Low tuned boxes that still hit the highs.

[OBI]

Im just wondering how people like Meade, and Jack who are tuned pretty low, are still killing the 45-55hz range? Is it car dependant? Or is it cause they are putting out crazy amounts of power? I would like to know. Cause I just built me a new box tuned at 32hz and it lacking pretty bad at that range. But destroying everything under 42hz.

[Noobtastic14]

Jack is bandpass....

thats a whole different world of voodoo

The transfer function of the car in relation to box alignment and specs also makes a very drastic difference

-Drew

[OBI]

Didnt know that. But man when I think that im becoming somewhat knowledgeable in this, people like you come saying things like that and make me feel like a complete noob again! LOL

[OBI]

Ne one else have any input?

[Nightshade]

Don't tune too low or tune too high. Pick a nice midway point and tune there. For example a middle of the road tuning will work well. Low frequency tuning would be around 30hz, and a high tuned box would be around 45hz. So what's a nice midway point inbetween both of them? The answer is 37-38hz.

Also another factor of a low rolloff is the port size in comparrison to the box size. This is also called the port ratio. Too many sqin of port per cuft of box can result in a steep rolloff. The idea is to keep is realitivlely low without going too low. How do you find this pefect median? By testing and rebuilding or by asking someone who has a vast knowledge in box design to cut some of the guess work out for you. You can find that most people will say that a box with 14-16sqin of port per cuft will work well in a slot ported box. While that is true I find that a bit lower will give less rolloff and play more frequencies louder. Somewhere in the 10-13 sqin range is where I like to tune my loud daily slot ported boxes. They almost always do very well on the mic, and they most definately sound good while playing both low and high. For an aeroported box(which is all I really reccomend, once you find out how great aeroports really are you'll never do a slot ported box again) the norm is around 12 sqin per cuft. In my cases I've found that even as low as 7.5sqin per cuft will still work very well and be loud too. While usually increasing the port area will make the box louder, it also increases the rolloff of it's frequency response.

It's all about what you are willing to sacrafice because there is no box that will play all frequencies equally. The closest thing to that is a sealed box and we all know that those suck. Take you time and decide what you absolutely want and play around with how the enclosure reacts in the environment that it is designed for. Don't be afraid if you have to build several boxes to get the perfect one for you. After quite a bit of experience you will be able to figure out an optimal starting point that will save you time, money, and supplies by hitting it right on the dot with the first try or by only needing a little tweaking.

Hope this helps you some, if you took the time to read it all.

[LordArcane]

damn i guess i got lucky on my box then, its tuned to 33hz and amp has sub sonic turned all the way down and i hit all the lows and hit the higher notes up to about 60hz is when it starts to roll off, i do wish it hit the lows little louder but for a pair of 10's i think it does pretty good . i could see this being a pain tho since the box is like half the install on subs get that wrong and it will sound like crap. hope you figure it out man, there few people on here that for a small price will design you a nice box if that helps

[OBI]

Thanks for the info Nightshade. Very good read. Didnt know that using less port area could do that. Deffinitely going to try this on my next box.

[OBI]

damn i guess i got lucky on my box then, its tuned to 33hz and amp has sub sonic turned all the way down and i hit all the lows and hit the higher notes up to about 60hz is when it starts to roll off, i do wish it hit the lows little louder but for a pair of 10's i think it does pretty good . i could see this being a pain tho since the box is like half the install on subs get that wrong and it will sound like crap. hope you figure it out man, there few people on here that for a small price will design you a nice box if that helps

Thanks man its not that it isnt loud, cause it does sound pretty good, its just the rolloff is pretty steep on it. But I did use 16in per cuft. for the port. Im going try 11 or 12 for my next one.

[LordArcane]

ya i think i learned something myself just by reading some of the stuff in this thread i didn't really know about the port issuse lol i just kinda guess it out on my box and made sure it was tuned to 33-34hz and had 1.3cft for sub i'll have to remeber this for the next box build

[Nightshade]

Thanks for the info Nightshade. Very good read. Didnt know that using less port area could do that. Deffinitely going to try this on my next box.

Your welcome. A lot of people think that tons of port area is the answer for a loud setup and that's not the case. My team captain Steve Sears had a Cavy that had 2 Memphis Mojo 15's in it in a pretty small box with probably no more than 50sqin of port for it. The box was tuned to 36hz and with 2 Stetsom 2k6d's he could do 153's out of a trunk car. Now go figure he had probably around 10sqin of port per cuft with a slot port and is louder than most daily drivers out there. Quite a bit of it is getting the enclosure to work with your particular vehicle. It is hard work, but once you nail it you'll be all smiles.

Just one quick example other than my own system that everyone will be familiar with is Steve's Tahoe. He has around 4 cubes per woofer and if I remember correctly something like 200sqin of port. That's not a ton of box or port area but look how low and loud he can play. Steve also plays the highs cause his box has a nice slope to it. That comes with years of experience and trial and error.