got my subs working

[mike reeh]

in my 91 suburban i hooked up my two 10" subs & amp that Ive had sitting for a few weeks and finally got them dialed in.. for a while I didnt have them tuned right and was really really disappointed... But now that I got em tuned, WOW they sound so good.. Its nothing fancy either.. I actually bought all this stuff for another truck (which I dont have yet) but it was killing me to see it collecting dust.. its a 800watt mtx monoblock amplifier (801d) and 2 mtx thunder 6000 subs.. I built a box but I F'd up the venting part of it so I junked that box and went out and bought a sealed enclosure from the good guys, just so I could test stuff out.. I couldnt figure out why it all sounded so weak and was ready to start cursing the MTX brand but with a little fiddling, I got that sucker hitting HARD.. sounds really good especially for a big surburban....

I know its not for everyone, but I like to listen to my music LOUD and I want it to sound GOOD... and thats exactly how it is now in the burb.. makes my 2.5hrs of commuting per day SOOO much more enjoyable.. There is nothing like the feel of high SPL that your system is putting out..

Well I just thought I'd share.. There seems to have been a lot of caraudio related posts lately, and even MORE response from posters on those threads.. So apparently some people are into it..

So I might as well make this a meaningful thread:

audiophiles: sealed, vented, or bandpass sub enclosures, and why? and for what kind of music? I prefer only experienced responses, no hear say please!

I have a sealed box in my 77 chevy and it sounds really really good for how little power Im running and how old the subs are.. I originally built a vented box for these new subs but like I said I messed it up. So I bought a pre-made sealed, and Im happy with the sound...

I think I will build a vented box just so I can see (hear) the difference for myself..

good day

mike

[RockHQ]

My experiences (i've built 3 sets of home speakers, 3 car sub enclosures and have done a lot of 2- and 3-way car installs)

one pair of home speakers i built was a 3-way active crossover setup with a 8" subwoofer, 6 1/2 midrange and a 3" tweeter, all 3 individually powered by integrated amps. It was a huge project for me, i designed and built the enclosures, built the amplifiers and wired the whole thing (i bought 3-way active adjustable crossovers), then assembled everything inside the cabinets. Although after i tweaked them a lot they sound great, i feel i would have been better off buying a new pair from a quality manufacturer....

Anyway, i swear by sealed cabinets, of all the speakers i've had, including the ones i built myself, all the sealed cabinets have sounded the best. I tend to think vented cabinets can't deliver the precision and control. They're also less sensitive to surroundings and how you place them, and are easier to design and you can't f*ck up as easily if you make one yourself. They might not reach the SPL levels of vented or bandpass enclosures but that's not a priority for me.

Vented enclosures can offer a better frequency response from a smaller cabinet size and driver, but usually are sensitive to how they are placed and have an annoying bass response at higher SPL IMHO, and way less control of the speaker element which results in distortion. They're good for making a lot of noise from a small box in less-than-optimal situations, like cars, large rooms, outdoors and such.

I can't say anything about bandpass enclosures, other than i would never try to build one myself (very difficult to have the right dimensions and ports), and all of the ones i've heard didn't quite sound right. I've not listened to any expensive, high-end systems so i wouldn't really know.

At any rate, it's been almost a decade since i've really been into hi-fi, so i could well remember things wrong, and i'm sure designs have gotten a lot better.

-Axle