Subwoofer Aiming

[Bryan]

Just trying to gather opinions on subwoofer aiming. A long time ago somebody told me that bass needs to bounce off something to get optimum sound.. I.E. Down firing subs in home theater and pointing subs at truck lids or cargo doors to get the best sound in the cab of a vehicle. I see lots of boat installs with subs under the helm pointed directly into the cabin area.. Is this ideal? I get that a lot of guys put them in storage lockers and vent them into the cabin area, but I've also seen a bunch that are custom built boxes still pointed to the open air. I mean even when I just stuck my box under the steering wheel this summer, I had it pointed to the side so it seemed in my head that I was getting the bounce off the sidewall.. Is my logic flawed?

Also, my box is ported. Does this make any difference?

[chpthril]

The Best woofer, is the one done right. Yes, there can be some advantages to boundary loading a woofer. 1st and foremost, the boat is going to drive you to the most ideal configuration. Last thing you want to do, is close a woofer up in an insulated locker. I would seek out a better option even before venting that locker. Venting is far better than a closed up woofer, but not as ideal direct radiating or down or side firing, especially when the woofer is some distance away from the vent. This creates timing and phasing issues.

In some boats, like a Malibu, Centurion or Moomba that have a removable facade under the helm, we can easily do a direct radiating or a side or down firing. What we cant do, is an Infinite-baffle. In most Tige boats, the under helm wall is a solid wall thats sealed on all 4 sides. This makes it perfect for an IB woofer, perfect for a direct radiating, but less than ideal for a down or side firing woofer. To do a side or down firing woofer in a tige, its going to be a trade off between boundary gain and loss of leg room, as the enclosure is going to be in front of the fixed helm wall. With a direct radiating woofer, there may be little to no loss of leg room.

[Bryan]

I guess my question is this... This summer I just stuck my ported box in sideways so that it fired off the side of the boat, and this killed 95% of my leg room. If I cut the solid wall so that my box can be pushed into the storage area in front of that wall, I should gain back most of my leg room but it's gonna mean my box only fits so that the sub and the port is pointed straight out toward my seat. How much of a difference will I notice in sound?

[Jetdriver]

I guess my question is this... This summer I just stuck my ported box in sideways so that it fired off the side of the boat, and this killed 95% of my leg room. If I cut the solid wall so that my box can be pushed into the storage area in front of that wall, I should gain back most of my leg room but it's gonna mean my box only fits so that the sub and the port is pointed straight out toward my seat. How much of a difference will I notice in sound?

I did exactly what your saying. When I bought my boat dude had the sub enclosure screwed into the wall sitting sideways at the drivers feet. WTF?! Lazy SOB! I cut a 12" round hole in the locker divider wall and moved the sub into the locker. Flushed it up to the hole so it fires towards my feet. It sounds just as good if not better and I have all my leg room.