you'll get horrible "port whistle" from the vent in your yolk.
another would be less displacement in the enclosure.
also it will take up twice as much room in your trunk.
Im sure those answers probably arent the ones your looking for, my guess is your wondering if it will be as loud...yes, it will have nearly the same amplitude.
Anonymous
Posted on
according to my local MTX/Kicker dealer, facing a sub into a box will make the sub play lower. Facing the sub out in the same enclosure will make it hit harder.
i think what they were refering to with it playing lower may be in part with the volume of the box raising from the magnet and basket not being inside the box thereby lowering the port tune but they may have meant it for another reason as well
there is very, very, very little difference between the two. the only difference is going to be the decrease in surface area where the piston attaches to the cone (likely the cause for the 1db decrease). another argument is that the motor structure is blocking the soundwaves from the rear. 1) if this were a problem, the vent in most subs would eleviate a good portion of this. 2) the length of the soundwaves at this frequency are so widely spaced (omnidirectional) that the motor structure won't make a difference anyway. they just disperse around it. as zac partially alluded to, SOME subs will introduce noise from the motor structure because now it is OUTSIDE the box where you can hear the speaker flapping, etc. but all in all, inverting the subs makes a very nominal difference. the two reasons for inverting are that the box can be smaller because you don't have to account for displacement. and it just looks so cool.
no-one has mentioned what i thought was the ONLY real reason for reversing a sub... isobarik (a.k.a. push pull) loading where the outside woofer is wired out of phase and pulls on an identical woofer inside the cabinet that pushes the bass.
this setup loses 3dB in efficiency (but doubles power handling), but the real benefit to be gained is supposed to be extra speed and detail as the two woofers are trying to push the same amount of air, but also cancelling some of each others distortions. isobarik loading can also effectively cut the required internal volume in half so you can get the same amount of bass out of a smaller cabinet.
the same principal can be used with two woofers facing in the same direction as long as there's enough space between the woofers to let the back one's cone reach full excursion without hitting the outside one's magnet. clearance is also important in the front facing front style too. the biggest reason for going with the front to front setup is that it allows for a single mounting baffle and doesn't require the extra internal volume needed for the outside woofer's isolation chamber.
the only other reason i can think of to mount a woofer backwards is to show off a trick chromed or gold plated basket.
reversing a woofer also increases the internal volume by placing the space consuming magnet outside as well as the interior of the woofer's cone which should lower it's resonant frequency and let it play a little deeper.
i had the ideal of interting mine (2 mofos) and the gasket is in the way so what i did was riped the carpet off my box took the back off and in place a big peice of plexi glass so you get to look at the sweet magnet