Redundant Question On Sub Placement(with maybe a slight twist)

[Spooney 10+ year member]

I've searched every different way I could word it and never came up with any concrete answers for my question so here it is. I'm currently playing around with box designs for an L5 15. Not the greatest sub I know but bear with me. I got it in a box that came in at under 3 cubic feet with a 40 hz tuning(gay). So clearly I need a new box. Depending on the orientation of the sub on the box I can make the box a couple different ways. If I face the sub and port towards the back of the car I can only get about 3.2 cubic feet and still have respectable port area and tuning. Now if I face the sub up towards the trunk lid with the port still firing back(or sideways or whatever would work best) I can get more port area,tuning that would be respectable, and gain almost a full cubic foot of enclosure volume(4.15 as opposed to 3.2 feet). I gain so much on the volume this way because I can make the box shorter and wider and still fit it into my trunk. If I go with everything facing back I am stuck at the 3.2 cubic feet because the height of the sub determines the height of the enclosure and makes it too tall to fit in the car if the box was larger in any other dimension. Now the real question is which of these setups will give me the most gain? Is there more to be gained from getting all the air moving in the same direction(sub and port back)? Or is it more worthwhile to go with the larger enclosure and gain a little port area even though the sub and port are no longer on the same plain? I've had plenty enclosures where the port faced the side of the car and the sub faced the rear of the car and thought they sounded fine but I am just iffy on the whole facing up setup even though its a much better enclosure for this sub. It just would seem like if facing up was worthwhile you'd see a lot more setups like that in trunk cars. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Click to read more...

 

[Bumpin' Goalie 10+ year member]

Many people recommend sup up and port back for hatch backs and suv's.

for trunk car's this is a very variable science.

vehicle? max dimensions?

PM me for specific help.

 

[Spooney 10+ year member]

Car is a 1999 ford taurus. Max dimensions with port and sub facing rear are 16 x 16 x 33 . Max dimensions with up firing woofer are 14.5 x 22 x 32 . Box cannot be built into the car. Has to be removable . It sucks because the trunk is pretty decent size but has a funky *** opening. way to go ford.

 

[Wingman0121 10+ year member]

I have a 4 door sedan and I find it to be loudest if the box is against the tailgate with the subs firing towards the backseat and ports firing towards the left and/or right side. The ports can fire towards the backseat too if your box is big and don't have room to fire it towards the sides.

 

[Spooney 10+ year member]

I appreciate the input but even that setup leaves me in kind of the same predicament . The box could still only be 16 x 16 x 33 . Trying to narrow it down to one choice before I build a box. Can't be building two different ones. Don't have the time or cash. Hoping to find somebody who has tried this out. I threw a small test setup in my car and it doesn't really seem to matter whether the sub is facing up with port back or sub is facing back with port sideways. sounds pretty similar either way. I can't try sub and port back unfortunately as all of my current boxes have a side port but I know that it always sounded pretty close to sub back and port to the side with other setups. I will try your suggestion and see what I come up with. If thats not conclusive I may just opt for the larger up firing box or unload this sub and try something different all together.