When and why to use amaximally flat enclosure?

[gamebucketman 10+ year member]

ok i have searched here and at other sites and cant seem to find a very straight forward answer. I saw one person say that maximally flat is good for in home subwoofers but not in a car but thats it

Anyways i have 1 10" Powerbass M-10 subwoofer.

I have the room for the enclosure in my car to make it maximally flat(3.28 cubic feet).

But dont want to unless i know if it usefull for me. I want good sound and as loud as my one 10" can be. Why would someone use maximally flat over the SQL selection? im using the calculator at this site. Thanks

http://www.subwoofertools.com/forum/ported-box.asp

Click to read more...

 

[60ndown 10+ year member]

the vehicle the sub is going into makes a lot of difference, the same sub will sound completely different in a van or a miata or a house.

flat response is where your low notes are the same volume as the high notes,

box size, box type (ported sealed bandpass etc) makes a big difference.

lots to think about, best bet is to build your box to manufacturers speck (3.2 cubes sounds very big for a 10 unless thats ported/vented?) prolly more like 1.3 cubes best?

and try it see if you like the way it sounds.

 

[Immacomputer 10+ year member]

Whether or not to use a max flat alignment is really based on the sub and your wants/desires out of the system as far as frequency response goes.

Many times, a max flat ported alignment is tuned pretty low and can make a driver play pretty flat down to 20-25hz or so. When you put this sub/enclosure system in your car, you are left with a pretty bottom heavy system with not as much output when compared to other alignments. The cabin gain will usually increase the bottom octaves by a large amount and your nice, flat, alignment actually may turn into an alignment that peaks around 25-30hz or so. Some people may enjoy this and others may think it's too boomy and then others may think that it doesn't blend well with the front stage due to the appearance of a lack of upper bass (I say appearance because it's really the cabin boosting the lower frequencies and not the sub struggling to play them but then sometimes this is also the case).

It's really up to you and what you want out of your system. I enjoy a max flat alignment as long as it doesn't require too low of a tuning.

 

[gamebucketman 10+ year member]

the sub will be going into the back of a 2000 Montero sport and yes this is a ported box. The calculator is suggesting the port tuned to 25.01 hz. I know there are lots of variables involved in the sound, just looking for some opinions.

here is a link to the calculator with my subs parameters input. You can also change the calculation from maximally flat to sql and it shrinks the box down to 1.85 cu ft. with the port tuned to 29.87 hz. I was just wondering what would be the difference in the way the 2 boxes sound and why someone would prefer one over the other. Thanks again

http://www.subwoofertools.com/forum/ported-box.asp?Ew=36&Eh=15&Dia=4&Xmax=9.5&Vd=0.15&NumW=1&Vb=&Fb=&Qts=0.506&Vas=1.499&Fs=31.88&CE=0