Enclosure Shape

[dannyz122001 10+ year member]

Does the shape of an enclosure have a dramatic impact on the output of a sub? Meaning, will an irregularly-shaped enclosure (wedge, etc.) have poorer sound quality compared to a typical rectangular prism-style enclosure?

Click to read more...

 

[azbass 5,000+ posts]

yes it can

 

[rollerdj 10+ year member]

i've had some odd ones, and never noticed a differnce. as long as you have the proper size box it souldn't have to much of an issue out of it.

 

[rollerdj 10+ year member]

yes it can

ported i can see, what about sealed?

 

[azbass 5,000+ posts]

yes.

 

[azimuth 5,000+ posts]

i've done numerous downfire enclosures for my extended cab. the front angles back same as the seat. looks like a squared darth vader helmet. the only time i noticed a difference is on a really short box and the angled front was almost hitting the magnet of the sub. maybe a 1/2 inch. that box just never sounded right.

 

[dannyz122001 10+ year member]

i was referencing to ported enclosures.

for instance, one may have a rectangular prism-style enclosure with 3.5 cubes at 32 hZ (slot port).

another guy may have another enclosure that may be fit around and over wheel wells and so forth, but still 3.5 cubes at 32hZ with same port area, etc.

is it going to be adrastic difference?

EDIT: ill post a pic of a design i was thinking about doing. gimme a sec

 

[dannyz122001 10+ year member]

design:

the entire enclosure is divided, giving each sub 4 cubes with its own port, tuned to 32hZ. as you can see, each side of the enclosure will be mounted on top of a wheel well in an SUV. Dont mind the smaller boxes on either side of the design as they are battery boxes.

bad idea??

 

[dannyz122001 10+ year member]

could the various angles inside of the box cause a distortion of waves of somesort?

 

[dannyz122001 10+ year member]

shot of design over wheel wells...

 

[azimuth 5,000+ posts]

i like that design. i'd personally try to soften the angle of the baffles and face the subs a little more forward, but still keeping an angle.

 

[dannyz122001 10+ year member]

i like that design. i'd personally try to soften the angle of the baffles and face the subs a little more forward, but still keeping an angle.

basically reducing the width of the center area around the ports?

 

[dannyz122001 10+ year member]

just another to show off my mad design skillzzzzz....

 

[azimuth 5,000+ posts]

i'd bring the outside out a little, keeping your ports and their tuning the same. if you haven't got batteries yet, you could use gell cells and tip that box up on end.

 

[dannyz122001 10+ year member]

i'd bring the outside out a little, keeping your ports and their tuning the same. if you haven't got batteries yet, you could use gell cells and tip that box up on end.

so actually widening the center area, thus aiming the baffles more towards the center, giving the subs more of a mirrored appearance?

 

[PV Audio 5,000+ posts]

design:

the entire enclosure is divided, giving each sub 4 cubes with its own port, tuned to 32hZ. as you can see, each side of the enclosure will be mounted on top of a wheel well in an SUV. Dont mind the smaller boxes on either side of the design as they are battery boxes.

bad idea??

Jesus Christ, reflections and standing waves like a mother****er just from looking in it: you have far too many angles. To make it a bit simpler, try to not have protruding panels within the enclosure unless it's used for bracing. However, the best enclosure shapes are 1. sphere and 2. cylinder.
edited to make it sensible

 

[a_steezy]

subs/amps being pushed in this bad boy??

 

[Rashaddd 5,000+ posts]

Jesus Christ, reflections and standing waves like a mother****er just from looking in it, you have far too many angles. To make it a bit simpler, but best enclosure shapes are 1. sphere and 2. cylinder.

I may be wrong but...how can you get standing waves within a foot or two when the wavelength of anything he's playing out of it will likely be >15feet?

To the OP, I've never had issues with angles on sealed boxes, but I don't know for sure with ported, but I've never really heard its much of a problem.

 

[john denver 10+ year member]

try it and see looks like a nice box

 

[PV Audio 5,000+ posts]

I may be wrong but...how can you get standing waves within a foot or two when the wavelength of anything he's playing out of it will likely be >15feet?
To the OP, I've never had issues with angles on sealed boxes, but I don't know for sure with ported, but I've never really heard its much of a problem.

Because angles create what's known as destructive interference. Essentially, a wave reflected off another panel interacts with another, which cancels each other out. What you get is instead of a sine curve, you get a sine curve and a - sine curve (or a cos curve which is only 90 degrees out of phase) on top of one another. When you have many angles, these reflections make this much easier. Using a damping material such as fiberglass and polyfill helps to lessen it, but you can't polish rust and say it's fixed.