Questions about prefab box

[bigbang 10+ year member]

So I am sick of building boxes. I went to BestBuy and bought a 1.25ft^3 dual 12" woofer box for $102.99

Yes I am a lazy bastard, yes BB *****. Yes I know how to build my own boxes.

Heres some pics:

In case you don't believe I can build a halfway decent box.

So here are my questions:

Are the 16gauge wires supplied with the box and presoldered enough to handle 750watts RMS going to each woofer (Audiopulse Epic rated at 500RMS each supplied by old MTX 1501 pushing 750RMS to each woofer)?

Is a small amount of air leakage from the woofer basket and terminal cups going to cause a problem? The woofer has a rubber gasket, will it seal airtight? Whats the easiest way to get an airtight seal without making anything look ugly?

Thanks!

Click to read more...

 

[hoxie08 5,000+ posts]

102 holy **** they raped you. i dont care how lazy i get thats 10 bucks worth mdf and NOT worth 100 bucks.

 

[bigbang 10+ year member]

102 holy **** they raped you. i dont care how lazy i get thats 10 bucks worth mdf and NOT worth 100 bucks.

I'll wipe my a$$ with $100. I dont have the time to build a box. And I would have to buy a sheet of MDF, hardware, carpeting, terminal cups, and in the end it would cost me +50 and not look as good. I saved myself time, and unless I was doing an elaborate ported box to my specs, I DONT CARE. Now can somebody give me a real answer?

 

[Pickler 10+ year member]

god i wish i had the money to wipe my ass with 100 dollars

 

[bigbang 10+ year member]

god i wish i had the money to wipe my ass with 100 dollars

I highly recomend it.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/greedy.gif.5a53e6246569d7ab79867170f3b06629.gif

 

[bigbang 10+ year member]

Again: Easy way to deal with air leakage from carpeting?

16gauge wire good for 500-750watts RMS?

 

[packardhell1 10+ year member]

Again: Easy way to deal with air leakage from carpeting?16gauge wire good for 500-750watts RMS?

Well, you should look at it like this - if you made the box what would you use? What ga wire do you plan on running from the amp to the speaker box?

For 750 RMS, I'd go nothing smaller than 12ga both inside the box and out. When I built my boxes (granted this was ~10 years ago), I always used 12ga inside the box. If you were building ~300W RMS, I'd say 16ga is fine, but not 750.

Go with 12ga, or, if you can afford it, 10ga. You said you could wipe with $100s, so save some from the toilet and invest in larger speaker wire //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif Good luck on the build. The only reservation I have about the box is if they built it strong enough to handle that kind of power. You may want to redo the inside caulking if it looks shabby. I'm not sure how much air would leak through the MDF/carpet itslef - I would hope none as long as the boards are sealed together right!!

Hope this helps.

 

[mlstrass 5,000+ posts]

Looks FEROCIOUS........

 

[bigbang 10+ year member]

Well, you should look at it like this - if you made the box what would you use? What ga wire do you plan on running from the amp to the speaker box?
For 750 RMS, I'd go nothing smaller than 12ga both inside the box and out. When I built my boxes (granted this was ~10 years ago), I always used 12ga inside the box. If you were building ~300W RMS, I'd say 16ga is fine, but not 750.

Go with 12ga, or, if you can afford it, 10ga. You said you could wipe with $100s, so save some from the toilet and invest in larger speaker wire //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif Good luck on the build. The only reservation I have about the box is if they built it strong enough to handle that kind of power. You may want to redo the inside caulking if it looks shabby. I'm not sure how much air would leak through the MDF/carpet itslef - I would hope none as long as the boards are sealed together right!!

Thanks for a real answer! The thing is I have never built a box with carpet on it, and any carpeted box I have heard has had air leaking out around the woofer. I dont want to trim off the carpet where the woofers basket sits, seems like there has got to be an easier way to seal the woofer to the baffle. I'm pretty sure I used 14gauge on the last box I had, it was some old home theater type speaker wire. Guess I should opt for the 14-12, I just dont feel like soldering and all that. I guess the most powerfull speakers at best buy are the alpine type x. Hopefully the box is strong enough built with those in mind. The box packaging had this stupid quote on it "Buy higher watt subs, buy bigger amps, more ferrocious bass!" It looks like either 5/8 or 3/4 MDF. Silicone along the seems, the build quality honestly looks flaweless. Hope they used enough glue in all the seems!

 

[bigbang 10+ year member]

Looks FEROCIOUS........

Marketing for teens at its worst. At least it doesnt have bling bling and spinner-rim woofer grills.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

To get the sub to seal you can use non-hardening clay. Use a small roll (1/8" or so) right in the corner where the mounting flange ends and the part of the basket that extends into the box begins. That will form a nice seal with the box when the sub is mounted.

12 ga wire is more than enough for 750w (you'll not run that much to the subs anything resembling continuously anyway). You could honestly get by with the 16ga in the bax right now.

 

[bigbang 10+ year member]

To get the sub to seal you can use non-hardening clay. Use a small roll (1/8" or so) right in the corner where the mounting flange ends and the part of the basket that extends into the box begins. That will form a nice seal with the box when the sub is mounted.
12 ga wire is more than enough for 750w (you'll not run that much to the subs anything resembling continuously anyway). You could honestly get by with the 16ga in the bax right now.

Thanks. Can I get the clay in the plumbing section of a hardware store or what? I will most likely remove the 16gauge and solder on some 12. I just hope I dont damage the terminal cups in the process; you know how the metal tabs can melt the plastic and become loose.

 

[99grandprixGT 5,000+ posts]

i bought that same box and when i tried to take the wires they had in the box already off the whole terminal cup ripped out of the box. but that box is now a paper weight in my garage. i also some how got it for 32 dollars it was on sale.

 

[rc10mike 10+ year member]

Ive had many subs seal very well against the carpet w/o any type of sealer. You just need to make sure the mounting screws are tight, but dont strip em'

 

[darkhunter139 10+ year member]

You could have got someone on here to build it for you for not much more lol