Absolute Minimum Enclosure Thickness for Subwoofer??

I finally got the ok from my wife to build up a stereo for my Double Cab. The costs have to stay within reason, and my goal is true sound quality. I've thought about it and I'm probably going with the Alpine PDX series amps since they have SNR of 95 dB (ie. 500W @ 95 dB will be louder/cleaner than something different at 500W @ 75 dB) , and also have side accessible adjustments. I'm sourcing this amp(s) from 4V pre-amps (where have the 5V pre-amp units gone?), so its going to be as clean as possible before integrating other black box processors.

Unless I have to, I really don't want to spend the $500 to $600 premium on the thin Alpine type-R or thin JL 13". To me its a waste of $350 basically. From what I've researched and for what I want in the system, I'd be going with a single Alpine Type-R 10" or 12" (these are nearly equal) for their achievable low frequencies and power handling. I haven't looked into JL's equivalent varients yet, but I'd be willing to use theirs as well if comparable.

I already know that 3/4" MDF is best for the box, but the question is, how thin can I go? And I guess the other question is how much clearance should be allowed at the Sub's rear cooling vent?

1/2" is probably too thin, but maybe 5/8" would be acceptable on the front or rear face? I'd appreciate opinions or comments from anyone who has installed the regular Alpine Type-R sub.

 

I would not go any thinner then 3/4" on a sub also the manufactur will have box specs on how much volume the box should be. Are you building a ported or sealed? You said somthing about a cooling vent not sure if your talking about the port or not.

 

Signal to noise ratio only matters when the volume is way down. Crank it up to normal output levels and it almost is irrelevant.

As far as wood thickness, meh... you want a sturdy baffle through mass (thickness), the rest can be as thin as 1/2" if you brace it correctly. That's the big difference... bracing and the ability to stop flexing isn't always efficient through thick wood. Plenty of prefab designs work fine with less than 3/4" mdf sheeting.

 

I didn't think about bracing the side walls. If thats ok, then 1/2" is probably the way to go to gain the extra 1/2" of depth, at least on the front and back. The extra effort in design is worth the savings to me, especially if I can fit a 12".

I'm planned on designing a sealed box, rather than ported, for smaller air volume requirement. I'm locating it on the passenger side, and plan on putting the amp(s) under the front seats (shorter power and signal cables = savings ). I use the driver side storage compartment all the time, and don't want to lose that.

The vent hole I was referring to was the hole thats typically in the center of the magnet - it allows air flow to the voice coil while the sub is moving.

 

You can build a sealed or ported box "tacoma box style" with 1/2 birch ply and be stronger than 3/4 mdf.
Also with how the box is structured you will not need any bracing with under 1000wrms

As for the vented pole, yes give it a little room and it should be ok.

With the proper designed box, minor seat mod you can easily fit a sub with under 6.5 inches of mounting depth.
The passenger side however will not have enough airspace for you to port any sub over a 8inch optimally, and a 10 semi optimal but would still suffice

 

I would do a 5/8 front baffle and half where is practical. Just keep in mind that extensive bracing can equal up to having used thicker wood anyway so make sure to make bracing intrinsic when possible. IE sandwich the sides or narrower pieces between the front and treat baffle when possible. Small dowel-like pieces strategically placed inside between front and back. It's the larger panels that you need to be concerned with. Use a good glue and clamping during assembly. Use thicker wood when possible on the large panels.

 

Plywood Birch - I'll have to check my stores for that. Actually I'd rather cut that wood instead of MDF anyway - I hate having to take the extra precaution of putting a respirator on as well as the glasses, then dirtying up my garage from its sticky brown dust. I made faux columns from MDF and vowed never to use it again!

 

Yeah we use the 12 ply baltic birch on all our big builds as some of the baffles are 8 layers + thick and the side walls are 4+ so you can imagine the weight of using 1 inch mdf. Its stiffer, stronger and more resistance to flex than mdf and so much lighter

 

Note: You want Baltic birch. There is a difference between birch plywood and baltic birch. Birch plywood you can find at Home Depot. Baltic birch you will probably have to go to a speciality store.

 

Both actually work just fine and doesnt have any big difference that will be noted in a tacoma type setup. Birch ply is not like regular plywood, and you can look for shop grade as well to reduce the cost as its only a 1 side finish

 

I used 1/2" birch ply for my center console box and it has held up fine over the years. It is way easier to work with birch ply than mdf.

 

I just want to jump in here, and ask if you've really looked at the measurements of the Alpine sub? The magnet and basket are huge, and will not fit behind the seat, without some sort of modification, of either the box, or the seats. I've tried. The JL W3V3 series subs can fit, with a little modification to the box, and you'll get pretty similar performance.

 

I want one of those downfiring center console subs. I have a Sundown sd-2 8" that should be arriving today. One of the box vendors advertised here a bit is only about 40 minutes. Anyone used the Sundown before?

 

sundowns are nice little subs performance wise

 

Great SPL subs.

 

So I hear and hoping. This talk of birch tempts me to build my own, but limited free time tells me otherwise.

 

I will add, they have a wide range of subs and some are more SPL orientated, some are more SQL

 

From what I understand the sd series isn't what would be considered for SPL. Quite a few on diyma claim they have great SQ. Shall see.

 

I've heard only their SPL line and they do great for what they are designed to do. I can't say anything about their SQ line, never heard any of their SQ subs.

 

I had two SD-2 10's in a pre-fab box from SuperCrewSounds. They hit hard, and they sounded great. Then I decided to go ported and blew one. From there, I decided, after talking with manethon, that I could fit 12"s behind the seats, and currently have a pair of Shok Industries Triton 12's behind the rear seats in a custom box. Here's my build thread. https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...thinking-but-im-going-to-make-it-work.322615/