15" rl-p enclosure

[skdooley 10+ year member]

I'm trying to decide if I want to run a 15" rl-p d2 sub ported or sealed. For comparison, I did have a 12 w7 in a 2 cubic feet enclosure tuned at 32 Hz. The w7 was being ran on a 500/1. I was happy with its output, it played the lows well and got plenty loud. My car is a Toyota Celica (hatchback) so a little bass goes a long ways. The 15" rl-p has both more displacement than the w7 had and is more efficient by a little over 3 dBs. I was thinking of running the rl-p sealed, I just want to make sure I won't end up with less output than I had with the w7. The rl-p will be seeing 1k rms at 4 ohm. I know ported will give me the most out of the sub, but if I can go sealed and still get great output, both in low end and overall SPL I'd be happy. What do you guys think? I play a variety of music, a majority of it being rap, bassy type music, which is why I looked for a sub with a low Fs. However I also do play rock, metal, etc from time to time as well so I'm looking to keep the bass tight and clean at the same time. I know rock type music is a lot of mid bass, my components are up to par.

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[RAM_Designs 5,000+ posts]

The rl-p works well in both ported and sealed boxes. If you want low-end, ported is the way to go.

 

[oxsign 5,000+ posts]

2.5-2.75cubes ported to 32Hz W/1K. Trust me..........

 

[iLL Ridge 10+ year member]

Small box for a 15 huh?

 

[Flastrongman 10+ year member]

I used my rl-p 15 in a 4.5 cu ft box@33 and the lows were brutal. I listen to a lot of metal as well and would have probably gone a little higher on tuning in that size box, like 36-38.

 

[oxsign 5,000+ posts]

Yup, I've gone over it with Mike with all his subs (I've owned all but 2 subs SS makes). BIG numbers put up with 2 15"s and 3K in the smaller box. They are low end monsters, and bigger box is good as well, but be carfull with power then. Maybe 800 max. They don't need much to get them moving.

 

[RAM_Designs 5,000+ posts]

If you've got 1kw on tap, don't go over 3.25-3.5ft^3.

 

[skdooley 10+ year member]

The "optimal" size according to their site is 3.5 cubes. I was thinking of going with that and tuning to 30 Hz. 3.5 cubes would do well for my trunk. If I was to tune a little higher, say 35 Hz, would it hurt my low end bass? Of course 30 Hz would give me "better" low end, but would 35 Hz be a huge difference in output? I like the idea of having the sub be good for rock/metal music but still good in the low end region. The sub should be in tomorrow, I'm going to measure the voice coils and see exactly what ohm load I'm looking at in series.