Sub help

sareljr · October 9, 2013

I am in the process of designing a box, does anybody have a ported sub box with a 12" sub? I just need help determining the dimensions.

Chevyguy85 · October 9, 2013

http://www.bcae1.com/spboxnew2.htm looks like a decent page for basic info and has multiple calculators to help you out.

ponchonutty · October 9, 2013

FYI, building an enclosure isn't hard but you can easily mess things up. First you need to use the proper materials. Then you have to figure out how to build an enclosure to match BOTH the vehicle and the subwoofer. Just slapping things together doesn't mean it will sound the best. I love it when kids get their parents CC and go to some big box store and buy whatever they can and have it installed. Then they see one of my systems I designed that normally costs half as much sound 10x better lol!

Prokopchuk_9 · October 9, 2013

The manufacturer will give you volume for ported vs sealed. Follow that.

Once you have that use good thick MDF, don't cut corners. Do everything properly and you will have a nice enclosure. But it's getting hard these days to build one for the price of just buying one.

What type of woofer are you using? What wattage? What type of sound are you going after? SPL? Or good SQ?

tbhuge · October 10, 2013

Sealed enclosures are easier to build than ported. There are a lot more calculations involved with ported boxes in order to maximize output than sealed boxes.

sareljr · October 10, 2013

I have a sealed box now and I don't like the sound, ported sounds better IMO.

I have a 12" Pioneer Champion Series it can handle a peak 3500watts and 1000watts RMS. I drew up a design that is within the min/max recommended for ported boxes now just got to get the port size. To get the port size don't you have to calculate something with the sensitivity? Mine is 90db, and my frequency response is between 20-150hz.

ponchonutty · October 10, 2013

I have a sealed box now and I don't like the sound, ported sounds better IMO. I have a 12" Pioneer Champion Series it can handle a peak 3500watts and 1000watts RMS. I drew up a design that is within the min/max recommended for ported boxes now just got to get the port size. To get the port size don't you have to calculate something with the sensitivity? Mine is 90db, and my frequency response is between 20-150hz.

What amp are you running? Are you running an active crossover? What kind of box are you using now???? Is it hand made or pre-fab????? Running a sealed box is tough in a truck because you have a lack of good, usable airspace inside the cabin. It can be done but you MUST pay attention to details. To run a ported box with these Pioneer sub it is recommended to have 1.2 cu/ft box with a 3" x 3.5" port. Personally I would bump that up to about 1.6cu/ft and have the port 3" x 2.25-3.5". If not running an active crossover you should have multiple port lengths to try out to see what sounds the best. Also, have ALL the doors and windows up along with all bass settings in the middle when tuning the system. If you have the knowledge, that sub really does the best in a band pass box while in a truck.

sareljr · October 10, 2013

I'm running a PowerAcoustik 3500watt amp I'm not sure on how it's wired. How did you find out how big the port needs to be? Also the recommended volume for a ported box for my sub is between .8-1.6 cubic feet. I drew up a design for under my back seat of my ext cab and it came out to be around 1.46 cubic feet but I'm not sure on how big the port should be.