Will heavy bass from the rear trunk affect the performance of the engine?

i just recently added subwoffers and customized my rear trunk with 12" woofer and ampifer, however the bass is very heavy and deep, but i became curious as to if the heavy bass would affect the performance of the mid engine, since is right there next to the woofer? would the bass loosen the screws and bolts of the motors? i know it sounds funny, but i am really curious. any experts on this matter? thanks...

I am not an expert in the matter, but I think should be fairly unlikely to affect the engine which is designed for high levels of noise and vibration. Interior trim pieces might be a different story. BTW, what are the options on your car and what particular sound system mods did you do. I would be interested to see pictures.

You have nothing to worry about. There are thousands of vehicles with high end audio systems and they are not falling apart. I used to design and build systems and compete in car audio competitions, you are far more likely to damage your ear drums than you engine. Erik

i brought a base Cayman S without the Bose system, therefore i always felt that the system had lack of Bass. and being that i enjoy heavy bass during open road, i took my car to an audio shop, they custom build a box to fit the rear trunk of the CS, and carpet to match the interior. i added a JL audio 12" W3 woofer. and have the ampifer mounter on the bottom of the front trunk. and build a custom cover to give it a stock look in the front trunk. is a little hard to explain, i will take pictures tonight, and post it later on this evening. i love the feeling now, driving fast, and loud and heavy bass. all i need is wheels and lowering springs, than my cs will be complete.

thank you Edo. thats exactly what i wanted to hear... haha...... haha. :banana:

thenewguy - I very much doubt there will be any problems from the subs. Porsches are made to be taken right to the track (albeit, after a nice break-in, imo) and run as hard as one possibly can - there's no way the bass output from a subwoofer or two is going to rival that... As Rob says, you might loosen some interior pieces and make them rattle, and ruin your own ears, but otherwise, Blast away... brad

Yeah let's see some pictures, thenewguy. I'm interested in upgrading my audio system.

i will post the pics tonight or tomorrow morning. :banana:

I will agree with the general concensus here, a 12'' woofer, WHOA! I hope you keep it down or you're definitley going to get some major rattles in the car. The engine compartment and engine will be fine, but smaller screws and plastic parts will start to give you trouble. My third brake light has gotten very loose, and I suspect it's because of my sub. I keep my little self powered dual 6.5'' Kenwood at 1\4 volume level, bass turned up to +5 on the headunit, and it's tuned to act from 60hz down to 35hz and it's more than enough bass for the small cabin of the CS, some people actually say it's too much bass but I keep it there because I drive often with the windows down. One thing I hate about adding a sub to the Cayman is that it's so non-linear with the volume, because the headunit turns down the low frequency signals as you turn the volume up, my sub is a little too boomy when the volume is low and when you it to 18-22, it's perfect. I'm thinking if the dealer keeps giving me grief for having it in the car though, I might just get rid of it... but the system really does need more bass. - SS

the 3rd brake light is a easy fix. they took it out, and silicon the inner part of the brake light, and they place a piece of plastic material between the glass and the brake light, no rattle at all. suprisingly. but i love to drive with my window down, hot air blasting from the a/c unit, and bass blasting from the rear. haha.... pumps me up before i go to work for another long day of sales.. haha...

Why is this in Zone 8? It seems more appropriate for Cayman Electronics or Cayman Chat. I believe our Zone 8 moderator may be out of town, so can someone else move this thread. I am cranky today.

I wish my dealer was that intuitive . I hear you on the driving windows down, bass pumping; that's how I got psyched up as well when I was in car sales. - SS

Krok - Would if I could... but it's something either Marvin or Ken have to do... brad

Here are some pics of my sound system upgrades as promised http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j265/mariele18/DSC01964.jpg http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j265/mariele18/DSC01962.jpg Front Trunk http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j265/mariele18/DSC01969.jpg custom made to cover amp !!! http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j265/mariele18/DSC01971.jpg with the cover on !!! front trunk looks stock, and okay for storage. http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j265/mariele18/DSC01968.jpg

ur pobly gonna blow that amp pretty quickly because of heat issues ur gonna have with that cover

It would have to be a pretty big bass to dent the trunk and maybe hurt the engine and I haven't seen them that big even in the bass pro shop aquarium.

Not bad, K-Man S, not bad.

The install is pretty interesting. I'm taking my car in in a few weeks to have some stuff installed, and I'm very curious about what we're going to do with amps/sub. I've been insistent on a small sub. I'd like to keep my enclosure a lot smaller than that one you've got there thenewguy. I worry about what happens when the CS needs service and the engine needs to be accessed. Don't the techs sit in that rear hatch area? Anyone have any ideas on how to handle this? Also, I'm curious how much weight that false floor can hold. I'd certainly like to maintain as much cargo capability as possible.

I don't know if it would work in the Cayman (esp. since I don't have one yet), but on my S2000 I have a 6 (or 6.5") JL Audio sub in a custom enclosure hanging from the underside of the passenger-side dash pointing downwards. It sounds surprisingly good, uses otherwise unused space, and is totally stealthy. Would be worth looking to see if it's a possibility!

Sancoat, when i first planned to get my bass install, all those questions ran across my head, therefore here's the solutions. the box in the rear is build to spec, giving the subwoffer the proper amount of air space needed, and the box is removable, very light, and simply just pick up the box, disconnect the audio wire, empty trunk again. and as for the amp being in the front, is very simple. the battery is right there, and the original amp from the factory system is there as well, so we grab signal right off of the factory amp. and only ran 1 audio wire to the rear for the speakers. and i say i probably took only 4 inches of space from the front trunk, hardly noticable. let me know if i can offer any additional ideas.

thenewguy, Like Edo, I too used to create and install high end systems and have built many cars for demonstration purposes. One of the vehicles I built was an Astro van that contained 8 12" JBL 1200GTIs and a couple of cases of MB Quart separates to back them up. It was all powered by 3,500 watts of Precision Power Art series amplifiers. The bass in that thing was so powerful bass that you couldn't stay in the vehicle for more than a song or two without suffering from vertigo and nausea (caused by the fact that your inner ear was shaking so violently). We (me and my coworkers) had to take turns giving demos. One song each and then it was the next guys turn. On the mechanical side, the only failures we observed were: The 'Astro' emblems jumped off the doors because of the vibration. (if you watched them they would flex almost an inch during demos) The side windows would not stay shut, they kept popping open The alternator smoked up about 3 times Other than that, nothing major shook loose and that was in a vehicle known to fall apart without any added vibration.... I think you're safe. A 12" woofer in that horn loaded hatch will make lots of bass. The only real worry I would have is how much weight did you just add to the far rear of the car. Todays woofer manufacturers refuse to use light weight materials like neodymium. Why? Because there is a widely held misconception that the heavier a woofer is, the better it is. So they stick to conventional ferrite magnets and cast iron plates and pole pieces. It's not uncommon for a 12" woofer to weight 50 lbs. Then the enclosure is probably made from MDF (medium density fiber board). Or, some shops use conventional particle board which is even heavier. I used to like Trupan Ultra Light which was an MDF that was very light and yet very rigid, though a bit expensive. I would guess that you added about 60-75lbs, which doesn't sound like a lot, but it's way back there over the wheels. So if I did a track event, I would take that thing out. About that. Do you have the LOUDness activated? The radio should be linear, unless of course the Loudness feature is turned on. That feature boosts the bass level at low volumes and lowers the boost as the volume climbs. Try this. Turn LOUD off. This will give you a more linear response. If the bass level isn't enough with it off, increase the gain on your woofer amp a little to compensate. Once you reach the sweet spot, you will have your bass back and you will have gained linearity. But be careful man. Bass in a Cayman makes the interior really hot and the A/C may not be able to keep up with all of those decibells...... (Joking - see other thread where Suneet's dealer blamed his woofer for weak A/C performance.... )

wow. thats a very interesting response. i will go home this weekend and weight the box and the subs. the best part of my installation is that i can unplug and remove the box within minutes. thank you gator bite for the info.

i just weight the box and the speakers, it came up to approx 50lbs. added to the rear. is that going to affect the performance? i cant imagine how 50lbs can make a differnet on the street. but than again, i can remove it within minutes by unpluging the wires.

Lol gatorbite you crack me up. Thanks for the tip on the loudness, I've tried both but in the end left it on. I will try leaving it off and increase the gain and see if I can get it where I like it. People looking for a smaller, but every effective, sub should try the self amplified infinity basslink, 10'' woofer + 10'' passive radiator and 150-200 watts of power depending on the model. Also, the new shallow Pioneer Pro subwoofers require really small enclosures and make great bass and you can choose any amplifier you want. - SS

It was a good idea facing the subwoofer upward. Now, you can get extra downforce by simply removing the hatch and cranking up the bass! -Stevie

I'm no expert on corner balancing, but I don't think 50 lbs (1.67%) is going to make a very noticable change. Still, if I was tracking the car, I would take it out just because of it's very rearward location and because it comes out so easily.