Designing a subwoofer box!

[Doug]

I'd like to build a subwoofer box for inside the storage compartment by the spotters seat. I'd like to run a 12" sub. Is there a rule of thumb for dimensions, frequency, etc. Is there somewhere that a glassed in box can be purchased reasonably?

[SouthWaker]

Size will depend on the speaker you run. Not just the size but the name brand. Also what type of box it is, for example sealed or ported. They also make one more type but most will use one of these two. The sealed boxes are usually smaller. I have a smaller boat so when I get ready I'll probably go with Kicker Solo Barics. The manufactors recommend sealed boxes and each speaker only requires .88 cu. ft. to reach its full potential.

[kmagnuss]

http://www.diysubwoofers.org/faq.htm

[McPie]

Yeah, it all depends on what the sub needs for its optimal capacity, that is, the size of the box. I recently made one for a sub for my car, and it had something like a 30L capacity, that being the optimum for the sub.
Good luck with it and keep us updated...

-McPie

[Doug]

Anyone else?

[bremsen]

I think the posts have pretty much answered your questions correctly. Find a quality sub to suit you (SPL/SQ) and build a box for it. Most fg boxes are custom built and you can check with your local audio stores to get quotes. You can go with one from audioformz.com, but make sure the sub is suited for the box. If your handy, building one isn't all that hard, just extremely messy and time consuming. There is lots of DIY stuff posted on various car audio forums or you can buy a book or video. www.fiberglast.com.

[410fortune]

Here's my thought process behind the setup I run in the boat:

I had x amount of space to work with.
IN my case it was a rather large box actually, for a single 12"
Its about 1.8 cu ft inside.
I could fit it in my Bayliner, under the instrument cluster, behind the drives side seat for the bow. Fit perfect.

PORTED, sealed enclosures are the best. I use them for almost all my installs, in CARS.
In an open top boat you will want the deep bass extension you get witha ported enclosure. The punchy bass will be lost in a convertible boat. Ported is better.

Most 10" drivers will want a .75-1.25 cu ft box
Most 12" will work well in a 1.0-1.5" cu ft box

I had plenty of room to accomodate a single 12"

I wanted 2 ohm, once you run 2ohm or lower for your sub you will never go back.
I wanted cheap.

It's in a boat, so it might get wet = cheaper the better.

MTX makes a nice single voice coil 2ohm 12" woofer in my price range (like $75) so thats what I went with.

My boat has more bass then my truck and house system.
It sounds awesome on the water. It's a low powered woofer (175W RMS) so it doesnt drain a ton of juice.

The system is simple, I used a 3 channel amp and deck power.
Deck power 45w x 4 runs my 4 ea Jensen Marine 6.5" co-axials.
The 2 60W channels on my amp run the tower speakers (will be 6" drivers with tweets) and the 180W single 2ohm load goes tot eh sub.

Simple, hidden, loud and clear.


I'll get some pictures of the install this spring.

Also the box cannot be stolen easy at all. the POrt points at the drives feat and the sub fires up into the dash. I had to remove the dash and steering column in order to fit the box in there.
I put the amp behind it.

It would litterally take somebody an hour or so with tools to remove the box and get access to the amp, working upside down in the drives seat

Good luck!

[882001]

http://www.mtx.com/caraudio/products/manualsQuickInstall/subs/TechData_T5512-44.pdf
this is for a twelve the ported box slams.