Thinking about re-building my sub enclosure; opinions wanted...

[newty]

I went throught the same dilemma last year. I ended up keeping a sub in each compartment and went from 2 10" L-5's to 2 12" JL W6's.
Same amp but doubled the volume and low end. It pounds hard. When I turn it up, anything in any of the cupholders starts spinning and dancing around.
The only thing is I want to do now is figure out how to vent the area behind the observers seat.

I went with birch ply, and am really happy with the perfomance of the boxes.

[KG's Supra24]

Birch ply here as well.

Newty, Earmark sells some pre-made vents. Don't know anything about them, just seen them.

[mmandley]

All i can say is the Exile box custom made to my boat, same as what went into production for a short time is designed and tunes for the Big 12. I can say i have never seen a Sub outperform the Big 12 or at least the way mine is. Its rated at like 1100 Watts but it took every bit of 3600 watt peaks off my 1500 last year and this summer it was taking every bit of my new 2500 which i epect peaks at 4500. I pound on my stereo and anyone who as spent any time in my boat knows when theres a rider behind the boat the stereo is blasting at 28-30 and 30 being the max.

This sub is pretty intense to say the least.

As for why you should go with a a 12 other then your your 2 10s? Well i think its all a matter of taste and what you find to sound best.

Newty loves his 2 12s and i havnt herd them but i have herd his 2 10s and they pounded pretty hard, thats not what im about in my stereo, i dont need Hard pounding, i want balance threw my entire volume curve.

To me its not how much Boom you got or how much Volume you got, its how realistic it all sounds to make it seem like the music is live in the boat and not being replayed and artificially boosted to sound better or overcompensate for short commings of the music.

I run my truck stereo the same way. Its not the loudest but its certainly clean sounding.

As for the Shallow mount subs they have come a long way in the last few years and JLs is no doubt a bad ass shallow sub. I personaly run the Rockford Fosgate shallow 12 in my truck. Once i had a custom ported box made it came to life and most dont know its a shallow mount. Have about 3 inches behind my rear seat but the box goes almost the entre length of rear cab and this speaker pounds. I have 1000 watts of Exile power going to it and yes i can over power the speaker with certain songs but it keeps up very well for what it is.

In the end though a Shallow mount will never have the sound or the depth a Deep mount 12 will have. It simply cant move the same amount of air and produce the low end frequency.

If your going to build a box out of the same material Exile uses then id contact Brian for a copy of the brace techniques they used, and the type of epoxy they used and when you open my box its literaly a jiz saw puzzle of bracing.

For the record Ian your box takes as much room on the floor as does, mine comes right to the cupholder, one of my main issues when Exile designed my boax is i wanted use of box of my cup holders.

I have never had to remove my Sub box for maintenace to the boat, i can reach my fuses, and circuit breakers just fine. Its a stetch but it can be done.

[ian ashton]

I just called a local distributor for King Starboard; they sell 54" x 96" x 3/4" in black for $267; a bit spendy but not as bad as I expected. I'll likely pick up a sheet after we get back from the honeymoon and start on a new box, as well as a consolidated battery box to save additional space. 2012 will be the year of regaining storage space in my boat, without sacrificing sounds!

[EarmarkMarine]

KingStarboard sub enclosure? What type of adhesive do you plan on using?
Most who make plastic enclosures will use PVC so they can get good glue seams.


David
Earmark Marine

[ian ashton]

I have no idea, that was the original intent of this thread, lol.

What kind of PVC and glue would you recommend so I know what to ask for?

[EarmarkMarine]

Not sure of the distinquishing differences in one PVC to another but the plastics supplier and manufacturer will have defined guidelines for adhesives.
For a water-resistant enclosure we use MEDEX or MDO solvent-based materials. We tried PVC and several other polymers around 10 years ago and found them to be too acoustically live, especially when using thinner 1/2-inch material on expansive enclosures. I still have the original sample enclosures around to illustrate the difference.

David
Earmark Marine

[sybrmike]

Starboard is polyethylene based & doesn't take to gluing very well. You can get PVC in sheets or dimensional lumber sizes from specialty lumber yards (used to make "fake" wood decks). They should also have the appropriate adhesives (like PVC pipe primer/cement).