Retrosound, Amps & Sub Install

Auzdart said

Subs are meant to mounted like this. They only boost the low end side of things.
I can tell you first hand that the sound is awesome. I listen to rock & metal so I don't need the low end that the doof boys crave. The sound hits you in the back like a **** and I'm stoked with it.

Click to expand...

I apologize if I sounded like a d-bag in my reply. That was not, by any means, my intention. Until 10yrs ago I was an installer and competed and judged in car audio competition.

When mounting a rear facing sub like that, some response will be lost trying to get through that mdf. The good thing about low frequencies is we feel it as much as hear it. The second potential drawback to a rear facing sub mounted under the parcel tray is phase cancellation. Sound waves are like ocean waves with peaks and troughs. Mounting facing back towards the rear of the car can cause the waves to reflect off the rear out of phase and cancel out your sub to varying degrees. I experienced his once so bad there was barely any bass. In the end I reversed the polarity of the sub and viola, I had bass again!

One last point, sound staging. The goal in SQ competition was a balanced sound stage, where the sound to the listener was balanced l-r, balanced in volume across the freq. range, and sounded like it was coming from the front at eye level, as if you are at a concert. This is where you would like your kick panel speakers to face your face in a way. Tilted up and forward. This is another area where our ears can be tricked a bit. Our hears have a hard time finding the direction of frequencies the lower they are. Throw a set of tweeters up in the a pillar area and our ears are tricked into thinking the sound is coming from that area. Look at where the tweeter is mounted in many factory "premium" sound systems now days. I quote premium because these "premium" Bose, Sony, infinity, etc... Sound systems are junk. For nearly the same price an aftermarket system can be purchased that will be light years ahead in sound quality and build quality.