enclosure thickness

[Lschevy 3]

How big of part does wood thickness play in a good enclosure?

[Hzd Skizzy 27]

A pretty big part id say. The thicker the wood, the less flexibility, more durability, and heavier. Thinner wood, may flex, lighter, and less durable. You don't want 1/4 panels flexing while the subs plays haha. Most people stick with 3/4 inch.

[ssh 924]

I'm guessing this is your daily driver, not for strict competition? Believe it or not but some panel flex is used for gaining additional tenths on the meter

Anyhow as Skizzy said, 3/4" mdf is the usual, safe bet. Double baffle (two sheets of 3/4" glued together) the panel that the drivers mount to, and internal bracing ftw

[00WJGC 3]

1/8'' bead board works well.

Edited January 19, 2011 by 00WJGC

[ssh 924]

1/8'' bead board works well.

Mine as well use particle board

[95Honda 486]

Any panel resonance ("flex") at all defeats SPL. You can never predict nor really control the phase differences between the panel and system.

All flex is bad.

[bassahaulic 155]

It all depends on the woofers and power being used.

[ford302redneck 15]

I've seen people have a little flex in there boxes and lost when they fixed it, tried a few different ways, all inresult was lost in SPL.

So never say never.

But in 99% of the install flex is bad. Minimal is 5/8ths, and this would be for small boxes with lightweight subs.

But 3/4ths is minimal in most cases, so start with that.

[95Honda 486]

It is still never.

What happens is, they change something else that they didn't take into consideration, like airflow....

[ibanender 2]

How big of part does wood thickness play in a good enclosure?

Not only does wood thickness play a part, wood type does too. Most MDF found now is a low grade, very soft MDF that SUCKS. You can tell by if it's dark or light. Dark stuff = bad. I built a few boxes, identical, out of light and dark MDF and the dark MDF was always 1.2-1.5 dB quieter. The best wood to use that is reasonably priced.... a decent grade plywood. All my 7/8" plywood boxes = louder than 3/4" plywood = much louder than 3/4" MDF. This is with a 1 cu. ft. single 8" box BTW.

[Shogen 325]

Wait! No one here uses steel enclosures??? Why the F did I let that guy talk me into that $240 enclosure from steel that is on order???

[manrossdamn 57]

Wait! No one here uses steel enclosures??? Why the F did I let that guy talk me into that $240 enclosure from steel that is on order???

Wood thickness is by far one of the most important things when creating a system.

Like they said up there, the thicker the more durable, the less flex you have.

Also, bracing is a must!

[ibanender 2]

Wait! No one here uses steel enclosures??? Why the F did I let that guy talk me into that $240 enclosure from steel that is on order???

Once you do a 100% steel box, you'll go back to wood. Having to tap holes and bolting in the sub is a PITA. Ask me how I know. Now if you're talking all steel except where the speaker mounts, I can show you an Explorer done that way. It's 1/2" steel.

[RAM_Designs 25]

Like already stated 3/4" is most common. You don't really need to get into double baffles unless you're working with heavy woofers(like 50-60lb+) that might be able to strip coarse thread screws in the right situation, or if you're doing a baffle with a large surface area and using some beefy subs. Properly braced single layered baffles can go a long way with a daily setup. SPL competition is obviously a different story.

[///M5 2,833]

Like already stated 3/4" is most common. You don't really need to get into double baffles unless you're working with heavy woofers(like 50-60lb+) that might be able to strip coarse thread screws in the right situation, or if you're doing a baffle with a large surface area and using some beefy subs. Properly braced single layered baffles can go a long way with a daily setup. SPL competition is obviously a different story.

I'd double baffle a lightweight 8" driver, but if you don't mind coloration go ahead and ignore dead box building techniques and use some thin shit.

[RAM_Designs 25]

I'd double baffle a lightweight 8" driver, but if you don't mind coloration go ahead and ignore dead box building techniques and use some thin shit.

What exactly are you gaining by doubling up on a little 8"er? You might as well just brace a single layer to get the box resonance out of the sub's passband.

Edited January 22, 2011 by RAM_Designs

[///M5 2,833]

I'd double baffle a lightweight 8" driver, but if you don't mind coloration go ahead and ignore dead box building techniques and use some thin shit.

What exactly are you gaining by doubling up on a little 8"er? You might as well just brace a single layer to get the box resonance out of the sub's passband.

Frequency is not the only portion of the resonance you should address, in fact I'd be more concerned about damping and altering the Q than where it is. Personally I wouldn't ignore either.

[Randal Johnson 544]

Wait! No one here uses steel enclosures??? Why the F did I let that guy talk me into that $240 enclosure from steel that is on order???

I'd really like to see this enclosure ...

[Shogen 325]

oh sry Cable.. that isn't possible...

[Shogen 325]

Reason being that it was a joke... lulz...

[ibanender 2]

You might as well just brace a single layer to get the box resonance out of the sub's passband.

Because then you deal with the complications of internal bracing? Yes, there are adverse affects. I NEVER use internal bracing.

[Duran 387]

You might as well just brace a single layer to get the box resonance out of the sub's passband.

Because then you deal with the complications of internal bracing? Yes, there are adverse affects. I NEVER use internal bracing.

Why?

I'm sure bracing in an acoustic suspension enclosure, a 4th order, or a 4th order bandpass wouldn't hurt.

[ibanender 2]

You might as well just brace a single layer to get the box resonance out of the sub's passband.

Because then you deal with the complications of internal bracing? Yes, there are adverse affects. I NEVER use internal bracing.

Why?

I'm sure bracing in an acoustic suspension enclosure, a 4th order, or a 4th order bandpass wouldn't hurt.

Wherever there is air flow, it causes problems. Perfect example (and not the only case), in my S10 I did no internal bracing and made the box 5.25" thick except for the baffle which was 6" thick. If you put ANYTHING in that box, score dropped. I left a drill in the box once and lost over 1 dB. In other smaller box applications, I've heard turbulence from bracing as well. Depending how your brace is, I could see it causing a problem with phase or standing waves. The only bracing I'd deem usable is thick threaded rod.

[///M5 2,833]

You might as well just brace a single layer to get the box resonance out of the sub's passband.

Because then you deal with the complications of internal bracing? Yes, there are adverse affects. I NEVER use internal bracing.

Why?

I'm sure bracing in an acoustic suspension enclosure, a 4th order, or a 4th order bandpass wouldn't hurt.

Wherever there is air flow, it causes problems. Perfect example (and not the only case), in my S10 I did no internal bracing and made the box 5.25" thick except for the baffle which was 6" thick. If you put ANYTHING in that box, score dropped. I left a drill in the box once and lost over 1 dB. In other smaller box applications, I've heard turbulence from bracing as well. Depending how your brace is, I could see it causing a problem with phase or standing waves. The only bracing I'd deem usable is thick threaded rod.

Don't assume everyone is concerned about a "score". Acoustic reproduction might just hit the list as important...

[slim2fattycake 85]

It also depends on how your internal bracing is structured. Some may actually help with flow.