BYTizzle Posted July 29, 2019 Report Share Posted July 29, 2019 I edited the title since I plan to give this a shot. Could use some help with figuring out the port dimensions, pics in lower comments. So the dilemma I have is I like bass as much as everyone here, but I have some serious space constraints. I will also add that Ive never owned or built a ported enclosure.... Ive had tons of different setups in all of my cars over the years, all of which were sealed boxes, even when I did attend dB Drag events. Ive always listened to Rap, still do, and the old myth was sealed boxes sound better. But the more I read on here the more people keep saying a well designed ported enclosure will outperform a sealed box in every way! This has lead me to start researching how to build one, how to design the port, and most importantly, CAN I FIT IT!? I have a 2012 Mercedes C63 AMG. The car is my daily, it also has air ride (main reason for limited space) and I commute 100 miles a day in this car. Im married with 2 kids and we often use my car for trips and such, so I do need to have SOME trunk space for a bag or 2 if we stay over somewhere. This all has forced me to build a narrow shelf against the back of the seats for the tank and compressors and then build a box in the spare tire well to mount my current SSA Icon 12" Sub with the amp and air manifold all mounted under the floor as well. It is in no way flashy but it sure is functional lol.. The current setup is a SSA Icon 12" D4 in a 1.08ft3 sealed enclosure with the sub reverse mounted since the spare tire well isn't deep enough to fit this sub under the floor. The box is 22" Wide, 18" High, 7" Deep. Its powered by a NVX VAD1700.1. Im using the stock radio (standard audio package) with a LC2i to drive the amp. I have Alpine Type R components in all 4 doors and have used "Engineering mode" in the stock radio to adjust the EQ for them. Im not looking to do bass comps or anything like that, in fact, they dont seem to exist in the North East anymore. Which is really sad since I enjoyed them so much when I was a younger man (1998-2002 area), but that's a totally different discussion now. My question is in regards to switching this sub to a ported box. I can definitely fit a 2 cubed (net) box in the spare tire well with building a false floor 4"ish above the actual floor. It would be kind of worth doing mainly because my trunk carpet is jacked up anyway from slapping my air ride in initially and drilling holes all over the damn place like an idiot.... BUT, is it worth the effort of building a new box, making a false floor, trimming it out etc etc etc? It honestly sounds really good musically and was louder than I expected when pushing it with some bass heavy stuff. For a simple sealed trunk setup its surprisingly pretty loud. So Im wondering if I should just leave it as is and stop my mind from racing or take the plunge and build a ported box for the sub? Is 2 cubes enough volume for this sub and the power I have? Will it be even louder? Will it still sound as good for a "daily driver" listening to mostly music? I appreciate any input! *Fair warning, if you say go with the ported box I WILL ask for help with port design lol* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casparado Posted July 30, 2019 Report Share Posted July 30, 2019 Nice ride. My dd is a truck (for work) but I have an E39 M5 for when I want to go have fun. I'm also curious as to the replies on here. I've always run sealed when in a trunk like that... Anyway... how are you thinking of porting it? (remember you need to include port displacement when figuring out overall internal dimension.) Also, if you're thinking of running vertical port(s) into the wheel well, if you add luggage it could block the ports, and I would worry about stuff falling down there... Just a thought... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BYTizzle Posted July 30, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2019 I would do a slot port and I think facing up is the only option really. I "could" put the slot under the "floor" but it wouldn't have a ton of room to breathe into the spare tire well so while Im not well versed in ported boxes, Im pretty sure thats a no-no. This pic shows roughly what the box size is under the carpet and how the slot would be laid out. Either above the sub or on the side, I would prefer above so I have 2 "squares" on either side to throw a bag in the trunk without blocking the port if I need to. (The port would be using that top wall as the port to try and save some of the volume, I just didn't move the square against the edge in mspaint) Worst case if something fell into the port, I would remove the sub and fish it out. I typically don't throw small items in the trunk tho, it would just be a couple bags. I do have the netted portion on the left if I think its something that would find its way into the port. Im having issues with the port design tho, I think that's what is swaying me from taking this on. Being this is my first time trying to figure this out, I just can't seem to figure out the dimensions on the box calculator to get the port area right and get the tuning low enough as well. The Triticum calculator says I should have a minimum of 31sq in of port and 43sq in as optimum. But messing with the dimensions of the port Im only getting about half of that area and can't seem to get the tuning under 40hz. I would greatly appreciate some help on this, Im sure Im missing something stupid but I just can't figure out what that is! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BYTizzle Posted July 30, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2019 Ok, so after some more tinkering and reading etc etc. I found the RE Box Calc program which helped visualize what I was doing better for me. I then went back and forth with both programs and this is as close to ideal as I have come so far. 2 cubes net, right near min port area, slightly above the target tuning frequency. But like I said, this is the closest I have gotten to ideal so far. Am I on the right track here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BYTizzle Posted July 30, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2019 Further looking into this Im reading a lot about 1:8 port width:height ratio. I def don't want the thing whistling at me. I feel like the more I read, the more confused I get with this. I thought I had it figured out but now Im thinking I don't Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BYTizzle Posted July 30, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2019 I drew it up just to help further visualize what Im doing. I decided Im going to give it a shot this weekend and see what happens. Worst case, I wasted $20-$25 in wood and have something to throw in our burn pit at the next BBQ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casparado Posted July 30, 2019 Report Share Posted July 30, 2019 From what I understand the port aspect ratio is something to take into consideration, but I wouldn't worry a ridiculous amount about it.... ultimately you've gotta work with what you've got. 1:8 is getting a little high but doesn't seem out of the realm (though I am new to porting also... I've just been doing a lot of reading as well). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BYTizzle Posted July 31, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2019 The problem is the port ratio is like 1:13 but you're right in the sense I really don't have much of a choice with space constraints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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