what's cheaper material for a box?

[dafobbishon3 10+ year member]

Brick or concrete also work well and are pretty cheap. MDF has the needed density to raise the boxes resonance point above the subs range. Partical board or regular ply are not dense enough and will resonate within the subs range. It will vibrate and sound like ***.Marine grade hardwood ply like marine birch is much denser than regular ply, but still not as dense as MDF. Marine Birch is tough and can take alot of abuse.

Pro audio cabinets are frequently made of MDF on the inside, then sheathed in marine birch to handle abuse of being dragged around and dropped.

i made a 4.5 cubed box and used 1 sheet and yes go 3/4 mdf if you go cheap it may sound cheap just spend the 30. Speaking of a dd 9515 thats the sub I am usin a d motor. Picked her up for a decent price. puttin 2k rms at her in a 5 cube box with 3 maybe 4 4 " aero's. Should be nice. Good luck with your project man

thanks alot for your guys' advice. :]

MDF it is. i mean if you did a whole 4.5 cubic in one sheet? well dammm. lol 30 bucks for wood. that's nice.

i doubt im goin to get a DD. now or in the near future. probably in the far future. lol it's way to pricey for me. but if i do get a DD. it would most likely be a 3500 series. the 9500's are alot of power. but mannn. lol. idk. im still debating //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

but i wonder, will changing from a high tuned probox, to a much lower tuned custom box, have a big difference in SQ and/or SPL?

 

[Johnny Law.Lulz 5,000+ posts]

I know people are gonna flame me but ive never had a problem with ply. 5/8 Ply, When i do my junk for my truck i might use somethin heavier like birch or somethin but plys always worked for lower power subs for me

 

[silvercookie 5,000+ posts]

just ask around for a cut sheet

 

[dafobbishon3 10+ year member]

I know people are gonna flame me but ive never had a problem with ply. 5/8 Ply, When i do my junk for my truck i might use somethin heavier like birch or somethin but plys always worked for lower power subs for me

really?? yeah cause my friend has two type r's and he put them each in their own single sealed enclosure made of plywood. i thought it wasn't that baddd. he told me to use plywood. and he said its cheaper, and that it was 60 dollars a sheet. i was like. well if plywood is cheaper than mdf. then i'll go plywood.

but all you guys are telling me plywood is only roughly 30 dollars a sheet. sooo.

im in a state of confusion. i'll go check out home depot or lowes later this week.

 

[DidUHearThat? 10+ year member]

I know people are gonna flame me but ive never had a problem with ply. 5/8 Ply, When i do my junk for my truck i might use somethin heavier like birch or somethin but plys always worked for lower power subs for me

No flaming here, but...

You would get much better performance, lower bass, louder and less resonance with 3/4" - 1" mdf from the same drivers and amps. Your wasting efficiency with ply or particle board.

 

[IDSkoT 5,000+ posts]

3/4 partical board works good alsoits cheaper then mdf

Not at all. Particle Board is thin and has barely no density.

so mdf > plywood?
but i think mdf is alot more expensive in my area. i know for sure its no $30 a sheet. plywood is cheaper. and pywood here costs about 60-70 a sheet. :\

The problem with plywood is that during the compacting, there are some times holes in the plywood. The top of my desk is made out of plywood, and there's holes in the layers between the sheets of wood. There's one so big, I put in a regular sized guitar pick in there, and pushed it as far as I could, and now I can't get it out. I use one of them to hold a straight razor. These holes cause obviously weak points in terms of density. Hence why, MDF is superior to Plywood.

However, talk to the big names (BJFish, PWK, etc.) They might tell you different materials that aren't covered here. Most, though, are not cost effective.

Birch is denser than MDF, but it's more expensive. Trupan is lighter, and just as dense as MDF, and I believe is easier to cut, but is more expensive. (BJ Fisher uses Trupan), and I believe eDuh has their own flavor of the week. Or at least, did, claiming it was more environmentally friendly.

For the most part, people use MDF because it's dense, it's relatively cheap, and it's easy to work with. Birch is an alternative that I've seen people do. It's more expensive, but denser, and it looks nicer. You can stain it, and it looks fantastic.

 

[DidUHearThat? 10+ year member]

Actually, MDF is denser than birch ply (of equal thickness). MDF really is the best material for sub boxes. Marine ply is stronger and more durable, which is nice if you drop the box on it's corner MDF crumbles and you can destroy it by dropping it. People like to say that marine ply is stronger, which is true, but acoustically what you really need is density. Your trying to make a box that is dense and rigid. Not all Marine plys are dense enough. Birch is almost as dense as MDF, another good one is Marine grade Applewood ply. Birch is the cheapest of the dense hardwood plys. The hardwoods are dense, avoid the soft wood marine ply's like cedar or pine they are no where near dense enough. They are great for building boats, but not sub boxes.

Unless you plan on dropping you box alot, there is no reason to use anything other than MDF. It's cheap, easy to work with, very dense and makes great sub boxes.

1" MDF is best, 3/4" is fine for small low power systems.

And I was serious, brick and concrete will work very well for sub boxes. Just not very practical.

 

[dafobbishon3 10+ year member]

Not at all. Particle Board is thin and has barely no density.


The problem with plywood is that during the compacting, there are some times holes in the plywood. The top of my desk is made out of plywood, and there's holes in the layers between the sheets of wood. There's one so big, I put in a regular sized guitar pick in there, and pushed it as far as I could, and now I can't get it out. I use one of them to hold a straight razor. These holes cause obviously weak points in terms of density. Hence why, MDF is superior to Plywood.

However, talk to the big names (BJFish, PWK, etc.) They might tell you different materials that aren't covered here. Most, though, are not cost effective.

Birch is denser than MDF, but it's more expensive. Trupan is lighter, and just as dense as MDF, and I believe is easier to cut, but is more expensive. (BJ Fisher uses Trupan), and I believe eDuh has their own flavor of the week. Or at least, did, claiming it was more environmentally friendly.

For the most part, people use MDF because it's dense, it's relatively cheap, and it's easy to work with. Birch is an alternative that I've seen people do. It's more expensive, but denser, and it looks nicer. You can stain it, and it looks fantastic.

really? man im def. taking plywood outta the picture. mdf sounds like the best true material for building a box, besides HDF that is made from proboxes //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif even though:crap: they aren't tuned very well :[ it is nice material.

 

[dafobbishon3 10+ year member]

Actually, MDF is denser than birch ply (of equal thickness). MDF really is the best material for sub boxes. Marine ply is stronger and more durable, which is nice if you drop the box on it's corner MDF crumbles and you can destroy it by dropping it. People like to say that marine ply is stronger, which is true, but acoustically what you really need is density. Your trying to make a box that is dense and rigid. Not all Marine plys are dense enough. Birch is almost as dense as MDF, another good one is Marine grade Applewood ply. Birch is the cheapest of the dense hardwood plys. The hardwoods are dense, avoid the soft wood marine ply's like cedar or pine they are no where near dense enough. They are great for building boats, but not sub boxes.
Unless you plan on dropping you box alot, there is no reason to use anything other than MDF. It's cheap, easy to work with, very dense and makes great sub boxes.

1" MDF is best, 3/4" is fine for small low power systems.

And I was serious, brick and concrete will work very well for sub boxes. Just not very practical.

man. i didn't know there were so many diff. kinds of plywood that u can use for building a box, but they don't sound as reliable as mdf like you all have said.

thanks alot for all your feedback. MDF is the way to go.

i didnt know you can make them out of brick and concrete. lol hows that possible? i wouldnt even know where to start if i tried making one

 

[SPL Blazer 10+ year member]

i didnt know you can make them out of brick and concrete. lol hows that possible? i wouldnt even know where to start if i tried making one

extreme class vehicles surround their enclosures with concrete, it keeps the enclosure from flexing when it's hitting over 170 db's. Flexing hurts your score when your competing, especially when you have bigger sides to the enclosure.

 

[Lakota 5,000+ posts]

density = mass/volume

think about it......