Question on a sealed sub enclosure

[shufflnmadness 10+ year member]

I read somewhere that if your sub box was sealed well, you could push in on the sub and it would come back out slowly. My question is how long should it take for a 10" sub to come back out after being pushed in. 1second, 5seconds 10seconds?

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[Immacomputer 10+ year member]

It depends on the size of enclosure and how stiff the suspension is. My 12 was in a perfectly sealed enclosure and it would come back almost as fast as I could push it in.

If you want to check your enclosure for leaks, play the sub and then put your face close to the seams of the enclosure and let your cheeks tell you if you can feel any air leaking. It sounds cheesy but your cheeks are very sensitve to air movement, especially if you have facial hair.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

Best way to tell if you have box leaks is just to turn it up...

If the box is badly-sealed, you'll hear it.

 

[Beat_Dominator 5,000+ posts]

It takes like .5-2sec.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

Maybe the sub is afraid of you, so it's pulling into the box...trying to get away...

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[GrnEydDvl 10+ year member]

Best way to tell if you have box leaks is just to turn it up...
If the box is badly-sealed, you'll hear it.

What would you hear?

 

[creyc 10+ year member]

It depends on box size, sub size and xmax. In general a good seal will take up to a second for the cone to return. The amp has to fight this when it plays, which decreases efficiency.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

What would you hear?

It won't sound good //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/blackeye.gif.66a1670f5aaf7f406e783a63e3387dc5.gif

Wooshing, bloated, not controlled...

 

[k3v 10+ year member]

weird...you all are saying like .5 - 2 seconds but my 15" cvr takes just under 5 seconds to come back out when you push it in. and i even have a stubborn tiny air leak by the terminal.

 

[enzowho 10+ year member]

I don't quite understand why a completely sealed box would keep the cone from moving back as quickly. From a physical standpoint, if its completely sealed when you push on the cone you pressurize the air inside the box. Shouldn't it return more quickly then say if you have small leak? In that case, some air would be forced out when you push on the cone. This would put the box at a lower internal pressure then the above example. I would think this would hold the cone back.

Guess I have never pushed on my cone once its installed. Have to go check that out...

 

[Raven 10+ year member]

That's the thing, a properly sealed box WON'T hold the cone back. In fact in a properly sealed enclosure the woofer will return to it's resting position faster than free air.

When it takes time to go from pushed-in to rest it means you DO have an air leak. The cone will travel back as fast as the inside of the box can re-pressurize after you pushed air out of it. An almost sealed enclosure will take a long time (like K3v's) while a very poorly sealed will be more like free air with less "give" to it.

I've worked with my fair share of sealed boxes, which is where what I'm saying comes from. If yours is leaking, first try to find out where, then caulk the hell out of it. If you can't find where it's leaking from and the box and terminal are already caulked, odds are the sub hasn't sealed against the baffle, which has happened to me A LOT. Carpeting does wonders against this, as well as underside gaskets that some woofers have or come with. Otherwise you can get speaker gasket tape from Partsexpress or Realm Of Excursion to fix it.

Hope this rant helps someone.