Hey guys, this weekend I am going to start working an making bandpass box, but first I need to know

what is a Terminal Cup

and what are Terminal Cups with Gold Plated multi-way Binding Posts.

 

http://www.mmxpress.com/subzone/imag...l_bandpass.jpg

thats what my box is going to resemble..

 

A terminal cup is the thing you see on the right side of that box. It's basically a terminal to connect your speakers to, so you don't have to wire your speaker wire inside the box (quite a hassle, and no longer air-tight). I'm not sure of the multi-way binding posts.

 

DO NOT i repeat DO NOT make your own bandpass they are the hardest box to make and if every thing is not PERFECT it will sound like ****, go with a ported box man you cannot go wrong......well atleast it's harder too..........but if you have your site's set on it go for it just don't say i didn't warn ya.....good luck

 

forge ahead, ...buy the well-box for 100 bucks, ....sounds good, its built right, ..you got a warranty, ...just make sure they make it out of 3/4 mdf *medium density fiberboard* and they seal it well with liquid nails, ....the box saves space, and if you have the lil shade in the back that connects to the hatch, no one can see it and it wont get stolen, .....i have one in my car with two kicker 12's vr comps and a 800 watt memphis amp, ...im happy

 

what does a ported box, look like agian?

 

has holes in it, self explainitory

 

no offense but if you don't know what one looks like u should not even consider building a bandpass.......if you want i could make you one but you will have to give me a reasonable offer

 

yeah but thats the thing I am getting all of the wood for free so I can atleast attempt it right?


Band pass shouldn't be that hard...

 

what kinda "wood"? and yeah bandpass' are hard to make but it is your choice.......

 

A bandpass box is DEFINATELY not a box project for a beginner, and I don't recommend buying an empty bandpass box and stuffing subs into it. The only time I'd consider a bandpass is one that comes from the manufacturer as a box/speaker combo like the Orion bins from a few years back.

With a bandpass enclosure, it's critical to have exact airspace and port areas. If the 2 chambers aren't exactly the right size, and the ports aren't exactly the right diameter/length, the box is going to sound HORRIBLE. With a sealed box, if it's a little too big or a little too small, it's no big deal. That's not the case with bandpass. If it's not spot-on, it's going to be junk.

Another problem with bandpass boxes is that a lot of beginners tend to blow a lot of subs. Because the bandpass boxes filter out all of the high frequencies, it becomes very difficult to hear distortion, and most beginners can't tell the difference in the first place. Add to that the fact that most under power their subs then try to crank it, and you wind up with a recipe for disaster.

Another problem is space. A typical bandpass box requires over twice as much room as a sealed box, and space as at a premium in a thirdgen. This means that the box is going to be very oddly shaped, which is going to require a substantial amount of design skill in order to maintain the proper airspace, and a substantial amount of construction skill to pull it off without it looking like swiss cheese.

I don't want to try and **** on your parade, but a bandpass box is WAY too complex for a beginner to attempt.

 

To emphasis Jim's point on how easy you can blow a sub in a bandpass box I built one as a young high school punk. Sounded okay and then nothing. I took the sub out and it was blown so bad that I could almost jump up and down on the cone and it wouldn't budge. I never even heard the distortion. I have built many since and only through added experience and VERY careful planning have I got it down. Needs to be perfect. Today I don't even mess with them for my own stuff. I'm a sealed box kinda guy. Most bandpass boxes I've heard are a little to boomy and sloppy for my ears.

 

3/4 particle board, and I suppose it is alittle too hard for me to make a bandpass box, maybe I will just stick with my good ol ported plate.. and my 12" subs

 

--smacks head-- no one listens, ...just buy the damn well box, from a car audio dealer , for 100 bucks, ..carpeted and all, and be happy, i doubt you are running dB drags aiming for a 170 dB ..., 2 12's , bostwick, kicker, jl, whatever name you like, good amp, ...go for a one ohm stable amp if you wanna try to crack the front windsheild and pay 800 bucks for the amp, ....bandpass wont work well in a camaro anyways, ..just buy the box that goes in the well, ...saves space, ..looks good, ...hits hard, ...sits in the back of the car making the entire back of the car *like* a box in its own, ..a tunnel type deal, ...has room to amplify..thus making it loud.

 

particle board...no
bandbass box...not likely
ported plate..........................

a plate would not be a terrible idea (although i wouldnt recommend it), but porting it would be a total waist of time. and particle board is a really crappy substance to use when making a subwoofer box even if you did get it for free. pay an extra $10-$15 and get some MDF. it will sound better, look better, and it wont be totally demolished if you get alittle water on it.

 

finally someone knows what they are talkign about, ..particle board, TRASH 3/4 MDF , Medium density fiberboard.....30 bucks a sheet, ...works wonders, holds sound well, good quality wood......

 

Like I said above... buying a pre fabbed box is a big gamble. Because bandpass enclosures need such precise sizes, the chances of you getting one that will work well with any specific sub is quite rare, and is nothing more than a crap shoot. Every time we've done it, the results were junk. Well, I shouldn't say that. They sold fast every time, because at *some* frequency, they pounded out your fillings. We just had to find the right song to audition the subs with and it was an easy sell.
But because they had such a massivly narrow bandpass window, songs were not musical, and anything with bass outside of that narrow window was horrible sounding.

 

Dude...Don't go bandpass they sound like sh*t straight up. Get a nice sealed box made when you have the money. Selaed boxes can both pound or hit real tight (depending on your sound). A bandpass box doesn't work in a very large frequency range and you'll hear nothing but the lower end not-so-clean bass because with a bandpass you cancel out a lot of the higher frequency bass which will really make your bass blend into the music and make it more musical and pleasing to listen to.


Tim:rockon:

 

so you would all recommened I go down and pay 150 dollars for a sealed box? I just don't seee whats wrong with plates? its cheap and its easy, and from what I hear it sounds good... I just want something that will give me a good beat, nothing too extreme..

 

They sound like crap. If you don't completely isolate the rear-propigation of the sound wave (and air pressure) from the front, you get cancellation which results in greatly diminished sound quality and lousy power handling.

Plates are cheap and easy. Because of that, if they were worth a sh*t, all of us would stop wasting our time and money with boxes and just slap a plate in there. Other than a few naysayers that think their plate is the best thing since sliced bread, the rest of us all realize how much of a difference there is and we're not willing to sacrifice that much sound quality.

 

K listen here, I am 16 I don't have a job right now, I have enough 3/4 particle board to build a plate, I have enough for a stereo and subs n stuff, I got that money for my brithday... I can only build a plate right now... If that sucks then I will get a decent box later, hell If any of you are willing to build me a box for free I would GLADLY accept it... But I dunno if people are that generous, and I wouldn't want anyone going through that much work for nothing.... So until I get some cash I am stuck with it...

 

No you aren't. You just need to re prioritize what you're doing. A single 10" sub in a small MDF box will sound 1000% better (and go louder) than a pair of 12s in a plate.

You can build the box for next to nothing, buy a single 10" or 12" sub and be much better off. When funds permit, you can buy a second sub and build a new box.

 

I was just thinking, what if I build 1 box that is small but will hold 1 12" and then I build another small box for another 12, would that work or do they have to be joined???

 

There's no need for them to be joined. The subs should have separate enclosures anyway.

 

one solid box, you make 2 you start killing air space.....once again buy the box for the WELL in the back of the car, they work fine and you dont have to guesstimate

 

he is gonna lose some air space but i dont think he is looking for that much. remember he is on a budget.

i agree with you on this one jim. for someone who doesnt have much, that is probably the way to go.

super, you want to build up but you dont wanna start too low just to get a couple 12s in there. i think you got the right idea and i wish you luck. if you need some advice, ive build many a boxes, especially for 3rd gens.

later,
jacob

 

hua? You build the box based on internal dimenstions. All you need to do to compensate for an internal divider is make the box 3/4" longer. If you build 2 boxes and eventually put them together, you're only wasting 3/4" of airspace over a box with an internal divider.

For sound quality, you're better off with subs in a separate chamber anyway. Even if you're running a mono signal to them, each sub will react slightly differently, and those non-identical reactions will interract between the two subs and result in unnecessary distortion. It's very minor, but it is present. More importantly, having a long span of unbraced wood will cause the box to resonate. Putting the divider in strengthens the box considerably.

 

I would agree with Jim, just get a single 10 or 12"

For reference a guy here in town pulled a 138 (legal USACi, SQ car) with a 10w3 powered by a JL 500/1 in JL's stealthbox.....what that means is its plenty loud.

 

hey, when and where was that at?

 

hmm maybe I will end up haveing to buy a box...

 

You can build a simple box that will hold a 10" sub and fit in the well without much complication.

 

can you draw a small diagram of what a single 10 " sub box would look like...

 

At the show at Audio Video here in College Station about 2 weeks ago.

 

i lived down there all last year. i went to the one at that place on texas and villa maria and hit a 138.3. i worked at jack's stereo for about 3 months.

 

ah cool. We now have 2 shows in B/CS. Soundwaves still has one and now Audio Video has one.

 

Dude, shape it like a pack of cigarettes (or a deck of cards for you youngins) and draw a 9" circle where you want the sub to go. Just measure the opening at the bottom of the rear well and build it so the length and width is a little smaller than those dimensions, and adjust the height to make whatever box volume you need. Since you're just dealing with a rectangle, volume is calculated by the following equation:
length*width*height=volume.

Also, make sure it's going to fit past the hatch motor.


Or just go buy a 10" tube.

 

10" tube?


Also, um so the higher the box it the louder it will be?

 

you can use a plate and still get a decent sound out of it just make sure when you buy your subs they are suitable for free air but if you decide to use a box at a later date you will have to replace your subs as well. By the way should you decide to build a tan inch tube if you have an industrial hose supplier near you may be able to provide you with a cardboard tube to fit your needs I did that once was very happy with it and best of all the tube was free just had to make ends for it

 

I have never herd a plate that sounds good....

 

What Jim meant by adjusting the height of the box for internal box volume was the amount of internal space in the box. The sub will have a certain spec on the side of the packaging box telling you the box volume requirements. You need to build the box at this spec or as close to possible for the best output and sound quality.

 

ditto. I've heard a LOT of them too. Of course, even the simple mention of such a notion will get a few people on the board all riled up and they'll start telling us how their plate is the best thing since sliced bread. I just wish that I could actually hear these people's plates. Then I could either laugh at them uncontrollably, or maybe (doubtful), walk away impressed that I finally heard a plate that didn't suck.

 

Ya I agree. I have seen a few in my day, and they all sucked.
I have not seen any that compare to my setup.

It dosn't matter what subs they have. It's just not a good way to do it. Get a box, make a box, whatever. Until someone prooves me wrong, I stand by what I say...

 

alright I have figured it all out now, I am building a box with my particle board....


I am going to bui;d it like the image below accept it is going to be more to dimension, it will fit perfectly in the well in the back of the car... thats how I am measuring it all out, now what should i use to fasten everything together? screws? wood glue? silicone?

 

Use MDF instead.....

Liquid Nails, lots of gripper screws.

 

LOL... everyone keeps suggesting things that this kid doesn't have the capacity to do just now. Let's get down to the basics and givens:

1. he's using particle board. end of story
2. he's a beginner

SuperSport: That box design you drew out is a good basic design for these cars. In fact it's the same design as mine, and it works very well. You're going to use wood screws (same as gripper screws), and a lot of them. When you start putting the screws in, make sure to put some Liquid Nails or Loc-Tite on the screws themselves, so they won't ever come out. Just be aware that particle board can crack more easily than MDF, so make sure your screws go in straight and easy. When the box is almost done, and all you have left is to put the top piece on, then you will use some silicone caulk. Apply it to the inside of the box where all the sides meet. Not too much, just enough to seal any seams. After applying the bead of caulk, push it into the seams with your finger. You can get the screws, locking chemical, and caulk at a Home Depot or hardware store. Don't use wood glue, it's too weak.

As far as the dimensions of the box go, you have to see what "sealed box volume" the sub requires. This is the amount of space inside the box, not how loud the sub can get. It's usually a range on the box, like 0.75 - 1.5 cu ft. For an example, take a look here. On the right, there's a diagram that says Vbox=0.75 ft3 (21.24 liters). This is the required volume that the box has to be. If you have two subs, then you double that number. The rest of it is just math, to determine the size of the box.

This goes along the lines of the volume. If you make the box higher, it has more volume inside it. It won't make your sub louder, per say. However, different size boxes can make the same sub sound completely different. Like I said before, though, I think you may have confused the word "volume" with making something louder, like on a stereo.

If you have any more questions, fire away. You have a lot of experienced people at hand on this board.

 

I don't think I have anymore questions....


Thank you all very much for your help..... I appriciate every little bit of it...

thanks guys!

Think Canadian Tire would have all of that?


Do I need to buy both the liguid nails stuff and lock tyte?

or do I just need 1?

 

Go with Loc-Tite. Liquid Nails is a real hassle to use. I'm not familiar with Canadian Tire. They probably won't though, if it's anything like a Firestone. Find a hardware store, they'll have everything you need.

 

Cnadian Tire sells almost anything you can think of, Sporting goods, automotive, hosusewares, wood working, plunmbing, electronics... They might have it

Ill check,


but the lock tyte is the best to use then?

 

Good old wood glue never let me down.

 

well I did it, I built my box, but I still have to cut the holes in the top plate... now I need to know,


How do I cut the holes for the 10's???


and what is the diameter of the whole that I am cutting?


All I have is a jigsaw..... thats all I have right now ,, a jigsaw and a drill.. with a few bits...