Subwoofer enclosure

[Sal Lubrano]

I have (2) 12 subs. Has anyone placed a box in the upper level of the trunk to fit two 12". I still want to be able to place the T-tops in the trunk. Any pics or places that sell an enclosure.
Thanks
Sal

[lowride87regal]

yes i have two 12 mtx road thunders {old school} but i dont have t tops but sounds great

[TURBOV6]

Originally Posted by Sal Lubrano

I have (2) 12 subs. Has anyone placed a box in the upper level of the trunk to fit two 12". I still want to be able to place the T-tops in the trunk. Any pics or places that sell an enclosure.
Thanks
Sal

You can easily fit 2 12" under the rear deck with no problems but it will be a custom enclosure. I will check later to see if the Scosche dual 12" will fit.

[TURBOPOWERED68]

This is what I did a long time ago
I put the 4x10s in the garbage and put 6x9s in their place with a nice adaptor.
Right against the back seat I put 2 FREE AIR 10s loudspeakers
And on the driver side of the trunk I had 1 10” Bazooka
And on the pass. Side of the trunk I had another 10” bazooka
On the top level off the trunk right behind the 10ns and under the 6x9s I built a 2 level plat form
On the first level I had 3 amps
On the second level I had 1 electronic X over, fuses, 1- 1.5 farad cap and a 10 disc changer
On the bottom of the trunk where the spare tire goes I had a second battery.
The spare laid flat on the trunk between the 2 bazookas.
I made a plat form that fit over the spare.
And to answer your question my T-Tops fit right on top of that plat form.
The 2 biggest problems that a packed trunk gives you.
1-about another 200 or more Lb
2-i would go shopping and only one box of cereal would fit in the trunk.LOL

But boy I loved my system. As soon as my ’87 t regal is done the system will be next.

[6APPEAL]

12's will fit easily, provided you pay attention to the air space required for the woofers. Sealed woofers that require a small amout of air space will fit the easiest. If the woofer requires a lot of air space for a ported enclosure, you could run into trouble. I've had serveral different pairs of Kicker 12's, 3 JL Audio 12W6's (sealed and ported) and a single Cerwin Vega Stroker 12 (in the car now). All of the Kicker's were sealed in about 2 cu ft per woofer. The JL's were sweet in the sealed enclosure with 1 cu ft per, but hammered in the ported enclosure, but used up a ton of trunk space. That box was 6 cu ft. The CV Stroker is in a 4.5 cu ft ported enclosure with 1700 watts of Linear Power on it. It is loud and plays low, thanks to being ported at 32 Hz.

Just figure out how much space you want to give up, then pick your woofer, or vice versa. HTH
John

[PhilM]

Yep... just follow the manufacturer's recommendation on what box volume is needed for your particular woofer. I like sealed enclosures much better than a ported or bandpass box, not to mention they are much smaller than either. You will notice much more volume out of a ported box, but the low frequency response suffers, not to mention the "tightness". I am currently on an IDMAX fix, and that woofer is perfect in a sealed box. Some woofers however, do sound better in a ported box but I haven't personally owned those types, just some friend's installs.

Phil

[TURBOV6]

Ported enclosure provided much better bass response. Ported enclosures are more efficent and produce a much higher output from a sealed enclosure.

[PhilM]

I'm not going to argue but i'll at least defend my stand... I don't know what you are designating as "bass response" other than a peak in the more noticeable bands, i.e. a less flat response i.e. denoting less faithful reproduction>>>



I want to also add a big disadvantage of a ported box is that you really need to spend a lot more time matching it to get that "tuned" frequency so your rolloff after that is in the 'right' place. This means you either need to get a ported box exactly designed for those subs of make a box yourself. A sealed box, provided it's not too small, is a helluvalot more forgiving with specs.

Sealed, for a majority of the woofers I've used is what I prefer. Preference and facts are 2 different things.

Phil

[6APPEAL]

I have to agree with PhilM.

Very true the ported enclosures are larger, can provide more "volume" with the same woofer, can be peaky, can have bad frequency response, but all these are factors of box design. Typically not the fault of the woofer, unless the manufacturer wants more sales and "claims" the woofer works in a ported enclosure. There are several software programs that can verify this mathmatically. Physics don't lie.

Sealed enclosures are far easier to build and smaller. Woofers tend to sound "tighter" in a sealed enclosure because the rear wave of the woofer is not heard since it is sealed in the enclosure.

The freeair stuff is out there and can serve as a low bass re-enforcement, but can never replace an enclosure. The volume just will not be there. I also haven't seen a freeair woofer that could take a lot of wattage.

As I said I have used both in my car and just happen to have a ported enclosure in it now. The next box will be sealed since the woofers I looking at using are specifically for a sealed enclosure. Just means I'll need more woofers to get the same volume.

Something not mentioned is the amp. The more damping factor the amp has the better it can control the woofer, thereby increasing the "tightness" sound. My ported enclosures have all sounded like sealed enclosures since my sub amp has a ton of damping factor and has been modified to have a custom feedback circuit .
John

[TURBOV6]

Originally Posted by PhilM

I'm not going to argue but i'll at least defend my stand... I don't know what you are designating as "bass response"

Phil

Sorry what I said was from experience and I don't want to start an arguement.

I can build 2 sub enclosure from the manufacturer's recommended enclosure one being a ported and one will be a sealed.

In car response the ported enclosure will be a noticable difference in the bass output even at low frequencys.

There is nothing wrong with sealed enclosures they do sound very good. YES simple to build and its in a very small box. I like to impress my customers with 1 woofer vs. 2.

Did you ever heard a (DD) Digital Design woofer?

[BLK87GN]

Just got mine done today.

[PhilM]

Cool! I'l have to post mine up... i just gotta wrap up the PC enclosure and it's done

Phil

[TURBOV6]

Nice job!

Try to face the woofers towards the trunk lid it should produce a stronger bass output.

[BLK87GN]

we removed the 4x10's and it's supposed to use those as vents, so that's what they face.

The problem is the sound quality is poor now. We're going to try putting in differen't speakers on tuesday.

[TURBOV6]

Originally Posted by BLK87GN

we removed the 4x10's and it's supposed to use those as vents, so that's what they face.

The problem is the sound quality is poor now. We're going to try putting in differen't speakers on tuesday.

When pointing toward the rear, the sound wave has a longer distance to travel, and you get more bass as a result. Firing it up to the 4 x 10 is not the idea way, plus now you are going to loose your rear fills.

The best thing is to try it and hear the difference. Looks like from the pic the box can move right out, just flip if and face the woofers to towards the rear of the trunk.

[PhilM]

Agreed... Before I mount my enclosures, I put them in all positions, or at least all viable positions. Sometimes this means making another enclosure! Also do the tests with the trunk closed... you can see this difference yourself. It sucks sometimes because I see many ppl make the enclosure to fit in a specific place, where moving it around is quite frankly not an option. Something as simple as turning a cabinet 90deg can make a huge difference.

As for loosing your rr fills... I ditched mine due the fact that most all 4x10s are horrible. I am content with my stereo front stage on my upper door panels. They are plenty loud. From the factory, the only reason there exists a rear speaker set is because it is more economical in many cases to put the larger speaker in the rear (more room, etc...) look at the buick for eg... it has a dinky 3.5" speaker in the front... hardly enough to do anything more than some 80yo's news at very low volumes - and even that is pushing it. Car audio is stereo... you cannot tell the rears are even non-existant if your front stage is properly pointed and spaced (and are powerful enough). The only exception I have come across is when I watch movies that still have the 5.1 surround. But I dont watch too many movies in there and besides, the 2.1 sounds just dandy!

[BLK87GN]

The speakers that were put in the front were phoneix gold octane R, and the ones int he dash are little JBL 5 year old ones. I didn't want to make kick panels with 6 inch speakers, do you have a good set for the 5 1/4 you would recomend?

[6APPEAL]

I really like the Image Dynamics CXS55 Chameleon 5 ¼” tweeter components that I have in a set of Q-Logic Kick panels. Nice clean sound and not a metal dome tweeter. I have nothing in the dash.
John

[PhilM]

I'm currently using a Pyle (yes Pyle) 5.25 midbass that I am currently very happy with. The tweeter is an Audax... I believe it's a silk dome... cant remember. I used to have Vifa midbass' but they did not have enough power and didnt sound as good as the pyles in a non sealed enclosure... (ie the door)

Phil

[TURBOV6]

Go with a 6 1/2" or a 6 x 9's in the side panels below the rear windows, I did that on my T.