Too small of an enclosure?

[MikeS 10+ year member]

Hey guys,

I just picked up an Infinity 1230w to replace my Bazooka sub(slowly but surely improving my system). The box I have is about .85 cubic ft. Infinity recommends 1.25 cubic feet for a sealed cab. Can any of you guys take a guess at how the smaller box volume will affect this sub in a sealed configuration? Am I wasting my time putting it in a smaller box?

Thanks!

Mike

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[SPL140.2 5,000+ posts]

Try putting 80% polyfill or fiberglass in your enclosure, dont pack it tight though //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[pw91686 10+ year member]

Like spl said, put some poly fill in it. It should be fine without it, but putting poly fill in it will make it seem like it is in a bigger box and will work fine.

 

[DFW40 10+ year member]

That should help a bit but you might lose some sound on the low end. Just listen to it and if it does not sound low and smooth then you might want to invest in a 1.25 box.

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

Effects of too small of a box: poor low frequency extension, poor transient response, giant hump in the frequency response in the upper bass region (lots of "punch"), and good mechanical power handling and good output (again, in the higher bass)

Though, I don't know "how small" that box is for that sub.

 

[MikeS 10+ year member]

Thanks, guys. I'll give it a shot. What kind of pillow do I need to buy to use as poly-fill?

It seems like it should work okay since it is a sealed box. I can see box volume being a much bigger deal when tuning a ported enclosure. I'll let ya know how it goes!

Mike

 

[tRiGgEr 5,000+ posts]

go to walmart. They sell it buy the bag.

 

[Ray21 10+ year member]

.85 yields a qtc of .929 with a freq hump above 67hz

2.5 tuned to 30hz looks pretty good and it'll get a lot louder/lower.

 

[MikeS 10+ year member]

Thanks, Ray. Unfortunatley one my restraints is cargo space. I'm a musician by profession and I use my cargo space for LOTS of gear, so I need a small box. 2.5 ft^3 is way to big for me, so I'm limited to sealed cabs. I'm also much more into SQ than SPL, so sealed is again a good choice for me. Where does the frequency hump happen in a 1.25 ft^3 box?

Thanks!

Mike

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

I'm also much more into SQ than SPL, so sealed is again a good choice for me.

Then you'll definitely want to go for a larger sealed box. A box with a Qtc of .929 is, IMO, way too high to be considered a "SQ" box.....it's more loudness oriented. You'll want a nice smooth frequency response, good transient response and good low frequency extension for good SQ....and a box with a Qtc of .929 doesn't give that to ya. You'll want to aim for a box with a Qtc of around .577 - .707 for a nice SQ sealed box.

 

[DFW40 10+ year member]

Well in that case I would either get a new sub or a new box or make a new box.

sorry

 

[Ray21 10+ year member]

Well 1.8ft^3 will get you a qtc of .707 but its really not much smaller than a 2.5ft^3 box.

1.25 is fairly smooth with a small hump above 80hz, but you should be lowpassed around there anyway. And with some polyfill in the box you should be fine.

 

[MikeS 10+ year member]

Hmm...I checked my box and it is acutally 1 ft^3, so I'm a little better off. Based on what I can see with WinISD it looks like a bigger box would work well, but I'm not sure I want to buy ANOTHER box. I have 2 subs and boxes I need to sell as it is!! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif I could return the driver I bought and get something else that likes a smaller box, but I'm not sure I can do much better than the 1230w for $70...

Thanks guys!

Mike

 

[MikeS 10+ year member]

Another quick question: I'm looking at my 2 drivers in WinISD in the same box. One is the Bazooka P Miller 12 and the other is the Infinity 1230w. In the plots I see the bazooka actually goes a LOT lower than the infinity. The Bazooka is at 28hz at -3b and the Infintity is at 47Hz at -3db in the same box. Is this accurate and am I going to be disappointed in the Infinity compared to the BAzooka? I find the bazooka to be kinda boomy and inarticulate and I was hoping to resolve this with the Infinity driver, which would seem to be a better SQ choice, but now I'm not so sure. I know the real answer is to buy a great subwoofer and build the perfect box for it, but I don't have the time or money for that at the moment.

What do you guys think? Am I barking up the wrong tree?

Mike

 

[Raven 10+ year member]

You're barking up the wrong tree. That program will tell you how a sub will theoretically sound according to the numbers. The truth is, until you get in there and play around, you'll never know.

If the infinity doesn't do it for ya like the bazooka did, stick with the bazooka. It's as simple as that.