
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