Built JL 10W6V3 box twice as large

[14RamMan]

I built a fiberglass box for my 2014 crew cab truck about a year ago. It has almost twice the volume that JL's 10W6V3 subs call for (.55^3 each). It sounds great, but at high volumes, seems to level off and not really get any louder. I notice my lighting dims as well, and are upgrading the big 3 (more like the big 5 on a ram) this weekend, but wanted to know if the size of the box is detrimental to its performance.

[frogcase2002]

The right enclosure is everything. There is enclosure specs for each sub for a reason

[Joe X]

A larger than recommended box will end up bottoming out your subs with enough power, apparently you are not actually sourcing enough power for that to happen, anyways bear in mind that you will gain only about 3db by doubling power, going from 1200 to 2400W will only get you a (rather small) 3dB gain and your subs would be likely be dead by then.

By the (large) size of the box you describe you could modify it to be ported, could be done with two 4" round ports, without any other changes it would make your system significantly louder OR since the box is large you could seek to install 4 drivers and keep it sealed and add a second amp. Both options will work being the ported option much less expensive alternative.

[dolarbilz]

Do four driver I like what JoeX said

[14RamMan]

Unfortunately, there isnt enough room for any more subs; just the way the under seat void is laid out. I like the tight bass that a sealed enclosure has; would i be better off putting wood inside to fill it in?

[dolarbilz]

Cut hole port it...

[shogen]

Unfortunately, there isnt enough room for any more subs; just the way the under seat void is laid out. I like the tight bass that a sealed enclosure has; would i be better off putting wood inside to fill it in?

the enclosure type is not responsible for the sound of a driver.. the specs of each enclosure will affect it greatly. You could have 2 sealed enclosures different sizes and you'll get different sound at different frequencies... You're current situation is an example of that.

[frogcase2002]

Many people think sealed you get sound quality and ported just loud . Thats just not the case. . You can get it to sound really good and have "tight bass" like you said with ported

[14RamMan]

Thank you for your advice.

[MickyMcD]

the enclosure type is not responsible for the sound of a driver..

The cabinet type is responsible for the sound of the cabinet though. The driver is not the only thing generating sound in this system and the effects placed upon the driver by the air mass of the cabinet change the tonality of the system. The comparatively heavily harmonic distorted output of a front loaded ported cabinet sounds different to the lightly distorted but long group delay of a long folded horn which sounds different again to the extremely short GD and gradual LF rolloff of a sealed cabinet.

Place the same driver in a variety of mathematically ideal cabinets and the tonality will be very different. An old System 1200 Triple Chamber (bandpass) sounds very different to a SR4715X (reflex) even though each cabinet has a pair of JBL 2226HPL. System 1200 goes down into the high thirties with nothing happening around 100Hz where you're dreaming to push less than 45Hz through 4715's with a huge buildup of 80-150Hz. Same driver, but the enclosure type shares the responsibility of setting the tonality of the loudspeaker system.

Ram Man can I suggest removing the drivers and filling the space temporarily with a removable medium of some sort? Even a pillow or two will give you a good idea of what the enclosure will sound like if you reduce the internal volume. If you like what you hear and the performance is what you are aiming for then make the reduction permanent. If you don't, remove the pillow and compare again. It sounds like a few compromises must be made here.

Good luck, hope it is an easy fix for you.

Cheers,

Mick