I bought an '86 Z28 from a business associate. The car turned out to be junk, but I did salvage the speaker box. I still use it in my '90 firebird. It's a sealed, divided box that sits in the trunk well level with the upper shelf, leaving space below the box.

Here's what I'm curious about. I had the speakers facing up, and it sounded ok, but when a friend told me to turn the box upside down, I did, and the punch from the bass had to have doubled! I never thought 2 10" Pioneer IMPP's could hit so hard!

For reference, I'm running two 300W Jensen amps, each one bridged to drive one sub. It's not even remotely impressive on paper, but it hits hard enough that I can't keep the rear view mirror on the windshield.

 

its casue of the airspace from turning them upside down its pushing the air the air ****** the sub the sub makes the boom

now sure how safe it is in a sealed box having your subs inverted but heyif it hits hard props

 

inverting the subs wont hurt it, its just like running them inside the box... but your not even gaining that much with the airspace, i wouldnt even think you would notice a difference.. unless those subs are in a really small box

 

I'm not sure if it's considered small, but the box is about 6 inches deep, and sits on top of that shelf in the well. The back of it is level with the top of the well. The speakers have the bottom half of the well under them, and the top half of the well on top of them.

I went to some Fosgate phase 2's over the IMPP's once, and they sounded worse than the IMPP's. I guess it's just the way those Pioneers run that's just set up perfect for that box. I suppose I just lucked out hardcore. I'd throw that setup out as a great recommendation for someone on a budget. It was less than $500 for all of my stuff (although some of it was second hand, and the car the box came in cost me $700. The box was the only thing I kept).

 

never heard the pioneers but the rockford punch line isnt very good

 

I've noticed. I seem to have fallen into that little trap. They sounded way fuzzy, and they didn't hit nearly as hard as the IMPP's did.

As cheap subs go, I definitely put my stamp on the Pioneers. They cost me $50 a pop, and they bump really nicely with my setup.

I also like the setup I have because it's inconspicuous. The amps sit on top of the box, so they're hard to see through the hatch since I have 5% tint and they sit way under the deck lid.

 

me personally.. have never ran subs that were $50.. but tbh i never hear anything really bad about the pioneers.. they arent the best obviously but i guess for the money its pretty good.. i fell into the rockford trap to :/ i got a pair of P1's .. they were horrible

 

Any chance we can get a picture of how you turned the box upside down? I'm a little confused here as to how the subs aren't resting on there faces. What you're experiencing is compression loading. The subwoofers are now exciting the mass of air in front of them that bounces off of the back and is channeled to the front of the vehicle. You also changed your points of cancellation, and concealed some of the unwanted cone noise from the subs.

 

i think he means he mounted the subs inverted.. i hope thats what he means.. i dont see why you would turn the whole box upside down...

 

Actually, the box is upside down in the trunk. Allow me to elaborate. I hope nobody minds my pasting one of the images from the first audio sticky to illustrate:



The box sits on the shelf, and the speakers face towards the bottom of the well. They have 6 1/2" of space behind them, and 7 7/8" of space in front of them, represented by the measurements above for the lower half of the well. I believe the box was built to be set this way, since the 9 1/4" horizontal indent in the well does not block the speakers at all.

Now, I won't pretend to be an expert, but this configuration hits twice as hard as having the speakers facing up in the box, and it has run flawlessly in the car for over two years with me blaring it loud enough to blow the wax out of my ears.

 

1

 

It sound better because the bass has to travel further to get to your ear. Have you ever noticed that some cars sound better when you stand 10 feet in front of it? This is because the bass waves are many feet long. Usually subs will sound better the longer distance it is to your ears, in fact EVERY box I have had sounded better when the cones faced the rear of the vehicle. Now if I am understanding you correctly the cones are facing down into the wheel storage area? If so you are essentally creating a large bandpass situation that will "by pass" the high notes like CamaroRslow said.

 

I have a similar setup...with the same subs, but with my JL amp on them. The box is small, and the W3's I have don't hit as hard in a small box, so they are in the gf's car. The box by the way is an MTX hatch box.

My uncle is the one that told me about it. He had a 95 Z28 and he did his box the same way, and it more than doubled how hard it hit.

I will post up pics later.

 

It's kinda like a band pass box, but with no holes in the back. It is set up exactly the way you're thinking.

It's cool to see that people are seeing the same thing with similar setups. It's also interesting to see a couple of $50 IMPP cones outperforming subs that cost so much more (RF p2's and JL W3's). I guess cheap subs in the right box are better than expensive subs in the wrong box. I'm just glad I lucked out.

 

That is absolutly correct! Same with anything, a quality built junkyard car can outperform a car poorly built from quality products. As far as the W6's, I haven't heard a much better sub.

 

Funny you say this as I watch the Pinks episode with the white Camaro vs' the Nova. If you haven't seen it yet it's one of the best episodes ever. Also I recently built a sub box for a total cost of $.30 *yes 30 cents from scrap* (cost of screws and a little wood glue) for a friends 2 6.5in subwoofers pulled from a JVC Kaboom box. This setup outperformed his old 10in pioneer sealed setup.

 

Here is the pic, it was supposed to be temperary, but I like it a lot. I have an RT box coming this week, so I can get the W3's to sounding good again. By the way, the box is an MTX Hatch box I have had for about 5 years, with an airspace volume of .5 cu ft. per sub...way too small for the W3's. By the way, the Impp's were my first subs ever, from circuit city 4 years ago for $55 a pair, buy one get one free. They even came with a 2 year warranty...no questions asked.

 

That is an almost prefect representation of my setup, right down to the color of the carpet on the box. The only difference is that instead of having one amp, I have a 300W Jensen amp bridged to power each individual sub. That, and the box sits flat and level with the interior, instead of angled.

 

The subs are acually facing straight down, but it being a hatch box, it has an angle to it. Like I said, it was temporary thing, but it hits so hard I don't want to take it out.

BTW...I blew one of the subs right before the warranty ran out, so I took them both to circuit city, and they replaced them both for free. Thats what you get when you put a 620 watt RMS monoblock to a $60 pair of subs, so I put my JL 250/1 on it.

 

Yeah. even the cheapo 300W amps I have bridged on mine hit like a truck. One of my amps stopped working right before the car broke down. I haven't had the whole thing together in a couple of years, so I'm not sure what works anymore and what doesn't. Now that my project's done though, I'll be able to see what I'm going to need to set it all back up. I can't wait to get my massages again.