subwoofer choices for small enclosure

[sevsev]

Ok I need the help of someone with alot of expertise in subwoofer enclosures and lots of different subwoofers.

Ok, so in the name of functionality of my hatch I want to build an enclosure for a single subwoofer that tucks into one of the corners of the hatch. I included pictures to show exactly what the setup will be like.

http://www.epsilonstudios.ca/forums/P1010010.JPG
http://www.epsilonstudios.ca/forums/sub4.JPG

Not exactly a ton of space.

So what I'm looking for is a sub that will be efficient with the space available. Will provide the bass needed for trance/jungle/etc. and the bass needed for hip hop (if I turn it up). Obviously it should be DVC?

8", 10" or 12"?
Specific subs to look at? I was thinking an Alpine Type-R, maybe something from JL, not sure. But I hear most JL subs are enclosure-space hungry and I'm not sure about the Alpine's. Sound quality is important with it.

Help is appreciated, cheers.

 

[capnsavem]

WHO'S IS THIS?

 

[got wake?]

what is your budget? what is the internal air space you plan on using?

 

[SP33D]

DLS subs have a very small mounting depth and sound really good

 

[NoRotorNoMotor]

RE 8" or 10" would work

 

[sevsev]

I'm not sure what the airspace is on an enclosure like that but probably around 0.60 cuft? The resonant engineering RE is looking very promising from what I've read so far.

 

[Poseur]

I'd look into going 10 most likely. Your first pic there (mine) is a 12 in a foot and a quarter box. Decent size for a small 12, but a 10 would fit much flusher.

As far as DVC or no, that really has very little to do with it, you simply need an impedance and power handleing that works well with your amp.

REalistically speaking, what kind of music do you listen to, what kind of money are you looking to spend, and what kind of amp do you have/ are you looking at?

 

[josiah92]

if you really like trance and techno and are really into bass you definetly want a 10 or a 12 if you can fit. alpine or pioneer has deeper bass but larger magnets probably. infinity probably has smaller magnet and more for quality sound.. althought infinity still pounds (thumb) .. just an idea but maybe you can tilt the enclosure more of a 45 degree angle? you can fit a bigger sub if you are really into bass as i am (boom07)

 

[Poseur]

if you really like trance and techno and are really into bass you definetly want a 10 or a 12 if you can fit. alpine or pioneer has deeper bass but larger magnets probably. infinity probably has smaller magnet and more for quality sound.. althought infinity still pounds (thumb) .. just an idea but maybe you can tilt the enclosure more of a 45 degree angle? you can fit a bigger sub if you are really into bass as i am (boom07)

All sortsa of vague perhaps mildly rooted in reality statements here.

Depth really isnt' much of an issue. If you're ditching your jack-bin, there's all sorts of depth available, mostly I would say, however that the vast majority of even small-box speakers on the market would really prefer a larger box. With that being said, a 10 would generally be a cleaner fit, and a better compromise. It'd be easy to get .75 cuf outta that area. essentially, a happy 10 will sound much better than a suffocating 12.

 

[josiah92]

yea never really looked at it that way but i can definetly see where your coming from.

 

[chuyler1]

BUDGET BUDGET BUDGET!!!!!!!!!!!

We can't make recommendations until you tell us.
1) what you have now
2) what you plan on installing
3) how much you want to spend total

For the music you listen to, I'd say a single 8" is out of the question. The only way to get a single 8" to fill up a P5 would be if it was in a ported box. Since a ported box for a single 8" is roughly the size of a sealed box for a single 10" I would recommend the 10" instead. Although a 12" will give you more bass, it will need significantly more air space than the 10", in some cases twice as much. The average 10" is designed to work in a .65-.85cuft enclosure. The average 12" is designed to work in a 1.2-1.5cuft enclosure.

The next order of business is amplifier power. You need to pick an amplifier that is going to power the sub. The amount of power and the number of channels (1 or 2) will narrow your subwoofer search considerably. If you pick a monoblock amp you are going to be looking for a 2ohm sub or a 4ohm DVC sub. If you pick a 2 channel amp you are going to be looking for a 4ohm SVC sub. If the amp is rated for 250w RMS you want to pick a subwoofer rated for 200-400w RMS. If the amp is rated for 500w you want to pick a subwoofer rated for 400-600w RMS. Got it?

Matching the subwoofer to the amplifier ensures that a) you don't blow the subwoofer by accident and b) you don't over pay for a subwoofer your amp cannot properly power. Since you will be installing the subwoofer into a relatively small enclosure, I would suggest purchasing an amplifier that is slightly more powerful than the subwoofer you choose. For example, You could get away with a 300w amp for a 200w subwoofer, or a 600w amp for a 500w subwoofer. The smaller the box, the more power required to get a subwoofer to fully extend.

 

[josiah92]

yea basicly what he said

 

[bratliff]

I think another thing to consider is are you willing to cut on your existing trim? I was not I wanted to be able to remove the enclosure and put the jack and everything back like it was never there. I was able to squeeze out about .5cu ft...(12pcs of wood and 8hrs of work... still need to finish trim and sanding.. then carpet it.. ) doing a good ol fashioned MDF box.. Fiberglass would get you more air space and probably look better if you are willing to do the work.

I used a JL 10W6 (already had it) put it in and I am very happy with it. I always like to use polyfill as well. I orginally had hopes of using the left cavity but some quick measurements determined, unless I wanted to drop down to an 8" sub that was a No Go.

Can you build yourself? If not I would talk to some of these guys about fiberglass enclosures, they really are the best way to go if you have the time and knowledge.. most airspace for a good solid enclosure.

 

[chuyler1]

The left side would be perfect for an 8" sub and would use up less useable space in the hatch. You'd be surprised how well aftermarket 8" subs perform...but I think they will fall short for techno/trance/hiphop/etc.

 

[sevsev]

BUDGET BUDGET BUDGET!!!!!!!!!!!

1) what you have now
Just sold my old hatch-hogging system,2 12" infinity reference svc @500w rms, huge ppi amp
2) what you plan on installing
Looking like a single 10" and I will purchase the amp around the sub.
3) how much you want to spend total
For the sub, maybe $300cad max

My plan has been to fibreglass the enclosure all along, I have alittle bit of experience with it, the enclosure will probably just be carpetted.

 

[chuyler1]

...but how much do you plan to spend total? Sub and Amp?

If you spent $300 on a single 10" subwoofer you would be looking at buying an 800-1000watt RMS amplifier...which would cost you in the range of $600-1000. In most cases, the amplifier costs you twice what the subwoofer costs. That's why I recommend decidinging on a budget, picking an amplifier that fits into that budget, then picking a subwoofer that matches the amplifier.

 

[sevsev]

Well it would probably be more along the lines of a $150-200 sub brand new and an $300ish amp, but purchased used

 

[Scott D.]

...but how much do you plan to spend total? Sub and Amp?

If you spent $300 on a single 10" subwoofer you would be looking at buying an 800-1000watt RMS amplifier...which would cost you in the range of $600-1000. In most cases, the amplifier costs you twice what the subwoofer costs. That's why I recommend decidinging on a budget, picking an amplifier that fits into that budget, then picking a subwoofer that matches the amplifier.

Where does that info come from?
And where do you shop?

 

[chuyler1]

My own research...

Crutchfield subs (sorry nothing was right at $300):
Alpine Type-X SWX 1042D (1000W RMS) $399
Boston Acoustics G510-4 (450w RMS) $349
Kicker Solobaric L7 S10L74 (600w RMS) $349
Rockford Fosgate Power Stage 1 (600W RMS) $349

Crutchfield amps:
MTX Thunder 5601 (600W @ 2ohms) $499
Rockford Fosgate Punch P6001 (600W @ 2ohms) $499
Alpine MRD-M1005 (1000w @ 2ohms) $549
Rockford Fosgate Power T10001b (750w @ 2ohms) $649

Prices are pretty much the same at www.sounddomain.com. Sure you can buy a 2-channel amp and bridge it to save a few dollars...and you can buy from non-authorized vendors to save even more. But whatever you do, the amp is going cost one and a half to two times as much as the subwoofer if you properly mach them.

If you don't match the subwoofer power handling with the amplifier output you are spending too much money on one of the components (...and not enough on the other).

 

[smittypig24]

That white subwoofer enclosure in the second post is mine. I bought it off of sport_20 a little while back. It's perfect and houses my JL 10w6v2 perfectly. I should really post some pics of my setup. I will after I get my ddx8017 next week.

-pig