New Subwoofer Enclosure

Discussion in 'Sparky's corner' started by IDOXLR8, Jan 27, 2007.

  1. 78ParkAvenue

    78ParkAvenue LED Interior Lighting

    If it's going into the Century, you have limited space to begin with, so I'd make the box as big as you can fit for a clean install. You might lose some efficiency, but your goal isn't a SPL record breaker.

    2 10" speakers might fit better, but won't give you the low frequency response. Of course, if the car has a lot of road noise, you might not hear those low frequencies at low volume. There are trade-offs. You can use box technology to account for frequency curve loss, but if you apply the same concepts to a larger speaker you have a better sound all together, provided you have enough space. It's like the "no replacement for displacement" saying. Same concept goes with speakers. I don't care what you do to 2 6" woofers in a Bose home theatre subwoofer unit. It has absolutely nothing when compared to a Nestorovic 12" design.

    Since MDF is easy to get, if you don't like how it sounds you can always build something else.
     
  2. IDOXLR8

    IDOXLR8 Senior Member

    Rich, that was the plan, then I ran into a deal on two Zapco I-12 SVC new in the box for $63.00!!! I could not walk away from that knowing these sell for over $250.00 each! With all the help from ALL you guy we will figure away to make this fly, AL.
     
  3. IDOXLR8

    IDOXLR8 Senior Member

    You me and Rich are on the same page and the two 10"s was the plan untill I had a deal I could not walk away from, AL.
     
  4. IDOXLR8

    IDOXLR8 Senior Member

    Yes, I'm replacing the single 10" with two 12" drivers. The inclosure is a tight but clean fit in the rear well (this wagon doesn't have the 3rd seat option). I would have built it larger if I had the room but I'm fussy on looks and want it to look like it came with the car from new (I even have some NOS seat back fabric lined up to cover the top! I may want to contact you about some ideas on fooling the drivers into thinking they have more real estate to make this work, AL.
     
  5. ricoshay

    ricoshay Well-Known Member

    In my opinion (street value $0.02) the best sound and space conservation would come from building an enclosure for 1 single ,solitary woofer. Trust me, 1 woofer in the recomended enclosure sounds waaay better and lasts waaay longer than 2 in a box that is too small. Put the other one in a closet or sell it to a member!
     
  6. pooods

    pooods Well-Known Member

    Wagon!!! Ok, to heck with factory looking! I've got about 6 15's and 10k true wattage laying in the garage collecting dust. Let's put the 2 together and bend some metal!!
     
  7. IDOXLR8

    IDOXLR8 Senior Member

    I think I need to do something about the lack of air space. Venting or porting, whats best for my problem for SQ? AL.
     
  8. pooods

    pooods Well-Known Member

    Al,
    Since you are in a wagon and you want a small box, I would say porting the box would work great for you. Yeah, it's a small box and it will not break the spl meters, but you don't want that. I think I would use ports and polyfill, then you will be pleased. Those subs should sound good. They are not competition subs, rather sq subs. Like stated earlier, if you send me the box deminsions, I can get a port size to help out.
     
  9. ricoshay

    ricoshay Well-Known Member

    venting and porting will probably have a NEGATIVE effect on airspace if the box isn't bigger. You REALLY need to check the specs provides by the company ( I checked the site, but no luck). Port size and design is not univesral, but depends on that particular speaker. You can copy the box design of a similar sub, but its kinda hit or miss. Go ahead and finish building. Listen to it with the amp gains turn a little low. If it sounds ok,then leave it. If not try...
    -stuffing with insulation
    -take one sub out,cover the hole, and listen to a single sub with twice the original airspace
    -inverting the sub/change polarity of speaker wires
    -any good with fiberglass?...build 2 seperate enclosures along the sides
    -contact the company for CORRECT dimensions
    by the way, good deal on the purchase!
     
  10. Madcat455

    Madcat455 Need..more... AMMO!!!

    Porting on a small box will have a negative effect on airspace.. as it relates to SQ. But it'll relieve the pressure caused by the cone movement that could literally blow his cone off, or even rupture the surround... and we're not even considering the heat that would be generated in that confined space, it needs venting also for cooling purposes(since it won't have a large volume of air inside the box)

    It's a trade off... sure he'll get lower SQ, but he won't be compressing any air, risking his speaker.

    Another thing to consider, without venting, would be a Passive Radiator.. A long throw passive radiator will give the compressed air inside the box a place to go, Typically though... you need to go larger then the driver.. so you'd need a 15in passive in each side. Kind of unorthodox, but I think it'd work. Don't know about the heat though.

    I would hook them up free air at normal volume and time to see how hot the magnet gets... then multiply that for the confined space... I don't think the results will be favorable.

    But that's just me :pp
     
  11. IDOXLR8

    IDOXLR8 Senior Member

    You guys have been a great help and I thanks you for not beating me up of such a mistake on my part in not thinking this whole thing out :TU: . I think I will go with a single DVC Infinity Perfect 12.1 D . I would only need to make a new top cover. I think the air space would be okay for one 12, do you all think? AL.
     
  12. Poppaluv

    Poppaluv I CALL WINNERS!!!

    I agree w/ Rich on this one. More is not always better.DVC's a re a good way to go-ESPECIALLY if space is limited. For free-air hook-ups- I always hate it when the rear (outside) of the car is louder that what is inside. As for the plyfill/stuffing, you CAN orerdue it! I think a lb. is more than enough. Makes your enclosure "think" it 10-20 % larger (usually accounts for "true" i.d. NOT the outer dimensions. BTW what is the effeciantcy rating on those Zapcos?

    What ever you do seal the rear box from the trunk-stop the rattles!!!!

    Myself- never had that issue-no back seat. 1000 Concord(after the Orion "red" finally fried) watts on 4 12's, 500 watts on 2 10's and 50 ea. on 6 mid-range 2 ways til it got stolen outta REgal :ball:

    What I learned- $$$$$$, jealousy, and have tinitus today:Dou:

    I can truly say I have forgotten more about car-stereo than some of my friends will EVER learn:Brow:
     
  13. 78ParkAvenue

    78ParkAvenue LED Interior Lighting

    Al-

    An Infinity Kappa is a very good driver. (I have Infinity stuff in my Town Car and my Electra).

    DVC woofers give you an extra set of coil windings to work with, which gives you better/more wiring choices. This all depends on your amplifier. The Infinity woofers typically can handle about 200-300 watts RMS. Forget peak power. Typically the drivers are dual 4-ohms, so make sure the Infinity can be used at 2-ohms, before you purchase, since I think you said earlier that your amplifier works best at 2-ohms. If the infinity is a dual 4-ohm you can make your amplifier see an 8-ohm load or a 2-ohm load. If you aren't going to power the speaker to its max, you might have problems with clipping signals at higher volume levels, but that shouldn't be a problem since you are going to be listening mainly at reasonable volumes, so don't let the guys at the audio store tell you you need another amplifier.

    The nice thing about the DVC is that if you have two 4-ohm coils (typical) you can wire in series to increase the impedance to 8 ohms or you can wire them in parallel which would lower the impedance to 2-ohms and would increase the amplifier's output, provided it can handle that load, which you mentioned that it could. A DVC driver also lets you wire each coil to a different channel.

    A DVC isn't better than a SVC, but it offers advantages in wiring and ultimately power output of your amplifier. Remember, power is your friend, nothing beats big speakers with lots of watts.
     
  14. pooods

    pooods Well-Known Member

    Al,
    Since you have the box built for 2 subs I would try it. I called the enclosure expert yesterday. I worked with him many years ago. Since then he has gone to several courses and even designed some boxes that got put into production for spl. He is very good. I described your box to him. He said it needs a divider between the 2 subs. He does not reccomend a port in a very small box like you have. Rather, he says run them sealed and see if you like it. You can always add a very little amount of polyfill (get it at Walmart in the cloth section, same as qulit stuffing) and throw it loosely in the box on each side. See if you like the sound better. He was concerned about standing waves in that size box, but it being not square or rectangular doesn't make that much of a problem.
     
  15. IDOXLR8

    IDOXLR8 Senior Member

    Mike, thanks for taking the time to help out the other day. The Zapco AG 650 has a very good pair of sub channels bridged and at 2 Ohms has no problems pushing two 12s SVC or one DVC 12. I had the two 12s in the box and blew the lid off of, air space is an issue! I have a single 12 Infinity Kappa Perfect 12.1D comming. The Infinity Kappa Perfect 10.1D out performed what I expected and the 12 should hit lower notes. I like the sealed 3/4" set up for clear clean sounld at lower and mid listening levers. As I said I'm not looking for SLP, looking for super SQ! Thanks AL.
     
  16. IDOXLR8

    IDOXLR8 Senior Member

  17. IDOXLR8

    IDOXLR8 Senior Member

    You are 100% Correct!!!! I sold the pair of Zapco subs and bought one DVC Infinity Kappa Perfect 12.1 D VQ. Then designed a new sub enclosure to fit in the compartment where the 3rd seat would be and it sounded great. Thanks for you support and input :beer :Smarty: :TU: AL.
     
  18. 65WILDKAT

    65WILDKAT A PROUD FATHER OF THREE!

    A 12" needs about 2 to 3 cubic feet if you take the LxWxD (these are all in inches) divided by 1728 you will get you cubic footage. I am making mine with 2 12" subs and I don't think I will port them because They say you will get better sound at lower sound volume. Plenty of room in the trunk of a Cat! :beers2: I am using 3/4 MDF and bracing the insides and doubling up on the mounting hole with a 3/4" ring.
    Don
     
  19. austingta

    austingta Well-Known Member

    I get 1.208 cubic feet. I did it a little different than posted above, but the difference may be due to rounding.
     
  20. monsterbuick462

    monsterbuick462 Well-Known Member

    Don....what kind of 12's are you using 2 to 3 cubes seems a bit much for a 12?? are you intending on installing both 12's in the same enclosure?? you will find that most 12's even a 12 dvc with a huge magnet structre will fire in 1 to 1.50 cube boxes there should be a divider between the 2 chambers most 12's require at least 2 cubes ported to sound half way decent nless you using a SPL type driver that may require 5 to 7 cubes each ported but i doubt your going that route!!! keep us informd
     

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