shape of sub box

[danyoda1]

does the shape of the subbox actually make any difference to the sound quality of them - ie does a square mdf box sound better than a fibreglass box that is curved or has non standard shapes in them?

i've always made subboxes to fit whatever space was available and probably will continue to do so, but in an ideal situation for perfect conditions - does it actuallt make much difference?

[Morgan@Exile]

Size matters, but shape doesn't...

[Team Shadow]

maybe not to the ear. but put that thing on a rta and see the diff. whether it be an spl test or a linearity test. i bet you 10 bucks that the shape would make a difference in both. sealed you'd definitley see less of a difference if any at all different back pressure according to the shape and the distance from the woofer that walls are.

ported heck it makes all the difference in the world. just talk to an spl guy and say that it doesnt make a difference. he'll faint. lol

and of course some materials are going to make it resonate more or less depending on the tones played thru it.

but that is just my opinion. any one else have an opinion and why?

[pandy]

Yes shape does matter, depending on how you want it to sound of course.

Studies show that the largest parameter of a subwoofer enclosure should be the depth, in a ported configuration of course..

In a ported box you should not be able to see any part of the woofer through the port. If you can then adequare pressure will not build in the box and the speaker will fart.

Also, make sure the location of the ports is symmetrical if using two or more and that they are equal spaces apart.

I know that sounds dumb but once a friend of mine put the port lopsided and too close to the speaker (this was in a triple JL8w6 config) and the speaker moved lopsided and ended up destroying the woofer.

Mind you JL audios subs are pretty flimsy but it makes sense, unbalanced air pressure will make the sub pump in an unbalanced fashion. So I would advise it would be a good idea to move the port as far away from the woofer as you can..

Onto sealed boxes.. Well from experience they usually sound better with a small depth, mainly because usually when people are going sealed they are after the punch and accuracy of a woofer (you do sacrifice power handling though).

Also good advice is to pad out the box with nylon padding (the stuff used to stuff teddy bears) as this takes away any backlash type sounds from a sealed enclosure.

Also what it does (again scientifically proven) is make the sub think it's in a larger enclosure allowing it to drop deeper in HZ in a small sealed enclosure.

Think that doesnt make sense? well here is how it works.

Because the mass of the nylon padding is denser than air the air must slow down to travel through it.. This creates a 'depth' of the pressure wave as it bounces back and forth from the resonance of the cone.

Hence the air is dropped out of the bottom of the sub inside the box and takes longer to travel through the padding, hit the solid panels and bounce back as it would with no padding.

All of these facts come from a technical training manual put together by Gene Czerwinski (Cerwin Vega !) and James B Lansing (JBL) After a short stint in the army they both went to college together and went on to open their own companies.

Cool huh?

Hi BTW.

[Morgan@Exile]

In a car and driving down the road, you will not hear the "shape" of the box...

[pandy]

In a car and driving down the road, you will not hear the "shape" of the box...

Hmm, not so sure about that Morgan dude...

I know that the shape has bearing on the tuning...

[Morgan@Exile]

Worrying about the shape of the box is waste of time in my opinion. You won't hear a difference.

Instead worry about the location and direction of the enclosure, those can make a huge difference in response.

[joena]

What type of subwoofer would sound best in my 2 door cobalt? What system using the factory cd player would be best for the best sound subwoofer in my car and about how much am i looking for?
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