mixing different box types and sub sizes in a vehicle

[SYLrules 10+ year member]

right now ive got 2 12" ma audio XL in a sealed, 1.25 cu/ft per sub in an 05 hyundai santa fe powered by ma audio hk1300, rated at 700w per chan (but i doubt thats what im actually getting). i listen to rock and metal and the box sounds good or shitty depending on which cd i happen to be listening to. i was just reading the thread on different box designs and it says .7 cu/ft is usually ideal for sealed. dont know if i want to do that because i dont want to lose any of the LOW notes.

i was thinking about putting these in a ported box and then getting an 8 or 10 or one of each and putting those in a sealed. i think those would do better with the frequencies i think im looking for in my music. im just wondering if the different sizes and box types would play nice together?

Click to read more...

 

[DNick454 10+ year member]

From what I've heard (not sure this is 100% true), you're not supposed to mix subs sizes, brands, or even enclosures. From what I was told, the sub woofers hit and slightly different times, resonate in different ways, and since the waves aren't perfectly in sync, they can kinda cancel eachother out, almost like a subwoofer being out of phase with the others. Best bet is to just get a nice sub that is meant for a broad spectrum and tune it fairly low with a larger enclosure and it should have a decently flat response curve and perform well at almost all frequencies.

 

[brian84corvette 10+ year member]

people all the time do diffrent stuff .

you need to be smart about it tho. plan it all out first.

what you dont want is : two diffrent subs / mids / what ever speakers playing the same note / tone / hz.

if you kept your current 12's but put them in ported to something silly like 28 hz

you could high pass them at 70 hz and then low pass a pair of 8" subs/mid bass from 70 hz up to 300 or so hz so that the same notes are not being played by each set.

the 8's will be more punchy for kick drums and the 12's will lay out the bass tones.

or try it out. mess with it and its tuning. it all depends what you like.

I setup a friends car with a remote turn on toggle switch connected to his amp so when his wife drove the car and listened to the radio - she did not have to listen to the sub.

and he could turn it on or off at his own will. its all in the setup, thats ideal for you.