I have one 12" MTX in the rear well on a plate. (Keep the critisism to yourselves please. I've made my reasoning on here quite clear on that subject )

Well I keep reading on here that a box sounds 'soooo much better than a plate'. So I figured "What the hell, I'll try it."

My wife and I were in Wally World looking for a cheap CD player for our "new" --minivan--. (GAG-PUKE) Anyway, they had some decent looking boxes for ~$30. I tried one in my car (just for experiment) but it no fit. It too big.

Well I took the one 8" Pyramid that I have in a ported truck box and put it in just to see if there was any SQ improvement due to a box.

It sounded pretty good. So just outta curiosity, I switched the phase of the 8".

OH MY L-ORD!!!!! IT MADE A HUGE DIFFERENCE!!!!!!

Everything sounded more clear.

So then I put my 12" back in and reversed the connectors. I NOW HAVE A DIFFERENT SYSTEM!!!!!! The bass sounds so much more REAL!! And it used to be very 'directional' and all from the back. NOW it sounds like it's coming from all over the entire car. IT'S GREAT!!!!!!

I guess I'm just curious about how many of you have done this (changing the phase) or tried it, and how you liked the results. Some of you might want to try it. You might be surprised.

This may be due to the fact that I do have a plate and not a box, but then how would you explain the 8" in the box also sounding better running out of phase?

AJ

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92 RS w/t-tops 305 TBI Auto.
175K miles and don't burn a drop o'oil
-K&N Truck filter #1500 w, open ele.
air cleaner
-Dynomax 2 1/2" cat-back
-B&M TransPak
-Jet Stage2 Chip
-180* T-Stat w/ 185* Fan Switch
-JVC CD--Alpine speakers & 4ch. amp
Rockford Punch 100. 1 - MTX 12" sub

 

Its pretty reasonable to assume that you WERE running the subs out of phase and now they are IN phase.

How could this be?

Well ... your amp could be the type where, when you bridge it, the phase on one channel gets reversed, or the amp is internally wired wrong or externally labeled wrong from the factory, or the sub is labeled wrong from the factory, or the box is wired or labeled wrong, or you made the simple mistake of connecting wires wrong.

Why this problem can happen is really irrelevent because the fix is so easy. - - - Any time you connect up two subs, give it a listen then reverse the leads to one of the subs and give it another listen. Pick which ever way sounds the best (loudest).

(Checking the phase of other (non-subwoofer) speakers is more difficult. With subs it is easy to tell just by listening.)


^^^^ Ignore all this (above) because I now realise you were talking about just one sub. I leave it here because it may help someone else.

I would guess that what you are experiencing is matching the phase of your sub to your other speakers. This could make a noticable difference in the sound of your system. You could, for example, switch the phase back on your subs to the way they were, then switch the phase on all your other speakers. It should sound the same as it does now.

This whole "phase thing" is very often overlooked by people inexperience in setting up audio systems. Be sure, however, that anybody who really knows what they are doing specifically checks & verifies the phase for each speaker. It is small details like this that makes good systems good.




[This message has been edited by Belker (edited November 29, 2001).]

 

Yea, I know what you mean about not checking to see what sounds best. I once did a 91 Camaro for a girl I used to nail. I tried it in her car and it sounded best 'in phase' with the other speakers. So I just *** -u-me-d that it would be the same in my car.

Oh well. I guess I should have tried this a while ago. The weirdest part is watching the sub in motion. When bass notes are initially reproduced, the sub moves down. I know that a sub actually moves both ways to reproduce sound waves, but it's that first movement of the bass note that looks really weird.

AJ

 

Belker, I'm guessing he's just got one sub.

But anyway, I always reverse the polarity to see what sounds better. The bass itself doesn't change, but it's interraction with your mids most certainly will. Most people don't realize that most of your "good sounding bass" is dependant on your mids more than your subs, and the interraction between them is crutial.

------------------

The IROC Homepage
<A HREF="http://www.rit.edu/~jli4307/camaro" TARGET=_blank>
View the restoration of an 85 IROC</A>
Custom Thirdgen Subwoofer Enclosures
"I didn't know a bored out Ford could go so slow" -Shenandoah

 

Funny you mentioned that because I was just at Sounddomain.com and read this http://forum.sounddomain.com/ubb/For...ML/001698.html . I think I'll try play around with this. Thanks for the info.

------------------

See my Ride:
https://www.thirdgen.org/rides/index...ew&rideid=1324

 

Golly. If you can read my post, the first three words say "I have one.......". That and it also says "1 - MTX 12" sub" in my sig.


Just giving you a little **** Jim.
"Hooked on Phonics worked for me!!"

HEHEHE!!!!!
AJ

[This message has been edited by AJ_92RS (edited November 30, 2001).]

 

I just remembered that my Excelon Headunit has this future to where I can do that. It's called "NF Phase".

 

Aj, don't mind jim85iroc, he never read posts thouroughly.

It is really cool to check out the sub when it hits, isn't it. I have a cross over that allows you to switch phasing on the sub and some songs sound better out of phase, some better in.

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'82 Firebird, dead stock, 9 bolt disc rear, over 200,000 miles and still going strong, more to come...
http://www.spinfrenzy.com/stingerssx...easures.html#4

 

Thanks Stinger. I love explaining myself.

I read what AJ said and I guess I wasn't obvious enough with my sarcasm in my original reply. Next time I'll be sure to put my sarcasm in bold so that the rest of you can try and keep up.

Stinger, just because we disagree on a few topics doesn't mean that you need to start taking it personal and start criticizing me or my posts. That's uncalled for and childish.

------------------

The IROC Homepage
<A HREF="http://www.rit.edu/~jli4307/camaro" TARGET=_blank>
View the restoration of an 85 IROC</A>
Custom Thirdgen Subwoofer Enclosures
"I didn't know a bored out Ford could go so slow" -Shenandoah

 

I played around with the phase thing on my kicks and I like mine the way it is. Ihave been running my subs at 180degrees and it sounds best to me. It seems to fill in alot of the lower mid-bass in my car and like you said brings the rear subs a little further up front. Good info tho

------------------

See my Ride:
https://www.thirdgen.org/rides/index...ew&rideid=1324

 

Thank you. This is all I was trying to say. Just suggesting that some of you just try it. Sometimes you don't have to know all the specific reasons of why it works. The only real way to tell if it works is to try it. But some people don't even know to try it. I was just suggesting that they DO try it.

I think that due to the way are cars are designed, it works well because of the phase shift that our cars cause.

I said earlier that I didn't try it before just because I assumed it would sound the same as my ex-g/f's car did.

However, I did forget to say that the crossover on my Alpine EQ has a 180* phase switch on the rear. I tried switching that back and forth when I first installed my stereo, but it had virtually no effect. I never thought to reverse the speaker's terminals. By switching the connections though, it actually caused my speakers to 'work' backwards. I.E., firing the sound more into the well, and through the metal in the car.

Kinda relates to the fact that we can more easily hear sounds that are farther away, if our ear(s) are against a solid object. I imagine this has a similar effect in our cars.

Well actually I know it must. Curiosity caused me to disconnect my 4 chnl. amp from all my other speakers, (I just unplugged the RCA jacks) then listen to the difference while only the sub was connected. I (as well as my friends) still noticed a difference between the two configurations.

You know........

amp "+" to spkr "+" ...and... amp "-" to spkr "-"

Then amp "+" to spkr "-" ...and... amp "-" to spkr "+"

There is definitely an audible difference, even without no other speakers hooked up. If you don't believe me, try it. Maybe it's just my car, or my ears. Yea!! Maybe my ears are outta phase.

AJ

 

Sorry jim, I didn't know that you'd take that so personally. I mean, what's a little inside joke between friends?

But, "so that the rest of you can try and keep up", that's childish and uncalled for.


Anyway, Aj, are you saying that when you flipped the phase switch on the crossover, it sounded different then switching the wires on the sub? On my crossover it sounds the same. In essence, it's doing the same thing, but having the switch on the crossover makes it a little easier.

 

Huh? Mine doesn't. Maybe mines too old to work right. I've had it for about 10 yrs now.

AJ