sub enclosure difficulty

Thanks everyone for their ideas. It has cleared up most of my concerne. And thanks alot spldesigns. Your post cleared up even more by giving me what you think would be best box for my subs. Only question I really got now is what to build the box with. I believe my local hardware store only really have plywood (small town don carry much of anything) so I am thinking all Im gonna be able to work with is plywood but not sure what type. There are different types and sizes , any suggestion on that? I could probs drive 30 miles away and get better material but ... And again thanks alot peeps

MDF would be my first choice. 3/4" or a quality birch or oak ply 3/4" 2nd because of the price. Also i dont know what the heck slpdesigns is thinking. 1.5 is only half the smallest recommend net for those 15s. You need at least 3cu.ft. NET per sub. 4.5 to 5 would be best PER sub. Even With his 27Hz you would be peaking in low 30-35hz. In a proper sized enclosure and port area. Too low for most rap which is between 35-45Hz bass tones. Go with the factory enclosures i linked you and i promise you will be more then happy. Port from 32-35Hz. The closer to the larger recommendations the better.

spldesigns wrote: those subs are only 500 watts, ive installed dozens of those same subs, look a little closer, maybe the 8 you see is really a 5, but yeah 1000max/500rms, for sure, 500 rms is half of 1000, and its usually half of max on most subs, but i usually give those subs about 1.5 cubic ft of air space for a slot port box, maybe 1.75 if you mostly listen to rap, better bottom octave with 1.75, then make your dimensions whatever for your trunk to equal 1.5-1.75, thats each sub, 3-3.5 for two subs, then go to the port length calculator to plug in dimensions, air space, what frequency you want to tune to, id use a freq. around 27hz if you listen to rap, maybe 45-50 if you listen to rock, and you will be all good email me at innovativespldesigns@comcast.net if you need any assistance

If you an installer/ enclosure designer there is no way in hell you would touch my stuff. You are way off on the NET. The smallest recommended enclosure for one of those 15s is 3cu.ft. net. If you have installed dozens i think you would also know they also like larger enclosures as well. Heck 1.5 -1.75 is not even enough for a small sealed enclosure for one of those. Dont even get me started on your idea of tuning freqs. 1.75 would be the smallest net for even the 12". Then the fact he is down on power for them, small is not the way to go.

I had e-mailed kicker about the box ... And they told me : , "you will need 7.0 cubic feet minimum. The outside box dimensions are 40” wide X 16” high X 23.5” deep. Divide the box in half. Each side needs a port 14.5” X 2.75” at 19.5” deep into the box." So I guess I will go with this I'm not sure lol. Still not sure if I know how to use this port calculator, think I am putting wrong numbers in lol. Thanks everyone :) Been very helpful

§ealed-fate wrote: I had e-mailed kicker about the box ... And they told me : , "you will need 7.0 cubic feet minimum. The outside box dimensions are 40” wide X 16” high X 23.5” deep. Divide the box in half. Each side needs a port 14.5” X 2.75” at 19.5” deep into the box." So I guess I will go with this I'm not sure lol. Still not sure if I know how to use this port calculator, think I am putting wrong numbers in lol. Thanks everyone :) Been very helpful

yeah they are telling you 7 cube for both GROSS. thats including port and driver displaement. Which works right out to 3cu.ft. net per sub. As i said before the SMALLEST it should be. With your power if you have the space go larger. AS for the port calc to work you need to use net volume for it to work correctly. Give measurements of the space you have and i can work the math for you if you want to try larger. IF not just go with what they gave you. thats the small recommended enclosure. Larger if you can fit will give better output and a smoother freq response though.

To get the maximum measurements I will have to have a box pointing the subs to the trunk lid. But worried about where ports will go. But for that the measurement of my trunk will be 43" wide. 27" deep and 16" high. For that box how will the ports work? Thanks

Well thats were. being able to put hands on is the best, if you had 17-17.75 or so in height you could then mount the subs facing the rear or into the cabin. 16 really is not enough to mount that sub that way. If i remember right it is around 15.75 outside diameter. To gain what you need, you could add a bit of an angle which would gain you extra mounting surface. That would also take away from the cubic foot a bit. You just need to find the balance of as large as you can go and make everything work well within the space available. The largest enclosure size would definitely make for a louder and smoother response enclosure with the power you have, but it also would need to work with the space you have available. You will see good results any where in between the min and max recommended. Thats why they do that. But if you can go towards the larger side with those kicker subs they will be much happier. As for the port you can do it on the side or on the sub mounting side. You just don't want to restrict the airflow. If say the port is 3 inches wide. You will want it at least 3 inches away from a side wall, trunk wall or seat back to not restrict the airflow from the port.