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Budget Build Final Questions


EchelonMike

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Hey Crew:

I am getting ready to install a sub enclosure in my VLX. It's a 10" in a sealed enclosure, about 1.2 CF. I have 300w RMS powering it.

From reading the forum, it sounds like the ideal mounting location is under the driver helm area. The box is approximately 19" wide, 14" tall and and I have about 24" of width under the helm (2005 VLX) to work with. The back of the box slopes at an angle, so it would be possible for the sub to sit in front of the kick panel. However, for a cleaner look, I would prefer to remove the kick panel, mount the box in front of the heater, and then re-attach the kick panel out closer to "flush" with the edge of the helm where you walk through the companionway forward to the bow.

Placing the enclosure behind the kick panel would obviously block some of the direct radiation of the woofer, but the kick panel is only about as tall as the enclosure itself, so there is room above towards the dash, as well as down the sides, for the bass sound waves to travel.

Question 1 is, would it be best to point the woofer at the back of the kick panel, or face it away from the kick panel (face towards the bow)? if I point it at the kick panel, how much "space" do I need to have between the grill and the kick panel? I do have a heater back behind the panel, so there is interference either direction I face it, unfortunately. I could also cut a hole in the kick panel that matches the sub opening, but would prefer to keep it hidden and away from kicking feet. :-) I'll obviously play around with placement to see what sounds the best, but thought I'd check and see what has worked for others.

Question 2 is, I am looking for a starting point for crossover settings for the in boat speakers and sub amps. Where should I start with crossover settings for the in boat, and for the sub? Do people typically enable the high pass filter for the in boats to limit low frequencies since the sub is handling the lows? I have 4 pair of 6.5" kicker in boat speakers - two bow, two dash, two in the side cupholder area in the rear seating, and two on the tower. All are wired to a 4 channel, 600w sony marine amp. I have the bow and cupholder area speakers wired to the head unit "front" pre-amp outs and the tower and dash wired to "rear" pre-amp outs so I can apply some fading if the tower and dash are too bright and loud thru the head unit. The head unit is a Sony MEX-M70BT.

Thanks in advance for the help! Hopefully this holds me over until I build a "real" system. :-)

-- Mike

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Mike,

Q #1: While lower bass frequencies are more fluid than higher frequencies you still want to avoid firing directly into a near obstruction.

So unless you cut out the façade, aim the woofer towards the bow or hull. This will have the woofer output and reflected output from the under helm cavity more 'together'.

There is plenty of open surface area for the woofer's energy to flow over the top of the façade.

Q #2: Yes, highpass all of the in-boat coaxials for a number of reasons. With a smaller sub like a 10" you typically should select a symmetrical highpass and lowpass frequency. You don't want to gap the crossover and you don't want to overlap the crossover. I go by a tuning prescription rather than using a set frequency. But to simplify things I would start no lower than 100 Hz and no higher than 120 Hz based on the size of components in your system.

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is there a reason not to screw the kick panel to the box and then cut a hole in the kick panel for the sub?

That is an option and based on what David posted in his reply, I think I'll go that route. I was trying to keep it totally hidden behind the panel.

Hopefully will finalize in the next few weeks and post up some pics!

Thanks guys,

-- Mike

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