Zach Gates

This will be both upfiring in my hatchback (meaning this box will be laying on its back port up), the volume pre-sub is about 3.43cu and tuned at 31.7Hz, so I believe when the sub drops in it'll make it 3.27@32-ish? Do I have all this correct? I'm so incredibly stoked to buy this sub (although I'm just saving up for it now). Going to be pairing it up with a JBL bp1200.1 amp, probably with the dual 1 so I can hit 2ohms and not use the full 1400-ish watts that thing puts out at 1ohm.

General rule is the fewer ports the better. Greater openings mean less port noise/resistance.

So you want to charge about... five bucks below retail. Good luck widdat. I can't imagine why anyone would buy this off you instead of dealing straight with AQ to save $5.

That 265 better be shipped, because they're about 269 on AQ's homepage.

Price? Coil configuration?

If you were to ask Lil Jon what the appropriate level of bass is in a song he creates, he's going to show you a different setup from what, say, Maynard James Keenan would say about the latest Tool album. SQ may have a specific meaning, but when you throw out terms like "balance" and "overpower", you turn an objective concept into a subjective one. How do you define balanced? What's "balanced" to you might sound too harsh on the highs to me. What's balanced to me might sound far too bottom-heavy to you. And again it depends on what's being thrown out of the speakers. I listen to some Opeth and I'm going to want a FAR different sonic balance than if I listen to rap, which would differ from my Broadway tracks. On rap I need the bass tones to rattle my teeth, on rock the drums should kick me in the chest while the guitars rape my ears, and if I'm listening to Man of La Mancha the orchesta should taking a bit of a backseat to the performers. So the appropriate response to "I want good SQ" isn't "you don't know what SQ means", but rather "what type of music do you listen to?" I'm in the process of upgrading my entire system. I've got two amps sitting on my table and comps/HU in my SonicElectronix shopping cart, and I'm going to be buying the sub after I have everything else. Balance is absolutely a concern of mine, but mostly in the sense of having everything clear and audible even as the bass bruises my kidneys. Additionally I want the sub to have good sound to it instead of sounding like a rhino farting. So SQ would be a serious concern of mine, and the idea that there's this mystical "balance" that is an objective measure irks me. Oh sure, maybe if you're talking competition, but if you want SQ to mean "geared toward SQ competitions" then SPL should -only- mean "single tone optimized with no concern for daily driving".

I just mean small in the "there might be some port noise" sense, not that the tuning would be off. But then I honestly have no idea if there would be at 4" ports, that should be plenty but some on these old internets have their opinions about having huge ports. Anyway, can't wait to see the finished project!

This? 15) SQ also has a very defined meaning, toreproduce music as it was recorded as exactly as possible. If thisisn't your goal, don't use the term. Apply that, now, to modern hip-hop or drum and bass. The sound equipment used to replicate those sounds exactly as intended by the original artists likely wouldn't be what you guys would call an "SQ" setup, now would they? Seems your interpretation of the "SQ" definition is quite genre-specific.

I think, in your case, you're using a definition of SQ that the OP isn't. I think it's safe to assume this is more "keeps up with most music and sounds good but can still whang," not the OCD staging and designing that SQ fanatics think of. After all, SQ just stands for "sound quality", and you can want that in a setup that also gets mega loud.

This is outside my realm, but I'm thinking 2 4's might be a hair small for a box that big. Just make them 6" wide, extend a few more inches into the box, make the whole thing an inch or two wider to compensate for more port displacement. That's a sexy design dude.

Well if you really want 2 6" ports, keep in mind their necessary length. Then what I'd probably do is have them mostly external, and then make sort of a "second box" just for them, then carpet the whole thing. From the outside it'll look like you have one huge box with two ports, but the top 8" or so are sealed off from the rest of the box, all that's in that space is port. I don't have any CAD programs so I can't make a good sketch, unfortunately, but this'll work: Actually a good idea in general. I may end up doing something very similar...

If you get an elbow joint, not so much. The reason it's a problem in slots is the sharp corners muck with the air flow, but with a smooth bend in a pipe it's not as much of an issue. As long as you don't use a joint that comes to a right angle.

Where in the world did you get those numbers? That non-flared number is the same as slot port area recommendations which would be almost IMPOSSIBLE to actually use. If you wanted to make a 4cu box tuned to ~30Hz and used the 16sq per 1cu rule we're talking 56sq of port area, so we'de need either four 4" ports or two sixes, at a length of 34" for the 4" ports or 37 for the 6" ports. EACH. Just to repeat: according to you we'd need two six-inch diameter ports over three feet long in a box that's only 4cu net anyway. I have never in my life seen a box with aeros use that kind of ratio. It would have to bend TWICE or have at least half of it sticking outside the damn box.

Do what I did: dig on eBay/craigslist for your amps, pump the rest into the speakers. You might be able to get a solide 1200-1500w amp for $200 and that leaves you $400 for the sub. Boom baby! Also, you don't really need to do anything before anything if you plan on upgrading the whole kit and kaboodle at the same time. Unless you're going to put in the HU, ride around with that for a while, then put in the sub later, buy whichever piece comes with the best deal first. Put it all in your basement, and then get it all installed at the same time.

Ignore all that. For box-building, as long as the company tells you how big to make the box you're set. FI says between 5 and 10, so how big do you want it? After that you can just use whatever initial driver comes up when you do the wizard. The sub in the boxdoesn't change the tuning freq, all the various parameters do is make the graph behind it if you're the advanced type and can use that. So here: 1) Open WinISD, click "new" and then just hit "next". Select 1 driver, then vented box type. Now it should look like this: 2) So go under the "box" tab, put in the volume and tuning you want: 3) Now under the "vents" tab say how many you want and what diameter, in this example two 6" diameter ports: Now since your box is 5cu, even TWO sixers is way long, so if you just wanted one it would only need to be 13.37" long. 4) Now since we're doing aeros, you can calculate your box's internal volume by doing this: ((W-1.5)*(H-1.5)*(D-1.5)-Vp-Vs))/1728 Side note: 1728 is one cubic foot in inches, which is why we divide by it there. W = Width of the box in inches (external) H = Height in inches (external) D = Depth in inches (external) Vp = Port volume in inches, which we can ballpark at pi*r^2*L (radius/Length of the port), so 3*3*3.14*14 (again, this is ballparking, it won't alter the tuning THAT much) = 395.64 Vs = Sub volume in inches, 0.26cu for the BTL 18, so 0.28*1728 = 484 So now open up your handy-dandy google or calculator, start throwing numbers in until you get an answer around 5. For example: (((33 - 1.5) * (20 - 1.5) * (18 - 1.5)) - 395.64 - 484) / 1728 = 5.0554022 Meaning, your box could be 33" wide, 20" tall, and 18" deep with a 6" wide aero 13.5" deep and an 18" BTL sub in it for a 5cu box tuned around 29-30Hz.

winISD is a heck of a lot faster and makes box-building pretty simple. Punch in the volume and tuning you want, number of ports and diameter, and it'll tell you how long they need to be. Then it's as easy as calculating the volume each port takes up, and figuring out the dimensions the box needs to be minus displacement.

Per port. Four six inch aeros on such a small box would require INSANE port length to get the tuning right. Two would be plenty.

It's not a matter of wiring, it's a matter of how the sound will interact. They're going to move air differently. Slightly different resonance, different power, a bunch of things. Instead of the sound waves being the exact same and blending together, they'll be slightly different and it'll screw things up. If I were you I'd get on the horn with that company, see WTF happened.

Never mix subs. Especially if you're competing. You'll end up with some weird harmonics going.

I'd read that aeros only need be about half the area of a slot, one of the big bonuses of them being you can build a smaller box for that reason.

Well that's a little confusing, haha. Regardless I really like the XCON now, that and the Death Row.

That's definitely possible. My L7 was in a custom box, the stuff I've heard since was pre-fab. LOL, you guys are making me want to get another one like old times. All I really plan on throwing at it is rap/bass/r&b, anyway. Gah, not only that but you're making me want to see if I can get my L7 working again.

Not particularly. It wasn't the most musical, but then I wasn't aiming to win SQ competitions. I liked it a lot, actually. But since I'm starting from scratch I feel like trying some new stuff, y'know? Besides, I don't think the newest Kicker line sounds as good as the old. Since the brand hit mainstream and started being sold in Best Buy and Circuit City it's like the quality dropped something major.

Blew the sub, actually. I set the gains wrong, had the bass boost on, etc. It's been sitting in my basement since 2004.

To be honest, I'd do the Big 3, then wire it up and see what happens. If you're having issues, get the battery. Still can't keep up, the alt. Better than spending that much money on unnecessary upgrades.