Polish

Has anyone ever tested similar designs to see which yields the greatest SPL? I know with all the variables it probably isn't comparable but I am just curious if any are truly better in terms of pure output. Mainly comparing design # 2 with the rest, a side firing wall vs walls firing at each other. Also the variant of # 2 I mentioned which is how my current box is, where all the woofers fire directly at the ported portion of the enclosure. Thanks in advance.

Thanks very much for the input. I appreciate it.

The distances would be about 20-22" from wall to wall if that helps. The frequencies played will be the usual subwoofer frequencies of 20-60hz.

In the sealed or ported portion? In this new design they are at about 1.35 each sealed and 3.5 each ported. In the current box they are at 1 each sealed and 2.6 each ported. I don't have a ton of power so I am building it as efficient as possible. I am also trying to get as much low end as possible. I can currently get mid 20's pretty well, I did a bit more volume in the new design to try and squeeze a bit more out of the low end. My current box and the new design are 2.6:1 sealed to ported ratio.

Accounting for only a single layer build of 3/4" that gives you 5.74 cu/ft of airspace to work with internally. This is before any woofer, brace or port displacement. Per the Specs from Sundown they suggest 1.25 - 1.5 per SA10 when porting; so 3.75 - 4.5 total airspace required. I don't know what they displace but I'd say roughly .1 cube each, so .3 total maybe a bit more. That is 4.05 - 4.85 total volume used of your max of 5.74. If you put any braces inside they'll take up some as well. The question is, does that leave you enough room for the port? You didn't specify how long they would need to be for whatever tuning it is you wanted. Does the space you put include space for box risers? You'll want it to be up off the floor a bit not only to allow for excursion but also to let the subs breathe. If the dimensions you included are max including box risers, you might not have enough space for 3. I have seen downfiring enclosures before and have also had some home subs that were down firing so it should work but whether it is optimal; I cannot say.

I can't really speak on the bus bars as I've never made them, always just done cables. You could surely make your own though, toolmaker just has nice looking stuff so I think that is why people use him a lot. As for the subs and load. You want a 2 ohm final load on the pair when strapping, so each amp sees 1 ohm. If you're buying DVC subs this means you want Dual 2 ohm subs in order to acheive the final load of 2 ohms for the amps to see. You would just wire each sub to a 4 ohm load (dual 2 ohm coils wired in series) then parallell them together and you've got 2 ohms. You could also wire each subs coils in parallel down to 1 ohm then series subs together for a 2 ohm final load. If you paralleled it all together you'd have a .5 ohm final load, so each amp would only see .25 ohms which is no good. If you're buying single coil subs you want 1 or 4 ohm subs, if you used 1 ohm subs you would series them together for a 2 ohm load that the amps will see. If you buy 4 ohm single coil subs you would parallel them down to a 2 ohm load.

I have a different brand but it's the same exact style. (Might be made in the same factory for all I know) It's not the fanciest but I am bangin on a budget over here and it does the job.

I would personally go with a 300 amp, that is about the biggest I would use on 1/0 (which I assume is what you have). I highly doubt the Bc3500 will pull more than that, so it should suit it fine.

The connections at the amps are what is connecting the speakers together. You're stuck with the loads I posted with the subs you've got. So you're either going to run each amp at 2 ohms and get 950 per sub and leave them separate (One amp per sub) or strap them at 4 ohms so each amp sees 2 ohms and get the same 950 per sub. - The only way to get the full 3k with that setup would be to ditch one sub. You could wire a single sub to both amps for a 2 ohm load so each sees 1 ohm. I doubt you want to do that though. You could also see if someone would trade you for 2 different subs that are Dual 2 ohm.

When you strap two 1 ohm stable amps you need a 2 ohm final load, so each amp sees 1 ohm. You cannot get that with 2 Dual 1 ohm subs. As posted above you can get the following. .25 ohm - Each sub in Parallel = .5 ohm each then Parallel those together = .25 ohm. 1 ohm - Each sub in Parallel = .5 ohm each then Series those together = 1 ohm 1 ohm - Each sub in Series = 2 ohm each then Parallel those together = 1 ohm 4 ohm - Each sub in Series = 2 ohm each then Series together = 4 ohm Those are your only options with those subs.

Dang, That is banging for 1 15". Nice job!

There is a very nice enclosure in this thread that almost your EXACT dimensions required designed by Alton with cut sheets and everything. http://www.soundsolutionsaudio.com/forum/topic/58863-gcon-build-help-needed/ I don't know how well the RE Sub would do in it but posts like this are all over the site and you could easily modify it a little to suit your needs. You gotta put in a little effort dude. As for the sub choice, there are about 50 12's I'd take over that XXX and still have funds left over for an amp. I just pulled it up on Sonic and holy crap - $720 for ONE FREAKING 12? It's not any business of mine what you spend on your sub but just if it were me I would certainly never spend that on a single sub, let alone a 12". You could probably get the same output from a sub less than half the price, as for Sq that all depends on the box. If you tune low they'll all have fairly flat curves which should amount to decent Sq but that is completely subjective. Subjective meaning - what sounds good to Joe might sound like crap to Jim and what sounds good to Jenny might sound awful to Jerome.

That is one serious looking 10", never really hard much about B2 before. I will have to check them out.

You don't want to leave the stock battery in there with the XS powers. Your stocker is probably a typical lead acid and the XS power are AGM type, they don't mix well. I would just go with those 2 for now, I think they should do ok especially once you have an upgraded alternator. XS power puts a watt rating on the batteries (not sure the formula they use) but they rate each D3400 as capable of supporting 4k watts, so according to their ratings you should be fine with a pair on 4k watts. I would go with a pair of 12's over 4 8's myself, as the pair of 12's has more cone area. Here is a basic measurement of what each subs cone area is, give or take a little depending on the exact woofer. One 8" = 50.2 One 10" = 78.5 One 12" = 113.1 One 15" = 176.7 One 18" = 254.4 So if you do 4 8's - you're at 200.8. If you do 2 12's, you're are 226.2.

That is awesome. I can barely make a square without messing it up somehow. So seeing the box you did is beyond impressive to me, the speaker just blows my mind. I only have a laptop too, which I've worn the mouse pad thing out on so it's real sketchy (no pun intended) when trying to make fine adjustments.

Dang, I was hoping it was something else. I am terrible at using sketchup. I've tried and tried and I simply cannot get stuff to look that good.

What program do you use to make that with?

I assumed he meant right after as well the way it was worded. If you meant it was 14.4 up front and 13.8 in the back, that might be just the wire heating/warming up and causing a bit more resistance.

Those are some beefy looking 8's. Nice pics too.

So you tap the steel with threads for the bolts? I am not sure if I am picturing what you're describing correctly, do you have a pic of one by chance?

Well if there is a silver lining to this it's that they are matched now once you get the sub fixed up. I can't say for sure if you'll gain anything on the meter but I'd be surprised if you don't. So that's a good thing.

I agree. and not because its a bad amp, but on a typical install we never see what the amp is rated at due to our electrical and such. I also know the sub will handle the power if you are careful with it. Enjoy! great choice and welcome! So the general concensus is that bigger is better (while still staying within the optimal dimensions). Good to know. Measured the trunk last night, and determined that I have about 32" x 20" x 15" (Width / Depth / Height) to work with. I realize that I may not be able to get a full 3 cubes net out of this space, but I'll be happy as long as the box is within recommended spec's. I'd like the box to sit right up against the rear seat. To do so, the box can be no more than 32" wide, and no more than 15" tall. I have some leeway with the depth, but I'd prefer to stay at 20" or less, so that I still have some functional trunk space. Anybody want to take a whack at a basic ported box design? *Tuned to 31-32hz I can't really help you with box design as I only hand draw them myself, I suck as google sketch up and don't have any of the fancy programs. I can however tell you that a box that size should be able to get you plenty of airspace. 32 x 20 x 15 minus wood thickness (single 3/4" sheet all around) is 30.5 x 18.5 x 13.5. That is 4.40 cu/ft total internal volume. You'll need to subtract woofer displacement and port displacement from that but you should be able to easily get the air space you're after and then some. The 12" Gcon has a displacement of .15 cu/ft, so that leaves you with 4.25 cu/ft which is more than enough. I doubt your port will even take up a full cu/ft (likely much less than a cube) depending on the size you go with so you can probably make a smaller enclosure and still be at 3.0 cu/ft.

At 3:27 of the vid where it shows all your T-nuts installed it appears they all hang over into the woofer cutout. I would think on large basket woofers they could possibly interfere or rub against the basket hanging over like that or is it not a concern? A lot of baskets angle down so I assume it's probably not as issue most of the time but just wondered what the deal was with that.

I've not used either volt meter so I can't say which is better but the wood question I can answer some people use 3/4" birch plywood instead of MDF. I am guessing that is what you've seen.

I say go with the bigger one too, I highly doubt you'll actually see 1k watts from that amp.