Is it possible to crack the windshield from the bass of a sub? In my other car I had 2 12" subwoofers and I developed a ring around my rear view mirror from the mirror always vibrating.. But I also had that windshield replaced because when I bought the car it had a cracked windshield. So i'm thinking the place that replaced it installed a cheasy windshield. I'm just worried about cracking the windshield in my cobalt...

 

Sure it is. You'll need a very powerful sub to do it though.

 

i have a jl w3v2 with 400 watts going to it in a bandpass box. do you think i have anything to worry about?

 

Na, I wouldn't worry.

 

no chance

 

no, just be careful

 

actually, it would be pretty easy to crack a windsheild (or any windows), even without a powerful sub. all you have to do is play the frequency that the glass resonates at, and you've got yourself a busted pane of glass.

but, that frequency is hard to find, so you probably have nothing to worry about.

 

well i'm just worried about my rear view mirror shaking to much causing it to crack the windshield.. but i think i'm just paranoid so i wouldn't worry about it i guess

 

nothing to worry about...worst case senario is the mirror falls off. Im not saying its impposible to do...but the setup you mentioned should not cause you any problems. Ive ran multiple setups in different vehicles with 1000+ watts and big ass ported boxes and have never had a window blow out.

 

I might worry about a windshield that's already chipped or spider-webbed. The constant pounding and chassis vibration might cause a pre-existing flaw (visible or not) to worsten.

As to the discofreaks post above, what he's talking about is called a "sympathetic frequency".
Windshields are not milled like crystal, they're poured and also tempered. Even if you managed to fine a sympathetic frequency for even part of the windshield, you would need tremendous amplitude to cause it to vibrate all the way through the glass and break it apart. Far more than would be survivable by a human. Either way it would never "blow out" so dramatically, it would just kind of crumble.

So in short. No, even the most kick ass bass won't break your windows unless they're already split. Sympathetic waves strong enough to break your windshield would be high-end ultra-sonics, not low end like bass.

Makes for a fun urban legend though...

"Man, on my last rides my bass was so sick I busted my windows man!"

 

Dude, the stock pioneer sub and speakers make the rear view mirror shake too. Most likely your windshield will not crack unless you have like 170 sp which you definately don't have. I have a 400 watt rms amp and there's nothing wrong with my windshields.

 

it could happen but you need to be pumping megga base

 

nope not gonna happen...

 

i have the sub hidden behind the passenger seat since it was to big to put in my trunk.. i can't believe how hard one sub in a bandpass box can be.

 

bandpass boxes suck... sure they're loud but they suck for sound quality...

 

I was running 900 watts RMS through my 2 - 10" Rockford Fosgate Punch HX2's in a down firing box, in my truck and had no problems.

The sound level would be enough to kill you be fore it broke the glass, unless you find the glasses resonance frequency. That would be difficult, and you would have to hold it at that exact tone for several seconds.

 

well the reason i bought a bandpass box is becuase i'm running the amp off of my stock head unit. i heard that if i had sub in a sealed box you could hear it distort and in bandpass boxes you can not really here the sub being distorted.

 

It's not the windshild you should be worryed about, It's your ear drums you should worry about, i'm 38 years old and have a constant ringing in my ears from to much bass.

 

I run 1100 Watts and when I pump tha mad Bass yo I don't have any troubles expect the rear view mirror rattling to ****.

 

Nah, that just means you need a more powerful amp and sub for it to hit harder!!! lol jk!!!

 

hey guys do you think i should change buy a sealed box to replace my bandpass box that i have right now? I bought the q-logic bandpass box off of crutchfield and I thought it would fit in my trunk but it does. So now I have to leave it in my back seat. The subwoofer in the box hits really hard but I'm worried that if I get a sealed box the sub will sound like garbage. Keep in mind I am running the amp off my stock headunit.

 

I like sealed boxes better myself. If you were to get a voltage regulator, or adjust the voltage regulator you have (assuming you have one) to reduce the signal to line level before your amp you shouldn't have too much distortion.

 

Wow.....you have it in your back seat.....and you're contemplating just leaving it there??? wow....

 

The box was a hundred bucks and i cant return in... so i'm basically screwed. It's not like the box is highly noticable. I have 5% tint all around my car so you can't see if from the outside. It's only a single box so i have it located right behind the driver seat. The only thing I could do is dish out some more money and get a sealed box. But then I don't know what its going to sound like. I mostly listen to rap so the bandpass works great. I dont' know what to do??

 

I dunno......buy a new box so you don't seem completely ghettofied??

Besides, its very unsafe. You don't need ~50 lbs of weight sliding around behind you.....