Polish

There is no golden rule really. It all depends on what you want. You calculate the tuning frequency the same as a ported box or just use WinIsd or a similar program. Basically you only take the cu/ft of the ported side into account for tuning. You also should make sure the woofers have a fairly high QTS or they won't work the best in a 4th order. Some say .50 or higher, my woofers are .49 and they do great. (Lanzar MAX10D) As for ratios - the higher you go the peakier it will be. You are at about a 1.5 : 1 ratio right now, which will work but I would shoot for higher myself. It will work at that ratio but I like to get as much gain as possible. My box is about 2.6 : 1 for example and tuned to 45hz. The tuning sounds high if you're only used to standard ported boxes but that is how it works with bandpass boxes. The sealed portion allows for greater low end extension than a standard ported box. If you tune it extra low like many do with ported boxes (30-33hz) you'll not have much output past that. Oh as for the port - I've read many people saying to shoot for 1/2 the cone area. I ended up at about that myself, but I was only going for roughly 14 sq/in of port per cu/ft of ported enclosure and it just so happened I was also at 1/2 the cone area.

This is the truth. I've done that drive many times and it never gets any less boring. I don't know about him but I'd like to hear the E15's myself. I am considering them for my next 4th order, I too think they'd be a decent option in his future plans as well. They are budget freindly and while I've not heard them in person the demos online look promising. It would certainly save quite a few bucks over most other options.

I drove by your house yesterday I probably did too, I take part of St Joe on my commute.

I think either setup could win in terms of overall peak SPL, just depends on exact tuning and setup. If you want a demo machine, a wall is probably going win that battle most of the time unless it's built like crap. It's blasting right in your ears and filling a lot smaller space, so things like hair tricks and floating bottle tricks would probably come easier. However, a wall isn't as easy to change/modify if you're not happy with the results. I have 4 10's and went from a 5 cu/ft ported box to a 15 cu/ft 4th order by just pulling one out and replacing it with the other. If I had done a wall like I originally planned, it would have been a ton more work. Both boxes required removal of my back seats, the 4th order is just much bigger and it crushes the ported box on the same power in pretty much all aspects. I have cheap woofers for now but in the 4th order it still kills the lows like 15's or 18's, once I get some better woofers I am planning a 4th order wall. Just something to think about, if you really love the lows. I see your location says Indiana by the Colesium, do you mean the one in Fort Wayne? If so I work just down the road from you.

That thing is awesome, cool video.

Nice job so far, liking all the mods you've got. Question - how did you get the old radio display to show "My Mazda 6".

One 15 has a little more cone area than a pair of 10's, it's not a ton but just something to consider when making your pick. If it were me I'd take the 15 over a pair of 10's.

Oh I see what you mean now, yea I don't think he has anymore about RCA cables specifically.

He has a lot of videos up, click here for all of them.

Welcome aboard, looks like you've got a pretty good plan laid out. I too just got back in the game after a decade long layoff. If you're anything like me I'd get a bigger sub amp than you think you'll need/want. I just got back into it this past December and started with a single 8" sealed on 200 watts thinking it would do me fine since I'd been out so long. That lasted about a day and I was bored, I then upgraded to 4 10's which brought my power up to 400 watts (amp was 200 @ 4 ohms & 400 @ 2 ohms). The 10's were in a a ported box and that lasted about a month and I was bored once again. I then upgraded to a 1,600 watt amp, the power increase helped but I still wanted more. So I built a 4th order for the subs, it smashes the ported box but I still want more. So now I am planning some 15's in the not so distant future. I would say any of the subs listed should match your criteria fine, the enclosure will really determine output and sound quality though. Any of those should get pretty loud and sound nice doing it as long as the enclosure is built properly.

You should be good with a 300 amp fuse in that case. Some companies under rate alternators a little bit, so the slight cushion won't hurt. Here is a post from Mechman on another forum, which pretty much says the same thing..

I would go 300 amp unless you can find a 275. No need to go much higher (or really any higher) than the alternator is capable of putting out. This is assuming you run the alt -> battery wire large enough to support that current, which I figure you will do since you got the big alternator in the first place.

Nice video man, I tried to use a similar technique when building my most recent box with only a circular saw but without proper clamps or a way to make a 100% perfect t square in the first place I was stuck free handing. I also don't have a proper table either, which didn't help things but as usual I made it work. I also had to use a jigsaw to cut out my speaker holes, cringe. I told myself no more box building until I have a table saw, work bench, router, and compressor. It sucks doing it with minimal tools especially when one used to work at an audio shop where I had every tool possible at my disposal. Oh and I gave you a thumbs up too on youtube, usually I'd be lazy but the Happy Gilmore reference sealed the deal. What video editing software do you use, they edits/effects are much better than the crap I get with Windows movie maker...

That is some serious patience, you deserve a freebie award or something for waiting that long.

This comment made me chuckle, I love my 4th order. Awesome build too, that truck is nasty.

If you're not adding a secondary at this time then you could probably do without a charger for now. I misread and thought you were getting both batteries at the same time.

As long as the batteries have the same resting voltage, you will be fine with different models. In this case you're buying 2 XS power batteries, therefore resting voltages should be pretty close. It doesn't matter if one can deliver more current, the resting voltage is what matters. Some people choose to use isolators but that really isn't needed in this case since the batteries will have similar (if not the same) resting voltages. If they were drastically different then I would possibly suggest one. I personally do not like them because of the 0.6 - 0.7 voltage drop you get running through the diode type isolator, although there are some fancier ones out now that claim 0 drop. I have seen many people mix numerous brands of batteries that surely didn't have the exact same resting voltages without issue either. As long as none of the batteries are dead/dying it really isn't as big of an issue as some people make it out to be in my opinion. It also helps if you charge them up with a proper AGM charger once a week or so, some do it nightly. This will keep the resting voltages at thier peak and give you maximum performance.

A lot of work going into that thing, nice job so far.

That is pretty damn good for 600 watts.

I went ahead and made another quick video, it's not that great but this song had a pretty good low note so I recorded the end of it. I use my phone for music normally so this is just the radio since I was recording with the phone, which is never quite as impressive but it still beat pretty good.

Awesome. Make sure to post up some results when you've got them in. If the box is good it should get loud, for being budget woofers they do excellent in my opinion. I've been trying but my video camera just sucks, it shuts down with any bass. The phone is actually the better of the two. I will try to park somewhere and take some decent video with the phone one of these days.

I had enough wood to make a small top trim panel on the amp rack. Looks better with it, maybe I'll have some cash in a couple weeks to do trim panels for around the box. The carpet is the same color on both boards, the camera flash just made them look different. Winter is pretty much over, should be able to finally clean the car up soon.

That thing is banging, very nice. I need to step up my game, I want some flex like that.

Did a quick video.

Welcome aboard, lots of good info here. Have a look around, plenty of knowledge to soak up.