What is my box tuned to?

[darron016 10+ year member]

I bought a used box, how can I know what it is tuned to?

I know people will say buy another box, but I want to try everything I can before I dish out more money on a new box..

It is a bandpass box, with 2 circle ports on each side (4 total).

1) I was wondering because my hits sound weird, and my gain is set proper..

It is just that some hits sound like THUMP THUMP THUMP

and the long hits THUMMMMMMMMMP sound a little muffled. Also on some songs the bass gets too loud and I cannot hear the music, none of the hi low med aux settings changed the fact that on some songs, my bass is too loud..

2) If a box is tuned to say 40hz, does that mean the sub cannot hit above or below that freq? or?

Click to read more...

 

[neo_styles 10+ year member]

The frequency at which a box is tuned will play louder than all the other ones. So if it's tuned for, say 40 Hz, it'll peak at 40 Hz. And that's way too high IMO.

The simple way would be get a SPL meter and watch the output playing various sine waves. The one that plays the loudest is your tuning frequency.

 

[darron016 10+ year member]

So 40 hz is too high? My lpf is 80 so I think my subs are hitting everything from 80 and on down? So if my subs are hitting 80 hz that means my lpf is too high?

What is a good HZ to turn a box too?

Could you explain why my long bass hits don't sound as clean as the quick hits? Or is this normal because it is a longer hit?

 

[darron016 10+ year member]

P.S I just googled SPL METER, they say that there are SPL apps for phones.. Would this be an accurate way to measure?

OR do i need to actually buy one?

 

[neo_styles 10+ year member]

If you listen to a lot of hip-hop or bass-heavy tracks, 32Hz works pretty well. For rock, people suggest 35Hz. If you're looking for flat response, you know to look at the tuned frequency to bump things down a smidge on the EQ to compensate for the peak.

 

[darron016 10+ year member]

Is a SPL app accurate enough on a smart phone?

Any explanation on why the longer bass hits sound different than the quick ones?

 

[Dtrom 10+ year member]

SPL meter phone apps are not accurate

 

[neo_styles 10+ year member]

Is a SPL app accurate enough on a smart phone?
Any explanation on why the longer bass hits sound different than the quick ones?

For iDevices it won't work. Apple put in a HPF around 200Hz to block out wind noise, so you won't get a readout.

As for why the sustained notes aren't hitting, I'd guess it has to do with the airspace your sub needs. Maybe it's not getting enough in your current enclosure. What sub are you trying to run in there and how big is the box?

 

[darron016 10+ year member]

Yeah it sounds like I need a new box, my bandpass came with subs than I replaced those. My new ones were way too big, I had to make the holes bigger. I feel like the new subs go deeper in the box than the old ones..

 

[neo_styles 10+ year member]

[quote name='darron016']Yeah it sounds like I need a new box, my bandpass came with subs than I replaced those. My new ones were way too big, I had to make the holes bigger. I feel like the new subs go deeper in the box than the old ones..[/QUOTE]

Yeah that's a no go. Just send a PM to @double 07 ; with what you want. His prices are ridiculously good. He shipped FedEx all the way across the country to me and total cost was still less than I would have paid to do it locally.

 

[darron016 10+ year member]

Okay I will talk to him, quick questions, may sound dumb..

But my ports are behind the sub, where the magnet is.. Is that sealed or ported. The diagram my subs came with show the port on the front side of the sub and that is what they called ported.....

 

[neo_styles 10+ year member]

Okay I will talk to him, quick questions, may sound dumb..
But my ports are behind the sub, where the magnet is.. Is that sealed or ported. The diagram my subs came with show the port on the front side of the sub and that is what they called ported.....

Ports can go on multiple places in the enclosure. Without pics, I couldn't tell you what type of enclosure you had, but if there's a hole in the magnet, that's a vent for the motor to keep it cool. Sealed/Ported has to do with the enclosure, not the sub itself.

 

[darron016 10+ year member]

View attachment 26538960

Bandpass box

If you look closely you can see the brown tubes, that is where the ports are.. On the far side of the box and I put my sub straight down with magnets going in first..

You can see two ports on top, there are 2 more on the bottom side of the box (parallel) The one brown port came loose on the bottom port and you can see it in the middle there.

I assumed that since my bandpass is ported I wouldn't need the glass.. SInce regular ported box's don't have anything covering the face of the sub.. But as soon as I removed the glass, the bass barely hit at all.. That confused me, since my box is ported, why would I need the glass? the glass is only there so If I want to flip the subs and make the box sealed.. Right?

 

[neo_styles 10+ year member]

Because your box was designed to be run with the glass in place. Looks like your typical bandpass enclosure and not in a good way. I would stop using that enclosure immediately and, even if you have to go with a prefab sealed enclosure, do that until you can get a proper ported box made.

 

[darron016 10+ year member]

This is the only box I have until I get a new one made..

Should I build box to the specs of the manufactures ?

After doing some reading around, people say not to do that.