Have an amp, need to choose a suitable sub.

[beak81champ]

Are you using a double baffle on the face that you are mounting the sub? That should eliminate any flexing and resonance on that wall. You could always throw a window brace somewhere in the middle of the box if you aren’t sure...

It looks awesome so far. Nice work!!!

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

a couple front to back wooden dowels work just as well and takes up less airspace than a double baffle.

 

[moniker]

a couple front to back wooden dowels work just as well and takes up less airspace than a double baffle.

Good idea.. I may end up doing that for the sake of simplicity.  I would like to do a double baffle- flush mount, but my jigsaw is a POS harbor frieght with no blade guide/roller wheel, and at this point I'm trying to keep things looking good.  If I were to double baffle I would double towards the outside, not in, for no loss of airspace.  

@beak81champ  Thanks for suggestion + kind words!

 

[wew lad 5,000+ posts]

Looks good so far. There are better options than wooden dowels but considering the size of the largest panels being small and the amount of power you're running, you'll be fine provided you make strong joints. If you had some length that was 50+ inches long without bracing I'd start to be worried but the slot port like that will act as bracing itself

Windows have significantly more bracing force.

 

[2RZ-FE 10+ year member]

Looks good. Double baffle would look good. Larger cutout to fit over the sub to make it flush. 

 

[moniker]

Looks good so far. There are better options than wooden dowels but considering the size of the largest panels being small and the amount of power you're running, you'll be fine provided you make strong joints. If you had some length that was 50+ inches long without bracing I'd start to be worried but the slot port like that will act as bracing itself

Windows have significantly more bracing force.

Well I just went ahead with a 1.25'' dowel.  Nice tight fit.  Initially, I was confused about how to attach it to the port wall, considering the exterior back-panel blocks screwing-access from the outside (ideally you'd install the dowel before the back panel).  Didn't take long to figure out how to get it snugged from the inside with screw at 45d.  I'm not so worried about the airspace it used.  Put my head in the enclosure and hummed really low, and just that sounded incredibly rich and powerful!  Also got a nice cut-out by running the jigsaw slower this time (no speed dial- all in the trigger squeeze on my cheapo jigg)

@2RZ-FE  Glad you think so!  So I got the new sub today, set it in the box.. and man, that foam surround is beefy!  I just might double up on the face.  Actually, I might put an extra 1.25-ish on the face so the surround is not just flush, but slightly recessed.  I really want to just get this thing in the car and listen to some music already, but crafting this enclosure has opened up a new way to zone-out and be creative.  Pretty fun.  Hard not to keep adding little touches..

So I've arrived at a point, where again, I have a couple of questions:

Sub mounting hardware options:  I want to be able to use this enclosure for other subs in the future.  I think it'll sound good with many of the 10''s out there.  With that, would you avoid just screwing it down, and add some kind of reusable, threaded inserts?  But not every sub has the same hole pattern right?  Hmm..

Sub wiring:  Wire straight through the box to amp with smallest (and sealed) hole possible, or add those minimally invasive bolt-style terminals?  Will not be using a traditional plastic terminal cup-thing!

 

[wew lad 5,000+ posts]

Well I just went ahead with a 1.25'' dowel.  Nice tight fit.  Initially, I was confused about how to attach it to the port wall, considering the exterior back-panel blocks screwing-access from the outside (ideally you'd install the dowel before the back panel).  Didn't take long to figure out how to get it snugged from the inside with screw at 45d.  I'm not so worried about the airspace it used.  Put my head in the enclosure and hummed really low, and just that sounded incredibly rich and powerful!  Also got a nice cut-out by running the jigsaw slower this time (no speed dial- all in the trigger squeeze on my cheapo jigg)

@2RZ-FE  Glad you think so!  So I got the new sub today, set it in the box.. and man, that foam surround is beefy!  I just might double up on the face.  Actually, I might put an extra 1.25-ish on the face so the surround is not just flush, but slightly recessed.  I really want to just get this thing in the car and listen to some music already, but crafting this enclosure has opened up a new way to zone-out and be creative.  Pretty fun.  Hard not to keep adding little touches..

So I've arrived at a point, where again, I have a couple of questions:

Sub mounting hardware options:  I want to be able to use this enclosure for other subs in the future.  I think it'll sound good with many of the 10''s out there.  With that, would you avoid just screwing it down, and add some kind of reusable, threaded inserts?  But not every sub has the same hole pattern right?  Hmm..

Sub wiring:  Wire straight through the box to amp with smallest (and sealed) hole possible, or add those minimally invasive bolt-style terminals?  Will not be using a traditional plastic terminal cup-thing!

Don't overthink it. Just use appropriately sized wood screws for mounting the sub and if you have any issues in the future you can add epoxy to the holes or add a second baffle (or build a new box, it'll be years before the wood is too worn to be used again). 

For wiring, I've always just drilled a small hole near the back of the box and pushed the wires through. You can seal it up with caulk, epoxy, etc if you want but provided it's not a massive leak it won't make a bit of difference. I'm metering over 153 with 2 15's and blocking that tiny hole made no difference. Simply using a bolt for each wire and attaching terminals on either side of the box works well too but you end up with a live connection. When you start using amps that put out wall voltage AC and more it becomes a little sketchy. The cheap plastic terminal cups will increase in resistance over time, either avoid them or get the expensive ones (not worth the money). 

 

[2RZ-FE 10+ year member]

Screws that are flat under the head work better than ones with a taper to them like drywall screws. If your sub has a rubber gasket like my 12" Demon a pan head screw clears the holes in those as they are smaller than a drywall screw head. Using a drywall screw in my case goes in but will raise the gasket on its way out so you would need to pull the gasket away from the sub to get the screw out.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

direct wire it, fk terminals and connections haha. 

 

[Sblackstock80]

Hello all, yes this is going to sound very noob.. and I did read the sticky but not sure how else I'd pose this Q!

I posted this in a few other places with no feedback, so really hoping someone here can help!

So I have the Boss PT2200 amp, these are the specs:

2200 W MAX Power 2 Channel
825 W X 2 RMS @ 2 ohm
413 W X 2 RMS @ 4 ohm
1650 W X 1 RMS Bridged @ 4 ohm

I plan on running one sub, bridged.

Narrowed it down between the Rockville K9 10′’, or the K9 12″. I’d like to power either of these subs somewhere below their claimed RMS capability.

K9 10:

• Rockville W10K9D4 K9 Series 10" Dual 4-Ohm Car Subwoofer
  
  
• Peak Power Handling: 3200 Watts
  
  
• Program Power Handling: 1600 Watts
  

CEA Rated RMS Power Handling: 800 Watts

K9 12:

• Rockville W12K9D2 K9 Series 12" Dual 2-Ohm Car Subwoofer
  
  
• Peak Power Handling: 4000 Watts
  
  
• Program Power Handling: 2000 Watts
  
  
• CEA Rated RMS Power Handling: 1000 Watts
  

Iv’e been told not to expect anywhere near the claimed RMS output from the amp (1650 bridged), so how much less could it actually be? 1200, 1000, 850?

EDIT: The amp has TWO 25 amp fuses, so tell me (please!) if one of these formulas is more correct than the other:

25amp x 2 = 50 x 14.4v = 720 rms or 25 x 2 = 50 x 10= 500 rms

And what does that mean in the bridged configuration? Is that formula representing bridging?

Which of these subs do you think might pair best, and how would you configure the sub wiring?

Finally, would this setup warrant upgrading my alternator? Stock Alt. is 70 amps and the headlights already dim a little bit when the heater fan is on high power. The only high output alt I've found is 160 amps. Not really sure how high I'd need to go.

Thank you to any experts who can take the time to weigh in on this!

Product links:

PT2200 - Boss Audio Systems

Rockville W10K9D4 10" 3200w Car Audio Subwoofer Dual 4-Ohm Sub CEA Compliant

Rockville W12K9D2 12" 4000w Car Audio Subwoofer Dual 2-Ohm Sub CEA Compliant

Dude, Rockville subs have been proven trash. Look at emf audios YouTube videos on it. Anyhow if you’re looking to spend the least amount of mines check out kicker. Other than that your options could be Orion HCCA, sundown audio x series, skar audio is great for the price. Memphis mojo (not the m6) alpine is also cheaper but bang hard jlaudio bang hard nvx subs American bass there are so many you need to decide if you want spl or sq

 

[Sblackstock80]

The amp is prob fine but I would have refused the sub too. Go with a Sundown E series instead, I have never liked the Soundqubed subs after the name change.

True but if he is new to all this and buys sundown and blows it there is no warranty so he is out money.

 

[Sblackstock80]

Hello all, yes this is going to sound very noob.. and I did read the sticky but not sure how else I'd pose this Q!

I posted this in a few other places with no feedback, so really hoping someone here can help!

So I have the Boss PT2200 amp, these are the specs:

2200 W MAX Power 2 Channel
825 W X 2 RMS @ 2 ohm
413 W X 2 RMS @ 4 ohm
1650 W X 1 RMS Bridged @ 4 ohm

I plan on running one sub, bridged.

Narrowed it down between the Rockville K9 10′’, or the K9 12″. I’d like to power either of these subs somewhere below their claimed RMS capability.

K9 10:

• Rockville W10K9D4 K9 Series 10" Dual 4-Ohm Car Subwoofer
  
  
• Peak Power Handling: 3200 Watts
  
  
• Program Power Handling: 1600 Watts
  

CEA Rated RMS Power Handling: 800 Watts

K9 12:

• Rockville W12K9D2 K9 Series 12" Dual 2-Ohm Car Subwoofer
  
  
• Peak Power Handling: 4000 Watts
  
  
• Program Power Handling: 2000 Watts
  
  
• CEA Rated RMS Power Handling: 1000 Watts
  

Iv’e been told not to expect anywhere near the claimed RMS output from the amp (1650 bridged), so how much less could it actually be? 1200, 1000, 850?

EDIT: The amp has TWO 25 amp fuses, so tell me (please!) if one of these formulas is more correct than the other:

25amp x 2 = 50 x 14.4v = 720 rms or 25 x 2 = 50 x 10= 500 rms

And what does that mean in the bridged configuration? Is that formula representing bridging?

Which of these subs do you think might pair best, and how would you configure the sub wiring?

Finally, would this setup warrant upgrading my alternator? Stock Alt. is 70 amps and the headlights already dim a little bit when the heater fan is on high power. The only high output alt I've found is 160 amps. Not really sure how high I'd need to go.

Thank you to any experts who can take the time to weigh in on this!

Product links:

PT2200 - Boss Audio Systems

Rockville W10K9D4 10" 3200w Car Audio Subwoofer Dual 4-Ohm Sub CEA Compliant

Rockville W12K9D2 12" 4000w Car Audio Subwoofer Dual 2-Ohm Sub CEA Compliant

Whatever you do stay away from power!!!!!