Box for 12L7

[hdave 10+ year member]

Hello,

I am going to be getting a brand new kicker 12 L7 and need help designing a box for it.

I listen to only rap, but my girlfriend listens to other stuff so i am thinking of a tuning of about 32Hz.

my car is a 2005 Civic Sedan, the trunk is actually quite spacious for such a small enocomy car.

I would like help designing a box for my sub, and have a few questions.

How much internal space would be good for my sub?

How much port area do i need?

Would rounding the edges make a noticable difference or should i jsut leave them?

Any other tips/comments are very welcome.

Click to read more...

 

[mjbailey21 10+ year member]

Civics have nice trunk space //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[dopey 10+ year member]

first of all you need to find out your max area you're willing to give up in the car. You have to calculate how much air space you have for the speaker. If i'm not mistaken , the trunk is spacious , but the opening is small. That's something else you have to think about. The enclosure fitting into the car. Unless you slide it through the fold down seats.

 

[hdave 10+ year member]

max external dimensions (that im willing to give up) are about

31 width x 17 depth x 15 height

thats about 3.5 cubes gross (before driver and port displacement)

how long of a port do i need to make, and how much port area should i have?

 

[dopey 10+ year member]

Here's what I came up with.... This is with the box being tuned to 32 hz. When you mount the sub, put it on the front of the box, the same side as the port. When you put the enclosure together cut 2 pieces of wood 2.5" wide. Use those to space apart the port from the enclosure wall.Also put the port together before installing into the box.You have to make sure that the port is equal distance from the side/back wall, otherwise you'll get adverse affects.The distance should always be the width of the port opening. When you put the enclosure together, use wood glue and a braid nailer (if available). Try to stay away from drywall screws ,etc. to construct your enclosure, all they will do is split the wood and weaken the enclosure. If you have any questions feel free to email me. hope this helps you out.

kicker box 32 hz.zip

 

[hdave 10+ year member]

hdsf

 

[hdave 10+ year member]

oh wicked

thanks soooo much

i gotta poo so im gonna print that and take a look at it there

thanks soooooo much

 

[hdave 10+ year member]

Here's what I came up with.... This is with the box being tuned to 32 hz. When you mount the sub, put it on the front of the box, the same side as the port. When you put the enclosure together cut 2 pieces of wood 2.5" wide. Use those to space apart the port from the enclosure wall.Also put the port together before installing into the box.You have to make sure that the port is equal distance from the side/back wall, otherwise you'll get adverse affects.The distance should always be the width of the port opening. When you put the enclosure together, use wood glue and a braid nailer (if available). Try to stay away from drywall screws ,etc. to construct your enclosure, all they will do is split the wood and weaken the enclosure. If you have any questions feel free to email me. hope this helps you out.

should i use piping and cit it along its length and use htose peices to round the edges of the box or do any fancy stuff like that, or make a straight up box?

 

[hdave 10+ year member]

and another question.. (2.5x13.5=) 34 Sq In

so it 34 square inches enough port area to avoid port noise?

 

[dopey 10+ year member]

Just make a box. When you start putting it together do the top/bottom and sides first. then put in the port.After that put on the front and back pieces. Then router out the port. As for the port ends , it won't hurt to round them over to eliminate port noise. Your question about the area of the port. Rule of thumb is the port cannot be any smaller than 1/4 of the speakers surface area (sd). Being this is a square you need to measure the cone, this does not include the surround.Measure from where the cone mets the surround across to the other side. I don't have a square in front of me but assuming the speaker is 11" across. That's 11x11=121 , well 1/4 of that surface area is 30.25 . So you're well in range of not getting port noise.

Also something else to remember is if you go with a larger surface area for the port you'll also get more output , but lose control of the driver with extremely large areas. That's why spl vehicles have ports large enough to walk through , but if you try to listen to music in them they sound horrible. Hope this answers your questions..

 

[chinny 5,000+ posts]

Here's what I came up with.... This is with the box being tuned to 32 hz. When you mount the sub, put it on the front of the box, the same side as the port. When you put the enclosure together cut 2 pieces of wood 2.5" wide. Use those to space apart the port from the enclosure wall.Also put the port together before installing into the box.You have to make sure that the port is equal distance from the side/back wall, otherwise you'll get adverse affects.The distance should always be the width of the port opening. When you put the enclosure together, use wood glue and a braid nailer (if available). Try to stay away from drywall screws ,etc. to construct your enclosure, all they will do is split the wood and weaken the enclosure. If you have any questions feel free to email me. hope this helps you out.

Wish their was just more people like dopey, instead of charging for plans they help out the new //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[hdave 10+ year member]

great guy

im so happy now

. this is my second box build, ill take some pictures of it this time and hopefully i wont be too lazy to carpet it lol

thanks a lot for your help, and i lucked out this time, my friend works at a place where they can cut the wood pefectly, not like home depot's crappy attempts

 

[90accordman 5,000+ posts]

I had my box cut at home depot and they did a great job. It was rather funny though i asked if they cut MDF, the guy replied with only like 1 or 2 cuts, so i said what if i pay you for additional cuts. So the guy says he'll see what he can do and cuts my box up for me and i hold a conversation with him. Long story short I didnt have to pay anything for him to cut my whole box and he also became interested in car audio after our conversation.

I feel like the time i spent talking to the guy helped the guy feel more personable with me so he did me well and i treated the guy to lunch when i went back to get a piece i forgot to have him cut.

 

[hdave 10+ year member]

I had my box cut at home depot and they did a great job. It was rather funny though i asked if they cut MDF, the guy replied with only like 1 or 2 cuts, so i said what if i pay you for additional cuts. So the guy says he'll see what he can do and cuts my box up for me and i hold a conversation with him. Long story short I didnt have to pay anything for him to cut my whole box and he also became interested in car audio after our conversation.
I feel like the time i spent talking to the guy helped the guy feel more personable with me so he did me well and i treated the guy to lunch when i went back to get a piece i forgot to have him cut.

lol thats really cool

last time i went the home depot guy was an older more old fashioned guy who said that us kids waste our time with this stuff and i should use my money to treat my girlfriend to dinner.

 

[90accordman 5,000+ posts]

I just noticed your sig what exactly can we help ourselfs too?