help me with my system

[transdamn]

I need to know of 2 cheap 10in subs that will work in a small enclosure in the back seat of my trans am. I am building a custom enclosure directly behind the back seat and its only goona be 9in high be 15in wide by 28in long. I also need to know what kind of wood to use for the box. Also, should i use holes in the box or no. Help me:help: :drive: :D

[Brett H]

First off you need to use 3/4 MDF for the box this is a must do't use plywood or anything like that.
As for subs there are a bunch of good drivers out there today. What you need to do is determine a budget on subs. Next what kinda power you will put to them then what the overall interior size of the box will be.
As for holes in the box do you mean ports? If that is the case I would suggest staying away from porting. Sure it could gain you a few dBs but it is rather difficult to tune a ported box properly plus a sealed enclosure will give you a "tighter" bass note.
go to Sounddomain.com and do a search in the members pages for Trans Ams. You can get some ideas there for designs as well as hardware for your ride.

Good Luck,
Brett

[transdamn]

Cool, but what the hell is mdf? Can I get it at Home Depot?

[BigKID]

mdf = medium density fiberboard. Most any lumber yard should carry it. If you cant find that you can use 5/8 or 3/4 particle board but mdf is better. Also a helpfull hint since you will be constructing the enclosure, predrill all of your holes and use drywall screws. Predrilling will keep the mdf/particleboard from splitting and the drywall screws will hold better than a regular wood screw in that type of material.
I am with Brett on going with a sealed enclosuer. I have found that ported boxes are very difficult to tune, especially if you listen to a wide variaty of music. Sealed subs sound much tighter and cleaner to me anyway.
As for you sub selection, JL, Rockford Fosgate, and MTX all have a line of subs desighed for small sealed enclosures. I am running two JL 10W0-8 in my truck in a little over 1 cubic foot (.6/ea) and they sound great.

[transdamn]

Thanks im on my way to get parts:D

[Mr. Anderson]

I would guess you will end up with a little under 2cubic feet, interior volume. I'm too tired to do the math :hide: I would def. use mdf from home depot. They will cut the wood if you want, so that it is exact. You need it to be cut very precise, if you are going with a sealed box. Sealed is by far the simplist to make IMO. As for subs, I like Alpine Type R's. Drop a pair of tens in and feed em some power.
I've got two tens that are Type R's with about 1200 watts of clean power. It get extremly loud. If you are going for sq you might want to invest in some dynamat or sound deadener, just to take care of vibrations. Hope this helps.

[Brett H]

I'm going to second the Alpine Type-R as the sub to go with. I wanted to down size from my 2 12's to a single 10 in a vantage box so the guy at the stereo shop steered me toward the Type-R. I was a bit reluctant but he has never let me down yet and this was no exception. This sub sounds great. I wired the 2ohm voice coils parallel to produce a 4 ohm load and put roughly 180 watts to it. It isn't that overwelming, making it hard to breathe bass my 12's put out but its a great cabin filling tight bass. Unlike my 12's this sub tends not to have an origin meaning I can't pin point were the bass is coming from it just fill the car.
I can't wait to start tweking it in and see how it meshes with the rest of the system.
For the money these are a great bank for your buck driver. You should be able to get them for 199USD but it wouldn't surprize me if they are on sale for 150 or less since 2004 inventory is rolling into the showrooms.

[Ted J]

I'd check into the Image Dynamics 10" ID V.3. You can pick them up for around $100 a pop (http://www.sounddomain.com/sku/IDSID10V3D4) and they are know for making great subs. At that price you can't go wrong really for I've heard great things about that sub. I have the 12" version sitting at home, just haven't installed it in the other car yet.

FYI - There is a dual 2 and a dual 4 sub so make sure you get the right one for the amp you'll be running. I'd prefer to get these subs over the Alpines for without looking at the specs I'd venture a guess that xmax wise these subs will be close to the Alpines if not maybe even better. They are cheaper and probably will sound better.

HTH!

Ted

[Ted J]

Originally posted by Brett H
I wired the 2ohm voice coils parallel to produce a 4 ohm load and put roughly 180 watts to it.

You mean you wired the voice coils in series, right?

[Ted J]

Oh, and not trying to beat a dead horse here but your best bet is going to be going with a sealed enclosure.

The biggest issue with ported enclosures, IMHO, in the car enviroment is getting the port to actually fit. The smaller the box you go with the longer the port needs to be. The bigger the port is the longer the port needs to be (with the tuning frequencies staying the same in both statements.)

Without going into the details of the 'tighter bass' comment, porting requires more set up and tuning so the sealed enclosure has a lot less factors involved to make it sound pretty good.