Hey guys, whats up? I have a question.

I have a RockFord in a ported bandpass box. And personally I dont think it sounds too good. I have a buddy who swears its the box making my sub sound bad. He says the box isnt big enough.
He said that if I put it in a bigger vented box, it would sound better.
Is this true?

 

Hard to say, a lot of factors go in to how the bass will sound in your car. Check the specs on the sub and see how much airspace it requires. Rockford Fosgate can tell you how much airspace it needs.

 

First off a bandpass box and a ported/vented box are 2 diff. things. Yes it will mostlikely sound better in a ported box rather than a band pass. Bandpass needs alot of space plus unless its been very carfully built and someone has done the math it will sound like crap. If this is a premade bandpass box then get rid of it and do some reasearch on how to build a ported box. Go to www.jlaudio.com and look at their tutorials these will help you better understand how the boxes work.

 

a bad box is the #1 cause of your subs not performing as well as they can

most people avoid using bandpass boxes as the prefabbed ones generally are horrible for sound reproduction and making your own can be quite complicated.

i think if you switch to a simple ported/vented design with the right airspace you'll see good results

 

No offence but since you sound fairly new to box building etc i think you'd do better making a sealed box IF you make one yourself. If you make a ported box with the wrong size ports it will still sound like ***.

 

Yea, my old box was a Ported Bandpass..It looked really cool...souned like crap.
My friend built me a new box. He copied it off of his box. I guess he said it was a copy of An "Armagedon Z" box. Long story short, it sounds much better. I can actually feel bass in my chest now.
THanks for all the replies guys.

 

what subs do you have?

 

boxes have to be designed around the specs of a particular driver to be optimum.

 

hey bro, the best thing you could ever do with subs is a sealed
box. just make sure the air-space is correct! bandpass boxes
suck. true they give you a 3db gain in volume, but they sound like ***. there is no sound quallity!most retail place pitch
the bandpass box because they are cheep and cover up
how bad their entry level subs really sound.....for instance, you never see a JL or Boston as a demo for a bandpass.

 

You can have very good SQ with bandpass boxes it just takes ALOT of planning and alot of space.

 

Misinformation city right their!!!!!

 

hey i have a 91 rs and i got a BAD *** box i custom built ....for around $300 i can build you one like it ....

 

Hey, br()bert.......what professional experience do you have? have you
ever been to any car stereo competition?


I'm Mecp certified and Ive been installing professionally for 6 years at Custom Sounds.. Have you ever seen a bandpass box compete in IASCA Nationals?

 

Ok man, let me go get my hip boots because the bull**** is getting deep in here.


Bandpass boxes do not suck, IF they are planed and made properly for that given sub. You say they suck and then you say they give you a 3 db gain in volume? Which one is it?

Next you say you never see a jl or boston demo'd in a BP. Hmm, i can name 6 shops (not chain stores like bestbuy etc) off the top of my head that have jl's and many others in BP's. BUT the BP's were built for that given sub! Each box was made not ordered.

True sealed would give you better S Q but to say bandpass boxes suck makes you sound like a newbie who has no clue what the hell hes talking about.

Oh and my exp? going on 11 years now. I was once gonna be certified but this isnt something i wanna do on a daily basis. More of a side hobby.

Btw if being certified was supposed to impress me it didnt.
Look at the jackasses that work at pepboys ther cert. ase
Tweeter audio, mecp! and dumb as hell!
i could go on but im sure you get the point.

 

Well....heres the down low.

I went to my local dealer this morning. He was clousing out his supply of Ultimate amps because they pissed him off.
So I picked up a Ultimate 400w amp for $75. Then, I needed a new sub. so I got a Memphis audio 500w sub.
$170 later, Im walking out with a brand new system..and that stuff sounds good together.
Oh, Im selling my Rockford stuff for $200..so Im making $30 out of the deal.

 

first off, louder is not better br()bert. Even the guy that started the post
said that he had a bandpass box that sounded like ***. And you said so yourself, its your hobby....so it sounds like to me, your the newbie! there is noise and there is SQ. by the way, You didnt even asnwer my question about seeing bandpass boxes in ISCA competions. you no what? i'm not even going to waist my time with you. Your prob. one of those guys that drive up to the light with your license plate falling off, trunk rattleing like an sob and trying to impress middle school girls.


im not dealing with ignorance any more.

 

Bandpass can have great SQ when made right. The reason you don't see them in comps or many cars for that fact is due to the size of the box and since these are fbodies we are talking about almost any bandpass box isn't practical for our cars. Bose and many other higher end companies use bandpass for ht setups. And I believe Rob Brecher (i think thats his name) was/is running a 7th order bandpass and did/does compete in IASCA but im not sure what division

 

Yes i see them in comps, not as often as others but i do see them , and by your reply you seem to be the newbie. Claiming to be cert but hasnt a clue about bandpass boxes. Mybe your poser claims work on other boards but you will quickly learn they dont work here.

If you do a search on bandpass boxes you'll come up with a thread where me and some other person "who claimed he knew so much" had on this same subject. Seems like you newbies all think alike, you know "bandpass boxes suck dude" and "yo if your lits are dimming get a cap yo" And for all your talk on BP"S in comps.The majority of enclosures you see are ported.
to the person who asked for advice id go with what you heard from the first like 4 or so posts.

 

WELL, Im the Newbie. I know nothing of Ohms..watts, or directed crap. But, while people were argueing...I went out and bought a pretty nice sounding system...and made my own box. But, thanks for all the help guys.

 

I always thought that the only reason you used a ported box was because you had tiny/wimpy/crappy/sony speakers and couldn't pump out enough power to hit hard. I was under the impression that the pressure of a sealed box made tighter, more accurate sound from the woofer. Also I think that Poly-Fil or similar products make the sound waves bounce around more inside the box, allowing the waves to spread out more, kinda like the further you sit from the box in a car, the deeper the bass gets.

But I am in no way claiming to be an expert, just a few things I've read, and what people have told me.

Just seems that people go ported so they can have a well-designed and cheap box. Like a home-audio subwoofer box. Maybe there is a frequency range increase?

 

Mostly, sealed gives you better SQ while ported gives you more spl. Sealed boxes are much easier to make correctly. Ported is a little harder to make correctly and bandpass seems to be the hardest to make correctly which is why alot of people buy the premade bandpass boxes, but they end up with a box that doesnt work right at all for the sub(s) they have in it.

 

sounds about right to me... I wonder how much bose would charge for them to make a custom subwoofer box for our cars? That would sound sweet as hell