Center Console box build questions

Soon I'm hoping to throw some buckets in my ext cab so I can have a more comfortable ride and build a center console. Right now I have a 12" kicker comp in a dual ported box I built behind my seat. Don't really know what I'm doing but it sounded good and I calculated the volume and it seemed adequate enough for it. Every now and then I've got 2 people riding with me and I can't lean my seat back at all. Wanting to build a center console with 2 cup holders and an 8 or 10" sub. Thinking American bass or JL Audio for the sub.

I'll probably use 1/2 birch for the box and might put some fiberglass on it to give it a nice shape. Dont say buy one, I like to build my stuff and enjoy my work. So, how possible is this?

 

Any ideas on it?

 

Why 1/2" birch vs MDF? I thought for better sound/resonance you wanted the box to be as dense as possible. (I'm not a sound guy btw, just asking). Are you going to use standard "birch" plywood from Home Depot or actual Baltic Birch? The stuff at HD in my experience has more than a few voids in it.

Anything is possible, make a mock up of it and do a build log.

 

Baltic birch, I think you've gotta go with ¾ MDF but with the birch you can go to ½

 

1/2 birch ply is more than fine. It has nothing to do with density, It has to do with rigidity.

your idea will work just fine. Make a single port instead of 2. A single shok triton 12 should work very well as long as you can get about 2.2 cf net and tune it around 33hz

 

I was thinking a sealed box with a 10"

 

Sealed 10 would be super easy to do

 

I built a center console using mdf. Its a slot ported enclosure running just a single HDS208 8 inch sub. I love my music and wanted something that when Im in the mood for some heavy bass I have it. It's perfect for my bass needs. Anything more would be too much and a waste since I don't like heavy bass all the time. But When the 8 is called on, it'll shake the car next to me. And I still have storage with an arm rest for a lid and cup holders that slide out when I need to hold drinks. I've ran both American bass and JL 8's, and really can't go wrong with either. If I had to choose one, I'd choose the American bass all day long. It'll hit way harder. I've built a few console/ enclosure's so if u have any questions I'm happy to help

 

Thanks man, you got any pics of it? And does it shake the drinks when the sub hits

 

Birch is a lot stronger than mdf. Mdf is garbage. And I have actually done tests, sam sub and amp, sam box design with mdf and birch. And wood does make a differance. Birch or pine ply was louder than the mdf box

As for your jl or American bass, American bass all the way. Jl is garbage

 

Sorry i dont have any completed pics of it. ill take some tomorrow for you.
ive always loved 8s and have ran Jl, American Bass, IDQ, Cadence, MA, and DD, and this HDS208 im running now is my favorite. The build quality, Power, and most importantly Price, make it the hands down best ive ran. their customer support is fantastic as well. its amazing how loud and deep this monster of an 8 can get. it has no problem shaking my drinks and making everything in my rear view mirror a big blur. and thats running just a single 8! but you better make sure you have a good enclosure because you can have the best sub in the world, but it will sound like shit in the wrong box. the best configuration ive come to is firing down with port firing back.
btw, ive designed and built multiple console configurations and dont see how you can fit anything more then a single 10. and depending on the sub and if you go ported, itll almost be like having a wall between you and your passenger because itll need more air space then a single 8. albeit, not much more. its only 8.5" between the seats. so if you went, minimum .5" MDF (im using .5"), that leaves you with 7.5' of airspace width wise. which is fine as long as you brace the box. then factor in if you want a storage space and cupholders, that takes up valuable and airspace also.

 

When your working with such small panels, and not putting kw worth of power you really don't need to do much bracing so don't sweat it.

 

What would be a good and well priced amp