Air-Tight

[Trey803 5,000+ posts]

I am so very confused right now and need an expert to please tell me what the deal is with a sealed box. My porblems started way back when i bought 2 inifinty kappa 10.1 i never did think the box was air-tight and my subs would hit amazingly loud mid bass but the lows would distort like crazy and the gain had to be turned waaaayy down which at that point there were basically no lows bass notes. Then on of my subs cones cracked????? I am pretty good with car audio and had it hooked up to 2 alpine mrv-t420 350 rms perfect fro each sub.

Now i recently purchased a 12.1 and a 1.00 box from q-logic. i put the sub in and i could hear air leaks so i took it to the local audio shop and the replcaed the sub in the box for me. The person at the store told me a box that is sealed enough for normal performance could be checked by pressing the sub and if it reset by coming back slowly then it was good. All of the forums on this webstie say other wise. I hear no leaks in the box but i do not want to hook it up yet in fear of cracking another sub. somebody please HHEEELLPP!!!!

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[T3mpest 10+ year member]

you can use tissue paper, line the box on the outside with tissue paper. If the paper gets blown around anywhere then it isn't sealed properly. Now on to the rest of your post.

You sub should NOT EVER be playing midbass notes. Mibass sis approx 80hz-250 What's your HPF set at, I'd try to keep it at 80 hz, maybe lower depending on your tastes.

 

[JAZN 5,000+ posts]

Can't you just caulk the box yourself?

 

[Trey803 5,000+ posts]

Maybe i didnt make myself clear im sorry. By midbass i dont mean acutal midbass i meant that i had to set the hp to arounf 30 or 40??? or the lows would sound terrible. As for the box its q-logic the box is good its the seal that my sub makes with the box. I got it to where i cannot feel any air but the sub has a slight pause before returnin to its normal position after being gently pushed in which some people say is a sign for air leaks.

 

[PhatTonyDeMarco 5,000+ posts]

The HPF should be set somewhere between 60Hz and 80Hz, normally. Where it is exactly is a matter of preferance.

As for your low frequencies, it could just be the enclosure is not proper for your drivers. They could be bottoming out and that caused the cone to crack on the Infinity...

 

[Trey803 5,000+ posts]

If im not mistaken dont u mean the lowpass should be set to 60-80 if the highpass was set to 60-80 then it would not play any notes below that.....right?????

 

[UndercoverPunk 5,000+ posts]

If im not mistaken dont u mean the lowpass should be set to 60-80 if the highpass was set to 60-80 then it would not play any notes below that.....right?????

You sir are correct, no-one else is thinking.

In a sealed box you shouldn't need a HP(or subsonic) and in the enclosure the sub should return to neutral quickly and it should also be hard to push in(relatively). Is the box caulked? If not you should do that yourself.

 

[Lil Poot 5,000+ posts]

how big of a difference can a tiny air leak cause? another thing i've been wondering, is if you strip out the threads in your box, what do you do, fill it with wood putty and rotate the speakers a bit for the new holes?

 

[UndercoverPunk 5,000+ posts]

how big of a difference can a tiny air leak cause? another thing i've been wondering, is if you strip out the threads in your box, what do you do, fill it with wood putty and rotate the speakers a bit for the new holes?

You could do that or drill the holes out bigger and install some t nuts...

 

[Trey803 5,000+ posts]

It is relativly hard to push in but it lags when it comes to nuetral maybe a second. The box is completely sealed with caulk the leak is because the kappa 12.1 have a verysmall mounting diameter and i guess their are tiny leaks. Does this affect the performance of my subwoofer? And when you say it should come back relatively quickly i agree that in theory a sealed box would push the sub back out because the air would be compressed causing pressure in the box so the sub should pop out. On unqiue whips the popular tv show on speed the subwoofer installer said that a sealed box the sub should return to nurtral with some lag?? i dont know what to think so many people say different thngs. I am most worried that my sub is not performing up to max!

 

[UndercoverPunk 5,000+ posts]

It is relativly hard to push in but it lags when it comes to nuetral maybe a second. The box is completely sealed with caulk the leak is because the kappa 12.1 have a verysmall mounting diameter and i guess their are tiny leaks. Does this affect the performance of my subwoofer? And when you say it should come back relatively quickly i agree that in theory a sealed box would push the sub back out because the air would be compressed causing pressure in the box so the sub should pop out. On unqiue whips the popular tv show on speed the subwoofer installer said that a sealed box the sub should return to nurtral with some lag?? i dont know what to think so many people say different thngs. I am most worried that my sub is not performing up to max!

gET SOME WEATHER STRIPPING FROM hd OR LOWES FROM THE DOORS AND WINDOWS AREA AND USE THAT TO MAKE A SEAL BETWEEN THE WOOFER AND BOX, IT'S ONLY LIKE... $2

 

[Trey803 5,000+ posts]

I hooked up my sub today and to my suprise it sounds freakin amazing not too loud but the sq is out of this world compared to my freinds 2 12's in ported boxes!!