What to do with sub box?

[Gator13]

Hey everyone,
Right now I have 3 10 jl w3v2d6's. I have powering them a jl 500/1 going to two of them at 1.5 ohms and a jl 250/1 going into one of them at 3 ohms. I need to know what kind of box to put them in. I have sealed ones right now. I have two of the subs in a sealed box from pep boys and i built a sealed box for the other one. I think it sounds pretty nice right now, but am wondering if I should have a car audio shop make me a ported enclosure to put all three in or maybe a sealed enclosure to put all three in. Also, i have 4 guage wire running to the back with a distibution block seperating to the amps. Right now I have a 60 amp fuse for the wire and was wondering if I should go with an 80 amp fuse because of the size of the amps.
Thanks
Alex

[Gator13]

here's some pics of what it as of right now....sorry about the mess i am by no means done yet just wanted to get it all hooked up and working.

[Gator13]

..

[car audio dave]

i would def. recommend getting a "correct" box built, meaning 3 individual sealed chambers. make sure they are built to the right volume as well. also, as you said about the wires...make sure they are neatly run, ill tell you from experience, GA + Messy wires = smoke + fire. factor that equation out and you get a mess.

[matts]

and what's with the 2 power wires going to one amp? looks like a decent size power wire to begin with, i wouldn't see the need to have 2 going to it. but that's just me.

the fuse depends on what size all your other amps are. you need a fuse that is equivalent to the sum of all your other fuses......i.e.: if you've got a 40 amp in one amp and a 30 amp in the other amp you need a 70 amp fuse.

i'm with dave. a good, well built box can make all the difference in the world.

[Gator13]

thanks for the advice guys,
what do you mean two wires only to one. I have a 4 guage going to a distributor block that goes to 4 8 guages and I'm putting two of the 8 guages into each amp.
-Alex

[DowmaceWH99]

you only need one of those 8awg wires to each amp, having two is just causing you to have more mess.

If I were you I'd start learning some fiberglass if you have spare time to build your own box you can fiberglass a box for under 100 bucks and it'll fit your car better and look better than an MDF box from a shop will most likely.

www.the12volt.com has good info on box building
http://web.njit.edu/~cas1383/proj/main/ awesome FG tutorial

I think if you built a nice big FG box to hold all three of those you'd get a better look and sound, plus you could build an amp rack onto it so you wouldn't have your amps sitting on the floor

[matts]

that's what i was talking about....... those 2 8 gauge wires going into one amp.

[DowmaceWH99]

this is what we're talking about breh

[Gator13]

lol thanks for the picture..i see what you are talking about. I told you guys that I am not done cleaning up the mess and setting everything up, just wanted some opinions on what to do. I understand you concern for me to clean the mess up.
Thanks
Alex

[RocketFast321]

Originally posted by DowmaceWH99
this is what we're talking about breh

It not that bad my car has wiring that looks wrost.

[DowmaceWH99]

mine used to look like crap, until it caught on fire, and now it's all neat nice and tidy

[tommyboy22481]

Humm, fiberglass, is that really a good box material? I mean a box is not supposed to flex and unless the fiberglass was layered to like 1/2 inch thick it would flex quite a bit, and even then it would still flex a bit I think. I could see a building an MDF box then making it look pretty with fiberglass. I know this has been done a lot so am I missing something? I havn't done any extensive fiberglass work but to me any amount of fiberglass seems like it would flex to much.... Although now that I think about it though as long as the box was well designed or had some internal bracing it would proably be okay. Just want to make sure you use a lot of fiberglass.

[matts]

i've seen people make sub enclosures completely out of fiberglass, but i wouldn't do it. if it were for show and i was never going to turn it up.........sure, why not. but i use my system way too much to trust fiberglass alone.

on the other hand i do plan on making a fiberglass/MDF console to house a couple 12s for my truck when i find some bucket seats i like. but only the top is going to be fiberglass with some hellafide support in it

[DowmaceWH99]

if you build a fiberglass box correctly using fiberglass weave matt, you add glass until you can stand on the box and it not flex, well this is if your like 200 pounds or less, if your more than that have a friend stand on it,

[matts]

i'll use fiberglass mat and a few layers of fiberglass. and it'll be strong, im just going to make it stronger for the amount of wattage and the 12s im going to put in it :D

[DangerMouse]

I would simply cover MDF in fiberglass myself, but I'm lazy that way.

As for the W6's, I would run all three of them off of 1 amp, wired in parallel. Single enclosure. I've even seen a spare tire well used to mount them. Worked and sounded great. Create a raised false trunk floor and you can put a steel grill over the top of it with holes for venting that mass-loads the speakers and protects them from luggage. Oh, and you can also put your amps in the false floor. Though that might be more work than you're looking to do.

[DowmaceWH99]

if you cover MDF in fiberglass your spending twice the amount of money you have too, fiberglass supplies are cheap, MDF is fairly expensive.

[DowmaceWH99]

Originally posted by matts
i'll use fiberglass mat and a few layers of fiberglass. and it'll be strong, im just going to make it stronger for the amount of wattage and the 12s im going to put in it :D

are you going to use chop mat or weave mat?

[matts]

the weave....i dont really like the chop stuff. i've used it before on smaller surfaces, but the weave would be easier on larger surfaces, like the top of a box, i think. i dont know yet.......we'll see how all that goes when the time comes

[Gator13]

here are some updated pictures of my boxes now. I have the subs facing up....it sounds reallygood. Should I put them a different way? I think i am going to get a thin peice of wood to put over top of all the subs and carpet it so it is all flush. I still don't know what to do with the amp and messy wire situation. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
-Alex

[Gator13]

..

[tommyboy22481]

You NEED to mount the amps to somthing, then run the wires neatly. Right now you install looks like a hack job just because of the messyness.

At a minimum I would mount the amps to the side of a speaker box so you can prevent the amps from sliding all over the place. this would allow you to move all the speakers forward as well, giving you a little bit of your trunk back. Your box construction isn't the greatest so it would be hard to cover them with carpet, but I would at least paint them. Use a flat black if you do, anything else will show the building mistakes rather than hiding them.

Covering eveything with a big peice of wood has the greatest potential I think. You could cut out circles for the subs wich would hold them in place, and you coudl mount the amps on top and run the wires underneath giving it a really clean appearance. This would also allow you to move the subs forward giving you some useable space in the trunk.

Heres a bad photoshop of what it might look like.

[Gator13]

thanks for the info...that photoshop was exactly what I was thinking of doing.
i know my install is messy now but is still in progress...
thanks again
ALex

[matts]

please take this as constructive criticism.

you have some nice stuff......why would you haphazardly throw it in the trunk like that? and that box material looks like particle board, not exactly the best thing you could make a speaker box out of. you've got the right idea with the 3 seperate enclosures....BUT, if you were to make it one big box with dividers you'd get a better overall look. and use MDF next time. it's alot smoother and better to look at.

and now that you've already got those boxes constructed you kinda know the basic measurements. of course they would change a hair if you made one big box instead of 3 smaller ones, but you've got the general idea down.

[Gator13]

thanks for the info.
I guess you are talking about my amps when you say "haphazardly throw it in the trunk like that?" I am in progress of making an amp rack and doing what tommybox said.
I went to home depot to get the wood and this was the only stuff they had they was speaker box material.
-Alex

[saltystix]

You guys would cry if you seen mine. My wires are everywhere! I'm going to hide them all and put my amps somewhere when I get my amp fixed. I have to ship it out and such. I'll throw a lil pic in there for you guys.

I like that chop. I know how I want mine to look... Just don't know how to do it... heh... but I'll give ya some pics.

[DowmaceWH99]

yea, those boxes look like particle board, if your really pushing those subs to what they can do, your going to have sawdust all over the inside of your trunk, I suggest you rebuild with some MDF or atleast plywood at the very least

[tommyboy22481]

Actually I think the stuff he used is LDF, or Low Density Fiberboard. Essentially the same as MDF, just not as strong. There are worse materials he could have used though MDF would have been better.

Did you use glue/caulk on all of the joints as well as the screws? As long as you did that they should be functionally sound. If you ever re built the boxes you might want to consider a ported box, they are generally lounder than sealed boxes though a little bit bigger. What kind of power tools are you using to make the boxes with? If you can find someone to let you use their table saw you will get better results with less effort than with a circular saw.

[Gator13]

yea i did seal the inside very well with caulking. I had to use a circular saw. Next time I will be using a table saw. There is not saw dust flying around everywhere when the subs hit hard. I cleaned any dust from the inside of the boxes out very well before screwed the subs in. I am very happy with the sound.
-Alex

[TimG]

You think his setup is bad...

http://s03.imagehost.org/0424/PDRM0715_jpg.t.jpg (http://s03.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/0424/PDRM0715.jpg)

How about that?

I'm in the process of thinking about a new box tho. Something along the lines of a dual ported box that would stretch accross the back of my trunk, approx 36 inchs long, and would have the sub in the center with the ports on either end. Then mount the amp on top.

[saltystix]

36 inches... I love that, because my old box was me tryin to deal with that measurement. But the funniest thing, was me and my friend making my box that would fit in my car. It would have been a perfect fit, but it wouldnt get into the trunk. I was like uhh this wont go in there, so we went out and tried it... couldnt even angle it in...

I have a messy setup... I'll try to convert the pics, Im to lazy right now.

[matts]

i work at home depot......so i get to use that big panel saw. it gives better results than any table saw you can find :D. but that's just a perk.......not everyone has that kind of access. it takes a little more effort to cut one out using that saw, but the quality of the cuts are well worth the extra time.


and you can build a box in the trunk. take a look at the box that's in emily's car (ported box for an 18"). you honestly think that box was built outside the car?? lol it takes a little more planning, but you can get a bigger box that way