haydenlake

Note that the white box above is my ported box not the new t-line. I just hooked it up and my first impressions are very posistive. It's more efficient than the ported box, louder overall, and has far better range down low as well as up high (I have tried the crossover at 60, 80 and 100) 80 sounds about right. The higher extentions sound great (and loud) in this box whereas in the ported box they were quite and missing. Although it was a bit harder to design I don't think people should afraid of making a t-line. When I run freq. sweeps from my signal generator it looks like the box is tuned at 19 (meaning the port gets loud and the woofer stop moving as much). and also at 31hz. I don't know if this is a diff fundamental or something but seeing how I can't hear 19 that well its hard to tell where its tuned. Any thing around 30 slams (this seems to be a theme maybe its the driver or the room). later, b

In my experience poly fill has always made the box sound better. In general you should never add more than one pound of fill per cubic foot. Adding a pound per cubic foot usually increases the preceived box size by 30%. This doesn't neccesarily mean that polyfill is a good idea bc you box could become too large. In my case I typically add about .3 or .5 pounds per cubic foot. I seems to make the box sound more solid and less ringy. If I can recall the website I'll post something again, I had to do with some guys lab findings on using polyfill etc. The main point was that your speaker creates heat when it compresses and rareifies (sp?) air. If you don't have polyfill the walls of the box heat up (not much but were talking lab measurements here) and they vibrate more. When you have a box with polyfill the fibers themselves tend to heat up because of the movement. In any event his conclusion was that polyfill is nearly always a good idea. later, b <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Here is that website I was talking about. http://www.silcom.com/~aludwig/Loudspeaker..._a_sound_sponge hope that helps

In my experience poly fill has always made the box sound better. In general you should never add more than one pound of fill per cubic foot. Adding a pound per cubic foot usually increases the preceived box size by 30%. This doesn't neccesarily mean that polyfill is a good idea bc you box could become too large. In my case I typically add about .3 or .5 pounds per cubic foot. I seems to make the box sound more solid and less ringy. If I can recall the website I'll post something again, I had to do with some guys lab findings on using polyfill etc. The main point was that your speaker creates heat when it compresses and rareifies (sp?) air. If you don't have polyfill the walls of the box heat up (not much but were talking lab measurements here) and they vibrate more. When you have a box with polyfill the fibers themselves tend to heat up because of the movement. In any event his conclusion was that polyfill is nearly always a good idea. later, b

So a few months ago I built a ported box for my HT with an IDmax at 3.2 cubes plenty of bracing and tuned to 27. Although it is plenty loud I find it quite boomy. If I'm listening to music that doesn't have much below low 30's it sounds fine, but on Hip hop and rap it just slams from 26-34ish like holy hell. I finally broke down and bought a table saw. Holy..akdkdfd its nice having a good saw (550 for Delta contranctor 680, that lists for 720 so I didn't do too bad. anyway here is a t-line (or part of one that I put together last night, I'll try to keep updating pics. Assuming line length is nearly doubled when fully stuffed, tapering from 2sd to .95sd. around 7.3 cubes net after bracing and the walls etc. any advice, helpful hints etc. I haven't heard it yet, the glue is still drying, but I can't wait. I put in 5lbs of stuffing. Might even put my Rl-p in there. I just listened to my rlp last night in my home and it sounds sweet, it totally blends with the mids unlike my max in that big ported box. I didn't think one rlp in a cube sealed would be enough but its actually quite loud.

looks sweet, I like overbuilt enclosures. If the enclosure is that heavy I might be concerned with the rear suspension sagging a bit (and unevenly too since you most likely don't have another huge weight on the other side of the car) You could get a huge girlfriend! I really doubt that thing will flex but the braces you added to the baffle are a great idea but it would be good to glass them in as well. If they are just placed there (yeah the fleece holds them down for a while) but they could vibrate. overall great job far better than mine (any estimates on cost, not including labor of course). later, b

hey, I've had one of those for the past 7 years or so. I'll try to find my manual (I used to have a pdf manual too) and I'll contact you if I do. As far as the proper way to install it isn't any diff than another amp. The four little buttons that are all in a group are your hp and lp and you can just start pushing them and figuring out what they do it shouldn't be very hard. Just a note, I've ran mine for extended periods at 1ohm without problems (the fan only kicks on once in a while when I'm pounding for long periods) but I think its rated by PPI to be stable to two ohms. If you stay at 2ohm you shouldn't have a problem sweet amp 7 years of daily use and never a problem later, b

I have a Tapco J2500 pro amp in my HT (playing an IDMAX 12) and I'm currently running each channel to each voice coil (so that should be about 750wrms to each coil) the signal is mono. The wires I'm using right now are 25ft long and 14 ga. Is this too small of gauge for this power and length My run only needs to be about 15 ft long, Should I 1. Keep the current set up and not worry 2. Cut the 14 gauges to the smallest length possible given the position of my amp and sub 3. Buy larger cable and still run separate wires to each coil 4. Bridge the amp and run the 4ohm coils in series and use make speaker wire so to speak out of 8ga power cable 5. something I haven't thought of. Q if this doesn't change the power output (acc to tapco's website) with the increased resistance change the response of the speaker, as indiated in WINISD. The box is 3.2 tuned to 27 thanks, b

Anyone have any inside info or guesses as to when car audio manufacturers will be using Toslink cables for connections. Stepping up from a decent RCA cable to a fiberoptic cable made a noticible differnce in my HT set up.

I'm sorry to hear about the poor response but I'm sure it has something to do with the set up in general and not a physical problem with the sub. I doubt this many customers would rave about their subs if they were mediocre. Have you seen JL audio's product called Clean Sweep, I bet that would solve the problem you are reporting. You could also get an aftermarket HU and that would give you a far better signal as well as increase the flexibility of your system. If your signal starts out half bad and then you amplify the signal, how good could it really get. Fix your signal and fix your problem b

It looks like you've done glass work before but that thing just looks really big to me! I would suggest that once you get a little further along test it with water to measure the displacement and then slug it if neccesary. If you are concerned with stiffness just use bracing like a normal enclosure thats what I did with mine. and by the way its in a bmw as well, check in the fabrication post and you should find it. later, b

do the big three now and add an extra battery and you prob wont have to get a different alt. keep in mind that a bigger alt can hurt your gas milage but another battery won't plus you can bang you chit longer with your car off. This summer I added another battery to my boat, a deka Intimidator (around 100bucks) and I could run my system (audiobahn 1800d pushing 2 10's and a phonex gold amp pushing the four mains) for about an hour and a half and I only lost a few tenths of a volt (this is obviously with the motor off) and also consider a capacitor just my .02 later, b

Lets first consider that you are not the type of guy to pay retail for anything (I hope I'm right on this). With that in mind other companies that a somewhat high priced should be in your budget. I got my pair of MB Q Q series 215's for $285 those little bastards retail for 7 or something stupid. (cbrstereo.com) Diamond Audio M6 series (for 180 on ebay a really good deal) Diamond Audio Hex series (you can buy the same thing from Eton I've heard since Eton apparently makes them) I've heard they have slightly better highs than the M6 but not nearly the midbass. most MB q stuff sounds pretty good Jl Audio XR series are really good for the money rainbow is nice but i've only heard a few Focal has always impressed me but I've only heard em in nice fiberglass kicks so I don't know how they sound in chitty placements later, b

Not that I'm a veteran around here or anything but I think people should stop asking "which is louder?" those questions are just annoying and honestly really hard to answer because of the variables involved. If you want a real answer provide more info like, the space you have available, the money you can spend, your abilities in building a box, and since you only care about SPL you should really be asking what frequency you should tune to. If you just want a hella loud box that doesn't sound very good make a bandpass box or a really large ported box with a huge slot and tune that bastard to like 50hz or something. It'll just crush at that freq. but everthing else will sound awkward. Is your electrical system up to the job? As far as my recs for the above listed the 2rlp's will blow the others away in SQ and most likely SPL but I'm not sure on the SPL (but theoretically they shouldn't be far off) My rlp 12 can easily make my amp clip in a 1.2 cuft sealed off of 600watts. So with 1000 watts you might not really see the full potential of your subs. later, b

Alright I'll just run through a few things I've learned about ports. Use calculators (typically online) to determine the length and diameter of the port. In general a large port is less likely to give you port noise because less air is moving over a large surface area. Port shape is realativly unimportant as long as it is consistent and smooth (try areoports I think you can get them from partsexpress.com) these types of ports are shapped like a funnel so you can actually run a slightly shorter port and have the same effective tuning (very handy in many applications) For SQ reasons don't place the speaker direclty near the port, and don't place the port directly near a wall (unless its a slot port then it is part of the wall) (I'm not sure as to the justification behind this but people that know more than me have rec'd this. If you're running 12's that have any decent excursion you really should step up to a 5 or six inch port. if you don't buy areoports by god at least sand the hell out of the ends so they are smooth. remember that port displacement is measured by the total external dimensions of the port, (don't forget end factor correction) generally meaning that the port acts half the width of the port longer than the whole port tube itself. See JLaudio tutorials if you need more help. To give you an idea of how much air good subs move. I have an IDMax 12 in a 3.2 cu ft slot ported box tuned to 27hz and a port area of 48 inches and I can feel the air moving from 4 feet away. Trying to tune this low in a box this size would be nearly imposible without a slot port. later, b

It seems to me like BL (typically measured in Tesla meters) would be a good indicator of motor performance and overall subwoofer ability. With that said, I am supprised that numerous woofers that people commonly call, good strong subs have a fairly low BL in comp to other subs. Subjectively strong subs (by overall consumer babble) Image Dynamics IDMax Bl about 10 Jl Audio W7 series BL about 10 MTX 9500 series BL about 10-20 depending on model SS RL-P BL over 20 So is the SS motor twice as strong as a motor rated at 10TM, or am I completely off base. How do BL and RE interact, it seems that BL would be a constant bc its a measurement of the magnet strength (which shouldn't change) and RE is what can manipulate BL (is this exagerated by a DVC since you can manipulate the RE) any help would be appreciated.

not to sound like a candy ass but I just noticed that Nora Jones has some great bass on her music other SQ favs with bass Habib Koite Claude Chalhoub Lokua Kanza Richard Carr and Mike Nord "The Edge" (the first track has some weird ass drum filled with water and miked in the hollow gap separating the two halves) Bela Fleck Victor Wooten (slap bassist) Marcus Miller (funk) later, b

Okay, I'm assuming you built a sealed box. So if the specs above are the internal dimensions that would yeild a box around 2.78 cuft which should provide good deep extension with a 15. If you want help from the forum considering telling us why you are disapointed with your first box (ascetics, sound, ect) and it makes it easier to trouble shoot. I don't know what kind of tools and materials you have access to but that could help if I knew. If you are going for a nice blend in type install I would go with fiberglass (its not a hard as it might sound and there are a million online tutuorials to help you). If you don't like your current box (in terms of sound) go ahead and make sure it is the box, sometimes things are just rattling in the trunk or your amp isn't set up right. To test subs I usually just play them off of my car amp with a long wire in my yard or somewhere that there are no cabin gains or other vibrating things. its really easier to diagnose things this way. -make sure you build it strong and it doens't leak, you could add a few pounds of polyfill to make the box seem bigger to the speaker yet retain some of your trunk space. If you really want lows build a large ported box and tune it way low (example 5 cu. ft tuned to 20hz) but keep in mind this would easily be a 140lbs box! later, b

check the edited 1st post for pics

my .02 I've tried this type of thing in my car and I'll just explain how it went. 2 Rear firing 12" PPI flat pistons in 1.3 each tuned to 34 with the ports firing up through new holes in the deck lid. -Note the ports were not attatched by a rubber gromet as I would now recommend bc with out it you arn't ever really sealing the subs from the trunk. there was about .5" from the top of the port to the hole in the deck lid (that way if I ever got a flat I could acutally get to the spare) -IMO it sounded pretty unimpressive on everything from rap to punk, really for 2 12"s it was weak. The idea of a bandpass seems better than what I did so I'd say your better off there right away (second of all you have a better driver) -in general I would suggest that if you are any good with glass and cutting metal that you make a far larger hole for the entire sub and then put it in a sealed box behind that. You could make it look like a dish so to speak with the sub in the bottom. I guess this would be a bad idea if you are in an area prone to jakcalopees with crowbars. -I put an RLP inside my car and it blows away anything else I've had in there, check the fabrications section for pics. -so the RLP inside bests (2 12" JL 13w3's sealed in the trunk, 2 12" PPI Pro's ported through, 2 8" A/D/S/ 3 series sealed in .7 total (the only thing close to the RLP in SQ but obviously not output. later, b

Since I don't have bass box could you tell me some generic differences in SPL given increased port area? Perhaps an example of an estimate? Thanks, b

I'm somewhat new to using WINISD and I was wondering why there is no SPL increase when a larger area port is used. Although I understand that if the enclosures are tuned to the same frequency their relative resistance is the same but it just seems like a larger port would yeild more spl (in the same fashion horns get really loud). Can anyone clear this up for me. I'm not asking about beligerently small port areas but lets say the diff between a 20sq. inch port and a 50. Same sub, box, tuning etc. Your answer doesn't need to include stuff I have already read in the thread about vortexes and air resistance. (but then again perhaps I missed something) Thanks, b

Box completed (no pics yet bc I'm on a freaking dial up). General notes Box turned out well and hefty at 100+lbs with sub -good bracing -flush mount -double .75" mdf for the mouting ring so the screws really get some meat ( I think I will always do this from now on) tuned around 25-27 Volume 3.2 hypothetically but I used a small amount of stuffing to control resonance (it needed it) So far I've only played test tones generated through my laptop but this thing gets way loud. It was playing in my garage and it was flexing the wood panneling when the doors were shut, its really funny to play a sweep and listen to different things rattle at different times, its like there is buzzing comming from everywhere. I can't wait to hear it in a house. Note on the amp for those intersted, it has plenty of power to drive an ID max once I get some more time with it in a room that is less prone to chit vibrating like hell I'll write more. I'm playing around with taking it down to my boat and seeing how it does off of my Audiobahn 1800d. later, b

Just my .02. The advice above isn't bad exept the part about morel and Dyn those are both super high quality but they really lack output and they generally need really large boxes. I've played around with the dyn's but not morel's. IMO you should just throw a bunch of power to a 15" Rl-P and be done with it. I know you are concerned about how loud it will be but one 12 rlp in my car can get loud enough to make your voice stop working and your ears start ringing just to give you an idea and its sealed at 1.2 off of 600wrms. my ID max is louder but if you ask which one I want to listen to and I'll always say my SS. b