To experience the lowest possible bass tones, select a large woofer designed for use in a sealed box. This type of enclosure is your best bet for driving your frequency response down. Ample wattage is also a must if you want to really feel those lowest bass sensations. Using a woofer with a very low frequency response spec will also help.

If I put my subwoofer box in the boot, will I be able to hear the bass?

Absolutely. The only situation that might prevent you from hearing bass from a boot-mounted box would be if your boot was sealed and soundproofed. Usually, bass travels easily through the materials separating the boot from the passenger compartment. If you think you're missing out on bass because your back seat and rear parcel shelf materials are blocking the soundwaves, you can alleviate the problem by punching a few small holes in the rear shelf and disguising it with a matching acoustically transparent material.

What's Poly-Fill and how will it affect my subwoofer's sound?

You're probably already very familiar with Dacron polyester fiber-fill, or Poly-Fill - there's a high probability you slept on a pillow stuffed with this material last night! But you may not realize how Poly-Fill can help your bass.

Stuffing your enclosure with the right amount of Poly-Fill can make your box behave like it's larger than it really is. This comes in useful if the size of the box you've bought or built turns out to be slightly smaller than the recommended size of enclosure for your subwoofer. Depending on how much Poly-Fill you use, you can actually vary the 'perceived' box volume by as much as 30%.

You can also 'stuff it' if you simply don't have room in your vehicle for the size of box your subwoofer requires. Try adding Poly-Fill to any enclosure - it can clean up your bass by minimizing unwanted box resonances.

How much power do I need?

The right answer to this question will depend upon which subwoofer you choose. Listed in the specifications for each Kenwood subwoofer on this website, you'll find a maximum power rating (in peak power watts).

Generally, the closer you can approach this figure the better, because bass notes are power hungry. So, to really make your subwoofer perform, we recommend choosing an amplifier rated in the upper third of your woofer's peak power range.

Your amp's peak output can even exceed the woofer's peak power rating, provided you keep an ear on the sound quality - when the bass starts to distort or 'break up', you've reached the performance limit of your amplifier/speaker combination. Turn down the volume a little, and your woofer is safe; clean, high-volume sound will not damage your speaker.

What crossover point should I choose?

A good initial setting for the crossover point is around 80 Hz. Expert opinion is that higher crossover points make the bass more 'localizable'. In other words you can tell the bass is coming from a box in the trunk.

A crossover point between 60 and 80 Hz focuses the power of your sub amplifier on the music's deepest notes (the ones you feel) and helps make the bass you hear seem like it's coming from the front of the vehicle along with the rest of the stereo image.

Your own preferences are also important. If you prefer a hard-hitting midbass boom, or if your front speakers or subwoofers are small, a crossover point of 100 or even 120 Hz will be appropriate.

How many subwoofers can I hook up to my amp? Can I bridge my amp and run two in parallel?

Which is more powerful - one 12" sub or two 10" subs?

This is a common question, and one that's difficult to answer definitively. There are so many factors that come in to play - power, enclosure type and size, as well as your specific vehicle and your individual perception. But, generally speaking, given adequate power the two 10" subs will sound a little cleaner and punch harder because their combined cone surface area yields more sound pressure. The single 12" sub, however, may sound a little deeper.