Why does Sundown recommend a smaller box than needed?

A smaller box will help reduce the chances of mechanical failure with rates power

if you go too large you can lose the benefits of ported in the first place

If you want to try smaller screw a piece of 2x4 to the bottom it will take up space and can be removed easily

If you want to try bigger you can put Polly fill in the box but it doesn't always work out the best

Warranty purposes for people that don't understand how port area works. Bigger is always better as long as the port ratio is right.

When I built my box for my 10, sundown suggested a box size of 1 cube after displacements. Yet when I came on here for box advice, people were recommending I run up to 1.25 cubes. Why is that? Is sundown recommendations the bare minimum? I'm just wondering because I'm in a transition stage to a new box and I'm wondering if I should keep the 1.29 @ 31hz box I have (which my E10v3 sounds absolutely amazing in) or if I should experiment with a smaller box built closer to sundowns specs. My main goal is to dig deep into the lows.

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1 isn't smaller than NEEDED, it's just smaller than optimal.

Think about it from the company's perspective though.

Their business is selling stuff to as many people as possible -- not just enthusiasts.

Most people don't want to hassle with a big box. From what I've seen mfg's across the board have a tendency to recommend the smallest box that will still yield CLOSE to optimal performance. It is better to save a little space at the cost of a couple db's by spec'ing a smaller box than turn away a buyer because of the big box size.

Not that a 1/4 cf is a deal breaker, I think it's just principle as much as anything.

Enthusiasts, on the other hand, are generally going to look at a FR plot anyway and custom design so general box specs don't mean much to them anyway.

My 12" was marketed as a great small sealed sub -- 1 cf. But it plots best in 3cf ported and tuned low.