Little tip for Shaker 1000 peeps, drastic sound improvement!
09-24-2008, 10:19 AM
#1
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Virginia
Posts: 100
Little tip for Shaker 1000 peeps, drastic sound improvement!
Ok, so I know everyone's coming in here hoping for some crazy secret code to type into the head unit or something that changes everything up - not so much.
However, I had to move a bunch of stuff from my shop yesterday and popped down one of the rear seats.. when I went to drive home at the end of the day and fired up the car / stereo I was BLOWN AWAY with the change in bass, in SPL and quality. I had this problem in my M3 as well; the insulation in the rear seats prevented 90% of the bass from my sub from getting into the cabin. While the insulation obviously isn't as good in the stang, the way the frame works (providing clearance for the live axle) actually covers most of the rear seat area behind the seat (I'd say about half the height of the rear seat sits directly on sheet metal, which acts as a good form of sound insulation - from the trunk/sub at least, maybe not for road noise.)
In any event, if you just "pop" the rear seat, you don't have to drive with the thing handing down (you really can't even tell the difference.) However it allows the sub to "breathe" with the rest of the air in the cabin - you're not just bouncing sound off the back of the seat.
They really should have provided some simple low-profile vents on the top of the rear deck, but I guess given the low percentage of cars equipped with the 1000, it wouldn't really justify fitting a different part that large to the car (and if they all had it, it would probably adversely impact ambient noise.)
So anyways, don't knock it till you try it!
In the long run, it might sound harsh, but there's got to be a nice snap-in flush mount black abs OEM looking vent that we can throw on the rear deck.
Back in the day I knew BMW guys that were forced to TAKE OUT their rear speakers just to allow the bass in!
Anyways, not all hope is lost with this system - just popping the seat changes the overall behavior of the system so much that it still blows my mind. Bass response is RAZOR SHARP now, without any of the typical "boominess." Yet it hits harder than ever (I had to take the bass down 2 notches since popping it, giving me even more headroom with the wattage.)
Considering that everything's already there and pre-tuned, I'd rather make little adjustments to an already-great system than simply gut the whole thing and start over from scratch like people seem to feel is somehow better! (You also keep 90% of your trunk space with the stock enclosure.)
So good luck and enjoy! ...and let me know your thoughts and ideas about the issue too.
However, I had to move a bunch of stuff from my shop yesterday and popped down one of the rear seats.. when I went to drive home at the end of the day and fired up the car / stereo I was BLOWN AWAY with the change in bass, in SPL and quality. I had this problem in my M3 as well; the insulation in the rear seats prevented 90% of the bass from my sub from getting into the cabin. While the insulation obviously isn't as good in the stang, the way the frame works (providing clearance for the live axle) actually covers most of the rear seat area behind the seat (I'd say about half the height of the rear seat sits directly on sheet metal, which acts as a good form of sound insulation - from the trunk/sub at least, maybe not for road noise.)
In any event, if you just "pop" the rear seat, you don't have to drive with the thing handing down (you really can't even tell the difference.) However it allows the sub to "breathe" with the rest of the air in the cabin - you're not just bouncing sound off the back of the seat.
They really should have provided some simple low-profile vents on the top of the rear deck, but I guess given the low percentage of cars equipped with the 1000, it wouldn't really justify fitting a different part that large to the car (and if they all had it, it would probably adversely impact ambient noise.)
So anyways, don't knock it till you try it!
In the long run, it might sound harsh, but there's got to be a nice snap-in flush mount black abs OEM looking vent that we can throw on the rear deck.
Back in the day I knew BMW guys that were forced to TAKE OUT their rear speakers just to allow the bass in!
Anyways, not all hope is lost with this system - just popping the seat changes the overall behavior of the system so much that it still blows my mind. Bass response is RAZOR SHARP now, without any of the typical "boominess." Yet it hits harder than ever (I had to take the bass down 2 notches since popping it, giving me even more headroom with the wattage.)
Considering that everything's already there and pre-tuned, I'd rather make little adjustments to an already-great system than simply gut the whole thing and start over from scratch like people seem to feel is somehow better! (You also keep 90% of your trunk space with the stock enclosure.)
So good luck and enjoy! ...and let me know your thoughts and ideas about the issue too.
Last edited by TorchedGT; 09-24-2008 at 10:27 AM.
09-24-2008, 11:06 AM
#4
1st Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Virginia
Posts: 100
Time to bust out the sawz'all 
Edit: Check out what I found!!
It's 17x3x1/8 - which is a little big, but if you put two of them (with louvers facing away from eachother, towards to the outside of the car) right behind the headrests, it should traverse almost the entire length of the rear dash and work even better than leaving the seat popped. They're only $9.19 each and were designed for some kinda marine use.
http://www.llmarine.com/product.htm?...529&pid=447920
This would also work:
It's 5 5/8" OD, but doesn't look as cool (or OEM) as the other louvered vents. Uses a 4" diameter hole, and is like $7.. here - http://www.outdoorsuperstore.com/pro...sp?prod=259218
Then again, I found these on ebay for $2.49 and wouldn't require taking a chain saw to my rear dash.
Edit: Check out what I found!!
It's 17x3x1/8 - which is a little big, but if you put two of them (with louvers facing away from eachother, towards to the outside of the car) right behind the headrests, it should traverse almost the entire length of the rear dash and work even better than leaving the seat popped. They're only $9.19 each and were designed for some kinda marine use.
http://www.llmarine.com/product.htm?...529&pid=447920
This would also work:
It's 5 5/8" OD, but doesn't look as cool (or OEM) as the other louvered vents. Uses a 4" diameter hole, and is like $7.. here - http://www.outdoorsuperstore.com/pro...sp?prod=259218Then again, I found these on ebay for $2.49 and wouldn't require taking a chain saw to my rear dash.
Last edited by TorchedGT; 09-24-2008 at 11:25 AM.
09-24-2008, 12:41 PM
#7
1st Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Virginia
Posts: 100
I really need to buy some dynamat now so I can start to get rid of all the quirks and rattles back there!!
09-24-2008, 01:37 PM
#8
2nd Gear Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Billings, MT
Posts: 462
I don't know if I would start cutting holes in your rear deck personally.. While the foam back of the seat will definitely make a difference in the amount of bass you get from the sub-box in the trunk to the cab of the vehicle, its not just the foam insulation that is making the difference. The shape of the trunk is just as important. By moving the seat to a different angle, however slight, you are changing the way the sound bounces around, and quite possibly eliminating a frequency cancellation. Cutting a hole in your rear deck will not change that. Many vehicle manufacturers design the trunk of a vehicle to cancel out low frequencies so that the road noise and vibrations from driving do not get passed on (or amplified) as they make their way into the cab of the vehicle. Unfortunately, anything they do to eliminate road noise and make it a quieter ride will also affect your subwoofers. Its a catch-22 that has been around as long as high end car stereos have.
Furthermore, the foam material that the back seat is filled with is a sound damper, which means that as long as it is there it will absorb some of the sound from the trunk.
My stang is a vert, so I have no experience with this particular model of car, and have never so much as looked at the rear seat or rear deck of an s197 hard top. However, most rear decks are not totally solid, but have stamped holes all over, sometimes big ones. If these cars have a deck with a bunch of holes in it, I would first remove the rear deck cover and drive around a little without it to see if venting from the trunk to the cab actually makes a difference. If it does, then cut away! If not, then you saved yourself some money, work, and holes in your stang.
Keep in mind that if the trunk is pretty well sealed from the cab, then the trunk will act like a tuned enclosure for the subwoofers, and any venting into the cab will re-tune that enclosure. The result might be less than desirable as you could tune it at an awkward frequency. Also, if you cut and vent the rear deck make sure that either your plastic vent is very well secured, or not touching the metal, as it could vibrate quite a bit with road vibrations as well as when the bass is hitting.
Furthermore, the foam material that the back seat is filled with is a sound damper, which means that as long as it is there it will absorb some of the sound from the trunk.
My stang is a vert, so I have no experience with this particular model of car, and have never so much as looked at the rear seat or rear deck of an s197 hard top. However, most rear decks are not totally solid, but have stamped holes all over, sometimes big ones. If these cars have a deck with a bunch of holes in it, I would first remove the rear deck cover and drive around a little without it to see if venting from the trunk to the cab actually makes a difference. If it does, then cut away! If not, then you saved yourself some money, work, and holes in your stang.
Keep in mind that if the trunk is pretty well sealed from the cab, then the trunk will act like a tuned enclosure for the subwoofers, and any venting into the cab will re-tune that enclosure. The result might be less than desirable as you could tune it at an awkward frequency. Also, if you cut and vent the rear deck make sure that either your plastic vent is very well secured, or not touching the metal, as it could vibrate quite a bit with road vibrations as well as when the bass is hitting.
09-24-2008, 01:51 PM
#9
'Dr. X'
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Toto's Kansas
Posts: 4,388
i have the shaker 1000 and i will say i noticed a difference the few times i had my seat down (i tend to be an audiophile). oddly enough, i never really put two and two together until now; hopefully one of us can figure out a more 'permanent' way to take advantage of this. good find, btw
09-24-2008, 02:39 PM
#10
1st Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Virginia
Posts: 100
I don't know if I would start cutting holes in your rear deck personally.. While the foam back of the seat will definitely make a difference in the amount of bass you get from the sub-box in the trunk to the cab of the vehicle, its not just the foam insulation that is making the difference. The shape of the trunk is just as important. By moving the seat to a different angle, however slight, you are changing the way the sound bounces around, and quite possibly eliminating a frequency cancellation. Cutting a hole in your rear deck will not change that. Many vehicle manufacturers design the trunk of a vehicle to cancel out low frequencies so that the road noise and vibrations from driving do not get passed on (or amplified) as they make their way into the cab of the vehicle. Unfortunately, anything they do to eliminate road noise and make it a quieter ride will also affect your subwoofers. Its a catch-22 that has been around as long as high end car stereos have.
Furthermore, the foam material that the back seat is filled with is a sound damper, which means that as long as it is there it will absorb some of the sound from the trunk.
My stang is a vert, so I have no experience with this particular model of car, and have never so much as looked at the rear seat or rear deck of an s197 hard top. However, most rear decks are not totally solid, but have stamped holes all over, sometimes big ones. If these cars have a deck with a bunch of holes in it, I would first remove the rear deck cover and drive around a little without it to see if venting from the trunk to the cab actually makes a difference. If it does, then cut away! If not, then you saved yourself some money, work, and holes in your stang.
Keep in mind that if the trunk is pretty well sealed from the cab, then the trunk will act like a tuned enclosure for the subwoofers, and any venting into the cab will re-tune that enclosure. The result might be less than desirable as you could tune it at an awkward frequency. Also, if you cut and vent the rear deck make sure that either your plastic vent is very well secured, or not touching the metal, as it could vibrate quite a bit with road vibrations as well as when the bass is hitting.
Furthermore, the foam material that the back seat is filled with is a sound damper, which means that as long as it is there it will absorb some of the sound from the trunk.
My stang is a vert, so I have no experience with this particular model of car, and have never so much as looked at the rear seat or rear deck of an s197 hard top. However, most rear decks are not totally solid, but have stamped holes all over, sometimes big ones. If these cars have a deck with a bunch of holes in it, I would first remove the rear deck cover and drive around a little without it to see if venting from the trunk to the cab actually makes a difference. If it does, then cut away! If not, then you saved yourself some money, work, and holes in your stang.
Keep in mind that if the trunk is pretty well sealed from the cab, then the trunk will act like a tuned enclosure for the subwoofers, and any venting into the cab will re-tune that enclosure. The result might be less than desirable as you could tune it at an awkward frequency. Also, if you cut and vent the rear deck make sure that either your plastic vent is very well secured, or not touching the metal, as it could vibrate quite a bit with road vibrations as well as when the bass is hitting.
I'll probably install those little vents (easy to seal from underneath if I have to.. I'd have to leave the vents in though) and see where that gets me.. I'm pretty confident that'll solve the problem though. I'll throw some dynamat in the spare tire well area and under the rear dash / on the sides behind the carpet as well.
I'm not really too excited about dropping $150/"kit" for dynamat though, I might stop by home depot on the way home and see if they have some adhesive rolled insulation.