so for a long time ive gone through a couple of sets of subs tring to find the right ones, from jl to pionner to focal, now i have a planet audio big bang(amazing loud sub), but for some reason every sub has sound well shi**y, i usually pointed them towards the tail gate, well i had to put some stuff in my car the other day and didnt want to damge it and so i turned it up so it faced the roof, OMG what a differnece it made in clarity, it suddenly sounded so crisp and clean and clear, and still had loudness, like that deep punch you feel out side but only in

seee i was like i need to go back to the focal sub for the clarity it had(i went away casue i wanted something louder and the pa was alot of money for me so i wanted to make sure it was good)

but now i love it


but there new 2008 series of subs (planet audio) is complete crap btw, so bad my guy stop dealing them

 

if you want to research more about it, look into the length of a sound wave at different frequencies and its relationship with phase. Then look into how the human ear handles different phases. That will explain to you why your change in speaker aiming made such a difference.

 

the rear gate is also dynamatted where as the roof isnt mabe that makes a difference no?

 

The dynamat makes no diff. Infact i have lost SPL dynamating the rear areas in my truck.
It has everythign to do with wave lengths as BoB mentioned.

 

From what im told, the biggest difference is the material the bass is reflecting off of and the distance between the sub and such material.

Ive always aimed my 15 up ( using a 1350rms planet audio amp btw) but when i installed my friends stereo, he had his seats down figuring it woul be louder, and he was pissed at me at how horrible it sounded, and i folded the seats back up and presto! magical clarity and loudness.