Speaker Box for Kicker Sub

I have read throughout these forums how the stock Kicker KMW10 10” subwoofer is not meant for free air and it should be installed in either a sealed or ported enclosure. So over the winter I decided to take on the project because the stock bass was less than impressive in my opinion. All I can say is. WOW! What a difference! To be honest, I can’t believe they ship these boats off the show room floor without doing this. The bass output probably doubled for me by building a ported enclosure. After it was all said and done, I only lost about 3” of leg room due to moving the bulkhead out. The results were so good, I wanted to post what I did in case anyone else would like to repeat it. It took a few passes at measuring and getting the calcs correct, so I highly suggest using cardboard templates for the new bulkhead before you build. I will attach pictures and the dimensions that worked for my 2018 Craz. I would love to take credit for knowing how to design a ported enclosure, but I had help from a few others on this forum, so thanks to them! [emoji3] however, if you have any questions, I can at least tell you what I did. The drawings with dimensions should help explain it for the most part. I will also attach the specs Kicker publishes for the sealed and ported enclosure for cubic feet and port dimension requirements.


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I ended up not installed that carpeted trim piece around the storage box you see in the pic with the sub lighted up. I thought it looked much better without and it was not required now that I have attached it differently. The carpet was ordered from Overtons and it was Daystar 16oz carpet, color was midnight. It was pretty much a dead on match to the original. I am looking for a way to trim out the port, but I have found anything to suit me yet. It doesn’t look bad, but you have to be extremely patient when cutting this carpet around it. It was not meant for fine clean cuts. I did the best I could and then burnt the edges with a lighter to keep it from fraying any further. I also used 3M spray adhesive to attach the carpet to the bulkhead. I sprayed rubberized bed liner on the back of the box, where it is not Visible. I figured the less carpet in the boat the better. That was probably not required because I used all marine grade plywood, but I wanted any exposed wood to be black.


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Im glad you did this and are pleased with the results. You are now hearing the true potential of this woofer.

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Originally Posted by MLA

Im glad you did this and are pleased with the results. You are now hearing the true potential of this woofer.

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Thanks for all your help Mike! You know your stuff when it comes to audio!


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Any chance you'd want to build one of these for a mondo? :)

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Originally Posted by LoneWolf2

Any chance you'd want to build one of these for a mondo? :)

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Ha ha. I would love to go into production, but he wife says I am done with boat projects. It is on to finishing out my basement.


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I also forgot to mention. I used 1/2” marine grade plywood, but if I had it to do over again I would use 3/4”. I was concerned about loosing to much leg room under the dash, so that is why I went 1/2”. In the end it would not have mattered. There is still plenty of leg room.


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Nicely done sir, thanks for sharing.

I'm looking to build a box for my 10" kicker. My initial plan was to follow these blueprints but once I got the sub and plastic board it is mounted to off I got to wondering what if I built a 5 sided box and used the existing plastic board as the 6th side? So basically just make a square shaped box that meets the air space requirements and screw the plastic to it. Everything would be glued screws and sealed with appropriate wood and material. Is this a bad idea? What am I missing?

As far as porting the box could I just drill a 1" hole in the side and that be sufficient? Obviously this is something I have never done and I'm sure I am over simplifying it. Fire away! Thanks!

I was initially going to re-use the plastic board also. However, since the board has to move out a few inches, the contour of the boat changes and you would end up with a gap at the right side. You also need to notch the corner of it to make it fit around the little storage container on the floor. It could be done, I just opted to make a new one. As for the port, there are other ways to do it. I am no expert, but I understood that to maximize the output of the sub the port needs to have the dimensions I followed based on the Volume of the box. I can tell you mine sounds awesome and I am glad I spent the extra time to port it that way. I used 1/2” marine grade plywood, which was a little hard to work with without splitting out the sides. Make sure you drill and counter sink the holes. 3/4” would be better, but I was trying to save all the inches I could and not bump out the box any further than necessary. Good luck! It is well worth it! Can’t believe they don’t come from the factory this way.


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Originally Posted by Surgical_ass

I'm looking to build a box for my 10" kicker. My initial plan was to follow these blueprints but once I got the sub and plastic board it is mounted to off I got to wondering what if I built a 5 sided box and used the existing plastic board as the 6th side? So basically just make a square shaped box that meets the air space requirements and screw the plastic to it. Everything would be glued screws and sealed with appropriate wood and material. Is this a bad idea? What am I missing?

As far as porting the box could I just drill a 1" hole in the side and that be sufficient? Obviously this is something I have never done and I'm sure I am over simplifying it. Fire away! Thanks!

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A ported enclosure is a tuned instrument. The port open and port length is a calculation using the woofer's specs and the internal volume of the enclosure. So just making a hole of any kind, is a bad thing.

I would do a complete 6 sided enclosure, then affix the entire enclosure to the existing facade. You will have a much more rigid setup, as well as much easier to seal the seam between the facade and front wall of the enclosure.

Well against good advice I made a 5 sided box with the original front. I had to shift the box over and turn it a little side ways due to the steering cable. A little trial and error but it worked. Got a good seal around the plastic mounting board and box. Used pan head screws with washers and a bead of silicone. I ported the box per the instructions on the kicker site. It made a huge difference!

Now here are my questions
I monkeyd a little with the amp setting not immediately realizing that the settings were probably correct from the factory. I have the kxma800.5. I was able to set the gain confidently on amp 1 and 2 using the downloadable tones. I was unable to get the sub gain to light up with the -10db tone reccomended for subs. It would light up with the 0db tone tho. Amy thoughts why it wouldn't light up with the -10?

Here's where I really pulled a DA move. I screwed with all the crossover settings. Ive looked up where people say where they sould be set but it seems that everyone suggestions are a little different. without proper equipment I'm just eyeballing it.

Sub setting- the sub sonic is set to 30 and the low pass is set to 80 (ish) the eq is around 17
Amp 1&2 I cant remember off hand where they are but I have a feeling they are incorrect. The switches are both on HP and 1X. What should they be set on? Would an audio shop be able to take my amp and set it appropriately with their devices?

I have the stock kicker speakers (6) but will most likely upgrade to the revo 6. Would an upgrade require me to readjust the amp gain crossovers?

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What should they be set on? Would an audio shop be able to take my amp and set it appropriately with their devices?

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Yes, but they will need the enclosure specs, as in what its tuned to, in order to tune the amp's woofer chnl to its most optima.

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Would an upgrade require me to readjust the amp gain crossovers?

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No. Both the OEM speakers and Revo's will handle the amp's 50W rms wattage. If the cross over is ideal for one, it will be perfect for the other.

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Originally Posted by MLA

Yes, but they will need the enclosure specs, as in what its tuned to, in order to tune the amp's woofer chnl to its most optima.

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Can you give me an idea of roughly what the crossovers should be set at. Not looking for perfection at this point. Now I'm afraid that I have them set completely wrong and risk damage to the speakers. My main concern is the 6 cabin speakers. I feel that I have the sub mostly dialed in. I have the OEM 6 kicker cabins and kicker kxma800.5 amp. (Amp 1 &2 settings) Anything to get me pointed in the right direction is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Excited I found this old thread. Thank you for posting it. I have the same system as you. Did you have to change any settings on your amps? If so, can you take a pick of the amp settings so I can duplicate. Thanks again.......

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Originally Posted by wildman

Excited I found this old thread. Thank you for posting it. I have the same system as you. Did you have to change any settings on your amps? If so, can you take a pick of the amp settings so I can duplicate. Thanks again.......

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I turned down the gain a little bit. However, I am no expert when it comes to adjusting the amp settings. I just picked a song I knew that had tons of base, and adjusted down from that. What I found to be the most helpful is the wireless amp remote that came with the system. Some songs have so much base, I need to turn it down on the fly. Trust me, this build is well worth it! I can’t believe the difference it made.


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Awesome, thanks for the quick reply!

I have come up with the dimensions and volume according to the manual for a km12. Did your port include the 1/2” front panel or did the port come thru it? If there’s any sub people in here could you look over my specs? There are 2 figures since I’m undecided on the depth. Thanks
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Page from the manual for the km12.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...0008501fa4.jpg

I did not add the port to the drawing yet because I’m. It sure if it needs to come thru the front or be flush below and use the front panel as 3/4” of its 16”.

My port came through the face of the panel. You can see the black ring of it if you look close to one of the pictures I posted. I took the outside dimensions of the port to figure the volume of the port assembly. Then I subtracted that from the inside volume of the box to get the total volume close to the specs.


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Here are my amp settings. Again I am no expert, but is sounds pretty damn good to me.

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I messed up on my box measurements. I am using a km12. It has a minimum vented of 1.75 ft3. I made my box 1.80ft3 but forgot to add in the port. I really need to build a 2.20ft3. That way once the port is added I’m at 1.75.

Scratch the amp settings above. Mike gave me a few tips and these amp settings are much better. It sounded good before, but now it is just ridiculous. [emoji12] Thanks Mike!

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Awesome! Glad you found some improvements.