Is it really better getting a custom box built for your car?

[Terrum 10+ year member]

I've heard from some sources that getting a custom built enclosure made specifically for your car is the best place to start before looking into drivers/amps. I've personally always thought it was the other way round, as most drivers have 'recommended specifications' for enclosure builds.

If I were to get a purpose-built enclosure that fit perfectly to my car boot, would I get the best output on any driver? It just seems too good to be true. I'd have thought the choice of drivers would have to be put into consideration when having an enclosure built.

I look forward to this discussion. Many thanks for reading!

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[Dafaseles]

It's best to get a customs enclosure designed and built specifically for the subwoofer and the power you will be giving it. Now, box placement, port direction, and sub direction can also add or subtract to the output. But if you ask me, an enclosure specifically for the sub and amplifier are most important

 

[Terrum 10+ year member]

It's best to get a customs enclosure designed and built specifically for the subwoofer and the power you will be giving it. Now, box placement, port direction, and sub direction can also add or subtract to the output. But if you ask me, an enclosure specifically for the sub and amplifier are most important

Thanks for clarifying this. I always thought this was the way too. I've seen services local to me that seem to swear by getting an enclosure built best to your car, rather than to the output of the subwoofer itself.

Whilst I understand both are pretty important, I was quite sure getting an enclosure built to the sub/amp specifications was much more important

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

A sub box changes your whole system dynamic. It doesn't just change the subwoofer movements, but it also changes electrical properties of the woofer. So, a poorly designed sub box can absolutely ruin the sound of your system and cause electrical problems. Bad boxes can causes bottoming out, excessive heat buildup in the sub coil, bad peaks/bad bandwidth, voltage problems, excessive amplifier heating, and when the amp loses control of the sub, the sub can actually start to energize the amplifier quite a lot, if the sub just flapping around like crazy. So, if you're playing really high or low notes away from tuning frequency in a crappy box, it can cause SEVERE voltage drops, burn your coil, burn your amp up. The way the sub moves affects your entire electrical system, from alt to amp and everything in between.

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

I'm just speaking from my experience. I design around the sound of a woofer for sure, but I also design around the electrical properties of the sub, and the overall system and amps, alts, batteries, caps, all of that stuff. I try as hard as possible make sure the sub won't unload under a wide bandwidth of playing. That's usually what's wanted.

Man, like I design boxes for woofers that are literally 3000w, 4500w, etc RMS. The amount of power and just the epic air movement of subs like that, it really makes me dive into making sure the woofer is well controlled by the box, especially since a lot of dudes with subs in that power range want to play very low and still be musical, like reach up into the high notes as much as possible. So I have to make these stupid monster subs, always overpowered LOL, not bottom out while play say 20-60+ hz.

The sub really moves differently playing music. Different notes require different amount of wattage to produce the exact same SPL. So, like a single 12 may take a few more watts to get say 135db at 30 hz vs 135 db at 60 hz. You have to understand why a subwoofer moves like it does, predict how it's going to move, and then design the box to manipulate the sub's natural movements, that way you can extract the sound from the air.

The box size, port size, port location, bracing location, sub location, box location in the car, sub firing position, port firing position, there's a ton of factors that can make a literal world of difference. So, combine all of those and try to design and factor in everything you can, it pays off.

I can make crappy $100 subs sound really loud. I did it when I was a teenager lol. I was just good at math and I made really simple ported boxes and they were always loud as F. Most people have no idea what real bass sounds like. I used to daily bump 2 18's playing high 140's from the high 20 hz region to 65 hz or so. I'd rip sheet metal. That's what a custom box does. Idk if they really make 18" prefabs anyways, lulz.