95Honda

I used to have 4 of the first Gen Type R 15" drivers in vented alignments for a H/T sub stage. They actually sounded pretty good. They were different then the ones you have though. You would probably be better off selling what you have and buying a sub geared more towards your application, as already mentioned. You can get a really good 12-15" driver for around $150 and a decent plate amp for about the same... If you haven't built a lot of boxes you can start with a simple sealed alignment... Idiot proof most of the time...

^ No. Won't change volume in this case.

You need to cut the recess before you cut the mounting hole if you want it to be round using a circle jig... A little too late for that. Add a 3rd layer like has been said...

If I were to do a sealed 15 under $200 right now it would be this: http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=295-514 That will leave you with $200 to get a used amp, or a cheaper new amp. 500 watts will be plenty in 2.5-3 ft3...

MDF.

Marshall, BLACK00, used to use Trupan MDF and HDF, he said it was a lot lighter, check it out. I never used it though...

T-nuts and Hurricane nuts work perfect, last forever, and hold better than any other fastener (other than nuts and bolts) in MDF, Plywood and Particle Board IF you install them correctly. If you don't install them correctly they cross-thread, fall out or cause you to tear your box apart... So really, it is up to how much effort you want to put in.

Check out some proven designs and build them, you will be much happier and learn. There are tons of big tower type designs out there. I am building a set of Adire Hurricane knock-offs with some different 18" woofers, super loud and will sound good. By copying 90% of Adire's design and just tailoring one part of the crossover for my different 18's I saved myself a bunch of design/eval time. But even with a mod this small, I still have to test and measure to make sure everything is OK. Designing a proper passive crossover is the hardest part of loudspeaker design. A simple 2-way takes a lot of work to get right. Like M5 said, the pre-made universal ones suck. They keep you from blowing drivers, that is about it...

Vance built controlled test boxes and measured the results. Nobody on here who has said otherwise has done this.

I agree with you 100%. Because the people who told you about these results were giving you subjective results. They were manipulating variables they were unaware of. Everything is measurable. Sound Quality, or what we perceive as Sound Quality, is measurable. You just have to know what you are looking at/for.

No change. The 7" driver didn't have enough stroke to cause much compression with the 2" vent with the power I was using. I was trying the bigger 10" because I had a ton of Sonotube and was trying to see if a 1ft3 would still work as predicted with a vent that big. Everything in the Loudspeaker Design Cookbook is proven fact. It is decades of engineering and predicted results. Everything can be modeled. There is no "magic" in loudspeaker design. The problem with most "tests" that are done is that they are subjective, especially in car audio. There are too many uncontrolled parameters to be objective. You see all these "results" that people post, but they are meaningless because they never remove all the uncontrolled variables when they conduct their "test". As far a subjective sound quality in relation to vent size, if you hear differences other than compression issues, you screwed with something else and caused an un-intended change... Again, if it is acting like a Helmholtz resonator, and you aren't running into compression issues, there is no sound quality difference. Also, a tiny ass woofer will load a huge ass vent, everything will work like it is supposed to if you designed it right. These goofy opinions come from not understanding the physics behind Helmholtz resonation...

If it behaving like a Hemolitz resonator, area and size don't really matter, neglecting compression. Q Jerrel has tried showing you this. It is physics. If you find otherwise in your testing, it is biased in some way. I have had a 7" subwoofer properly load a 10" diameter Sonotube vent... It didn't behave any different than the 2" PVC pipe I did small signal testing with IMP earlier...

If you have a full frame vehicle, there is no reason to run a seperate ground. If you have unibody, then it makes sense when your current demands get pretty stout...

I have CCP issued from 3 states. I open carry most of the time here in CO. I accidentally walk up to someone breaking into my car or anything I own for that matter, and they don't immediately run, they get a 10mm hole. Period. I am afraid for my life. I don't make any qualms about it.

No. I would bitch if it won by .1 db, because it wouldn't be a win. This BS on this thread does nothing but perpetuate missinformation. This thread should have never even been started.

When did all objective thinking just go out the window on here?? THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A DROP IN COMPARISON unless the drivers have identical T/S parameters and all inputs are normalized. Period. There is no argument to this.

Unless you normalize power and enclosure alignment, you are wasting space with any type of comparison on this forum... There is no such thing as a "drop in comparison". There is a drop in evaluation of a different drivers, but you cannot compare in the same enclosure and be objective...

Most of what has been said here is true, except for the cancellation portion. If you have 2 drivers sharing an enclosure, they will be in phase with roughly similar excursion above resonance. Regardless of power differential between the 2. One could get 1 watt, one could get 100, they will completely operate in phase above resonance...

The only reason they keep doing it is the fact that not enough of them are being shot. Seriously.

If I have a choice and money isn't tight, I use copper. But it is expensive... For all other practical purposes, aluminum is just fine. It is also easier to machine than copper... And hey, you can paint it with copper paint and you have CCA, lol...

Nothing wrong with aluminum at all...

There is no relation between box volume and port area. At all. There could be a few reasons for your lack of 55-65Hz range. But first off, have you swept with test tones to be sure you actually have a dip in output in that range or are you taking a guess? One of the most common reasons for this response is an exxagerated low end. This normally happens when an alignment thta is relatively flat (like yours) anechoically is placed in a car with a ton of cabin gain down low. It is like you have just added 10db+ on your last few octaves, and then you don't get so much boost right above that. It pretty much makes it sound like you have a big hole in your response, and in reality you do. The easiest solution for this is picking an alignment that isn't flat, but instead is rolled off more on th elow end with a higher ripple in response up higher, no doubt that is how your setput with the Kickers was working. This is why many people find they like the sound off a seale dbox because it is "punchy" hits th ehigher notes better. But in reality, they just have an alignment that peaks in mor eof the range they want, it has little to do with the box actually being sealed. By the way, you can make a ported box peak wherever you want by manipulating tuning and box volume (notice port area isn't mentioned, because it doesn't play into anything here) but you always have to give something to get something. So if you make a box that has a peak up high, you will loose low end and possibly have some other undesirable after effects... The other common problem (well not so common) is actuall cancellation due to the sound waves arriving at the listener at slightly different times and cancelling each other out. The only way to fix this is to move the enclosure, or change orientation. Sometimes this problem is very tough to overcome with drastic system changes. This i sone of the biggest reasons some cars are so much louder than others (inside) with identical equipment... Hope this helps...

First impressions... Very loud.

Ended up being a 320 amp alt. System in and being tweaked. Amp already popped a 300 amp fuse when really let loose. A few more tweaks coming. Will post pics soon.

No it isn't. You still haven't said what type of enclosure you want to try. And no, 4th order isn't a type of enclosure.