which way to face my subs??

tecmo04

ive been debating this for 3 years now since my first system. in my car the rear seats fold down. with my sony xplodes i thought they sounded a little better facing forward. with my 2 polk MM2124 i think i like them facing backward more.

i normaly have at least half the seats folded down so im curious which way "should" sound better. more specificly what is the "proper" to face them?

one more quick question. i have a 1 fard cap installed right now. i happen to have another spare 1 fard cap sitting in my trunk. is it worth the 30 dollars to get it installed? what advantages would it give me over the other one i already have installed?

thanks for the help!
a piecefull and friendly polkster :cool:

neomagus00

who gives a **** about how which way is 'supposed' to sound better, it's what actually ends up sounding better that matters! for your reference, though, it's generally accepted that you should begin your testing with the subs aimed towards the rear of the car, though customisation is always encouraged.

cap - no, adding the extra cap won't do anything, and it shouldn't cost 30 bucks in any case - all you have to do is bolt it to the first with a pair of metal bars, takes like thirty seconds (if you have the room and the bars, of course - relocating the pair of caps is a different story)...

VR3

What does a cap do inline with an amp exactly...

And wouldnt that just be incredibly dangerous if left out in the open...

*makes shocking noise*

neomagus00

yes, if you stupidly decide to touch both terminals with, say, your tounge, that would be dangerous... and a cap _theoretically_ allows the amp that extra little bit of juice for reproducing peaks in the music (such as a kick drum)... the theory is that a car battery cannot respond to such a fast current draw, and so the amp is momentarily starved, weakening that note. the cap has an exceedingly low resistance, and so the amp can draw from the cap and be on its merry little way, whilst the cap recharges itself from the (relatively) slow battery.

as far as inline goes, i prefer the idea of putting the cap between power and ground, getting even its small resistance out of the way, but that's just me.

finally, caps are one of the biggest debates in car audio (like ICs for you guys, to compare, if you haven't encountered this argument before). i personally understand the theory, and they cannot hurt, so i personally will use one when i finally get subs. i don't generally reccommend, them, though, because they're only a small band-aid, and many systems simply cannot benefit from even the theoretical benefits - their deficiencies are simply too large to repair without an alt or battery upgrade.

tecmo04

to my understanding the capaciter (spelling??) is just a big battery. it helps protect the alternator. not anymore dangerous then leaving a d battery out rolling around. the place i took it to asked for 30 bucks to install it. i imagine the actual costs arent that expensive i know but i dont have extra 4 gauge wire lying around and i dont have metal brackets, and im lazy. besides the last thing i tried to hook up, a few neons, a 5.6 inch monitor and xbox started a fire in my engine becuase i didnt use fuses (im a moran). now i dont trust myself and would rather get some sort of warrenty when being installed.

so heres my issue with direction. when i face the subs backward i feel like its real boomy. when i face them forward i feel like i compleatly loose all the lows. decisions decisions

neomagus00

heehee, i've never actually heard of a fire, that's pretty sweet...

perhaps sideways is a good compromise?

a cap is fundamentally different than a battery - a battery is capable of holding a large amount of reserve power, but it cannot release it very quickly; it also is capable of maintaining a constant potential voltage for the majority of its lifetime. a cap is exactly the opposite. it holds a relatively small amount of power, but is capable of releasing it on a timescale measured in milliseconds - that's a potentially dangerous amount of power, which is why we don't touch both terminals at once, or leave the cap charged when it's not hooked up.

and i would say that it 'protects' the battery more than anything else, but i'm pretty sure a battery doesn't really care either way, it's about the amp.

tecmo04

so how much extra "juice" am i getting from going from 1 fard to 2? i mean the rating on the label for the first one i bought says it could handle a system up to 1000 watts. but when i look at the light on the amp after big hits it still dims and i still have a little interior light dim. will adding this be the bandaid that stops my bleading? i mean its not from a major artery so ....

neomagus00

i find it unlikely that adding the extra cap will help with the dimming, though the only way to really tell is to add it in... a different approach won't do a thing to the audio, but it may help the lights, and that's to hook the cap to the non-audio power lines at the battery - this MAY help the light problem (equivalent to putting caps at the lights themselves, at least that's the idea)

MacLeod

Caps are not worth it unless youre running in the kilowatt range and even then its debatable. Your stock charging system will handle the load as long as your battery and alternator are working properly.

Im running close to 700 watts with the stock bat and alternator and have no dimming lights at all even in bass heavy music.

tecmo04

what kind of car u got mac? my 99 is a pos. everything has come loose from the windows, rear speaker cage, rear view mirror falling off, allmost the entire underbody, which you can hear when your standing outside the car and im still not deaf yet! ive replaced the alternator and battery and not much help. i love my subs! wooopie

MacLeod

2002 Dodge Ram QuadCab.

Granted its got a pretty stout OEM charging system but with a new battery and a good alternator yours will handle the chore.