Anyone here made their own subwoofer enclosures? I was looking for a good website that could help guide me in the right direction. Is there anything better than fiberglass to use?

I know absolutely nothing and I'm looking up info on google right now, but I thought maybe someone with first hand experience might be able to give me some pointers.

I've got to 8" subs I want to hook up by the way.

Thanks,
Keith

 

The Basic Car Audio Electronics website has a ton of information, calculators, programs, etc to help you build everything from subwoofer enclosures to crossovers.

Easiest material to work with is 3/4" MDF (medium density fiberboard). You can pick up a huge sheet of it at Home Depot/Lowes for like 20$

 

2 words: use 3/4" MDF.

now use fiberglass if you want fancy schamsy shapes, like hugging the rear wheel well.

otherwise, mine is plain jane rectagular box that's survived almost 7 years.

i recently bought a premade POLK MOMO 10" sub and enclosure. either the thing is broken or i cant hear squat out of it.

remember to get the airspace needed for the driver. and i suggest making a SEALED enclosure as your first box. easiest to make. just make sure it's air tight...

 

My box is made from 1" MDF and is for one 12" sub. I can't remember the volume, but it is in the range for my sub. It is a normal sealed sub enclosure and produces tight bass. If you have over 700 watts going to one sub I would recomend no smaller than 1" MDF.
There are many designs of boxes to make subs sound different.
Your sub is the most important factor in building a box. If you have enough power those 8" would sound great in a sealed box or have more bass with bandpass or some ports. 8" subs take up little room so you could build it where no one could see it.

 

breakerfalls,

my future project for the next few months is to be a good fiberglasser. there's several sites out there and i have them bookmarked somewhere. ill give you the lowdown later on this evening---i gotta do some more wrenching on my 4runner right now.

if you can't wait, search the following terms on google:

- fiberglass tutorial
- fiberglassing
- fiberglass enclosures
- sub boxes
- subwoofer boxes
- speaker pod enclosures

ive been researching this for the past 2 months, no joke, there's a lot of scattered sites w/ good advice. i'm compiling it all now. there's A LOT to know and alot to buy. don't be fooled when people say its cheap to start. its not!

that said, i have not even started to fiberglass yet. i just got the last thing piece of respirator gear on friday.

check back later this evening,
bob

 

Yeah man, I'd love to see any great sites you've found.

How much are you estimating it'll cost you to get started? I was thinking I could probably get everything I'd need for around $400 if I shop around. I know atleast 2 of my friends would be willing to help me out with some dough if it meant I'd hook them up once I got it down to a science.

I'll have to see how much it's gong to end up costing in the end. I'd much rather have a custom fiberglass case than a carpeted box...

Thanks,
Keith

 

breaker:

this is the most basic of basic tutorials. however, you need a white rastafarian friend to do it (you'll see). http://web.njit.edu/%7Ecas1383/glassing/

Here's the main index: http://web.njit.edu/~cas1383/proj/main/

now, the last write up has a good "what to buy" list.

so far ive spent around $200. some of it was overkill, esp on the respirator stuff. call Peggy at this company: http://www.envirosafetyproducts.com/html/orderinfo.html Peggy is AWESOME and she ships literally as soon as the credit card goes through.

my recommendation is to buy a 3M 6000 series half-mast (under $10) and you'll need to buy the 501 retainer, the 6001 filters, and the 5P71 pre-filters. This will protect you from both fiberglass, resin, and any dust from cutting. buy a cheap pair of goggles and then you're fully protected. i got the 3M 7000 series which is over 2xs more expensive but more comfy (uses silicone). but to me, its not worth it so just buy the 6000 series. this is what i have:



i have enough to make a subwoofer enclosure though i would need to buy some MDF. however, i'm not going to make a subwoofer enclosure until i decide what kind of stuff im going to put in. mainly im going to practice making small stuff to get the "feel" and experience.

good luck to you and if you need any more advice, dont ask me b/c thats all i know above!

bob

 

i have been building boxes for about ten years and i know everybody has there own opinion so here is mine!!!! in my experience i always use mdf, i usually use 1/2" on 10" subs,3/4" on 12" subs, and1" on 15's. but as the guy said before you have to takein the number of sub, and the power. i dont use wood screws and caulk the inside of the box. i use wood glue and a brad nailer (call me crazy) but i still have boxes out there that are 10 years old and have never had one come back. just another view. if you have any more ?'s give me a holler

 

fastv6 -

Isn't 1" MDF really just 3/4" thick?

Normally when you are working with wood, ie Pine, Oak, etc 1" thickness actually means 3/4".

As far as boxes are concerned, I always use actual 3/4" (so I guess that's 1" in lumber terms)

 

My last box was 3/4 HDF. Yep High Density Fiberboard. The thing was really heavy, but very rigid. It wouldn't flex at all under all the stress of 2 W6's. HDF is the only way I'll go now.

 

actually, in MDF and even regular particle board, the measurements are exact...

so 3/4" mdf is actually 3/4" thick...

 

I'm going to be building this box sometime this summer. I'll post pics of the progress but it may not be for a while. This is going to be for 2 12" Brahmas, right not I have them in a sealed enclosure.

 

Brahmas! Man I've herd they ROCK! Have you seen the excursion video they have on thier web site? It is INSANE! Be sure if you use speaker grills, you get really deep ones.

Check out these vids:

http://www.easy-audio.com/videos/brahma.avi
http://www.easy-audio.com/videos/20br10rollin.mpeg
http://www.easy-audio.com/videos/ExplorerRoofBrahma.avi
http://www.easy-audio.com/videos/Sco...akingDoors.wmv

 

I use 3/4" MDF on the light stuff, and 3/4" oak on the big stuff like Stroker's and such... 1000rms or more, definitely 3/4" oak. I used 3/4" MDF for the walls in my old SPL vehicle and we were cracking the faces of the sub boxes... ugh.

 

no i believe that all sheet type wood is actual thickness ie 1/2"=1/2"...3/4"=3/4"and so on i believe what you are thinking of would be like a 2"x4" is really only 1&1/2"x3&1/2"

 

Thats why you laminate several sheets together for the face of the box.... Our SPL vehicle's face plate is 7.5" thick - yes 10 sheets of 3/4" MDF thick. The walls are 6 sheets thick with solid reinforcement all the way around them....

Im running 8.8kW rms right now on 2 9915s in 4.4 cubes CRX style and using a 3/4" walled box....but I garuntee you can park your truck on the box and the box wont flex a mm. Overbuilding a box is the only way to go for spl...

 

If you need help with anything look me up. Im in Sarasota now and also have a TermLab.net spl sensor.

 

Bumpin'.... I know all about SPL... Erik Reid is my old roommate, and one of my best friends was head install for Jay Lovelace back in the day when Erik, Jay, and others were up against ole' Alma... so it's been a while.... But I agree overbuilt is the way to go... but 7 sheets of MDF? Wow. How do you keep the sheets from resonating on each other?

 

LOTS of glue and a screw every 12 sqaure inches attached sheet by sheet, and the sub holes routered out also sheet by sheet.

I know of both Jay and Erik. Haven't really had a chance to introduce myself at any of the shows however. I'm usually buried in my truck working to get it just 0.1 more dB louder before qualifying...lol

btw - I'm on team Gates...