I'm going to start bulding my 12" sealed box for my sub early next week, and I just have a few questions:

1) What type of wood should I build it from? What thickness?
2) Should I use screws or nails?
3) What should I use to seal it? Should I run a bead between the wood or can I run on one on the inside of the box?

I feel like I'm forgetting one thing. I'll get back if I think of it...

Thanks a lot for any responses!

use MDF anything like 1/2" up the 3/4 should be pleanty

screws

anything that will make a airtight seal will be good for ya

you know to calcualte the box and then the displacement for the woofer and the size of the MDF all have to be figured in to the final displacement

Are those calculations to make sure the sub fits or to optimize sound? What do you mean by displacement?

Oh yeah, I remember the other questions now.

What should I use to cover the box in and what can I use to make the hookup terminals for the sub on the back of the box?

to make it look nice get someting like this


thats from Radio Shack....click it for website...5bucks each! cheap and looks good

Use 3/4" MDF ONLY, make sure you take that into consideration when calculating the volume. Each sub has a certain volume that is required for air space in the box for optimum sound. Too big or too little and it will sound like crap. Usually companies will have the spec for the sub on their website. I was re-building a box for a single sub and contacted the company, they told me what size and it sounded amazing.

Also, I usually pre-drill all the holes ( one side at a time), run a bead of glue first then screw it down. Once the glue has dried, you can then seal it with a silicone. If you do put that terminal on the side, make sure you seal that also, other wise air will get out that way.


1. 3/4" MDF
2. Pre-drill, glue and screw it together
3. seal it once the glue has dried


Usually drywall screws are good for this purpose since they have a nice wide thread on them. The pre-drilled hole is to help prevent the MDF from splitting, and do not drill to big a hole.

So basically the box should be certain dimensions for optimal sound?

Yes. For example. I used to run 2 orion 15" subs. I then decided I only needed one of them in another car, so I contacted them, they told me to build the box 2cuft OUTSIDE dimensions, they had already taken into consideration the 3/4 MDF AND the size of the rear of the sub, since that occupies space in your box and WILL throw off the measurements.

I know it sounds pretty small details, but it makes a big difference.


What kind of subs are they? Make, model, I already know they are 12'*.

Just one Eclipse SW7124DVC-T4 ( http://www.eclipse-web.com/sw7100/sw7124.html ).

I can't find dimensions on the site, so I guess I'll call them tomorrow.

I did a bit of digging for you and found this post.

http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/...56106&get=last

So basically your box can be a few different sizes for that sub. The manual should give you the sizes unless you don't have it anymore.

model SW7124DVC-T4
Sealed Enclosure 0.5 CuFt F3 = 45HZ
Sealed Enclosure 1.0 CuFt F3 = 41HZ
Sealed Enclosure 1.5 CuFt F3 = 40HZ

Ported Enclosure 1.75 CuFt F3 = 30HZ



As you read that post, you will see that it was recommended to go with the 1.5cu ft box SEALED.

So basically in this case I would build your box to have outside dimensions of a total of 1.5 cu ft.


as an example it could be

16" wide x 15" high x 11" deep that would give you 1.52 cuft
If you went with 10.5" deep that would give you 1.45 cuft ( approx), so you would be close to it, and still within the parameters for that sub


You have to make sure that you have enough height and width for the 12 face to fit on and enough depth so you have room behind the sub.

That is just an idea for a box dimension. If you have more height, then you can go higher, if you have more width then you can go wider, that will allow you to make a shallower box, so it leaves you with more trunk space.

I hope that helps

I used 3/4 MDF, glued, screwed, glued again, then sprayed in this grey stuff that coated the inner walls (local audio shop told me they use it in all their boxes, it was cheap, but don't remember what it was called) to help keep resonance down or something like that. They said it was similar to putting cotton fill in the box. I think my boxes are a little smaller than the .6 cu ft suggested cause I didn't think about the space the sub itself takes up inside the box. But I am pretty pleased with the sound quality.