what matters more, box or speaker?

Ok in a previous topic you guys were discousing what is more important, box or speaker. Now that wasnt the purpose to that topic so I will start one thats sole purpose is that very question, which is more important. I gotta go back to the SPL debate cause thats what I know. I used to run 4 pioneer 305dvc subs in a box that gave each sub its own 2.4 cubic foot chamber that had a port 3" by 10" long. I ran a legit 250 watts RMS to each sub. Now I had a customer that heard my car and liked it so he bought 4 of the same subs and two amps that provided a total of 300 watts rms to each driver. He had a 91 civic I had a 94 swift. He wanted to do the install himself and after much convincing he still decided to do it on his own. My box was a flat box that pointed the subs to the roof but had a slanted "hood" on the box to somewhat direct the sound towards the front of the vehicle and also help releive some preasure off the side windows. My customer built a chambered ported wall. I dont know his exact specs but it looked to be about 1.5 cubic feet per sub, which is what pioneer recomends for a ported enclosure and slotted ports so I dont know what they were tuned to. To make this long story a little less long we went to a competion and since we were in teh same class we went head to head. I beat him by 4.2 dbs. The only difference was the box and the car. Now I know even similar cars have different accoustical properties but 142.0 and 146.2 is a damn big difference at those volume levels, not to mention he was running a little more power. We both ran 4 volt pioneer decks as well so it wasnt a matter of input voltage. He was running two mono blocks compared to my one 4 channel so the sub signal in both cases was being divided by splitters. Basicly my point is that if you are comparing subs in similar price ranges and you are looking at spl figures, my experience dictates that the box is gonna provide a greater difference than different subs. Since the contest I have tried putting this to a test using different subs in the same price range in the same box and I havent varried more than .6 decibles on any test run, always using the same sweep, same sweep we both used at the competion. I, as you can tell, have a lot of time on my hands being we are sometimes a little slow. Theroy is all fine and dandy but I like real world testing not, "This looks like it would be better on paper" stuff. I look forward to being told I am worng by some of the established people on here, as there are usually a couple who disagree with me. But thats all good because at least they all back up their claims. I hate when people say "thats B.S. because I think it is". I dont even give those people the time of day.

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double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer

If you got free air subs you aint got a good system :)

I have just never been a big fan of em.

I also only agree wiith your point to a degree. With a poorly constructed box you can make any sub sound like sh*t, However you can make any moderatly decent sub sound much better than you would think in then right type of box. That doesnt apply to sony or boss though:) I can diss cause I had em both at some point in my life.

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double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer

I'll get back to you on the rest later.  But as for my SPL argument in the other thread, we are talking about two different leagues.  The one I was talking about is ultimate SPL (165+dB area).  In this league, they will do anything to squeeze another .1 dB out of their system.  They build their enclosures to be as large as possible.  When Scottie switched to this other sub, he lost 3 dB which is huge.  This is just one example how driver selection is important.

I'll get back to the rest later.

Steven Kephart

Adire Audio

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Oh dont get me wrong, I understand what you were talking about when you talked about scotties system. BTW was that his truck that was in the video that blew the door open, cause that was pretty cool. I also know how big 3 db is at that point. But look at it like this. What would happen if scottie cut his enclosure down by .5 cubic feet per enclosure, or even 1 cubic foot. I'd be willing to bet that he would loose more than 3 db. Same goes for if he went to a sealed enclosure over a ported enclosure (which I am assuming he is using now) and watch the db's drop. Thats my point, that changing the sub can definatly have a dramatic impact, but I find that changing the box design has even more of an impact.

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double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer

One_Evil_Necro wrote:

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I would cast my vote for enclosure.  I have seen some really crappy speakers sound decent in a well designed enclosure.  I have seen many kick ass speakers sound horrible in poor enclosures.

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I echo and support this post.

Your system is only as good as your weakest link.