Has anybody had any experience with inverted subs? If so do you know if they sound better than subs in a sealed box. Also whats the idea behind inverted subs (do they sound louder or something?).

Thanks in advance.

 

im not to sure, but since no1 replied maybe i can help. i THINK the inverted subs makes it a bit louder cus the bass is channeled into the box but, a normal box wouldnt work, the area that the bass fills would have to be bigger than a normal box and u would need free-air subs. i think the infinity sub is an example of it...... nebody else have ne other thoughts?!

 

hmmm not too sure what kind of box i want.. hopefully should be ordering my subs tomorrow... thanks for the info though..

 

inverted subs serve no purpose except looks. All a sub does is moves air, and an inverted sub if you think about it has less surface area than a sub facing normally - so why the hell would you do that???

 

One reason for mounting a sub "inverted" is to allow the smallest sealed enclosure possible. When a sub is mounted with the cone facing out, the sub basket and cone take up air space w/in the enclosure. This displacement needs to be subtracted out to determine the actual enclsoure volume (note - some manufacturers include sub displacement in their "required sub volume" calculations). So if you flip the sub around, you can go with a smaller total enclsoure volume. The cone shape will actually add to the total air volume as well - so you need to add this to the total enclosure volume to get your actual volume.

Another reason this can make sense is if you need to create a really wacky-shaped enlcosure that would not be able to physically hold the sub due to the enclsoure's internal dimensions (i.e. picture a huge box that is 2 feet wide x 2 feet deep x 2 inches high...you could not mount the sub traditionally, but you could mount it inverted).

On top of these 2 design reasons, some people just like the looks of having the sub basket visible instead of the cone.

BTW - I believe it makes no difference in the sound.

 

when you invert subs dont you have to wire them 180 out of phase to get them to hit right...

 

Assuming all other things equal, yes.

 

I honestly don't think the untrained ear can really tell if the sub is in or out of phase. I know I couldn't tell.

 

the only place where subwoofer phasing is important, it's in the overlap between it output and the midbass woofer output. a good way to set the phase is to listening at a test tone around 125 hz and trying it with the sub in and out of phase so see wich is louder. be sure to neutralize crossover first.