Haoleb's DIY 12vq Car Sub...aka... That big *** heavy thing

[Haoleb]

As some of you may remember when I built my dual kappa perfect subs i had a driver with a buzz problem so i decided to use it in my truck. I already had a 1 cubic foot sealed box with a polk 12 in there. It was better than the polk but really i wasnt that impressed still.

So I decided to build my own box. a full sheet of MDF is 33 bucks out the door. How could i go wrong? I enlisted the help of our own speaker guru WmAx for the cabinet specs... And here it is. I got the specs for the box lastnight. And spent about 6 hours start to finish... after working all day... I think i might carpet it or something later but who knows.

I didnt really spend as much time making everything perfect like the other subs since its just for my truck, Just glued and screwed so i could just get it put together and done. Not bad doing in in just a few hours I dont think MDF is definetly harder to work with. Stuff just splits and dings super easy etc... the dust... I much prefer plywood but at half the price...

The box is for my access cab tundra... Its more like a single cab now since the box takes up the entire back seat and weighs, just guessing about 115lbs as its heavier than the Axiom EP600 which weighs 104 IIRC.

I didnt take the time to document everything. But heres the inside before i put the front baffle on. The slot port is 11x3x40" and there is a bunch of cross bracing. I just kind of threw the braces in any old place. So if they seem to be in odd places. well thats why.

Dwarfs the M80's The box dimensions are 4' long, 16" tall and 15" wide

I only have a 250 watt amp in my truck which is definetly not enough for this driver... But still it puts out immense SPL and plays deeper than anything i have ever heard in a car before. Most are tuned to 30-35hz. This one I think is closer to 20. Its ridiculously huge but the bass it puts out is.... awesome! Even mikec would be proud.. I think.

 

[mike c]

yeah i am! but i think you have your priorities reversed
i.e. home subs = bigger ; car subs = smaller

LOL

that's one big car sub.

looks like you demo'ed it in the house, how's it sound with more power?

 

[Haoleb]

its not as good as the other kappa subs in here. At first I was a bit dissapointed because it seemed like it only played the deep stuff but when I put it into the truck its a competely different story.

I also blew a bunch of MDF dust all over the room when i fired it up The airspeed in much higher on this one than the other subs even though the ports are nearly the same size

 

[mike c]

what's the tuning?

 

[Haoleb]

im not exactly sure, Chris would have to answer that. I just gave him and outside dimension and he told me what size port to use and where to mount the driver.

 

[mike c]

i see. i was curious about car subs tuning. (most i see is 30hz)

but since we're talking about Chris. i wouldn't know

 

[avaserfi]

The sub seems to be tuned to about 20Hz based on volume and port size.

 

[allargon]

Man, that thing would short my Prius as the typical 12V is tied to the rechargeable NiMH hybrid batteries. (MDF isn't as prone to warping as most plywoods. You did the right thing. Marine birch is supposed to be better than MDF for speaking building.) MDF dust is nasty stuff. I hope you are okay and took precautions, Haoleb. It looks very, very nice. Hopefully, it sounds even nicer!