I just got a pair of jl w0 8's to mess around with. How big should i build a box for the pair, and what should i tune it to? They will be in my room, off of about 80 watts a piece.(thats all i have to work with)

I want it to have authority in the lows(25-35), and thats about it. The setup is mainly for music.

i know i shouldn't expect much from these eights, but i think it should be a step up from my yamaha 10 off of 40 watts. lol. thanks!

How old are the subs? IIRC, the older W0s liked a bit larger boxes. Maybe try about 2 cubes net tuned to 25 hz for the pair. But I wouldn't expect too much, W0s arent' known for their low end authority. At least the setup I had and the other I heard back in the day. But good luck though.

Without T/S parameters it is going to be really hard to make a good recommendation other than to sell them and buy something with the money that is known.

thanks guys. ill try around 2 cubes at 25 hz. im really just doing this for fun. i cant sell the subs because they came out of my dads f350 because he needs to sell the truck. Ill look for the T/S parameters but i dont think they would measure them on there low end subs. but if i do ill post them up here. thanks!

Well what do ya know! i found the specs on SSA! here they are:

Free Air Resonance (Fs): 31.9 Hz 32.2 Hz

Electrical "Q" (Qes): 0.447 0.579

Mechanical "Q" (Qms): 9.029 9.029

Total Speaker "Q" (Qts): 0.426 0.544

Equivalent Compliance (Vas): 1.02 cu. ft. / 28.9 liters 1.02 cu. ft. / 28.9 liters

One-Way, Linear Excursion (Xmax)*: 0.266 in. / 6.8 mm 0.292 in. / 7.4 mm

Reference Efficiency (no): 0.20% 0.16%

Efficiency (1W/1m)**: 85.0 dB SPL 84.0 dB SPL

Effective Piston Area (Sd): 33.8 sq. in. / 0.0218 sq. m. 33.8 sq. in. / 0.0218 sq. m.

DC Resistance (Re): 3.30 ohm 6.40 ohm

Nominal Impedance (Znom): 4 ohm 8 ohm

Thermal Power Handling (Pt): 75W 75W

Driver Displacement: 0.023 cu. ft. / 0.6 liters 0.023 cu. ft. / 0.6 liters

Net Weight: 5.0 lbs. / 2.26 kg 5.0 lbs. / 2.26 kg

Luckily winISD alpha already has those specs in it. Looks like I got lucky with my educated guess on box size and tune. Anything between 2.0 and 2.5 cubic feet @ 25 hz should yield the best results for you. You'll just have to be a little careful with the power, as they look to reach excursion limits around 40 hz with only 100 watts for the pair.

I did have a couple 12W0s back in the day with a 1000 watt RMS amp on the pair and never had a problem, but I knew where their stress level was and never exceeded it. I never clamped output power either, so I can't tell you for sure how much power was going to them. But they're stronger than they seem.

sweet! thanks man!

one more question. How much port area should there be for the two?

I think you could get away with one 4" aeroport, or 20 sq. inches if you do a slot port. The problem with these small boxes with low tunes is the incredibly long ports they require. Many times the port takes up as much volume as the subs' space.

Just make sure that you have a subsonic filter on these if you have anything playing below 25 hz. These boxes make the power handling drop off super quick below tuning. For instance, at 20 hz winISD shows they can only handle 20 watts apiece.

thanks for the info. i figured out what you mean about the port talking up a lot of space. I cant make a box for the two with the wood i have, because its left overs from my cars system. I think i'm going to scrap the idea of using the two eights and just design a new box for a yamaha ten i have. I cant find the t/s parameters for it, but is there a ballpark size, tuning, and slot port area you could give me?

Without T/S it's pretty hard, as M5 said before. How big of a box can you make with the wood you have? What are the specs of the box that the Yamaha is in now? Maybe that would help, or at least give ideas of what a new box could improve over the old one.

The original box i have sounds terrible. it has no lows at all, and it is really small. then i put the ten in another box for a sony 8 that is about 1.5 cubes tuned really high, i think it turned out to be like 56 hz or something, and that even sounded better than the original box. I think if i build a new box i can get some lows in my room.

i just measured up the wood and the maximum width i can get for the entire box is 22 inches. i plugged some numbers into the re box calculator and could only get a box tuned around 28 hz, and about 1.6 cubes.

Well, if you're up for experimentation, may as well try that.