Box wall thickness

[Fique 10+ year member]

What does everyone think on wall thickness of enclosures, and effects on the sound of the sub?

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[dadydolas 10+ year member]

3/4 is standard less for very low powered subs and lots of internal bracing and double baffle for high powered subs

 

[dadydolas 10+ year member]

as far as the sound you just want the enclosure to be compliant with the sub and as acoustically dead as possible

 

[Fique 10+ year member]

This fellow did a study on the different types and thicknesses. 3/4" doubled up to 1-1/2" was "claimed" to sound better than 3/4" and be more "dead". I'm finding certain custom builds with 1-1/2" to 2" thick walls! Heavier than poo.

 

[dadydolas 10+ year member]

This fellow did a study on the different types and thicknesses. 3/4" doubled up to 1-1/2" was "claimed" to sound better than 3/4" and be more "dead". I'm finding certain custom builds with 1-1/2" to 2" thick walls! Heavier than poo.

not worth the extra effort, money , and weight unless maybe you are competing. in which case the smallest difference can matter.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

If the box flexes, that alters internal volume, changes tuning, and generally creates alot of problems. How thick of walls you need is not really dictated by the amount of power to the speaker, or even how hard the speaker is working... its dictated much more by the surface area of each wall. The larger the surface area of the wall, the easier it will flex. A small box, or a box made up of many small sides (like an octagon) is less likely to flex than is a box with much larger walls but with more wall thickness. You could get really technical and do FEA studies, but most people just make sure to over-build the enclosure and know the problem does not exist.

Its a little known fact that speaker enclosures can be designed/built in two different ways. The main criteria for an enclosure is that its resonant frequency (the freq at which it resonates naturally) is outside the frequency range the speaker is intended to perform. In other words, if the enclosure is to house aspeaker that will play 20hz-80hz, you dont want its resonant frequency to be like 60hz. It should be above or below the 20-80hz range. Almost all enclosures are built heavy, with dense materials, in order to lower the res freq to a point that will be inaudible even if/when it resonates. But, you can also build a lightweight but very rigid enclosure that will resonate ABOVE 80hz (to fit my example). Heavy, thick walls tend to indicate an enclosure meant to resonate below the audible freq spectrum. But, in theory you could build an enclosure made of out notebook paper, that with enough internal bracing to avoid flex, would reside ABOVE the useable freq range.

Stick with big and heavy, its alot easier to create. Its not terribly uncommon in home audio applications for the sub enclosure to be made out of, or mass loaded with, concrete.

 

[Savag3 10+ year member]

MDF 1" and double baffle 1" = 2" some times all thread supporting that

 

[slam 5,000+ posts]

u talking about the front or back of the wall... it makes a lot of diff

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

MDF 1" and double baffle 1" = 2" some times all thread supporting that

1" mdf tends to be pretty hard to find, and expensive. If 3/4" plus bracing isn't enough, double up the 3/4" and call it good. Again, if in doubt, overbuild and quit worrying.
I almost always recommend a double thick baffle board.

 

[Fique 10+ year member]

I can get any size mdf. I work in a wood factory. Too bad its expensive to ship. I build about a box a week for free out of anything I need, awesome. My latest was 1-1/8 " mdf with a skin layer of 1/4" mdf, front baffle is 1-1/2". Its sounds amazing over my 3/4" braced box, but weighs in at 150-200 lbs.

 

[slam 5,000+ posts]

my box without nething in it weighs about 800lbs lol

 

[okiedokie 10+ year member]

3/4 -1thickness,then add resin to deaden the box

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

I can get any size mdf. I work in a wood factory.

Unfortunately that's about the only way you can get 1" mdf. Ive even asked local lumberyards to special order... they said "sure no problem, but you gotta buy the whole pallet". Uh... no thanks. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

You lucky bastard.