Subwoofer Help

[Fizzlemizzle]

I'm going to be installing a subwoofer in my car and I have some questions you guys should be able to answer here but i'm not sure if this is the right folder. I'm going to be getting this subwoofer (http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=295-468) and i'm wondering if a 1.5-2.0 cubic foot box would be big enough and also if you would recomend going sealed or ported. Would sealed reduce rattle because less air is moving around? What effect would too small of a box have on it? All responses are very appreciated. Thanks in advance

[Fizzlemizzle]

bump. could really use some responses

[dgoreck]

In the past when I played with subs in my car....

...rattling is mainly from the construction of the car. Seal up and tighten anything you can in the car. The stuff rattling is lost engery output of your sub vs more music. Even see the events where they are all pushing on and holding the car to stop it vibrating to larger SPL's?

...as for vented or sealed, I thought it would more depend on the design of the sub. Most work fine for either, but some are more optimal. I would think for the car maybe a 2.5cuF box for sealed and 3.5cuF box for vented. I use to take the specs of the sub into WinISD and play around with box sizes till I get the baseline frequency response I wanted. Most subs will have a recommended size enclosures.

[Guest srobak]

A single reflect bandpass box is what you most commonly find around here... think of it as a combination sealed/vented with the drivers being in their own, sealed enclosure, and firing into another enclose built around it, but vented. It is also frequently refered to as a 5th order bandpass by mistake. Something like this can help protect your driver while remaining fairly small. This plus Dynamat to curb your rattles will help a lot.

[Submarine]

Parts Express has a web page with all their drivers and recommended size enclosures for choosing either a sealed or ported design. Drivers are often designed strictly for a sealed or ported enclosure. On their website, you should be able to look up your driver and find the correct enclosure recommendation. The cabinet size, and ports "tune" the drivers down into lower frequency responces and higher SPL's than the driver can reach alone in free air. Subwoofer drivers are designed to move a relatively precise amount of controlled air volume. The port "tuning" should be a specific width and length, as well as possibly flared on one or both ends. Tech Support has been very helpful on the telephone.

To reduce rattle, a test CD is the ticket. One track loop is recorded just for locating and correcting rattles.

While you have the test CD playing at a healthy volume, you can isolate and eliminate all of your rattles. HSU has them available. Parts Express may also have a test CD - they play a separate Hz per track, too. For example, tracks 1-15 may play in 10 to 5 Hz increments (often separated by 5 Hz at 40 Hz and below). You can also be sure if your system plays well at certain low frequencies, too.

The test track to isolate rattles is a recorded as a separate track. Test CD's are excellent for home troubleshooting, too. I hope you aren't installing this in a off-road pick-up truck with a million miles. You'll be Earths' Rattle Eliminator Expert.

[michael hurd]

Srobak: a bandpass box can be very stressful on the suspension and cone joints. When executed properly, they can give pretty decent results. Since distortion products are masked... if one gets a bit too high with the volume, damage can occur.

Test cd's are great to locate rattles and buzz's, use foam weatherstrip tape, silicone strips, etc to heal them.