Subwoofers

[PCC]

Do any of you guys and gals have subwoofers installed in their Cobra's?

Curious to know whether they are effective in such a small space.

Have just fitted a 50W per channel stereo unit and the kids are telling me that I now must fit an amp system.

Not too sure myself as the sound now is more than enough.

[DonC]

Peter:
About the only thing there is generally room for without eating up the entire trunk is a free air sub. I'll be looking into them in more depth after I get my car from ERA but, on paper, it would essentially use the trunk as an enclosure.
DonC

[PCC]

Don:

Not being a hifi guru, what is a free air sub and where can you mount them in the trunk without impinging on the fuel tank?

My only issue is the fact that the speakers are so close to the occupants (door and rear panel) that using a sub will just give you a headache and the sound quality will simply not be effective.

[Tony Cram]

Peter,

A free air sub means you dont need a speaker box to mount the speaker taking up loads of space. With any sub you really dont need to place it so you can see it, you can just mount it behind your seat panel (if there is room). The boot space forms the speaker box. Some subs need a designed box (certain volume) and can be ported (Vent pipe from box) into the cabin to give more natural sound, however with the cobra there is so much other noise you will just need something that thumps the foundations to give you the bass.

If you are interested I have a Free Air sub for sale it is a "soundstream 12" sub" I also have an amp to suit. I dont have a low frequency crossover but your radio may have provision for sub output anyway.

Let me know if you are interested.

TC

[PCC]

Thanks for that Tony,

My foundations are currently being thumped without an amp!

My deck is a Pioneer and has an amp output.

Before dipping into my Cobra pot (which is pretty empty at the moment) I was interested to hear if anyone had such a setup installed and whether or not they felt it was worth it.

Maybe I just need bigger speakers to get rid of any distortion I'm experiencing (thump, thump, thump).

[Tony Cram]

Peter,

Bigger does not always mean a better sound. The real issue for everyone is you are competing for sound versus the surroundings. Pioneer power ratings are usually O.K. and you should be able to match a set of speakers to get a good sound. A amp is a good idea then you can get a more powerful speaker (Not necessarily bigger) that is more efficient and gives a clearer sound that can be heard above the road noise and of course your exhaust. A good amp speaker combination means you really dont need a sub (It would be wasted in my opinion - my 2 bits worth) given you will be competing for exhaust noise anyway.

Good luck.


TC

[Lowell W]

What are you, freakin' nuts? I've got two big woofers: one on each side.

What more do you want?

Lowell

[Alvin]

hey all
in my cobra l run an kenwood cd player and have one amp (kicker)
to run my 7 x 10 kenwood three ways and it has ample amount of power to blow you away

[REPTYL]

Tactile transducers are the way to go.
JayCar sell them for under $20.
Bolt the on the back of or under your seat,
they pack a real punch and are only 4 inches in diameter.

[PCC]

Jason,

What do they do and how do they work?

[REPTYL]

PCC

Heaps of stuff on the net, mainly for home theatre nuts.
copied this straight from one of the pages:

Tactile sound is defined as sound or vibration that can be felt with the body. This sensory effect is facilitated by various nerve receptors located through out our body which sends electrical impulses to the brain. The human tactile sound bandwidth ranges from the subsonic, 20 Hz and below and sonic up to 800 Hz for most individuals and up to 2 or 3 kHz for hearing impaired individuals.

Studies have shown that most individuals are very sensitive to tactile sound and can detect a shift of as little of 1.8 Hz. This sensitivity approaches the acuity of the human ear which can detect shifts of 1 Hz. The human body is also very sensitive to small amplitudes of Tactile Sound such as feeling the refrigerator vibrating through our feet on the kitchen floor or the pulse of a heart beat through our finger tips. Tactile sound can be soft such as a babies breath against your cheek or as violent as a car wreck or nearby explosion.

We experience Tactile Sound in many activities including: talking, playing a musical instrument, driving a car or motorcycle, riding a roller coaster, flying an airplane, riding in an elevator, earthquakes, running water in the bath tub, shooting a gun, a door slamming shut, or when we are in contact with another person who is talking. Tactile Sound can be calming and gentle when playing an acoustic musical instrument or standing near a water fall or irritating and harmful if we are running a jack hammer or too close to an explosion.

Air transmission:
For many years sound that could be felt has been recreated with recorded media through the use of large speakers or sub woofers. The physical effect is created by moving and/or compressing the air in an enclosed room. Using sub woofers to create a physical sensation is limited in both scope and band width in that Tactile Sound as described above, with the exception of an explosion, is transmitted through a solid medium. Sub woofers typically operate in only the subsonic range and therefore do not reproduce the higher tactile frequencies.

Direct coupling:
Tactile sound transducers are used by major amusement parks, the military and now popular in home theater installations and live sound applications to transfer vibrational information directly into solid surfaces such as seating or floor structures. This method of transfer has many advantages over air transmission.


The bass shakers you will find on the net can get quite expensive. But as I mentioned in the last post, head down to Jaycar. I picked up 12 of them to screw to the bottom of my theatre couch.
To be honest I'm not sure how they would go in a Cobra but in theory they should kick asss.

[PCC]

Thanks Jase,

Something to think about.

Will pop down to Jaycar (where-ever they are) in the near future and check it out.

The transducers would have to be pretty small to fit under the seat as I have a gap of only a couple of inches.

Might be a better option to fit them to the back of the seat.

Thanks again

[LwCwb]

Hey Peter, before installing the subs, for better music, take the mufflers out of the sidepipes and you have the best speakers on the planet! To control the level of volume, just use the throttle, the same pedal for the airconditioning!

[Back in Black]

And a 600 watt amp in the trunk. It's just enough to really rock out. Also 2 wide/mid range in the kick panels and two tweeters in the doors. 16 CDs in the trunk and an in dash cassette. The cassette is only good for cruising around town but you can hear the CDs at speed on the highway (unless there's a noisy car/truck beside you )