Sealed box: Depth vs. width

[keith89 10+ year member]

New here. I'm planning on building a sealed enclosure for my 2003 cobra. I am limited to 10-11 inches in height. I have 2 questions. What effect on sound would angling the suboofer(12") slightly up to reduce the height of the box have on sound quality?

Also, since I have a limited height, is it better to have a larger depth or width to increase the box volume?

thanks.

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[jdc753 10+ year member]

Angling the face of the box would work good and have no effect on the sound of the enclosure. Look at most truck boxes, they are angled to conform with the seats in the truck.

As best I have learned there is no way to make a sealed box a wrong shape, other than the possibility of a almost square box giving trouble with backwaves or something. But I am not even sure on that.

I would build whatever would take of the least amount of trunk space in your car, or whatever you think would look the best and be most functional. Its pretty hard to screw up a sealed box unless of course you have leaks. Just give the sub the proper amount of air space and you should be good.

 

[keith89 10+ year member]

Angling the face of the box would work good and have no effect on the sound of the enclosure. Look at most truck boxes, they are angled to conform with the seats in the truck.
As best I have learned there is no way to make a sealed box a wrong shape, other than the possibility of a almost square box giving trouble with backwaves or something. But I am not even sure on that.

I would build whatever would take of the least amount of trunk space in your car, or whatever you think would look the best and be most functional. Its pretty hard to screw up a sealed box unless of course you have leaks. Just give the sub the proper amount of air space and you should be good.

Great! Thanks for the quick response and exactly what i needed to know. I guess angling the sub will help break up backwaves too.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

Enclosure standing waves are not an issue at sub bass freqs. For a sealed enclosure, airspace is airspace.

 

[tsenfw 10+ year member]

If the cobra has the same trunk dimensions and space as like 99-2004 gt's you should be able to fit 13.5 inches of height by taking off the rear seats to get the box in.

I just built a 13.5 overall height box for the trunk of my 2000 base model. Just fits with taking the seat off, no modifications.

 

[keith89 10+ year member]

the 2000 model trunk is slightly different. Not sure which year they changed but the rear seat opening is a little smaller. I measured the trunk opening before, but I forgot the dimensions but I think you are right.

 

[DarkFox 10+ year member]

he mean taking the seats out, not folding them down. Theres 6 screws that hold the seats in, you take them out, the seats along with alot of extra metal come out, giving you a larger opening. slide the box in, re-install box.

REMOVE SEATS

INSTALL BOX (mine invoved a little cutting of sheet metal, where as you do not need to, I just went REALLY big on mine)

REINSTALL SEATS

Thats 4.9^3ft after taking into account the displacement of the woofers and a rather large port.

 

[keith89 10+ year member]

I'd rather have somethign that fits just by folding the seats down. I dont' gain more than an inch by taking the seat backs off. if I can get 13 inches with the seat bottom out and seat back off that's fine. I want to be able to remove the sub without takign the rear seat back out for the track. This is my weekend/summer/track car, so for the track part, I need to remove the weight. The weight isn't an issue on the street because 550hp and 580 tq is more than enough.

 

[DarkFox 10+ year member]

yeah, but its only 6 screws, easy to get to to pull the piece in the first picture, then you can leave the seats at home too ;-) to get the piece out in the first picture, takes about 5 min once you know where the screws are.

 

[jdc753 10+ year member]

Surprised I didn't pick up on the part that it was going in an 03 Cobra. My friend just put a Kenne Bell blower on his and is pushing about 650hp or so I think he said, he dipped into the high 11's just a little while ago. Definitely fun cars to drive. What mods are you running to be at 550hp? Exhaust, tune, CAI, and pullies?

You got any pics of yours? Curious to see what you end up deciding on to put into it for subs. A smaller sealed box would probably be best, might want to pull it out through the back seats though, trunk opening is pretty small on them cars if I remember right.

 

[tsenfw 10+ year member]

Shit ... with the seats still on I think I only had like 11 inches of height clearance, if even.

Surprised I didn't pick up on the part that it was going in an 03 Cobra. My friend just put a Kenne Bell blower on his and is pushing about 650hp or so I think he said, he dipped into the high 11's just a little while ago. Definitely fun cars to drive. What mods are you running to be at 550hp? Exhaust, tune, CAI, and pullies?
You got any pics of yours? Curious to see what you end up deciding on to put into it for subs. A smaller sealed box would probably be best, might want to pull it out through the back seats though, trunk opening is pretty small on them cars if I remember right.

If you go that route, I made a sealed 10" box that fit in through the trunk opening quite nicely if you want the dimensions. You could do two sealed 10's in individual boxes.

 

[IamDeMan 5,000+ posts]

yeah, but its only 6 screws, easy to get to to pull the piece in the first picture, then you can leave the seats at home too ;-) to get the piece out in the first picture, takes about 5 min once you know where the screws are.

and removing the rear seats for track day is even more weight shaved! YAY