Help, System Sounds Like Crap

[Mattism78 10+ year member]

I just purchased a box/subwoofer off of ebay. Everything seemed on the up and up. After the setup arrived I went ahead and hooked everything up. Sounded great at low levels, but as soon as I started turning it up the bass started bottoming out. Could it be that my box is too big? I'm running a JL 10W3V2, with a Kenwood KAC8402 running at 3 channels. I would think that it would barely have enough power to push the speaker to it's full capacity, but it's bottoming out. The box that I have's dimensions are:

Bottom depth: 11"

Top depth: 6.75"

Width: 35.5"

Height: 10.25"

It's 5/8 MDF.

It's installed in my Jeep wrangler firing downwards. I'd really prefer to get it working right as opposed to buying all new amp, sub, and building the proper box. Is there a way to fill some of the interior space of the box? Is it needed? Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. I'll attach some pics as well. Even just looking at it, it appears to have entirely too much airspace.

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[406er 10+ year member]

that box is massive for a single 10 sealed. as u stated even with moderat power, it will bottem out. u need to make the box smaller

 

[Mattism78 10+ year member]

that box is massive for a single 10 sealed. as u stated even with moderat power, it will bottem out. u need to make the box smaller

So do I cut the box down, or can I use something like Great Stuff to take up space?

 

[KidThump 10+ year member]

Get a new box

 

[acold7dusta 10+ year member]

port it with aeros

 

[Expy2K 10+ year member]

Fill the box with 2x4s if you need a quick fix..

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Mattism78 10+ year member]

I appreciate everyone's help. I just took and cut the box in half basically. I brought the width down to 18.25" overall. Waiting on the silicone to dry now.

 

[Rochambeau 10+ year member]

Don't forget to ding the seller on feedback. He shouldn't be selling sets that are sooooo mismatched.

 

[JohnBlayz142 10+ year member]

Man, why don't you ask what dimensions the box *should be* rather than just chopping it in half? It sounds like crap because the enclosure is wrong.

So, you need the right enclosure. Let us know what the specs of the new box are and we can tell you if it's optimum.

 

[Mattism78 10+ year member]

I did the math, and my new box is optimum for my speaker. The new dimensions are the same with the exception of it now being 18.25" wide.

 

[JohnBlayz142 10+ year member]

So what size is the new box?

 

[Mattism78 10+ year member]

Take all the dimensions that I listed in my first post, and change the width to the new number. There you have it. I just trimmed the width down. Worked great.

 

[JohnBlayz142 10+ year member]

So you used no math or calculated the internal volume you're saying? This is what I'm getting at.....JL subs sound the best in their recommended size enclosures. Just because it sounds better doesn't mean it sounds best.

I don't feel like doing the math, but you can go to http://www.the12volt.com and plug in the numbers in the enclosure calculator to get your totals, or multiply the INTERNAL dimensions and divide by 1728.

 

[Mattism78 10+ year member]

The trimmed box has 0.675sq ft. If you figure the speaker displaces approximately .05, I'm within .04 of JL's recommended airspace. I polyfilled the box to make up for that.

 

[JohnBlayz142 10+ year member]

Sounds good man, just wanted to be sure you were aware of that for the next time you may do an install. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif