i've always had rear fill as a courtesy to the passengers in the car - i know how annoying it is to ride in the back seat of a car and have it ALL bass. plus when i'm doin the dirty in the back seat, the sound is still fairly balanced between speakers/subs

 

courtesy to the passengers ????? why Oh that would be the wife ,,,yes keep wife happey

 

what's baffling? It sounds better! If it didn't I'd change it. My ears drive me, not what everyone else is doing.

 

What's baffling to me, is the reason why I want to (but don't have the room to) bring sub woofers forward is to keep my sound stage tight and uniform in from essentially one listening area. I currently don't like my subwoofer in the trunk because I can hear that the bass is coming from behind me, and I hate that separation of sound field.

This is why it is baffling to me: you don't have to listen to that separation of sound field with your subs upfront, and then you add in the separation of sound field by putting in rear fill . . . unless you've got a good time alignment processor to compensate.

But if it sounds great to you, that's great that you enjoy it!

 

You'd never know my sub is against the back wall of my truck's cab from listening unless I told you. It's all in the tuning and having a front stage capable of good midbass.

I drove around with my rear fill switched off at various times and couldn't quite get myself on that bandwagon, I get a better sense of being in an intimate space with the performer with rear fill and I like the feeling. But mine is time delayed and attenuated slightly and I have rules:

1) You want the 'meat and potatoes' of your sound coming solidly from in front of you, with rear fill there to help simulate the reverbrations and reflections of sound that occur behind us that we'd hear in a loud performance in an intimate space. It's not surround sound exactly if used properly, but rather a way to similate the wierd things sound waves do when they travel past us and hit walls and corners in a way that gives us a sense that we're in a room with the performer.

2) I feel rear fill should never cost more than 100 bucks. I think it's crazy to spend big bucks on two sets of components front and rear when it means you could have spent twice as much on higher end fronts.

3) I feel rear fill should be attenuated to the point where its presence is 'felt' but not really heard to the point where you can hear where the speakers are.

4) I feel amplifier power that could be better used on fronts should not be wasted on rear fill. Another thing that's dumb to me is people buying 120 watt components, then taking a 60 watt 4 channel and using 2 channels for rear fill because it just ain't a system unless all your speakers are amplified. Get all the power you can for the front stage then run the rears off the head unit or whatever amp power you have to spare once you've properly fed your fronts.

5) I see no point or useful purpose of any kind whatsoever for rear deck or rear tray speakers and don't know why some people insist on installing or upgrading them or why manufacturers even install them in cars, except it's better to advertise 10 speaker premium sound instead of 4 or 6. Exactly what good are drivers that are behind every one AND which point towards the ceiling of the car?

 

I'll admit I lack solid mid-bass. This is partly because I'm powering my comps with 200 x 2 wrms amp and my comps are rated for 120 wrms . . . so I high-passed the amp at 150hz to be on the safe side of not over powering the mids.

Ideally, I would love to get an 8" mid-bass up front playing 50hz-200hz . . . I just don't know where I would mount it (Toyota Tercel, a bit limited in space).

. . .
^^ Agreed

 

likewise...the music is made in a studio, concert hall, stadium etc.. Why is everyone so obsessed with trying to make your car sound like something it never can? If i want my music sounding like it's in a stadium, I'll go to a concert! In my car I want it to sound as good to me as it can...meaning clarity, solid bass, smooth midrange. To ask of a 50 cubic foot space to sound like a 1000000 cubic foot concert hall or stadium or even a 1500 cubic foot studio is pretty damned impossible!!

 

I'm an audiophile, have been for most of my 45 years, and I love music. I don't have ridiculous expectations of how it should sound here and there. Music has a specific signature in every location due to it's performers, the environment and the electronic equipment used. None of this can be accurately reproduced again...something will change...even air pressure, hardware temperature, performer's abilities, etc... Strive for excellent sound by your determination...that's being an audiophile!

 

i'm pretty lucky that i can have the best of both worlds. My deck has a internal amp that i can turn off or on. So when i drive by myself i turn it off and just run my components, it sounds better this way too. If i have people in the back, i turn the amp on and play the speakers in my back doors as well.

 

I would try dropping that cut-off point....if they are 5.25" up front, 120hz should be better, if it means setting the gain a little lower you probably won't miss the volume....if they are 6.5" I usually start at 80-100......

If you do, shut the subs off and grab the CD you listen to the loudest....once you have the cut-off and gain set for that, nothing else should pop the mid.....after that it's just a question of tweaking the subs to match.....

If you want a hand doing it LMK....it is a lot easier to do it with 2 people......

Putting 8s in the doors is no problem....as long as you don't mind lumpy doors....