Ok, I have my dual 12" box that I built a while back, and I'm re-doing it because, well, I just wasn't satisfied!

I have 2 separate enclosures joined in the middle by a spot where I had my amp mounted.

My question is, will the subs perform better if I take out the center section and join it all together to make one big box?

The speakers are AudioBahn (I like them, please no talk about getting different speakers, etc.!) and are the enclosure style, not the free air style.

Thanks for any help!

 

Generally, it's better to run them in seperate enclosures. That way if the left speaker gets a little more power, or what not, it won't effect the right speaker and vice versa. If you're going for an SQ setup, I would definently leave the divider in. The only real reason I can see for removing it is if you're short on airspace and need every cubic inch you can get. But generally, the gain in SQ you'd get from the extra airspace will be offset by running them in the same enclosure.
To put this in perspective, my brother's two 10" subs are in a single enclosure and mine are in seperate ones. For rap his sounds fine, and his bass extends a bit lower than mine b/c his enclosure is bigger than mine. But when he wants to listen to rock, well, mine definently sounds better.

 

Well, the speakers recommend a minimum of 1.5 cubic feet, and I have less than one for each speaker... also, the speakers are bridged so I beleive that they should always get the same amount.

So, if they are going to be bridged and mono, not left and right, then it should sound ok as one box?

 

Bridging the speakers doesn't guarantee that each speaker recieves an identical signal. For instance, if the wire for the left speaker is 2 feet long, and the wire for the right is 6 feet long, the left will get more signal since there is less signal loss through the speaker wire. Now we're talking about differences that a lot of people can't hear, but if you were to look at your system on an osciloscope you'd see it. What sort of music do you listen to? If you like stuff with a lot of low bass (i.e. rap, techno, etc.) then you may need a bigger enclsosure, because right now it sounds like you're over 1 cu. ft. short.

 

I listen to most everything, lots of techno and Bass Mekanic CD's though!

Soooooo...... seems like I need a bigger box?

Both my speaker wires are the same length and gauge, so I think it should be ok...

I just don't want to go thru all that work, and come out with worse than I went in with...!!

 

If you're needing a minimum of 3 cu. ft., my recommendation would be to build a fiberglass enclosure. So long as you make it thick enough and completely sealed, your bass discs will sound a lot smoother and you'll get a better response in the lower frequencies. With rock and pop music you won't notice as much of an improvement, but with bass heavy techno, you'll be glad you did it.

 

Ok, so, with big bassey music separate enclosures are the best? If so, that's the answer I was looking for, thanks!

 

It's not dividing the enclosure that's going to make the biggest difference, it's getting a bigger one that will.

 

Ok, I got back from a bass competition yesterday and I had talked to a few guys... they said to make one big box and put a 4" port in the middle... so now I don't know what to do again!

I never thought of porting... hows that work?

 

Check out this site, it will answer a lot of your questions:
http://www.maximacar.com/enclosure_design.htm