what to look for in a box builder/installer

[snakebyt 10+ year member]

I am looking at 3 different shops to do my box and install of two 12's

I know that the enclosure is just as important if not more than the equipment that you choose.

One shop holds several world records in SPL, so i know they know what there doing when it comes to making boxes for competition, but will they put that much effort into an everyday install?

Another shop i talked to said that he would build the box to where i want it to fit. Would build it sealed, play some test tones to see what sounded best in my particular vehicle and then tune the box to what sounds best in my particular install.

Sounds like he is going thru the trouble of making sure that it will sound the best possable in my vehicle. Is this common practice for most shops? or do they just put some numbers into a program and build off that not taking into consideration the vehicle that it is going in and how that will effect the sound.

on a side note the box will be a ported box 48x15x20, i think that is about 8 cubes. I was told the larger the box the louder it will be.. any truth to that?

Encase it matters the subs from the different shops i am considering are HiFonics brutus, crossfire BMF, and Alpine TypeR

thanks for taking time to talk to a n00b

Click to read more...

 

[Buckshot 10+ year member]

"another shop" is going to have a real tough time tuning your sealed box :wink:

Go for the type R's too

 

[JL12W7INAGS300 10+ year member]

read up a lot about car audio and go into the shop knowing what you are talking about. they take full advantage of people that don't know much about it. The more educated about the car audio thing, the better price and better service you will get

 

[snakebyt 10+ year member]

what i meant by that is that he would play it in a sealed box to see what frequency sounded best in my Tahoe, and then port and tune the box to that frequency.

Sorry for the confusion

 

[JL12W7INAGS300 10+ year member]

who decides what sounds best? him or you? you will be driving the car everyday, who cars what he thinks. maybe he should let you decied what sounds best?

 

[snakebyt 10+ year member]

after talking to the guy i am sure that he would let me listen and pick where to tune it to.

I just want to make sure that whichever i get it will sound the best possable. I dont want a "one size fits all" type of senario

 

[InhumanAcura 5,000+ posts]

Im guessing one of the shops is Mike Jones place...id go there.

...and more volume does not equal louder...quite the opposite in fact.

 

[snakebyt 10+ year member]

Im guessing one of the shops is Mike Jones place...id go there.
...and more volume does not equal louder...quite the opposite in fact.

Yes, one of the places is http://www.customsoundworks.com/ which Mike Jones owns.

I am just trying to get as much info as i can before i go get it done,

So a smaller ported box will sound better and be louder than a larger one?

 

[Loudrango112 10+ year member]

Who?! Mike Jones!?

 

[saywhat? 5,000+ posts]

who decides what sounds best? him or you? you will be driving the car everyday, who cars what he thinks. maybe he should let you decied what sounds best?

hes talking about finding the resonant frequency of a car man. u find that, tune for it, and u usually get the most output for the most part on test tones atleast.

id go with the crossfire BMF's over anything you listed personally, (ive heard type r's) i really like those subs

 

[InhumanAcura 5,000+ posts]

I dont think Mike Jones currently has any world records tho? lol

didnt do shit at finals, i know that...

 

[saywhat? 5,000+ posts]

Yes, one of the places is http://www.customsoundworks.com/ which Mike Jones owns. I am just trying to get as much info as i can before i go get it done,

So a smaller ported box will sound better and be louder than a larger one?

no, thats not true. the box that will get loudest is the best one suited for that specific sub.

 

[PowerNaudio 10+ year member]

I

Originally Posted by snakebytwas told the larger the box the louder it will be.. any truth to that?

thats false! and it could kill a sub.

each speaker requiers a diffrent enclosure size and tuning, you can also tune the enclosure to get more or less bass out of the sub. not just sound preasure levels but how much of the sub bass spectrum youre going to get from your sub.

knowing the resonant frequency of the vehicle is important, since that frequency tone is going to raise a couple of dbs higher then the rest of the freq tones when music is played, wich makes a SQ tuned system tricky to tune, or it could be greate if building an spl system, depending on the freq that it actualy resonates at, you also have to take into consideration the subwoofer resonant frequency as well as the enclosure/ port resonant frequency when building an enclosure. all those resonating at the exact tone will bring your spl level up. having them all resonate at diffrent freqs will give you a very sloped tuning, meaning some frequencys louder then others and sounding louder or lower then the actual recorded music.

i like a system that has a very flat frequency responce. so i want the lowest resonat frequency from the sub, that way i can tune the enclosure low , and allot of dynamat on the vehicle to bring the resonant level down to where i wont have to worry about it, in conjuction with a well tuned enclosure to match the sub.

i sugest you read up on some of the tutorials on this forum, that way you can tell when talking to the installer if there going to give you what youre looking for.

resonance is only one of a shit load of factors that go in to making a great enclosure. port noise , impedance raise, speaker bottoming out etc.. should also be looked into when designing a subwoofer system. know about all that will help you chose a shop when you start getting technical with the designer/builder.

the type R is a very nice subwoofer, it will go low and loud, with not too many slopes in the subbass freqs wich can easyli be fixed with an sub eq.

PS. pardon my spelling. and sorry if you end up going UH? while reading.

good luck.

 

[snakebyt 10+ year member]

thanks for the replys guys, this thread has helped me out a ton, Guess ill skip the shop that says that bigger will be better for a box. Although i like the Tyupe R subs, i think ill be going to custom sound works and having them do all the work. It might cost a little more, but i think in the long run it will be worth it.

I am still open to imput so feel free to give me more knowledge to work with.