waltham415

So I hate to ask this sort of question as I realize that the sound of a subwoofer is so dependent on the install, but as the few audio shops around here sell a majority of RF, Alpine, and JL products, I have no way to judge what I am getting into. So here I go.... I currently have two alpine type-s 10 inch subs running off about 500 watts in a very poorly tuned Best Buy box... The cleanest system I've yet to hear is two 10 in memphis subs in sealed boxes, the loudest system I have yet to here is two RF punch 12's in one of their custom, fancy looking ported boxes running off of maybe 700ish watts. The sub I am looking into is a SKAR VVX 12 in a box tuned to 31ish hertz, ran off of the same alpine 500 watt amp that my current subs are runnin off of. As best as possible given the lack of any really usefull information, how will this SKAR stack up? I know it will be better than my alpines in every possible way, but could it match the volume of the Fosgates or the SQ of the memphis subs? I apologize in advance for having to ask this but I cant get a good idea from youtube videos and I cant find any way to hear a SKAR in advance. Any help, ideas, advise, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Alex

So I just recieved my 2 new Dcon 10's today and upon installing them, I noticed a strange noise that I could best describe as a rattling(as if someone was holding their finger slightly against the sub). I can't seem to isolate which sub it is coming from but when I take a sub out, the rattling stops, same when I take the other out, yet when I turn one around and reverse phase, it starts back up.... I seems to start as soon as any back pressure is applied to the sub. The subs haven't broken in but the volume is low when this is occuring. I'm kinda freakin out since I already had to wait a month before the subs even came and now I'm at a loss and could use some help. Sorry for the essay, just trying to give any info I could think of Thanks in advance for any advise Alex

Alright, I got all the carpet off and widened the cutout a fraction of an inch so that the subs lay flat against the wood. The sound is gone and the Dcons are AMAZING. Thanks for everyones help Alex

Alright well I am trying to remove any excess carpet at the moment. (I now understand the term contact CEMENT). But I had a quick thought, I had my alpines in this box before I got my Dcons, and they never made this noise even though I played them much louder than I was playing my Dcons when they were making the noise. Just a thought, as soon as I get all this carpet off I'll try again. Alex

Wow, thanks for all the quick responces. The air leak makes alot of sence. I think if there is one, it would be coming from the sub itself, so if I run weather stripping around the back of the sub, would that be effective or is there a better option? Any other ideas on where it could be coming from(I used alot of wood glue with alot of wood screws so I think the box should be sealed tight). Also, part of the sub is on carpet, the other is on paint so it's VERY possible that is where the leak is coming from. Alex

So after seeing the new box I built for my future DCON's (ordered over two weeks ago) a freind of mine has recruited me to build him a box for a single old school (2001) Kicker c12vr. He wants a SQ build and could care less about output. The only problem I am seeing is that I can'ft find any specs on the sub. The manual I found for it is a little light on the T/S parameters so winISD isn't too helpful. So my question is, If I run a standard 2cuft box tuned to 32hz(seems to be a standard), would that have a somewhat flat responce curve(ignoring cabin gain and all that)? It seems to be a tried and proven tuning so If I strive for that, and being that he is new into car audio, do you think it would sound "good" Thanks for any advise, recomendations, criticisms, etc Alex

Thanks for the link, however, once I actually recieved his subs, I discovered that they were just the comp woofers and not the compvr. I did find the right manual for them. They say that the "maximum volume" is 2.25cuft. What does this mean? The Isoaric design is the same as running one woofer at 2.8cuft which looks better in WinISD, but having is having and extra .6cuft going to be detrimental in any way? Thanks again Alex

So I talked more with my friend and from what I'm getting, his idea of a SQ type box is what we would call a Loud'n'Clean style design. He still insisted on the smallest box possible as he moves it around quite a bit, so this is what I came up with. According to WinISD, these subs like big boxes, so I decided to try an isobaric design. This gives him a small box, the output of a single sub like he was expecting, a decent responce graph, and most importantly, a SMALL box, 1.4 cuft @32hz to be more precise. My main consern is my lack of experience... Is there anything I am missing? Is running the subs face to face alright (reversing one's polarity of course)? Any other ideas? I'll accept any advise, critisism, etc. Thanks in advance Alex

Sounds good, I can't wait much longer!!!! thanks for the update and I'm glad to hear buisness is going so well. Thanks Alex

I was just curious on the shiping date of two 10in Dcons I ordered some 18 days ago (order #1956). I'm really excited for these and I thought the website estimated 1-2 weeks for build. I really don't mean to be a pain.... I'm just wondering Thanks Alex

I didn't realize a kicker could work too well in a sealed box, in fact, thought never even crossed my mind. So how bout a 2cuft sealed? he has the room and I thought the larger boxes allowed for a flatter curve. Thanks for the quick responce and for any future help Alex

Not sure if these are really any good or not but I just found them on sonicelectronix and they look interesting. http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_31676_VIBE-Audio-SPACE6.html All the reviews I've found are good and if you "make an offer" on sonicelectronix, you can get them for 165.

Just looking through some websites dreaming about a future midbass/fullrange setup and happened across these speakers http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=297-210 I was just curious if anyone has any experience/opinions on these and if they would be realistic in a SQ type setup. Chances are I won't be upgrading my system any time soon but these caught my eye and at 12 bucks, I might order some just for the heck of it. Thoughts? Alex

Wow, can't believe I didn't think of any of that...now I really feel dumb. but yeah, I cut out the hole for the dcon and the alpines fit so I'm assuming the cutout's the same. I'll throw them in off center just to give the box a run. Thanks for all the help Alex

Simple noob question... I built a box for 2 10in DCON's but since they haven't come yet (day 8) can I throw my 2 old 10in alpine type-s subs in for now? will the spacing/distance for the screws be the same?

Alright, sounds good. I'll be ordering the DCON's later today! anyone know of any coupons? Thanks for all the help, I'm sure I'll be back with more questions sooner than later. Alex

Hey everyone, So I finally started building my first box that will hold two 2 10" DCONs Everything looked good as I thought I could achieve 2.5 cuft with some 44in of port at 11"x4"...... Well now that I have all the walls in, I have begun to realize just how new at this woodworking stuff I am. I can't post any pictures now so I'll try to explain this as best I can. Mistake 1: I have the port coming in on the left side, going in some 22 inches, then turning and following the back wall the last 22 inches. I planned on having 4 inches of width throughout the port but thanks to my amazing tablesaw abilities, I have 4 inches on that initial run, and only 3.75inches for the second half along the back wall. Mistake 2: looking at the second half of the port along the back wall, the wood for the port stops about 4 inches (exactly 4 inches) from the right-hand wall. I'm no expert but it would appear to me that this would make the right hand wall become part of the port, stretching it's effective length and extra 4 inches (2 more along the back wall and the new 2 following the right wall)... So now I sit looking at a net 2.6 cuft box (I still need to BS some .1cuft of bracing) with an port consisting of two seperate widths and an extra 4 inches. If I average the port widths AND factor in 49 inches of port AND find a way to shove .1cuft of bracing in (didn't realize how much that was) I sit with a box bairly reaching the 29hz tuning as appose to the 31 my calculations brought me and the 32 I first strove towards. I plugged all of this into WINISD and discovered that a 2.5cuft box tunned to 29 hz has a 1.5db drop from 30-60hz when compared to the origional 32hz. I remember hearing that a 3db change in sound was hardly noticable to most people. So after all of that (sorry for the essay) I have this question: Despite all of my screwups... will any of these changes really be noticable to a noob like myself? Should I continue with the box as is? I want more of a SQ focused system so maybe a low tuning would be good..... Any thoughts, ideas, or critisisms are greatly appreciated Thanks in advance Alex

Good point. I'll give it a go. any advise on how to accomplish that .1cuft of bracing? If I end up just stacking wood inside, will it degrade sound in any way?

This is a bump and question. I plugged in the sub/box combination into WinISD and got an odd looking curve that hits -2db at 56hz then moves up to +1db at 32hz. Again the question is just does this all sound right. First build.... don't want to screw it up too bad.... Thanks for all the help. Alex

So I come today bearing questions... I have two ideas for a system and really am at a standstill and could use some advice. Both ideas will be forward firing with the truck sealed off from the front. My first idea is two 12's in a sealed box. Due to the fact that the max height in the trunk is 12.5in, I would have to tilt the sub back to make it fit, and for the sake of visuals, tilting them inward at the same time. I would prefer this setup, but due to limited resources, I'm not sure if I could cut any mdf with the angled edges required to achieve this. So this leads to my second idea... If I ran two 10in subs, I could run them straight up and down, and I could port them. I drew up some ideas but have not yet figured out how to upload them... So now with the questions.... Is there a way to cut the mdf to achieve these angles that I am not aware of? I would prefer the two 12's but would be happy with either idea. When sealing off the trunk, could I fiberglass from the subs to the frame behind the seat to achieve a decent seal? With the subs fairly close to the back seat, would that cause a loss in sound for any reason? and finally, a personal question, which method would you use? Either way, the subs will either be SKAR VVX's or SSA dcon's ran (for now) a 500wrms alpine amp. Any ideas, advise, criticisms, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Alex

Alright, after discovering a new downloaded port calculator and google sketchup, I think I might have another box idea. The outer dimensions are 30" x 25" at 12.5" high. The port is 4" wide and 11" tall and stretches in some 42 inches. This should leave a 2.5cuft box after the port, subs and bracing. According to the calculator, this results in a tunning of a hair under 31hz... Does this sound right? Top/bottom: 30 x 25 sides: 25 x 11 Baffle: 24.5 x 11 Port 1: 19.5 x 11 Port 2 19.5 x 11 Sorry for all the questions but I'm am rather new at all this Thanks Alex

So I tried running some numbers and now feel rather stupid.... when all of these calculators ask for the box volume, does that include the volume of the port? Am I suppose to subtract the volume of the port from the box volume (or even the volume of wood needed for the port) before I even know the length of said port? Chances are I am missing something really obvious here so any help would be greatly appreciated. Alex

Went with the square box and used the RE calculator to come up with this design, but I've read mixed reviews of this tool so could someone just check the math for this one? the box will be 30"x21" @12.5" tall. The port would be 11" tall, 3.5" wide, it would go in 16.75" and then 11 more inches after the turn. According to the website, this results in a 2.77ft^3 box tuned to 31hz. the DCON 10's will take .2ft^3 ending in the "optimal" 2.5cuft volumn listed on this website. Here is the dimentions it recommends if that's easier to check. Bottom Plate: 30 x 21 Top Plate: 30 x 21 Left Plate: 20.25 x 11 Right Plate:19.5 x 11 Back Plate Front Plate: 30 x 11 Port L1: 16 x 11 Port L2: 11 x 11 Does this look right? Thanks in advance Alex

Yeah, I guess that would be a good idea. The 45's were strictly for astetic purposes and I wanted something unique, but I probably shouldn't go for too much my first go around. Also, getting rid of that, the designs should be fairly simple and widely available from other topics. Now I just need to figure out how to seal the trunk off from the cabin... Maybe even that would be too much work but I just like the look and sound. Ever since I saw EmperorJJ1's cobalt build log I have wanted something like that in my car. I have already taken my back seat apart once and found that it should be possible, but whether it's do-able for a first time fiberglass experience......I hope to find out Thanks again Alex

I do realize that everything is so dependent on installation, and being that I have never done any real woodwork and have a table saw and skill saw at my disposal, I want to give this a shot, but I'm worried about screwing something up. I'll probably go with the two 10in DCON's ported. I am going to build the box first so I have no excuse (money) to put off getting this system under way. I may need a hand getting the tuning of the box right. I'll be running the DCONs off a 500wrms alpine monoblock and would like to hit the "optimal" 1.25ft^3 mentioned on the website tuned to ~32hz. My maximum dimensions are 30" wide and 12.5" tall, it can go as far back as needed. I know the table saw's blade can be tilted 45 degrees so I would like to have 3 front panels, the middle flat, and the two sides facing inward at that 45 degree angle. The subs will be mounted on the sides and the port in the middle panel. I can try and run some numbers for such a box, but my design skills are a bit underdeveloped so if anyone could pitch in I would be obliged. Thanks for the advise and any more to come in the future Alex