Enclosure volume vs Supplied power

[jdc753]

This is all starting from some comments Nick made over on DIYMA, and we could use some more discussion on these forums

Originally Posted by Electrodynamic

PS: With only 500 watts going to the driver you could have left the enclosure as it was and not installed the pieces of wood. But 1 ft^3 is a good figure after driver displacement.

Originally Posted by Electrodynamic

Haha, exactly. My buddies 500 watts on his Mag v4 in his Scion gets plenty loud enough for me. He wants to up the ante to 1000 watts though for better transients. ...hey, at least he doesn't want to double the power for more BOOM.

Most specifically this one here

Originally Posted by Electrodynamic

Oh, I almost forgot, with 500 watts you can run the Mag in 1.5 ft^3 if you wanted. With 700 you can go to 1.25 cubes. But with a full <1000 watts you'll need to use 1 ft^3.

Originally Posted by Electrodynamic

For what it's worth I LOVED the performance in 1.3 cubes when I had it in my Civic. I had a 1000D on it too, and the Mag is definitely capable of handling that power on a daily basis...just not all 1000 watts. I liked having the extra power though because it performed so much better.

Now that things are more nailed down for me I am settled on running a single mag so the temporary boxes have served their purpose and its time to build one kickass sweet sealed chamber for the single mag to live in. I don't know too much about specs and what should be done when power is increased or about these subs nor any tricks for improving boxes and such. I have seen a few snippets here and there about egg crate, deadener and even some sand chambers as well as boxes out of granite. So I am looking for some ideas and best of all some schooling.

Now I have a sundown 1500D and when the single mag is wired down to 1ohm I have up to 1500w to feed it, I figure if I go easy on the gains I can keep it conservative. Current box measures out to 1.02ft^3 and is downfiring approximately 3" off the transmission tunnel in my truck. I believe I have about up to 1.75ft^3 of overall enclosure volume before I start encroaching on usable cabin space. So I figure I could fairly easily build a triple layered 3/4" MDF enclosure that has Damplifier pro and egg crate on the inside and anything else I may need to improve the effects. So now I will need to account for the displacement of these treatments as well as get an airspace that will sufficiently dampen the mag when being fed 1000+/- watts and let it get as low as it can.

Nick said he enjoyed 1.3ft^3 with 1000w so maybe I should shoot for that as my gross internal and then neck it down with the deadener and egg crate and such and have it built out with double or triple, or double walled with 3/4" sand barrier center maybe, I dunno if it ain't obvious

Should I look into HDF or Trupan or something that will be accoustially dead and as dense as possible. Trying to get a grasp on what I need. Basically I know I should be shooting for an accoustically DEAD box that will not flex even slightly and I believe make it as dense as possible and have no direct reflections inside the box that may act against the movement of the cone. Think I need to start doing a lot of reading.

Okie I'll stop there and erase the other stuff I wrote before I really really start looking dumb lol.

[Electrodynamic]

LOL!

Ok, first thing is you don't need to look for HDF. There was an article over on one of the HT forums and/or HT Magazines that addressed the advantages (if any) of HDF over MDF. The results showed that there was no significant or even subtle audible difference in two identicle enclosures with one MDF and one HDF. And MDF is acoustically preferred due to its damping properties. HDF reflects more (if that makes sense) and is harder to dampen when talking about midrange enclosures.

I would go double layered MDF if you want. Definitely do internal bracing (like HHawk's enclosure). And that's it. I feel happier about an enclosure when I line the walls with egg crate foam and use fiberglass insulation on the rear wall of the enclosure (the one that the subs fire into).

A 1500D is totally overkill on a single Mag, but since you know how to control yourself (ie. the amplifier ), bumping up the enclosure volume will make you VERY happy. Like I said, I LOVED the driver 1.3 cubes vs. the 0.9 that I had last. When I get done with the install in my Lexus I'm going to have roughly 1.5 cubes per driver with a 1000D on each. It's not like the Mag will spontaneously combust if you shove a 1500 watt amplifier on it. It's just that it won't HANDLE the full 1500 watts in that enclosure. I love having extra power because I love headroom.

[jdc753]

Great, sounds like enough for me to get to the drawing boards. I'll shoot for around 1.3ft^3 with some bracing and some egg crate foam.

For fiberglass insulation you are talking about the home wall insulation like R-19 (obviously thinner) sort of stuff??

Headroom sure is nice The Sundown power and the SI sound have been playing very nicely together.

[Electrodynamic]

Originally Posted by jdc753

For fiberglass insulation you are talking about the home wall insulation like R-19 (obviously thinner) sort of stuff??

Headroom sure is nice The Sundown power and the SI sound have been playing very nicely together.

Yep, regular pink fiberglass (R-19 or even the thinner stuff sold in the small rolls).