Hi guys, its more about 2 years since I started this thread and left without any conclusion. Well, I spent so much time on this forum that I almost got fired from my job. Made a resolution that would not come back for quite some time.
My swift setup: (note: prices except sub is from 2005)
HU: Pioneer 5850 (3 preamp out) (Rs 7000)
Amp: Pioneer GM-515 (5 channel) (Rs 17000)
Front components: Hertz energy series 6" (Rs 14500)
Sub: 2 Rockford Fosgate 8" connected in parallel ($60 each)
damping: complete front door
Here are some finding of mine and hope this might be useful for someone.
1. Performance of components
Hertz energy series has a silk dome tweeter and is very smooth; very much to my liking. But as with most silk dome, imaging is not very great. Part of the reason might be the design of swift. The dash in swift is so small that you can touch the front wind screen without any effort. This means the
tweeters will be much closer to the driver in swift and hence imaging is lost a bit. The imaging is very good if I listen from rear seat. The mid bass produced is very good. I really like these and definitely recommend to any one who has budget. This is the
best sounding components I have experienced.
2. Pioneer amp
I guess I was lucky to get a 5 channel pioneer amp. Its is very rare and met by price budget at that time. The amp as such has decent quality. I don't use it to its maximum (amp rating: 65W x 4 + 200W at 4ohms and 56W x 4 + 300W at 2 ohms (sub)).
No complaints whats so ever.
3. 8" sub under front seat
Initially, I was using single 8" Image Dynamics subwoofer (ID8D4 V3) under co-passenger seat. I tried to make the sub box completely air tight but inspite of my best efforts, I could not. I guess the Xmax of 15mm for a box volume of .2 cubic ft. cannot have a air tight box. It is bound to leak one way or other since air inside will be compressed to a greater extent. I did finally achieved air tight enclosure by using silicon sealant to seal the subwoofer with the box instead of supplied gasket. While the subwoofer is very good in terms of SQ, it floors very easily giving that metallic sound. This seams a common problem with the 8". Also for keeping the sub under the co-passenger seat, I had to raise the seat platform by an inch.
After doing a bit of research, I found Rockford fosgate punch stage 2 8" sub that meets my requirement:
Mounting depth : less than 4", Sealed enclosure: .15 - .35 cubic ft., X max - 8mm, Vas - 10.5 ltr.
But the resonant frequency was very high - 40Hz and this means in a sealed enclosure, -3db rolloff would happen at 67Hz. Pretty high for a sub but I had no choice. Couldn't manage more than .22 cubic ft.
After installing and bit of tweaking, now I have a very good setup. I have two subs under my front seats and hence have upfront bass. Couple of things that noted while installing the subs are:
a. covering the sub with good quality carpet has definite advantages. It takes out the sound produced by the box material. I have two layers of flooring carpet (1/4 inch total thickness) and this reduced some unwanted sound colouring. This is important if the subs are very near to the listening position. Using MDF instead of particle board also helped.
b. When the sub is placed under the seat, every little vibration is transmitted to the listener which may be undesirable for some (it sure was undesirable for me). Plus, the space under the seat can create some kind of enclosure effect resulting in boomy bass. For getting tighter bass, I made a setup as shown below.
c. 8" subs under front seats can give you upfront bass and save boot space ( which is premium in smaller hatchbacks) and can be driven by a smaller amp. I had a setup for my cousin's estilo: DLS 6" comp (Rs 7000), Pioneer HU (Rs 5000), JBL 4 channel amp (Rs 5000) - 2 for front and bridged 150W for sub, RF 8" sub ($60) extras came upto Rs. 22000. Sounds good for the price.
d. 8" subs cannot produce SPL when compared to 10". But if placed properly near the listening position, can give you good SQ especially in pleasant volumes ( relative term but lets say the volume you would prefer if you listen to country rock)
4. Sound damping
Sound damping products like dynamat is an
absolute must for swift. Too much rattling at higher volumes.