Subwoofer in speaker panel?

[Loki]

Is it possible to put a subwoofer in the speaker panel above the monitor of an arcade cab?
I'm asking this because I never had a subwoofer.. or a cab... so I don't really know about the measurements of it all.
The idea is pretty cool I think... a full speaker panel covered with speaker cloth and a 2.1 set behind it.

If it would fit; will it be an obstacle for the bezel light?
or would it be a bad idea to have a subwoofer in your face to begin with?

[Havok]

If you do it, don't use a CRT - unless you like rainbow colors where they shouldn't be. However, if you "retrofit" the cab with a LCD, then go for it!

[Loki]

I will go for CRT.
Hmm, aren't they shielded? I have 2 big stereo speakers next to my CRT PC monitor right now. Nothing happening here.
Or are subwoofers that different? 

[Havok]

Most likely the subwoofer is not shielded. Regular speakers designed for computers normally are...

[TOK]

Aside from the shielding, I think the bass benefit of putting the sub in the more open bottom of the cab is huge. I put a relatively small sub in the empty bottom of my Dynamo cab, and it sounds way better there then it does out on its own.

[Havok]

The thing with bass is that it is omni-directional, so having the speaker pointed right at you really shouldn't matter much. You actually will probably get better response like TOK said by mounting it in the lower side.

[Loki]

I was afraid of that
What I first had in mind was to put in behind a cut out coinbox door.. But I'm not really sure that can be done.
I could of course make something of my own, but it wouldn't look as nice a coin door.

But what do you mean by bottom? Subwoofer facing to the floor, or where the coin door usually is.?

[MaMeNnO]

My subwoofer just sits on the bottomplate of the cab. I guess that's also what TOK means.

[Loki]

Really! 
It sounds just as good?!  That would be groovy...

[polaris]

the only thing i can add to the above is it may sound a bit rubbish in the cab as the box a speaker comes in tunes the sound too, so putting it in another box again may be too much but thats only a maybe  its more likely to just sound very boomy but not to sweet. bearing in mind its an arcade machine not a hifi ,im gonna put one in mine. it could just as easily be remote to the cab and give the same effect. cinema systems bass box's are very often something you just hide away in the corner of the room as havok said its not directional.

[ahofle]

Mine sits on the bottom inside the cabinet too.  As others have said, I'm not sure that you'll get anything from mounting it up higher since LFE is unidirectional.  It sounds great IMO.

[Loki]

Great, then I'll just go with that... Saves me a lot of worries and work.

Thanks all ^^

[Xam]

Another consideration when using a sub...is it free air type or does it need an enclosure. One that needs an enclosure will probably sound bad without said enclosure. A free air type would sound better in the bottom of the cab.

Xam

[shorthair]

Bass...is not exactly omni-directional.  Subwoofers do put out other frequencies and they are audible if the unit is facing you.  But, if you're generally off some distance, or in this case upward from it, then it won't be as obvious. To get the full effect of it, it's better to have it away from you some, cos otherwise you'll be in the middle of the first wave.  (This is why bass buggies are so loud some distance away, but not as apparently loud when sitting in them. Yes, they are purely for getting attention.)

The free-air/enclosure gig can be important...but since it's WAY cheaper to get a very capable sub in a PC speaker set, it's not relevant.

[Crowquill]

I definitely don't think you'd gain much having it in the main speaker panel.

You could do what Atari did with Primal Rage and mount it behind a grille on the front. That section of the cab behind the sub is completely sealed off to help the bass.

Does anyone know other original upright arcade games that used subs?