Blue Lightning

Okay, I know there's a page already on here with various subwoofers however I'm wondering: In what manner when it comes to the airholes from the subwoofer box provides the most or deepest bass sound? I realize that not everyone has a sub box or a box with holes in them but I'm wondering what everyone's opinions will be. I would think that facing the airholes towards the back window is good for when the hatch is up but when the hatch is closed, I'm thinking they would need to be faced up towards the roof of the HHR. What do Y'all think about this and what do Y'all recommend? What works for Y'all!

Also, what replacement speaker ideas for the doors works for everyone? This of course may seem to be a loaded question. Two ways? Three ways? Four ways?

Thanks

hugheshhr

The port holes you mention are used for the tuning frequency of the box. A ported box is usually louder and more boomier than a sealed box. Most of the time a sealed box is used for sound quality, cause they have a tighter more controlled bass coming from them. A ported box is usually used for loudness, and requires less power to make it loud. Typically a box with the speakers facing the back is louder, because it gives the speakers something to load against. In a car 99% of the time the box is always fired backwards. In our type of vehicles they are either fired back or up into the roof. I run a sealed box firing up, install mainly the reasoning for the upwards firing. I compete in sound quality and the sealed box works best.
I am running Exile car audio 6 1/2 components in my front stage. I have the mid mounted in the door, with the tweet mounted in the a-pillar. The choice of 2way,3way, and such is personal preference, and budget needs. I myself prefer a component setup, for the ability to control the crossover freqs and the placement of the tweeter better.

Blue Lightning

Cool! I've got the seven speaker system but I'm wondering if I can do some separates in the rear doors. I have separates in the front (front meaning front doors with the tweet in the front I guess "pillar") but the rear seat doors is just a single speaker and since it's a factory system I'm guessing that the speaker are just a single cone 6 1/2. Is it possible?

Thanks

FLBOIZ13

sure you can add them if you want, it would take custom mounting. I wouldnt recommend it though as you really want your sound stage up front, the rear speakers are mainly for fill, and too much highs with a seperate tweeter might not be the best for you.

Blue Lightning

Good point. I listen to a myriad of music so probably if I stick to some 6 1/2 two or three way speakers then I might be good maybe? I know it's all a matter of personal taste and what music one is listening to. Eventually, I want to run two amps: one for the speakers and one for the subwoofers in a ported box. I'm wondering if a more powerful amp will fit back there where the factory amp is at? It would be cool if it did and I'm guessing I probably need at least a 500 watt amp to run the regular speakers and maybe a 500-1000 watt amp for the subs? I was looking underneath my seat and it doesn't look like enough room to put an amp underneath it but I could be wrong.

I appreciate the input!!!

Deflace

FLBOIZ13

well the power of the amps really depends on the speakers. and size depends on amount of power and class of amp. class D amps run cooler, and they are typically smaller, but cheaper ones are more prone to distortion. you might be able to get one of those under a seat. also dont rule out 5 channel amps if you can find the space, that way everything could run off a single amp = less wiring, less total space required. you may be able to bolt the amp directly to the box, depending on your layout.

Are you running a after market head unit, or stock?

the door speakers to get really depends on how much you wanna spend and personal preferences, both of which i cant answer for you. I can however tell you what has worked for me in the past. I have always liked 2 way coax in the rear and 2 way component in the front. I would have gone 3 way component in front, but it always means a custom mount and i have just never done that. infinity, polk, jl, jbl are some brands ive had great experiences with for door speakers. check out sonicelectronix.com, they have great prices on lots of car audio stuff. honestly most anything you get will be better than stock anyway.

the first step is really to pick out your speakers, that will tell you how much RMS power you need at what impedance (2 or 4 ohm). be sure to match by RMS power not max power. Then you can pick an amp. look for high s/n ratio, channel separation, and low THD, or total harmonic distortion (anything under 0.1% is considered inaudible).

if you're more insterested in the port tuning i have a few freeware applications to calculate the frequency response curve given by certain subs, box size, and port tuning. If the box is already made this may be less of a concern for you.

hope this helps and if i missed anything i apologize and feel free to ask more

Blue Lightning

No problem. At this point, I'm keeping the stock radio and just replacing the door speakers (I might do the tweets in the front last but we'll seet) and getting a amplifier to run everything. Then later, I'll get a ported box with maybe some 10's or 12's in it. I really want to have the amp underneath the seat that way if I need to move the box then I would just unplug the box and take it out or if I have a flat (hope that never happens) then I could just let the rear seats forward and push the box up so I can get to the the spare tire.

I can tell I've been out of the loop for a minute on car electronics because I didn't even know there such a thing as 5 and 6 channel amps. Interesting. I guess I come from the older days of using two amps: one for the speakers and the other for the subs. But you've got a good point if a 5 or six channel amp can achieve the same results!

I hope this gives you an ideal of what I'm trying to do so far. I appreciate the advice!

Thanks

Deflace

hugheshhr

If you are needing to save space. JL has a good 5channel amp that is very small, or Alpine does also. The JL is the hd900/5 and the Alpine is the pdx 5. They both are very small, yet nice amps.

mistermike

You can achieve the exact same Thiele-Small alignment with a sealed or ported box. However a sealed box is somewhat more tolerant of a sloppy alignment, which encompasses about 90% of all car stereo woofer enclosures. With a ported enclosure you have to get the math right. There is no directionality to the sound that eminates from a port. The wavelength is a couple orders of magnitude larger than the aperture diameter, making in a pure point source, which is, of course, omnidirectional. However, one must be careful not to "crowd" a port, or you will change it's tuning frequency. The mere act of opening or closing any door will completely change the resonant frequencies of the air inside the car and dramatically alter the SPL inside the vehicle, but not because of any "directionality" of low frequency sound.,