Smallest possible sealed box for Q 18?

[galacticmonkey 0]

Might be getting a Chevy Avalanche at the end of the week... Planning a system for it since it will be my new daily ride. I know that I can fit 6 18s inside there, but the airspace is small. Would be around 2.8 sealed per sub, then I would polyfill the heck out of the inside of the box. That would get each sub seeing around 3.4 cubes roughly. They would be in a sideways clamshell, so that would help them load off each other.

Think I could get away with this with any of the subs FI/AA makes? Maybe the SSD? Q? Chaos? Havoc?

[Matt2105 2]

Why are you wanting to run sealed? Ive seen your builds so Im not going to get in that arguement just wondering why you'd want to run 6 sealed rather than 4 ported.

BTW, its around 4 cubes iirc.

Edited October 5, 2009 by Matt2105

[sqjeep 9]

would you mined running 6 15 instead of the 18's?? I looked at Fi's site and the Fi q 18 would need a min of 4cuft and the Fi ssd 18 would need the copper coils to run it sealed and the box would need to be in a 5cuft. Now the 15q would need 2.8cuft min and the 15ssd would need 2cuft min. I don't know the sizes for the AA series but i would believe that they would be close to the fi subs.

[Estsound 7]

sorry but i would never seal 18" might wanna think some other subs or run them ported.

[KU40 173]

sorry but i would never seal 18" might wanna think some other subs or run them ported.

Why not? is there something magical about them that makes them any different than a 12" sub to put in a sealed box?

I wouldn't skimp on airspace for them. I'd think about just doing 4 instead. You won't lose that much output.

[Impious 1,476]

sorry but i would never seal 18" might wanna think some other subs or run them ported.

No line of reasoning could support that statement.

To the original question, 2.8cuft is probably a little small for a Fi Q. From what I've calculated, the Qtc would end up around 1.2 which is unacceptably high.

[galacticmonkey 0]

I know a kid who had 8 SSD 18s in 4 cubes sealed each... Thing JAMMED. Had a low note that made you want to crap your pants.

Everyone and their brother runs 4 18s. Ive already ran 4 18s before. I refuse to run 4 18s. Id rather run any other size and amount of subs than 4 18s. The way I see it, 4 18s is the new 2 12s... I just think 6 18s would be awesome, and Ive never seen 6 18s in a blowthrough before. Anyway messing with the soft parts and suspensions would let them work in a smaller box? Even if they didnt handle as much power.

[KU40 173]

Maybe do 6 15s then.

4 cubes sealed is quite a bit different than 2.8. Stuffing with polyfill generally only gains you about 10% in box volume, so you'd still be a little under 3.1 cubes per sub, given that equation.

[galacticmonkey 0]

Yeah... Was checking Treo and the SSi 18 reccomended box is 2 cubes sealed. Id still rather run Fi subs though.

[lee 2]

i had 1 of my Q 18s in sealed once. but in 5.75 net, not near as small as you want, but it did do very well. id love to experience a hand full of em sealed sometime. i can only imagine how sweet it would be

[galacticmonkey 0]

Ill talk to Scott and see what he can do for me. Im pretty sure this is the way I want to go though.

[BILTD 60]

I'd say it will work fine. Qs have plenty of motor strength behind them to work in that small. Though, QTC will be fairly high (above 1.0) and your roll off will be FAST so the upper end will be little more pronounced. Still, old skool way was to use parameteric EQs to give you back some of the loss in low end. At that point I doubt it'll be a huge issue with 6 of them. Might be worth having them tweaked though knowing the intended small enclosures.

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

I vote to use less then 8, maybe 6 would be enough to free up the needed air space.

[///M5 2,833]

Sounds to me like you are more concerned with looks than performance, if so, go for it.

[galacticmonkey 0]

Really waiting for input from someone at Fi.

Edited October 6, 2009 by galacticmonkey

[///M5 2,833]

Really waiting for input from someone at Fi.

And they will tell you as they have multiple times in other threads to not go below their minimum recommendation.

[jcarter1885 995]

If your gonna to ask a question and we give you answers you dont want to hear then why post a topic, either you should of emailed Fi from jump or just did what you wanted to since people are giving you some of the best info available. If your stuck on the looks then performance, regardless of what FI says you want what you want so just go for it or change your plans.

[Notorious97200 339]

You had several advices from top dogs here, you'd better listen, or you will be disappointed !!!

Do you want to sound like azz, or do you want a clean and powerful bass ? It's up to you!

It's not your first setup, you should know how sound a sub in a too small enclosure. It's not worth the money.

Take less subs, and have a really good frontstage and a powerful electrical system with the money left!!!!!!!! It would be 1000 times better than 8 or 10 or 12 subs in a small box with poor speakers upfront.

Just my 02cts.

[galacticmonkey 0]

What I meant by talking to Scott was maybe seeing if he could build me some custom Qs or something that would work in the smaller box.

[BILTD 60]

e-mail - nick (at) ficaraudio.com

[galacticmonkey 0]

Will do. Wish I didnt change phones. Dont have Scott's number anymore.

Edited October 7, 2009 by galacticmonkey

[mjmarovi 8]

lol i've seen your builds, you like it loud. only way i see it working is using weaker Q's. I've had Scott beef up Q's to the max for me before, but never asked to tweak low, i'm sure it wouldn't be a problem. I would say go with the SSD since it is a little weaker, but really the Q is a better design for sealed. i'd go without bp power option, and see if the boys at Fi can do anything to lighten the mms. (moving mass of the woofer) that would help it perform better in the smaller enclosure. what happens, not saying you don't know this personally, this post is for all readers, but what happens in a smaller sealed enclosure is there is less air inside the box, or less volume. this is easier to pressurize from the woofer, therefore providing more suspension support to the woofer. the stronger the sub the larger the space needed to perform properly. that's why you look at the treo woofers and yes, you can use less space, but the bl, or force of the motor structure is less. does this make sense? the explanation sounds great in my head, but I hope no one is confused reading...

[BigCProductions99 21]

...What's Funny Is That I'm Actually Seeing People Telling Gmonk What/Who To Do/Listen To. You Still Got That Expedition Dude?

Go For Whatever Man, It'd Be Cool And Funny As Hell To See You Run Like 16 E8's Or Something With Passive Radiators. (I've Been Promoting Those Alot Lately...)