SA-15s in large Sealed box

[Frostedflakejake 148]

I have two SA-15's and I just finished making my box with the intent of adding in 6" PSP ports when they arrived in the mail. I was pressed for time because I'm going back to school (nine hours away) tomorrow so that's why I finished everything except for adding the ports. Well I ordered the ports from parts-express last Monday and just to make sure they got to my house in time I paid for two day shipping. I MADE SURE they were in stock when I ordered them. Guess what happened? The ports didn't ship out until Thursday. I called parts-express on Thursday to see why I didn't have the ports yet and they told me that "they just shipped out today (Thursday) because the parts weren't in stock". Bottom line is the ports won't be here till Monday and that's too late. I'm too afraid of pre-cutting the holes for the ports in case the holes would be too large.

This is what I'm left with: running two SA-15's in a sealed box at 7.42 cubic feet (after sub displacement) for a month and a half until I'm back home and can install the ports.

Is there any problem with that? I'm assuming I'd have to be extra careful with the gain settings since the sealed box is so large.

[smashedz28 110]

that sucks. not sure of the issue with using the sealed box but it sucks that you didnt get the ports in time.

[Frostedflakejake 148]

Yeah. I've learned to not trust shipping. Its never worked out for me. It's been so much of a hassle I even started a thread way back. Battery went to a different state... front stage went to a different house and sat out in the rain... ring terminals came in a ripped up package and only 1/2 of them came... fuses never came... the list goes on. More than half of the things I ordered have been screwed up somehow

[ssh 924]

Shouldn't be an issue, just less power handling for the most part, just set the gain and make sure there's no over excursion at full tilt.

[Frostedflakejake 148]

yeah that's what I figured

I've never ran a sealed box before... not really excited. Ha. What do I do with SSF? Turn it all the way to down?

[Shogen 325]

yeah that's what I figured

I've never ran a sealed box before... not really excited. Ha. What do I do with SSF? Turn it all the way to down?

or turn it off???

[ssh 924]

yeah that's what I figured

I've never ran a sealed box before... not really excited. Ha. What do I do with SSF? Turn it all the way to down?

I think you'll be surprised, sealed boxes generally give a snappier or tighter feeling of bass.

Not sure what amp your using but remember it's 600watt rms or whatever will be lower in a large box. I don't know sundowns specs for enclosure volumes for the sa15 off hand, mind posting it? I'm on iPad...

I'd turn the ssf down to 20hz, you could go lower but most music doesn't go anywhere near that low so to me it would be pointless

[Frostedflakejake 148]

Recommended Sealed Enclosure is 2.5 cubic feet

Recommended Ported Enclosure is 3.0 cubic feet

I'm running them at 2 ohms final load off of a SAZ-3000D

I didn't know you could turn the SSF off on a Sundown Amp!

[Shogen 325]

I could be wrong... lowest might be 10 or 15hz.... I'm not 100% on that.... lol ... sorry for mix up...

[Frostedflakejake 148]

Oh! No we're on the same page I think

I assumed that "all the way down" would be at 0 hz but now that I think about it that doesn't make a whole lot of sense!

But there isn't really a problem with the SSF on a sealed enclosure like there is on a ported enclosure right? Do I have to worry about frequencies that are TOO low like people do with a ported enclosure?

[Shogen 325]

Nope not at all... But like stef said it might be a waste to have it much lower than 20hz... Alot of music might not carry notes that low... Unless you listen to something particular, like Bassnector or alot of dubstep...

[Frostedflakejake 148]

A waste? A waste of what?

[ssh 924]

Recommended Sealed Enclosure is 2.5 cubic feet

Recommended Ported Enclosure is 3.0 cubic feet

I'm running them at 2 ohms final load off of a SAZ-3000D

I didn't know you could turn the SSF off on a Sundown Amp!

Turning it off would be completely counter clockwise. I'd just set it around 20hz.

So sealed box for 2 sa15s would be 5cubes, and you got 7.5cubes. You shouldnt have any problems just use some common sense when setting the gain.

[Shogen 325]

A waste? A waste of what?

amplifier output?? I mean if it isn't really gonna be heard or used why put power to it? conserve that energy for useful output?? I could be talking out of my ass though... lol... That's how I am thinking of it...

[Frostedflakejake 148]

Haha alright! Well this is a new challenge as well... speaker wire in a sealed box. With my ported boxes I always just ran the wire out of the port. I DON'T want to use a terminal. Can I just drill a hole, put a bolt through and attach the wiring like that? Then put a nut on the out side of the bolt and use sealant to try to seal it up as best as possible?

[Shogen 325]

I'm pretty sure that's how most people do it.... Should work fine.... Use something that you could easily get wire terminals onto.... like a 1/4, 3/8, or something bolt.... Easy to find terminals for I'm pretty sure...

[ssh 924]

Yes you can, I don't remember off hand which is more conductive steel or aluminum, copper would be best.

Have you see the binding posts from parts express? There very nice, no big plastic cutout BS.

But you'd obviously have to order that and wouldnt work now.

[ssh 924]

Order from highest conductivity to lowest.

Material ρ [Ω·m] at 20 °C σ [s/m] at 20 °C Temperature

coefficient[note 1]

[K−1] Reference

Silver 1.59×10−8 6.30×107 0.0038 [1][2]

Copper 1.68×10−8 5.96 × 107 0.0039 [2]

Annealed Copper[note 2] 5.80 × 107 [citation needed]

Gold[note 3] 2.44×10−8 4.52 × 107 0.0034 [1]

Aluminium[note 4] 2.82×10−8 3.5 × 107 0.0039 [1]

Calcium 3.36x10−8 0.0041

Tungsten 5.60×10−8 0.0045 [1]

Zinc 5.90×10−8 0.0037 [3]

Nickel 6.99×10−8 0.006

Iron 1.0×10−7 0.005 [1]

Platinum 1.06×10−7 0.00392 [1]

Tin 1.09×10−7 0.0045

Lead 2.2×10−7 0.0039 [1]

Titanium

So if copper is hard to find, try aluminum, etc

[Frostedflakejake 148]

I'm going to just get a darn speaker terminal. I appreciate all the help guys it's just that i don't have enough ring terminals to do the bolt idea.

Thanks to you both

[Shogen 325]

http://www.copperbolts.com/

Just found that site.... Wish I told Kevin to do bolts instead of terminal cups... They are annoying to setup when so deep into the enclosure... lol

[Shogen 325]

http://www.speedymetals.com/default.aspx

I think you can get anything from here and it ain't too expensive...

[ssh 924]

If your ordering some, get these http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=091-1245

You'll love them

[Frostedflakejake 148]

thanks guys i might just use those Stefan. I suppose I probably should as this is supposed to be a "pretty" box. But for now I have some terminal from radioshack! Going to go install that right now and then seal the baffles on and tomorrow I'll be bumping again all the way back to school!

[ssh 924]

Sound good!

Those Dayton binding posts are the ones Andrew from argent audio uses

[dbsupra 69]

What's wrong with terminal cups? I like binding posts too, just for whatever reason the ones I've used start to leak after time. Thought about using some washers on the back side to have a larger sealing surface, but haven't done it.

Either way, for the love of god don't run speaker wire thru the port. I think it's very lazy and looks horrible.

Good luck with the build!